BY: CULTURE/EL PILÓN
Since last March 19, the Cradle of Accordions Festival of Villanueva has a new president. It’s about the lawyer Raul Hernandez Maestre who was chosen with 151 of the votes cast by active members of the union.
Hernández Maestre is accompanied in the vice presidency by the international musicianl Luis Angel ‘The Pope’ Pastorcurrent musical director and bassist of La Provincia de Carlos Vives.
In dialogue with EL PILÓN, the new president spoke about the new challenges at the helm of the folkloric and cultural event which was declared Cultural and Artistic Heritage of the Nation and is held every year in the southern municipality of La Guajira.
Hernández and Pastor replace José Félix Lafourie and the Vallenato king Orángel “El Pangue” Maestre, former president and former vice president, respectively.
The lawyer’s application arose from a proposal that the majority of the members of the Amigos por Siempre Foundation – of which he is a part – made him from where the concern originated that he should apply for the highest dignity of the Fundación Cuna de Acordeones de Villanueva Festival.
Hernández Maestre had the support of different actors from different spheres of Villanueva, such as the well-known singer Jorgito Celedón, the businessman Carlos Mazeneth Dávila, renowned folklorists such as the former president of the Cuna de Acordeones Festival, Carlos Alberto Barros Mattos, current mayor of Villanueva; as well as different personalities representative of the cultural and social life of Villanueva, including most of the former presidents of the Foundation and the festival, such as José Calixto Quintero, Rodrigo Daza Cárdenas, Fermín Ovalle, Orángel Maestre, Luis Celedón Millian and José Mazeneth Cabello .
COMPETITIONS AWAY FROM ‘FRIENDLY’
Regarding the objectives outlined in this new stage at the helm of the festival, Hernández highlighted that, first of all, it is “the rescue” of each and every one of the contests that have traditionally been held during the Cuna de Acordeones festival.
“The contestsThey are the essence and soul of our folk festival. To this end, a series of measures will be implemented in order to make these events attractive, both for the contestants and for the general public”said the new president.
Hernandez added that: “For the participants, it must be guaranteed that they (the contests) are alien to interests other than folklore and completely removed from compromises and cronyism that seek to reward virtues other than the artistic capacity of each of the executors of the respective event.”
The new rector of the festival emphasized and pointed out that it is especially relevant for these purposes, that the punctual and prompt payment of prizes to whoever receives any remuneration derived from the victory in each and every one of the modalities in which the Festival Cuna de Acordeones competes.
Likewise, he indicated that it should be ensured that the locations where the competitions are held are duly adequate in terms of sound and platforms for the contestants, such as excellent conditions for the public that attends each of the events. “This also implies rigorous compliance with the format of each contest, the schedules and the selection of due and highly qualified juries”, express.
WHAT CHANGES WILL ARRIVE?
When asked about the changes within the dynamics of the Foundation and the festival itself, Hernández said that the offices of the Foundation must be put into operation the 365 days of the year and for that it will take the necessary steps before all the public and private entities that are in a position to deal with this “huge need.”
“We cannot forget that the Cuna de Acordeones Festival was declared Cultural and Artistic Heritage of the Nation by Law 1052, therefore this legal tool must be used to obtain resources from the central and departmental level, in order to guarantee the operation of the Foundation and logistics of the Cuna de Acordeones Festival, the maintenance and endowment of the Cuna de Acordeones Music School, design, construction, endowment and maintenance of the Musical Dynasties House Museum”, stressed.
Finally, the new leader emphasized that a central point of the administration that he leads in his board of directors, such as the cultural and folk topicwill be led by Luis Ángel ‘El Papa’ Pastor.
“To combine excellent administrative management with the inescapable cultural component of the Festival, I invited the renowned international musician Luis Ángel “El Papa” Pastor. (…) With the direction of “El Papa”, in artistic matters, innovations will be introduced in each and every one of the formats of the contests, to make them more attractive to participants and the general public. All this is being structured and we intend to implement them during the next edition of the festival”, he ended by saying.