---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: James Tweedie <[email protected]> Date: 7 February 2010 22:01 Subject: [ARS NOTORIA] VULGAR, PROFANE AND LEWD: MURGA, THE CANARIES' SPECTACLE OF SATIRE To: [email protected]
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE CARNIVAL, Saturday February 6 2010 <http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oCJTZz_GVEc/S28VyrXeVMI/AAAAAAAAAIg/u6EqPNm4cHY/s1600-h/3losmamelucos.JPG> *Joint murga competition winners Los Mamelucos* *THOUSANDS crowded into Santa Cruz' waterfront on Saturday for the final of the 50th annual carnival Murga contest.* * * *by JAMES TWEEDIE* The *murgas* – a half-hour mini-opera with humorous and satirical themes sung to classical, stage-musical and popular tunes – are the most anticipated spectacle of the city's massive carnival. The packed audience were standing on their wooden folding seats for much of the performance, regardless of which group they were rooting for. The 12,000 tickets to the final at the open-air Recinto Portuario sold out in three hours on January 13 and were selling on the internet at up to a ten-fold mark-up. Murgas have their origin in Cadiz in mainland Spain, where the contest till takes place every January. The art form spread to the Canaries, Uruguay and Argentina. According to one participant, the great popularity of the Murgas goes back to the era of the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975. During that period the carnival was banned, but the murgas were covertly acted out in the streets, singing things that the regime prohibited to be spoken of. Since the murgas were legalised they have continued to sing about important social issues that matter to the people, and their popularity has only has increased. Every year the Murgas try to innovate and surprise the public. The other islands of the Canaries and Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife's north coast have their own murgas, but the *chicharreros* of Santa Cruz hold their competition to be the highest expression of the art. <http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oCJTZz_GVEc/S28W2xJ-AFI/AAAAAAAAAIo/4tyLELMFgVY/s1600-h/3diabloslocos.JPG> *Los Diablos Locos took Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers as the inspiration for their outfits* Each of the 19 adult murgas and their junior counterparts in Santa Cruz has between 50 and 80 performers. Perhaps one in a hundred of the regional capital's 220,000 residents perform in the murga contest every year. Most form the chorus who sing almost *a cappella*, accompanied by drummers and their own trumpets – made of plastic with kazoos attached. The *murgeros* and *murgeras* – still segregated into male and female murgas at the adult level – wear fantastical costumes and make-up, mostly variations on traditional clown styles. The cross-dressing element of pantomime is seemingly obligatory. Each murga writes and rehearses an introduction, four 'themes' or acts and a finale. Two themes are performed in the heats and only the eight murgas who made it to the final get to perform their third and fourth acts. But the real spice of the confection is the *critica* – the political satire. Irreverent, vulgar, lewd, profane, scatological and completely politically incorrect, it is reminiscent of the the best traditions of British political caricature and satire from James Gillray in the 18th century to Steve Bell and Martin Rowson today. But the murgas are such an entrenched and popular tradition that the great and the not-so-good must grin and bear it. This years' targets were the usual litany of political problems, scandals and the politicians responsible. The themes of political graft and neglect of public services while ordinary people suffer the effects of *La Crisis* ran through all the productions. The hugely unpopular plan to build a rival port to Santa Cruz at Granadilla, the now-defeated Mamotreto development at the city's Las Teresitas public beach and the recent outrage over the PGO by-law – which places 30 per cent of the capital's homes and offices outside of planning permission – were common grist for the mill. Santa Cruz mayor Miguel Zerolo and Canarian regional president Antonio Castro from the Canarian Coalition party, along with their allies the conservative People's Party's regional and local leaders José Manuel Soria and Ángel Llanos and the owner of the newspapers El Dia and Canarias 7 were lampooned personally. Not even competition sponsors and Santa Cruz oil refinery owners CEPSA were spared ridicule. During the three days of preliminary heats at the cavernous indoor Recinto Ferial and the final various topical events were dropped into the murgas, including Friday's barely-detectable earth tremor. <http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oCJTZz_GVEc/S28YjpSPhYI/AAAAAAAAAI4/vz8EpNQU0Jw/s1600-h/3nipico-nicorto.JPG> *Ni Pico Ni Corto in their prize-winning astronaut costumes* *Los Mamelucos* (the childish or foolish ones) won the first prize for presentation with their fantasy sylvan spirit costumes. Second place went to *Ni Pico Ni Corto* ('I neither peck nor cut' – meaning 'I'm harmless'), with their silver space-suits, with the head of their goose mascot dangling over their codpieces from their belt buckles. *Las Hechizadas *(the bewitched) won third place with their more conservative clown costumes. The first prize for interpretation was awarded to the *Los Triqui-Traques* (a nonsense-word meaning the noise made by a pair of clackers). Styling themselves the Triqui-Traque Philharmonic, they staged rapid costume, set and musical changes from 70's disco dudes to an orchestra to a ladies synchronised swimming team. Second and third places went to *Los Bambones* and the operatically-named *La Traviata*. Only one women's murga, *Clonicas* (clones) made it to the final. Following their performances the murgeros, still wearing their costumes and make-up, partied with the crowd in the Recinto and the city streets. The murgas are another pleasant surprise for those looking beyond Tenerife's stereotype of sun, sand, sea, and stitched-up politics. <http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oCJTZz_GVEc/S28Xtw9CaZI/AAAAAAAAAIw/ykM9uWpqzPo/s1600-h/1losquesonson.JPG> *Los Que Son Son dressed as medieval Scottish warriors, drawing the link between the flags of Tenerife and Scotland* -- Posted By James Tweedie to ARS NOTORIA<http://arsnotoria.blogspot.com/2010/02/vulgar-profane-and-lewd-murga-canaries.html>at 2/07/2010 08:01:00 PM -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
