Rodrigo Lopez Barros
On May 1st, once again, I had to think about the topic of the title of this column; with worried insistence, during the couple of hours that my family and I remained inside the vehicle parked inside the Park, from 6:30 pm to 8 pm. m., without being able to get off it, due to the heavy downpour that fell on the city of Valledupar. Finally, we decided to return home, “with the frills done.” For this reason, the inauguration of the Festival in honor of the artist Iván Villazón Aponte was reduced, which is still a contradiction of the gods, especially Apollo, the god of song and the lyre.
We thought a lot and commented with concern: how attendees of the show crowded on the stage looking for shelter under the roof; The police and logistics personnel were literally soaked and yet did their jobs diligently; The sellers of merchandise purposely saw with sadness losing what was the fruit of their constant economic efforts. This fact, in particular, is the one that worried us the most and made us think about how it is that this has not been given enough thought until a solution is found, which is none other than changing the date on which, without the inconveniences caused by winter, in another season the Festival can be held, with benefit for everyone. Why not, for example, at the end of the spring season, in the Veranillo de San Juan, when our territory is still dressed in green interspersed with yellow flowers of the flagship trees, the Cañahuate, that the painter Vincent Van Gogh would have liked? to achieve your best “impressionist” paintings?
The Vallenato Festival already has a presence among the most outstanding artistic shows, not only in Colombia, but internationally, as it enjoys the cultural consecration, intangible heritage of humanity, with which UNESCO has proclaimed it. This is a special moral commitment that we vallenatos have, but it particularly demands the responsibility of the members of its Board of Directors. Upholding fame and honor is our duty.
We have to celebrate each event and all the events of the Vallenato Festival with the responsibility of the slightest civil fault and, above all, the members of the Board of Directors are obliged to do this, and I would also say that there is a unique social responsibility with this minority trade. who approaches its walls to sell the items that, translated into money, provide them with their honest subsistence. Pay attention to this social responsibility! The Festival is not only cultural prestige, economic gains here and there, but vital subsistence for many ordinary people. The main thing has been said, and this space allocated by the newspaper is not enough.[email protected]