History of the California Festival del Cuatro
By Dr. José M. Vadi
The idea for a Festival del Cuatro in California was a reaction to a performance by the eminent Cuatro player, Edwin Colón Zayas at Cal State Fullerton in November of 2004. The performance was outstanding but there was a very limited audience. Colón Zayas introduced a Cuatro maker in the audience named Roberto Rivera. After the concert, I approached Roberto and suggested that we should put together a larger venue and a bigger show that would do justice to such a great performer. Roberto informed me that he had a lot of experience putting together such shows on the East coast in places like Rutgers, New Jersey and Hartford Connecticut. He also had participated in Cuatro Festivals in Chicago. Because Roberto had been in California for only three years, he lacked the contacts to make the Festival happen here. We agreed to meet to see if we could put together a Cuatro Festival in California.
Roberto invited a group of people that included Don Jibaro (Orlando Vasquez), Olga Howard, Ajee Ortiz, Joshua Erazo, Les Rivera, Professor Enrique Sellers, and me—Jose Vadi—to meet at his home to begin planning the First Festival del Cuatro in California. We had no money, no sponsors, and no venue for the event. But Roberto Rivera had the musicians and I had academic contacts such as Dr. Victor Rodriguez at Cal State Long Beach. Victor said he could provide a venue and institutional backing for the Festival through Cal State Long Beach. Through funds gathered via a Cuatro demonstration, we had a startup budget of $1,000. The National Council of Puerto Rican Women came through with additional funding. We had the promise of funding from the Puerto Rico Office of Tourism but those funds would not be available until after we held the event. Roberto Rivera had to dip into his own funds to bring out the musicians and to lodge them. In short, financially, the First Festival del Cuatro was achieved on wing and a prayer.
We had no publicity funds so we took advantage of two opportunities to appear on the Saturday night radio show “Canto Tropical” hosted by Hector Resendez (KPFK, 90.7,Saturdays, 8 pm to 10 pm). We also contacted anyone with an extensive e-mail address book of Puerto Rican names and asked them to get out the word that there would be a Cuatro Festival in California. Don Jibaro gave us publicity on his own website and established a website for the Festival del Cuatro.
Roberto Rivera secured the performance of Yomo Toro, Edwin Colón Zayas, Billie Colón Zayas, Emma Colón Zayas, Jaime Colón, and Yomi Matos with little guarantee of payment. These musicians were willing to do whatever it took make the event happen and we are forever grateful to them for their talents and their generosity. We had so little money that some of them lodged with Roberto Rivera at his home. Roberto’s wife, Lucy, took care of all of these musicians plus her own family.
Originally, the first Festival del Cuatro was scheduled for November 2005 but we had to postpone it until January 28, 2006 because we simply did not have all of the pieces in place until that date. The day before the concert, we held a workshop at Cal State Long Beach featuring parts of the film “Nuestro Cuatro,” produced by William Cumpiano and The Cuatro Project. Cumpiano and Yomi Matos, master Cuatro makers, discussed how the Cuatro is made and answered questions regarding different types of woods and techniques used to make the Cuatro. Emma Colón Zayas demonstrated some of various styles of the seis, the aguinaldo, and other traditional music usually played on the Cuatro. While this was going on, we commissioned Anaida Colón and her husband to go and pick up Yomo Toro at the airport. We were flying by the seat of our pants!
Finally, concert day arrived. We wondered whether we would get even one hundred persons attending and most of us, including Roberto Rivera, were fearful of seeing the size of the crowd. We were shocked to see hundreds of Puerto Ricans lining up patiently. We had to double the number of chairs that we had set out in the auditorium. Joshua Erazo and his crew served as ushers, bodyguards, and they also brought bottled water and soft drinks. Olga Howard made two huge baskets full of goodies for the raffle that we held at the event. Someone else (Benny Blanco) brought a pernil and some rice and beans that was served to the musicians to get them ready to perform. To our astonishment, there was standing room only in the auditorium.
In the concert itself, Yomi Matos opened the show followed by Yomo Toro and Dahlia (an outstanding singer who works frequently with Yomo). Dhalia stole the show with her imitation of La Lupe and with her tremendous emotive renditions of Puerto Rican musical classics. Emma Colón Zayas followed and brought down the house with her rendition of “Barrilito.” Emma was brought to tears when the National Council of Puerto Rican Women presented her with an award. Then followed what Yomo Toro himself called “el plato fuerte” or “the main course”—Edwin Colon Zayas. Edwin’s astonishing musicianship was met with the excellent accompaniment of his brother Billie on guitar, his sister Emma on guiro (scratch gourd), and Jaime on bongos. This constitutes the tradition jibaro musical ensemble (Cuatro, guitar, guiro, and bongo).
There were people crying in their seats as they heard traditional Puerto Rican music. A conga line formed made up of women in the audience who could not remain seated due to the impact of the music. The musicians left their hearts on the stage and thus concluded an outstanding event—the First Festival del Cuatro in California—all achieved on a wing and a prayer.
|
Breaking News
Tickets for The 3rd Annual Festival del Cuatro are Available Now!
The best seats in the house will sell first, so don't put it off, get your tickets now.
[read more]
Not able to attend this years Festival del Cuatro? Donate!
If you are unable to attend this years Festival or would like to make an additional contribution to our organization, please consider donating.
|
 |
