The 53rd International Cervantino Festival kicked off in Guanajuato on Oct. 10 with more than 3,400 artists from 31 countries and a special focus on this year’s cultural guests of honor: the state of Veracruz and the United Kingdom. Music, dance, opera and theater performances, along with films and visual art exhibitions, were featured through Oct. 26 and drew more than 330,000 attendees from across Mexico and elsewhere.
Top names included Mexican singer-songwriter Julieta Venegas, who performed with the University of Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra; Nathy Peluso, a Spain-based Argentine rapper; Damon Albarn, a UK singer-songwriter and record producer who performed with Africa Express; Kid Koala, a Canadian scratch DJ and record and theater producer; and Javier Camerena, an operatic tenor from Xalapa who has performed in Europe and the U.S. Many of the performances required paid tickets via Ticketmaster, but several offered free admission.
Origins of the festival
Named for Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, Cervantino has been regularly held in Guanajuato since 1972. However, it was inspired by playwright and professor Enrique Ruelas, who adapted short, comic plays by Cervantes and presented them in the Plaza de San Roque in the 1950s.
One of the many highlights from last week’s loaded Cervantino schedule was Channel One Sound System, a UK-based dub reggae sound system featuring Mikey Dread and three MCs performing with turntables, microphones, amplifiers and loudspeakers to an enthusiastic crowd Oct. 21 at the Alhóndiga de Granaditas esplanade.
The University of Guanajuato hosted a series of films from U.K. and Mexican directors, which, on Oct. 22, included “Mujer de Tierra,” a 2021 short documentary from Evelyn Muñoz Marroquín, and “Chicharras,” a 90-minute feature from Luna Marán released in 2024. Films from U.K. directors Stephen Frears, Ken Loach, Danny Boyle, Mike Newell and others were also spotlighted as part of this year’s festival.
Los Bitchos, a London-based “cumbia-rock” band, took the stage at the Alhóndiga on Oct. 22 and presented an energetic and mainly instrumental set that had the crowd up front on their feet and dancing throughout. Members are pan-continental and consist of lead guitarist Serra Petale from Australia, Uruguayan Agustina Ruiz on synthesizer and keytar, bass player Josefine Jonsson from Sweden and drummer Nic Crawshaw from the U.K.
Scotland and Mexico meet musically
Celtic Fandango, a blend of 14 Mexican and Scottish musicians, enthralled a packed audience at the Alhóndiga on Oct. 24 with a lively and emotive fusion of Veracruz fandango and traditional Gaelic tunes, interspersed with dance steps from both cultures.
On the Mexican side of the stage were Juan José Duarte, Nabani Aguilar Vázquez, Mariel Henry, Sergio Medrano, Julio Aguilar Caletti, Adrián Carrillo and Luis Huerta demonstrating versatility on a variety of traditional and modern instruments. On the Scottish side were Donald Shaw, Ross Ainslie, Kathleen Macinnes, John Sikorsky, Ciorstaidh Beaton, Patsy Reid and Sorren Maclean doing the same.
The creative combination of accordions, harps, violins, guitars, upright bass, bagpipes, whistles, flutes, keyboards, drums, dance and voice proved so exhilarating that the crowd stood as one after the finale and called for an encore, which they happily received.
Bagpipes draw a crowd
For anyone needing another dose of bagpipes, the San Patricio Battalion Bagpipe Band marched to the rescue on Oct. 25 with a one-hour mobile performance that started at Plaza Allende and ended at Teatro Juárez. A big crowd walked along with the pipers and drummers, stopping when the band did and taking cell phone videos of each tune they played.
The Mexico City-based band formed in 1997 to honor the St. Patrick’s Battalion, Irish soldiers who left the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War to fight with the Mexican Army. It’s considered the first Scottish pipe band in the country and is known for combining Mexican music and bagpipes, which the audience clearly appreciated.
A cosmic send-off
The Sun Ra Arkestra of Philadelphia took an Alhóndiga crowd on an interplanetary musical trip Oct. 25 with a two-hour extravaganza of avant-garde jazz, blues, bebop and big band swing. More than a dozen Arkestra members, some band veterans since the 1970s and 1980s, came to Guanajuato for the show, and all sported the colorful, spangled outfits and creative headgear for which they’re known.
Bandleader and saxophone player Knoel Scott stepped in for longtime Arkestra bandleader Marshall Allen, who is 101 years old and no longer tours. Scott simultaneously directed the horn and reed sections, signaled to piano player Farid Abdul-Bari Barron, singer Tara Middleton and drummer George Gray, played the sax and occasionally sang. Later, he even performed some impromptu cartwheels at the front of the stage to loud applause.
The audience refused to let the band go after their hour-and-a-half set and repeatedly shouted for more until they returned to the stage for a long jazzy number during which half the band played their way single-file through the delighted audience. It was a cosmic send-off for the festival’s final Saturday night.
Cathy Siegner is an independent journalist based in San Miguel and Montana. She has journalism degrees from the University of Oregon and Northwestern University.
