Rock, Folklore and Mud Board in El
Valle Panama January 27th and 28th.
From January 27 to 28 in the
mountains of Coclé , Panama a show takes place that every year gains more
strength with traditions and modern music.
Source: La Prensa
Mud Board, folkloric music and rock & roll. This and more is what
Barro Fest 2023 presents, which, in this fourth edition, will take place this
coming January 27 and 28 in El Valle de Antón, Coclé province.
According to the announced schedule,
the event will start on the afternoon of Friday the 27th with folkloric
presentations on the Tarima del Toro Guapo (main street of the town of El Valle
de Antón).
The Panamanian bands Fulmonti, Los
Cossacks and Los Guayas will also perform on this stage. The evening on this
stage will close with the typical singer Ulpiano Vergara and Los Distinguidos.
It should be noted that it will be the first edition with a complete typical
dance on one of the nights of the festival, the organizers have highlighted.
But this is not all. That same
Friday at the Cucuá Stage (in the backyard of the Kare Koffee venue) attendees
will be able to enjoy the national punk rock band Lemmiwinks and, from Seattle,
United States, the rock group Naked Giants.
On Saturday, in the afternoon, the
festival continues with the development of the board of embarra coclesana,
which will be enlivened by typical groups.
The design of the Coclesana thatch
house is different from the one found in Azuero and they use different
materials because they work with materials from the environment, and we know
that it is a tradition practiced for hundreds of years in the region. In this
edition, the Barro Fest will give the stage to the Coclesana Embarra Board, so
that the festival audience knows its particularities and thus "enrich the
documentation of this tradition", explains Miguel Mihalitsianos, one of
the organizers of Barro Fest 2023 .
The special presentation of the
legendary national group Xantos Jorge is scheduled for Saturday night, on the
so-called Barroniana stage.
Xantos Jorge was a Panamanian rock
and ballad rock musical group formed in 1993 and formally separated in the year
2000. As part of their legacy, this group left an album considered for the
history of national rock and which is not well known. It is about “En Otro Sol”
recorded between 1997 and 1998. And, for the Barro Fest 2023, Xantos Jorge will
present that album live for the first time. Your performance will be recorded
and released as a live album.
Also on the Barroniana Stage will be
Némula, Los Espíritus (from Buenos Aires, Argentina) and the Panamanian
singer-songwriter Carlos Méndez.
Traditions and culture“In this edition, the organizers
have also learned about traditions that we did not know about and that we
consider important to share with the audience of the festival. Among these
traditions are the dance of the cucuá devils, the dance of the handsome bull
and the quitipiés”. Comment Mihalitsianos.
All of these traditions will be
presented on both days of the festival.
“In particular, the dance of the
cucuá devils and the quitipiés are traditions that are in danger of being lost,
and the Barro Fest is evolving into a platform to stage traditions that must be
preserved, beyond the mud board” , add.
Mihalitsianos highlights that the
main objective of the Barro Fest is to be a platform for cultural exchange that
attracts economy to the local community where the event takes place. In other
words, where the traditional and the modern coexist in a positive and
constructive environment.
It also represents an opportunity
for national artists to expose themselves to international representatives,
musicians and visitors.
Likewise, foreign musicians will be
able to meet and enjoy local folklore.
“We believe that the rock audience
seeks purpose and meaning, they are questioning, curious, and we have realized
that there is a genuine curiosity to learn more about local cultures”,
concludes Mihalitsianos.
Tickets can be purchased on the
festival website (www.barrofest.com)
The origins
Barro Fest is a music festival developed by a
group of Panamanian entrepreneurs since 2017, inspired by the power of the
community spirit that the traditional festival known as “junta de embarra” and
the independent rock scene have. This time and in its fourth edition of the
Barro Fest it will be held starting the summer in Panama on January 27 and 28
in the paradisiacal community of El Valle de Antón, located inside an extinct
volcano and where the tradition of the Devils is still followed. Cucuá.