“I thought this moment would never come.” The phrase was pronounced by the presenter to the room, Eduardo Bablé, but it could have come from the mouth of any Carnival fan. 809 days after that early morning of February 22, 2020, in the grand finale of the last COAC before the pandemic, the premiere songs began with the first of the two semifinals in the children’s category. The long-awaited Official Contest of Carnival Groups 2022 was taking its first steps. It was “the second day of Kings” for children. “And for us”, added Bablé. The Great Theater Fails, with half entry, I was ready. he opened the curtain the chirigota of Two Sisters ‘Los @yonotube’representing some farmers with a good rhythm, who in their first pasodoble emphasized the privilege that it meant for them to be the first after more than two years without a Contest.
The second performance was Cadiz quartet ‘Those who don’t win for the bus pass’which moved childhood to forties and fifties, as the group staged the cartoon series ‘Around the world of Willy Fog’. Princess Romy, Rigodón, Tico and company showed great self-confidence, not in vain the greyhound comes from caste. Or the Gago, for example. His children, Mario and Asier, appear in this quartet, accompanied by the children of other carnival-goers such as Sergio ‘El Majara’, Chicho and Pepe Vivas. The group echoed the coincidence of the Carnival with the communionsone of the star themes of this May COAC.
The only comparsa that appears, that of Puerto Real, ‘With the passage of time’, he wasted very good workmanship and a outstanding staging: that of a group of dolls and toys in an attic. His potpourri ending was especially emotional, citing all those singularities of Carnival that the fans have missed in these two years.
The second quartet in the running, ‘Los amaros del Parque’, from Cádiz, endorsed the good level of the children’s modality by demonstrating tables. Cadiz type: the children of the Genovés Park umbrella, one of its unique trees, the gardener Eduardo Manostijeras and a boy who loves music. The laughter of the public started with their cuplés, with the same auction, in which they criticized the changes of the names of the streets, with touch to the mayor: “Cámbiate tú la chaqueta that if you are falling chica”.
The first semi-final was closed by chirigoteras and chirigoteros of ‘Las lolas lolitas’, a tribute to Lola la Piconera, the particular fictional heroine in the fight in Cádiz against the French occupation. The boys dressed as French soldiers. Pasodoble to the cigar makers of Cádiz and cupleses where their mothers were protagonists, alluding to Will Smith’s ‘cachetá’ at the Oscar ceremony.
The session, which ended at nine o’clock at night, was more than remarkable, with a good level of quality that will make things difficult for the jury chaired by Mario Rodríguez Parra. The children’s herald of Carnival 2022, Rocío López Helmo, followed from a box the evolutions of the inaugural session of the COAC.
This Thursday the second and last of the children’s semifinals will take place from 6:00 p.m. The chirigota from Cádiz ‘The jumping grasshoppers of the aculaero mountain ranges’, the quartet, also from Cádiz, ‘My what a body’, the chirigota from Córdoba ‘How have you had courage’, the chirigota from Barbate ‘Giving the nota’ and the chirigota from San Fernando ‘Los desollaos’. At the end, the jury will announce the list of finalist groups.
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