Report written by: @loretosocorro
Popular music on the islands has specific nuances due to the influences of the cultures that arrived. I guarantee that if you spend a lot of time away, when you return, your soul is shriveled with a folía or when you recognize the sound of the timple and your body moves to the sound of an isa.
We are starting to enjoy all this that Canarian music and dance brings us again in the squares and auditoriums, without masks or restrictions.
That positive being that feeds the Canarian sun lives within us and now, with more force, drives us to continue growing between polkas, majoreras and malagueñas.
On Saturday I could see how the Plaza de España, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, was filling up with onlookers and people wanting to enjoy themselves. Some people sat while watching the musicians, dressed in typical costumes, and the dance corps finalizing details. Many others were just making novels from the center of the square, while walking their dogs or simply stopping in their tracks to find out what was happening.
From the El Sedal Popular Music Group, they tell us about how they remember those moments when they couldn't see each other. José Rodríguez, director of the group, emphasizes that the average age in popular music groups is high and this made activities more difficult for them, due to fear during the pandemic. “We were looking for repertoire for a record and from one week to the next it stopped radically. We were even about to record an album and everything stopped…”- Jose Rodríguez continues reporting- I recorded videos and sent them the lyrics, some exercises by WhatsApp… we stayed like that for four months and, when the meetings started, they were in small groups .»
Seeing each other in turns, stalled projects, an uncertain future, rehearsing without encouragement due to lack of performances was a process that this man, as a director, had to manage and although it was complicated it did not discourage him.
“We have rehearsed again. I am happy with the performances -adds Jose- because one of our objectives is social work, which is endorsed with the activities. We released a video clip “La rumbita”, and this motivated some people to contact us and join us.
Also, in a few days we will have our album in our hands. We present it on June 03 at the headquarters of La Orden del Cachorrro Canario and it will be called Mestura, for several reasons: because of the mix of the repertoire where there is a mix of popular, traditional and Latin music; Another mix is given by the areas represented in the group: different parts of the municipality of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and other municipalities on the island and, finally, the mix that gives the different ages of the components”.
AMP el Sedal's album can be heard on YouTube and Spotify but they will also release some physical copies: "More than anything because of the romanticism of having the album, with a cover -Jose Rodríguez adds- for those who want a souvenir or for family, friends and anyone who wants to acquire it”
Jose tells us that of all the performances they have recovered, they are excited about the ones at a nursing home where they used to go and of course the presentation of their album at the headquarters that “Cachorro Canario” has in Vegueta.
And it's been a long time since the city was filled with music and dances, without restrictions.
Gregorio Díaz, secretary of the Erasmo Dance Group and dancer, greets us with a splendid smile. During the break that came due to the health crisis, somehow, they did not have such a bad time because from time to time there was a performance. "Although, with limited capacity - Gregorio speaks to us - we were collaborating with schools of folklore monitors and we even recorded a television program."
For this dance group, the month of May is turning out to be very entertaining, with performances throughout the capital city: Pilar Nuevo, Plaza España (de la Victoria), Vegueta... and throughout the island.
In addition to revisiting the schools in the city of Telde, which according to Gregorio Díaz is something essential in the training of little people: “Everyone welcomes us with enthusiasm, there are many children and teachers who no longer even remembered what It was Canarian folklore and they seem tired of doing nothing in schools…”
After so long without dancing, they will take advantage of the month of June to collect dances and update their repertoire. Many times they have had to rehearse with music on recordings, but the tempo of each live group is different and they have to prepare the staging with a dress rehearsal; thus the speed of the touch is matched to that of the dance.
From the folk groups that we are enjoying these days we have learned at Sal del Atlántico that there is room for professionals and amateurs: "For anyone who is interested in learning and having fun with their peers," emphasizes Gregorio.
Throughout the Canarian geography there are many groups and little by little they will all go out into the streets, to enjoy and also to disseminate, such as with the samples of traditional Canarian clothing (San Ignacio Loyola school) or the parade of models with typical clothing, in the Festival of La Paterna. This is another project of the dance corps that Gregorio briefly explains to us: “What we do is promote Canarian clothing, as it is, because it is not known and they mix some things with others. We are well documented by peers specializing in traditional dress.”
The municipal folklore schools are a spring from which to draw a quarry. In Telde they began in 95 with two separate schools that merged in 2000. And it has been fortunate to have the municipal folklore school because it is not only taught in neighborhood associations but also in schools: «The monitors -Gregorio Díaz speaks- are distributed throughout the municipality, both for music and dance. In other municipalities classes are also given in schools and in the Popular Universities and this means that those who do not learn do so because they do not want to».
The performances on Saturdays in the Plaza de España is an activity that increases and complements the already existing one on Sundays in the Pueblo Canario, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where the groups that dance do so in Néstor's clothing, because that is where the Néstor Museum is located.
These spaces and many others are already being filled with applause after enjoying the groups and the music that is part of our culture.
Someone who knows a lot about this is Manuel Peñate, director of the Cendro Folkloric Group, which at this time celebrates its XNUMXth anniversary as a group -Congratulations!- and who tells us that they began by making, rather, popular music of the time: author , traditional and little known and that little by little they got involved with folk music. They have been respecting their individuality for fifteen years but, at the same time, collaborating with dance groups with which they perform, including international events.
For AF Cendro, the pandemic also brought a complete halt: “We had planned trips, recordings… that was stopped for two years”, and Manuel adds: “With online videos we maintained ties with the people in the group and this was successful because we didn't there have been many casualties. For the few performances they had, they prepared little by little, with entries and exits, from 2021 due to changes in capacity limitations. They knew how to adapt to different formats and in November 2021 they were able to maintain the festival they do for San Gregorio in Telde.
Now you can rehearse like before, although in a smaller venue and they have begun to recover old songs, while investigating to bring out new things.
“You have to encourage people -says Manuel Peñate- and that one feeds the other, so that the whole group is motivated. The first performance was in San Juan de Telde, it was enjoyed and unforeseen events were resolved. We feel excitement and nerves when we start to hear the sound, the public address system and then when we see people dancing and how they have a good time... that's what feeds us, as a group." Teamwork is what has achieved that, today, we can enjoy the result of talent and effort, added to the camaraderie with which folk groups are managed.
We also spoke with Gustavo Hernández, who is the director and president of the Salitre del Faycan Cultural Association -a dance group-, as well as a folklore monitor and a Spanish delegate to the IGF (International Folklore Federation). Curiously, he is right next to the Faycán, in the Plaza de San Juan de Telde, on a break while committing to continuous training. «Now we are doing a course to learn traditional dance from Fuerteventura. It is taught by the Tetir group.»
This man also knows a lot about leading and inspiring his team since they were without a rehearsal room and, until reaching phase two, the folklore that runs through the veins of dancers and dancers was almost frozen. “Starting over was a step-by-step job. Practice is learning and by suspending everything, something was lost... Dance is contact and that was prohibited» -says Gustavo Hernández-
Now she is more than happy with the return to dance events. Since May 21 they have returned to move according to the beat of the traditional guitar and they will not stop throughout the summer, giving away their dances around the island and also outside.
“People who like folklore are very happy. What they missed, they want to eat it all together now» -just like Gustavo, we believe that whoever likes it, does not miss one.
From Sal del Atlántico: Thanks to the groups that are preparing to fill the streets with Canarian music. Thanks to the dancers who dress up and go to the squares to meet and thanks to these committed professionals who fight to spread popular culture to all corners of the islands. Let's keep fighting!
