The Harps, Psalteries and More music festival, held on Tuesday, June 28 at Chapala’s Centro Cultural Gonzalez Gallo, attracted an enthusiastic full-house audience for more than eight hours of uninterrupted, unbridled song and dance.
The loose-knit program featured a dozen groups and solo artists performing varied genres of Mexican acoustical music.
The Orquesta Tipica de Queretaro, under the baton of Julio Alberto Gandara Garcia, opened the event with a well-rounded repertoire of son, huapango, waltz, danzon and other traditional pieces. Ganadra´s own original composition El Beso del Agua was inspired by the legend concerning a romance between the Spanish Viceroy and a beautiful maiden that led to the construction of Queretaro’s ancient aqueduct.
By the third set, Mariachi Tradicional Los Pitayeros put the crowd of listeners on their feet to dance on a caja de sonido – a small wooden sound box that was employed by the mariachi bands of yesteryear as both a dancer’s platform and a percussion instrument.
Free snacks and samples of tequila drinks provided courtesy of Tequila Don Vito fueled a lively party atmosphere that continued as the musicians played on into wee hours.
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