The Basque Country will donate a ton of musical instruments to Mexico

85 years after the arrival of the ship rail To Mexico, where the first 1,600 refugees traveled, as a result of the Spanish civil war, another ship will transport in April from the port of Bilbao, Spain, more than a ton of musical instruments, which will be delivered free of charge to children and low-income adolescents.

In memory of the feat led by former president Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, when receiving nearly 25 thousand Spanish refugees, the port of Veracruz will also be the scene, on June 7, of the arrival and symbolic delivery of the instruments that more than a year ago they were collected, through donations, by Musicians Without Borders, a non-governmental organization based in the Basque Country.

Key figures of this proposal, Jesús María painted Alegría Urtiaga, president and founder of the collective; Juan Carlos Villamor and Juanjo Bordés, Spanish tenor and performer of ranchera music, also members of Músicos sin Fronteras, had the support of Rafael Jorge Negrete, singer and grandson of Jorge Negrete, and Ricardo Gutiérrez García, director of the Institute of Music and Tradición García Blanco and his typical orchestra, to promote the project with the motto: Better a violin than a rifle.

The objective, says Gutiérrez García, is to allow children and adolescents, mainly from the municipality of Tlapa, Guerrero, with the highest level of poverty in the country; as well as peripheral colonies in the port of Acapulco and communities such as Pinal de Amoles, in the Querétaro mountains, have free access to musical instruments such as guitars, violins, violas, cellos, percussions, metal breaths, wood and accordions, among others. .

It’s not about giving a gift for the sake of a gift. We want them to learn to play an instrument, because we believe that just as the arrival of Spanish refugees more than 80 years ago generated a fabric of love, the children who receive these instruments will continue to weave that story that has united us for almost a century.he emphasizes.

In interview with The Conference, painted Alegría narrates that “when Juanjo came to propose the project, I clearly said yes. Basque word that we are going to empty the bank of instruments that we have to go to Mexico, because we want to be very grateful for the asylum, the shelter that they gave to the Spanish refugees and many Basques. We are very happy that they have helped Mexico economically and culturally.

It is a tribute, but it is also a historical memory, and it is the recognition of Mexico as a supportive and welcoming country.assures painted.

In it rail, which made landfall in the heroic port of Veracruz on June 13, 1939, not only workers and peasants traveled, but also intellectuals, scientists and creators. Among them, Tomás Segovia, Ramón Xirau, José Gaos, Eduardo Nicol, Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez, the photographer Julio Mayo and Pedro Garfias, who contributed to the advancement of sciences and arts in Mexico.

In tribute to those who made possible that bond of solidarityMusicians Without Borders is preparing various concerts in our country and a ceremony that is planned to be held in the port of Veracruz next June, with the possible assistance of engineer Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano, son of General Lázaro Cárdenas, and representatives of the government of the Basque Country.

We have the promise that he will attend, because it is a recognition of his father’s work and all Spanish refugees.says Ricardo Gutiérrez, who promotes the typical children’s and youth orchestra, one of the few that still exists in our country.

Juanjo Bordés, who since he was a child, confesses, liked ranchera music and today is one of its greatest interpreters in the Basque Country and Navarra, points out that the project was born to think, along with Rafa Negrete, about how many Spanish refugees went to Mexico and were helped. And now we can do our bit.

As has been said, It is not carrying a container of instruments and leaving it; No, what we want is that with the support of people like Ricardo (Gutiérrez), this project becomes bigger. May many more people learn music, and may this effort continue.

Juan Carlos Villamor, co-director of Músico sin Fronteras, highlights that the collection of many instruments was achieved with the support of donations, musical groups and manufacturing companies that “have donated them new, unused, without leaving the box, and this , because they know that they go to needy people in Mexico, and they go with great emotion, because they are instruments of people who have studied with him, and now they have said: ‘let a Mexican child have it.'”

He emphasizes that Musicians Without Borders has been defending human rights through music for 25 years, and their support has not only reached Mexico, in Guatemala they have been helping the cooperative for 12 years. The memory, in which more than 6 thousand women participate who have received support for literacy and job training. In the case of women, he adds, It has sought to strengthen their autonomy, control of their income and their participation in the political decisions of their communities..

In addition to The memoryMusicians Without Borders participates in Cape Verde, Africa, in the creation of the Freedom Orchestra, as well as in various projects in the Middle East, Morocco and Ukraine.