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Friday, May 09, 2008

Los Reyes Preserving Music of Mexico

By David Steinberg
Journal Staff Writer
      By David Steinberg Journal Staff Writer Two anniversaries will be celebrated in concert this weekend. One is the 15th anniversary of the multicultural Albuquerque arts program Lo Madura de La Cultura. The other is the 45th anniversary of the mariachi band Los Reyes de Albuquerque.
       The celebration will feature Los Reyes in concert Saturday, May 10, at the KiMo Theatre.
       “The whole program is dedicated to madrecitas and memorias,” said Roberto Martinez, the founder and leader of Los Reyes.
       Madrecitas is a term of endearment in Spanish for mothers. Memorias means memories.
       The concert will be presented in three segments. The first will have Martinez's sons Lorenzo and Roberto Jr. playing polkas, chotises and inditas, styles of music that go back to Spanish Colonial times, Martinez said.
       After that portion of the program, the eight members of Los Reyes will come on. A special guest is Gaby Villalobos, singing a variety of rancheras and juapangos.
       “We'll play mariachi-style music with a New Mexican flavor,” Martinez said. “That means our trumpet is not blaring, but more subdued.”
       In the third segment of the program, three musicians will play romantic 20th-century trio music from Mexico. Martinez called those tunes boleros and sones.
       The musicians are Stanley Gutierrez on requinto, Tony Orduño on guitarron and Rafael Palomar on guitar. Palomar was a longtime vocalist and musician with the famous Mexican mariachi band Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, Martinez said.
       Los Reyes will close the concert.
       Chuy Martinez (no relation) is the longtime organizer and host of Lo Maduro de La Cultura, which has presented more than 300 programs since its inception.
       “We started with the purpose of rescuing and preserving the music and poetry of New Mexico,” Martinez said.
       Another aim was to offer concerts inexpensively to older citizens. Because many seniors are homebound, the shows are taped and aired on government access TV station Channel 16, Martinez said.
       The shows have also presented visiting folkloric groups from South America, Europe and Africa.
       “It's important that we share a lot of the cultures,” he said.
       Roberto Martinez said that his 79th birthday on May 22 will mark the start of a yearlong series of concerts Los Reyes will give around New Mexico, finishing on his 80th birthday.
       “Los Reyes started performing music for seniors 25 years ago. It caught on. We went to senior centers, child care centers, homeless centers, youth detention centers,” he said.
       “We want to take the music to smaller, underserved communities.”
   

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Lo Maduro de La Cultura WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday, May 10
       WHERE: KiMo Theatre, Fifth and Central NW
       HOW MUCH: $5 general admission

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