New and Current Trip

Hi guys this is going to be a little different, this time I did not travel to contests. I entered the university and at that moment started another completely different journey. I was not in the band full time and little by little I started to get away from the music, but one day I found myself in front of a saxophone, an instrument that I had only played a couple of times and out of curiosity, from that moment I fell in love with He and as I loved the clarinet I started to adore this wonderful instrument.

I started attending the saxophone classes at the university and later I joined the "Son de la U" orchestra, where I participated in several presentations within the university and at the end of the semester festivals for 3 semesters. I also played with several university welfare groups, enjoying these experiences to the fullest.

Since last year I started with something new, even though I had already played alto saxophone and tenor, I had the opportunity to experience something new, play a soprano saxophone, I will not deny that it was difficult to start, but things started to improve, now belonged to the quartet of saxophones of the university. I still remember the feeling when we officially presented at the gala concert that provides university welfare each semester, the panic was too much, but everything went well, everyone was very happy for the group, I think we have become a kind of family, Juanita , Rodo, Kelly, Paulo and me.

And here I go, this is my current trip, besides participating in the big band of the university, recently we participated in the Ajazzgo festival held here, in the city of Cali and we will be presenting soon in the Heroes Fest and in Bethoben 7:30.

This story continues, so you can expect a new entry and remember that Giuseppe Mazzini said: "Music is an echo of the invisible world"

National Contest of Unpublished Music of Municipal Bands"Luis Mario Lopeda"

San Pedro revives every year one of the most traditional festivals of Valle del Cauca, such as the National Contest of Unpublished Music of Municipal Bands that already completes 30 editions to 2018 and that bears the name of Luis Mario Lopeda, one of the musicians most important born in this municipality. The development of the event takes place within the framework of the patron saint festivities or feast of San Pedro. Its climate is around 23 ° C and is located near Buga, Tuluá and Cali.

The social and cultural corporation Crescendo to which I belong participated in 2016 in version 18 of this event as well as bands from different regions of the country, the winner in this version was the San Juan Bautista de la Salle.

On this occasion the lodging for us was the neighboring municipality of Tuluá and the food in San Pedro, so we moved in the morning and returned in the afternoon or evening. It was impressive how many people went out to the streets to enjoy not only the event, but also the festivities. In the night of verbena something very nice happened and it was that the San Pedro band joined former members, who are now recognized professional musicians, especially in the world of Salsa.

The private audition round was held in an educational institution and the parade through the streets of the municipality was full of joy. Trade was concentrated around the park and everyone, inhabitants and travelers enjoyed it equally and peacefully. One of the most moving moments was on the final night, when we showed up on the main stage. 

I hope you excuse the little content of this post, but as I told you before I have a memory of chick. 

This is the end of the first stage of this trip, in the next installment I may talk about my musical experience and instrument change, for the moment, just remember that Lao Tzu said: "What the caterpillar calls the end, the Rest of the world calls you butterfly"

8th National Festival of Children's Music Bands

This festival is held every year in chinchiná caldas, a town surrounded by coffee plantations and beautiful landscapes, this place is cold and rainy, it is near the snow park and cataloged as the electric city of Colombia because there are two hydroelectric plants, the Ínsula and the Esmeralda.

Every year this national festival of children's music bands takes place, where delegations from the different departments of Colombia participate, in the 8th edition in which we participated as a social and cultural corporation "Crescendo" representing the Valle del Cauca, there were also the bands of Sopetrán and Santa Rosa de Osos, for Antioquia; Rondón and Pachavita, for Boyacá; the Obra Salesiana del niño Jesus, for Bogotá; Villa Pinzón and La Peña, for Cundinamarca; Mundo Nuevo de Pereira, for Risaralda; Leyva, for Nariño; Yotoco for Valle, and Villamaría and San Juan Bautista de La Salle of Manizales, for Caldas. (The image corresponds to the badge of my best friend because I could not find mine)

This time we stayed in a hotel and shared rooms and beds, depending on the bone structures of each one we made groups of 5 to 6 people to occupy a room with two beds, many of the parents slept in the corridors of the hotel or in other parties, while the older boys had the responsibility for the rooms. Despite the limited space, the people in charge of the place were very friendly and always there to help us.

The food this time was in a restaurant (do not ask me the name because I do not remember) and honestly I did not like it very much, but people took good care of us and they also lent us the place for quick changes of clothes before the parade and presentations in the stage. For the parade that year the mothers of the children of the corporation made costumes representative of the Cali fair, as seen in the images and the whole community liked it. During the 3 days that the event lasted we made friends, not only of the other bands but of chinchiná, because the joy of its people filled every space and filled us with good vibes.

