Music Mondays: María Rodríguez, the Voice of Cumaná (In memoriam)

Another Music Monday comes by and we are here to talk a bit about the life of María Rodríguez, a famous singer from my hometown, Cumaná.

She passed away 8 years ago, but her voice and personality still echoes through the streets of this city. María was an important voice for our regional music. Her voice wasn't kept for us. She traveled the world her songs and tales always representing the image of our folklore.

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María was born in Cumaná on July 22nd of 1924. During her life, she was knows by several monocles, these include: La Sirena (the mermaid), La Mariposa (the butterfly), La voz de Cumaná (the voice of Cumaná). And from a young age under the tutlage of Aurelia Rodríguez, she was introduced to the world of traditions in the city. Later, it away the poet Santos Barrios who brought her unique voice to the radio.

Jumping forward to the 60's and her first recordings had been made. It's during that decade that her most famous song La Oración del Tabaco became well-known by the public. It based on the tradition of protective magic some women are able to do using tobacco as the main catalyst. In the song, it is said that with a prayer and this medium a woman is able to repel witchcraft.

The songs she compared and sung are full of themes of orak traditions and customs of her time. There are protest songs and others that exalt the heroic past of her hometown. Her discography as a soloist includes 13 Long Plays, and 3 CDs.

Her voice and personality gave her international fame in festivals all over the world. To mention a few of them, she was invited to "Un Cantar del Pueblo Latinoamericano" (Cuba, 1975); "Carifesta" (Jamaica), in Barbados and Trinidad; Memphis May International Festival, Tennessee (USA, 1980). She also sang in Europe, in London; and Lisbon (Portugal 1986).

Her works earned her the distinction of Patrimonio Cultural Viviente del Estado Sucre (a distinction given to folklore keepers who have lived their whole lives in order to preserve the culture of a city or town) in February 1994. She also received the Premio Nacional de Cultura Popular Aquiles Nazoa by the Ministry of Culture in 2008.

Last Tuesday, we were at the house of the poet Ramos Sucre to listen to stories of the life of María Rodríguez told by no other than her pupil and confident, Domelis. This lady is a niece of the aforementioned singer and she accompanied her in many of her travels.

We were delighted to listen to all of the things we miss from just listening to the music. She was colourful character. A lot of other people already knew about these stories, but the younger generations do not. This is a way pass the touch and not karting culture fade away into time.

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And thus the whole life of María Rodríguez was told in the perspective of Domelis and a few annotations of some of the musicians and other personalities in the room. Among the interesting and charming traits of this singer are the fact she named everyone by something that happened or a physical trait. This nickname-giving shenanigans didn't always get her good things. Also, she got into trouble more than once for problems in her love life. And I'm talking about breaking-the-law kind of problems.

My favorite story was at an important festival held in Caracas. It is said she was in this fancy hotel. The restaurant had all these utensils. The thing most people wouldn't recognize like a salad fork and else. When good arrived, she told someone "I'm not using this". And started eating with her bare hands. People around the table look at this gesture and laughed and proceeded to do the same. They claimed that we spent too much time with etiquette where it's not needed. There most be some truth in it.

Of courae talking about a singer isn't enough. After the whole story was told, there was time for music. I like to think the spirit of any musician is there whenever their music is performed. In a kind gesture, before her departure, a festival was held on her name at one of our local schools. María couldn't help but cry in joy. She couldn't believe the younger generations liked her music. And we still do. We have a sample of this here. There was a lot of songs played, sing and danced that day. This is my favorite.

From Maria Rodriguez, in the voice of her niece Domelis accompanied by the group Ensamble Bandola Oriental, "La Tremenda". I hope you enjoy this Merengue as much as the people dancing. And we'll see each other again next Monday!

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