The carnival legacy of the ‘Agüillo’, at the disposal of the people of Cadiz

Rosales Márquez and Rosales Romero, father and son. Gustavo and Manuel. The ‘Agüillo’: two generations of authors who are in the carnival Olympus. The legacy of both is found since yesterday in an unbeatable place, which is none other than the Municipal Historical Archive, available to the public thanks to the donation of the family of both copleros. Lola Cazalilla, mayor of Culture and Festivities, praised the generosity of the relatives for donating “These Carnival jewels that are already being digitized so that they are available to fans.”

This is how Soledad Rosales, Gustavo’s daughter and Manuel’s sister, who died a few months ago, wanted it. Before dying, he asked his niece, Pilar Vázquez Romero, that the legacy be at the disposal of Cádiz. After offering it to the Archive, Pilar signed the assignment yesterday with Cazalilla in an act in which another relative was also present, Pilar Romero Pareja, sister of the remembered José Manuel Romero Pareja ‘El Petra’, also related to the ‘Agüillo’.

The legacy contains treasures such as photos, booklets, handwritten letters reviewed by censorship, a football pool on the back of which is written a couplet or a recording of a rehearsal by the comparsa ‘Nuestra Andalucía’ in which the pasodoble is heard with a different music trio from the one that arrived at the Falla, probably recorded in the first few months. The final one became more lucid, without a doubt. As explained by José Fernández Domínguez, a worker at the Municipal Historical Archive in charge of digitization, who was accompanied by the director of the center, Javier Fernández, among the bequeathed treasures is a cassette tape with the voice of Manuel Rosales ‘Agüillo Son’ singing the part of the troupe ‘Requiebro’. And it is that many of the memories of this coplero have to do with his cupletera contributions to comparsas, mainly to that of the Nuestra Andalucía peña, also collaborating with Antonio Martín. In addition, among the legacy there are photos and booklets of his great quartets.

‘Agüillo Son’ composed for the story ‘Don Mendo y sus mendas lerendas’, ‘The wedding of the century’, ‘Great stories’ or ‘Dallas’, accompanied by El Peña, El Masa or the Scapachini brothers. José Fernández pointed out that “this type of legacies, if they stay at home, they are not shared”, adding that in the documentation received “there are scripts from the 1920s to the 1980s of the last century.”

Gustavo Rosales, Agüillo Sr., he magnified the party by putting lyrics to choirs like ‘Los gondoliers de Venecia’ or ‘Los musqueteros’, and chirigotas like’ Los tacaños’, ‘Los cristobalitos’,’ Los humoristas’, ‘Los amargaos’,’ Los guachisnays’, ‘ The ceporros’ or ‘The town sheriffs’. Of these last two, the lyrics submitted to the censorship have been donated to the Archive.

Pilar Vázquez stressed on behalf of the family that the donation “we owe to Soledad Rosales Romero, inheritance from her father and brother, the two important figures in the history of the Cádiz Carnival.” She told me many times that when I was absent I would do what I wanted, and I have. The inheritance is now for the people, for those who composed them and for those who like Carnival and its history ”.

Finally, taking advantage of the presence of the mayor of Fiestas, requested a star on the Cádiz Carnival Walk of Fame at the door of the Gran Teatro Falla for Gustavo Rosales, Manuel Rosales and ‘El Petra’.

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