The next installment will be the last of my participation in children's or youth bands, so I hope you like it and remember that George Sand said: "One is nearing the end of the journey, but the end is a goal, not a catastrophe."

38th National Band Contest (Paipa Boyacá)

Paipa is a municipality located in the department of Boyacá, where 43 national bands competitions have been held, which have been of national cultural interest since 2004. The organization of the event is carried out by corpbandas that seeks to strengthen the Bands of Music with technical criteria to promote "Music for the Peace of Colombia". The contest has categories for child, youth, basic, party, special and professional/university for the enjoyment of the community. At present, international guests also participate, in 2016 there were bands from Venezuela and Panama.

It is interesting to see how this type of events grow for the benefit of the country. I remember that when I was a member of the band "Región Calima", representing the Valle del Cauca in the youth category, I experienced one of the best experiences of my life. In 2012 when I participated, the tribute to maestro Pacho Galán and the 35 best groups of the country by region was being made, we had to interpret one of his works, besides participating in parades, open-air dances, stage presentations and private with the jury.

The band was made up of 43 musicians from the municipalities of Restrepo and Darién, at that time I played clarinet and everyone was afraid, because although we had prepared a lot for the contest, the level of the bands that are presented in Paipa is very high. The lodging was in a Hotel in another municipality and the feeding was in Paipa, in the house of Mrs. Patricia, reason why it was necessary to move us in bus of a municipality to another one. The food was very rich and the people very friendly, in the atmosphere of the whole place felt the musical party and among the members of the bands the atmosphere was warm, although competitiveness was not left aside. We kept with sack almost all the time and we only took them off for presentations becasuse Paipa is a municipality with cold weather.

Representative band of the Valle del Cauca

Parade with typical costumes 

San Miguel Arcángel church

The private presentation was made in San Miguel Arcángel church, a monument to culture and tradition. The presentations on the platforms that are shown in the images as well as the parade through the streets of the municipality. One of the most beautiful experiences I've had is to watch a fireworks show in Sochagota Lake during one of the nightly touches, that moment when the light is reflected in the water is perfect and wonderful was to enjoy this experience with music from background and with all the members of the bands and the community reunited with a same feeling, love for the art, the pentagram and the music.

Sochagota Lake

Presentation in Sochagota Lake

Dear readers, I am very sorry, but the content of the next entries will be short, because I have a bad memory and little photographic material, but remember that Benjamin Franklin said: "Human happiness is not usually achieved with great strokes of luck, which can happen a few times, but with small things that happen every day"

The Beginnings

Who could have thought 11 years ago that today I would be sitting in front of a computer describing the moments and places that made me live music?

I said that I was going to talk to you about different contests and festivals, but when I remember the beginnings of this musical journey that I still am in, I feel nostalgic and I think it is necessary to write a little more about them.

As a child I remember playing clarinet all the time and participating in different regional and national competitions with the bands of the municipalities of Darién and Restrepo. This is the only time I will talk about everyone in general, besides presenting some random photographs because I do not remember many details.

Opening parade

Private presentation

Official parade

Presentation on stage 

As you can see in the images, we were all very small and enjoyed each outing to the fullest. The trip was by bus to any part and normally we left Restrepo or Darién at 3 or 4 in the morning. When we arrived at the place where the contest was held, the whole community welcomed us with open arms and there was always an opening parade, and then we moved to the place where we were going to stay. Many times schools were used to host the members of the bands, other times we stayed at the hotel and how we could not avoid it even in a rather terrifying convent. We slept in rooms between parents and children or all in a classroom on mats. Today I laugh at all this, they say that to remember is to live and at this moment I feel myself traveling through each of these places. 

The community of each of the places actively participated in these festivals, each band had a group of people assigned to accompany them in parades, festivals, private presentations and on stage. In addition, there was always a guide who accompanied us everywhere. The food was in the living room of the houses and I do not remember bad times, there we ate for 3 days at breakfast, lunch and dinner, the food was usually characteristic of the region and people were always happy with our presence. I remember that once, at the last dinner before traveling back, the lady of the house took us mariachis as a token of gratitude for the visit. 

In this way I visited places in Colombia such as Villamaría, Chinchiná, Neira, El Giro and Riosucio in the department of Caldas, I made trips through the coffee axis like Armenia, Salento and Filandia, went to la Vega in Cundinamarca, to Paipa in Boyacá, to San Pedro, Cartago, Buga, Cali, Tuluá, Versalles, Bolivar, Pradera, Yotoco, La Victoria, Obando and Alcalá in Valle del Cauca and other places. In the next posts I'm going to talk about some of these experiences that I remember and excuse my memory of chick. 

Do not forget that Carl Sagan said: "we are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever"