SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- This Thursday the work “Arsenio” premiered in New York City, about the legendary Cuban musician Arsenio Rodríguez, one of the pillars of salsa, who left an indelible legacy in the Bronx.
The play, which runs until March 15 at the ID Studio Theatre, pays tribute to the life and work of the talented Afro-Cuban composer, also known as El Ciego Maravilloso.
“His innovations with the Cuban son initiated a radical change in the tropical music of the 1950s and, over time, gave rise to new styles including the creation of salsa in the South Bronx,” indicates the review of the work. .
In “Arsenio,” Yenifer, a young lady who dreams of becoming a singer, prepares for an audition at the Bronx Conservatory of the Arts.
Between fears and insecurities, she moves to a fictional world, inhabited by monsters generated by herself. It is then that, in that limbo, Arsenio Rodríguez comes to help her.
El Ciego Maravilloso will try to guide Yenifer towards a new awareness of herself based on the musical heritage they share.
The work, which is included in the Black History Month programming, is written by Toby Campion, with the co-direction of Germán Jaramillo and Leyma López. It has choreography by Daniel Fetecua, composition, arrangements and musical production by Pablo Mayor.
It is the third piece in a trilogy titled “Between Two Worlds,” which has explored cultural and spiritual themes related to Latin American music.
The first of the trilogy is based on cumbia, while the second is based on the songs of Pedro Infante.
The legacy of the Wonderful Blind Man
Arsenio Rodríguez’s harmonic sense, far superior to that of other talented arrangers of his time, led him to create a new type of son that experts have considered as the direct prelude to salsa.
He also cultivated bolero and guaracha, with more than two hundred songs of his own, in which humor and double meaning predominate.
In the early 1950s, he traveled to the United States in hopes that surgery would restore his vision.
Although the miracle was not possible, “the wonderful blind man” returned to the recording studios. From his despondency the topic arose The life is dreamwhich contrasted notably with the happy guarachas that he usually composed.
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2024-02-18 10:38:35
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