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Fidela Palaez
bolero that Álvaro Carrillo composed in 1938 when he was studying to be a teacher at the college of Ayotzinapa, now famous worldwide for the forced disappearance of 43 of its students. The song was written for an Amuzgo friend who’d lost his mother to a disease that was little known at that time. Carrillo left Ayotzinapa shortly afterwards, when the government of the day began repressing students’ discontent.
The Costa Chica, sadly, is better known nationally and internationally for the vio- lence that makes life dangerous and diffi- cult without, amazingly, crushing the spirit. It’s been like this for a long time. Álvaro Car- rillo lost his brother very young and had to move from school to school as they closed down due to land disputes and political problems. Despite this reality, his music has a poetic dignity which has nothing to do with the backdrop of violence. The madness comes from personal passion and, when love doesn’t work out, there are no regrets or recriminations.
he situation is difficult for every- one in the Costa Chica right now but more so for women. Despite this, the bolero singer Fidela Pelaez has just returned to live in the region after many years in the capi- tal. Fidela began her career aged three, as part of a duet with her sister Rodolfina. They made a recording with the prestigious Musart label a year later and were frequent guests on Mexico’s cultural TV. “All that time I was away, I never stopped being from the Costa Chica,” she says. Today she lives in the village of Azoyu, with her new husband who is also a musician. Aged 51, she was thinking she’d retired from music until we appeared at her door with the idea of including her in our record.
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Fidela’s voice has the smoky wonder of the old bolero singers, without in any way looking for this connection. Her stage pres- ence and her musical tenacity are admired by so many local artists, although most of all by a young duet from the nearby town of Ometepec. These two girls, Las Hermanas García, are destined for success on the national scene at least. Still teenagers, they are already booked for a show on the National University’s main stage in Mexico
Pedro Torres
City, weeks before their first CD is officially launched. Apart from the tracks we include by these singers on Como Un Lunar, we made a full CD by the sisters, Que Sepan Todos, in which they sing boleros by Álvaro Carrillo, by their old friend Indalecio Ramírez who was so close to Álvaro that he went with him on his honeymoon (to sere- nade the new wife, of course!) and by a whole new generation of composers from the Costa Chica who are producing new metaphors and complex melodies like nobody has done since the great days of Augustín Lara and Álvaro Carrillo.
What drew us to record a duet of sisters who are still so young? Their voices are incredible: the exquisite fragility brings a new meaning to the poetry of male com- posers who really knew what it means to love and to lose. We have asked Laura and Celia García why they prefer singing these age-old boleros to the pop ballads they lis- ten to on their cellphones: “The poetry,” says Laura. “The melodies,” says her younger sister, Celia. “Maybe because we’ve
Las Hermanas García
listened to them since we were born,” Laura considers, “or maybe even before that,” adds Celia and they both laugh.
The Hermanas García’s musical director and author of arrangements which high- light their two-part harmonies, is their father Mariano. He’s absolutely passionate about boleros and has played with most of the bands from the region before dedicat- ing himself to accompanying and directing his daughters’ talent. Thanks to this her- itage, the passion and the poetry of great boleros comes completely naturally to these girls and, unlike the most creative pop stars like Natalia Lafourcade and Ile from Calle13, they don’t have to reinvent boleros for a new audience because these songs have always belonged to them.
In a tough world, the Costa Chica bolero singers are finally discovering that there is a whole new world wanting to hear them sing.
See reviews page 56… Ed.
corason.com
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Photo: Ignacio Decerega
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