La Bodega de Ajijic Restaurant presents a dinner/concert featuring renowned folksinger/songwriter Francisco “Paco” Padilla on Friday, March 7, starting 7:30 p.m. Tickets are 250 pesos per person and include dinner. Reservations are a must.
Born into a family of potters in 1952 in the Tlaquepaque suburb of Guadalajara, Padilla studied chemical engineering, which he would later put to use in his own ceramics studio. In 1974, while still at university, he won the Festival de la Cancion with his now-famed song “Alfarero.”
He later went to Spain to combine music with work in the field of high-fired pottery and ceramics at the Escuela de Artes de Manises in Valencia. His studies took him through Europe as he learned the many types and methods of pottery and ceramics. He spent a lot of time in England in the area know as the “Potteries” (around Stoke-on-Trent).
Wherever he went, he noticed that certain things were true about people, their towns, their pains and everyday life. And he would use these observations in his musical compositions.When he returned to Mexico, Padilla and his brothers opened a pottery workshop independent from the family business. As the business took off so did Padilla and his songwriting and singing. He became a regular on radio and television, and was a member of the group Tierra Mojada.
In 1989 he recorded his first solo album, “Historia de un Bonito Lugar,” which was about his place of birth and its provincial richness. He has since gone on to record ten more albums, and performs on a regular basis in Jalisco and the rest of Mexico, as well as in Europe and across the Americas.
Padilla’s music is best described as a fusing of traditional music and contemporary sounds, weaving everyday words, feelings and events into colorful tapestries telling stories about values and traditions, respecting other beliefs, reinforcing the identity of the people and looking for harmony in the community.
Padilla never lets his audience down, and this is a great opportunity to take a peek into the hearts of the people and culture of Mexico through entreating folk music.
La Bodega is located at Calle 16 de Septiembre 124 in Ajijic. Call (376) 766-1002 for reservations.