Mérida, Yucatán, September 29th, 2023.- With anecdotes, interpretations of Armando Manzanero’s romantic compositions and outstanding anecdotes of his life and transcendence in the universal sound field, the homonymous book of this world icon was presented at the Music Palace, National Center of Mexican Music.
The work, of great aesthetic and documentary value, which was supported by the Government of the State of Yucatan, headed by Mauricio Vila Dosal, was presented in the presence of the Secretary of Culture and Culture (SEDECULTA), Loreto Villanueva Trujillo, its creators, family, friends, the artistic and literary community and the general public.
“This book ‘Armando Manzanero’, the magnum opus that we present tonight, confirms that the image and legacy of our musician will endure in present and future generations. He is already one of our great classics. A reference of Yucatecan music in the select pentagram of universality. Our goal is to make this book available to the greatest number of Yucatecans,” said Villanueva Trujillo before the Secretary General of Government, María Fritz Sierra.
The writer and essayist Pável Granados, who wrote the prologue, said that it is a dream that came about three years ago and “today it is an incredible reality that makes you want to have it and not let go of it, to read it and see the secrets it holds.
He emphasized that Manzanero was a universal man whose mother tongue was Mayan and that he never neglected that belonging and knew how to carry it because he was a man who never forgot that love for his land and knew how to take it everywhere.
“It is another window to a material that for the first time sees the light, which is the collection of the Manzanero family itself, a newspaper account of the infinite amount that has been written about the maestro Manzanero,” he added, with Martín Urieta, president of the Board of Directors of the Society of Authors and Composers of Mexico (SACM), as his witness.
Yucatecan researcher and author of the texts, Enrique Martín Briceño, read the sections entitled Su Yucatán, La recta final and Manzanero por siempre, included in the publication, in which the regional origin of the artist and the reasons why he was identified with Yucatán predominated.
He agreed with Granados that “Manzanero never abandoned the characteristic intonation of the region, one of the distinctive elements of Yucatecan culture. He kept the voice of his accents and carried it around the world as a flag of his Yucatecanness.
Meanwhile, the editor, Alberto Tovalín Ahumada, recalled that it was in December 2020, when Manzanero was told of the desire to carry out this project, but in view of his death on December 28 of that year, it became urgent to do so in order to leave testimony of his enormous legacy.
The first support came from the family, the Ministry of Culture through the Fonoteca Nacional, the head of the State Executive of Yucatán, through SEDECULTA, and sponsors. The accompaniment of Laura Blum, who was the artist’s manager, was fundamental.
“Finally, Armando Manzanero has a book, an iconography, that takes us to the rhythm of his songs, to his origins, anecdotes, and successes that he accumulated throughout his prolific life. This book, is of great aesthetic and documentary value, both for the research and for the rescue of images, documents, and testimonies in his own voice. It celebrates the career of one of the most important composers of all times,” he said.
In his opportunity, José Antonio Ceballos, a friend of the singer-songwriter, recounted passages he experienced with the “most universal Yucatecan” and said, accompanied by moderator Edgar Cruz Sánchez, “I was a witness to his character, his courage, and his kindness. Being his friend has been one of the greatest and most endearing privileges of my life”.
Throughout the event there were interventions by Javier Alcalá with the well-known song by Manzanero, “Mía”; then Maricarmen Pérez sang “Con sabor a clavo”, both accompanied by Trovanova, Los Trovadores de Yucatán, “Que ni me entere” was also heard, with Juan Palacios on the piano and the voice of Eduardo Vázquez and María Medina with “Como yo te amé”, these two with pianist Juan Palacios.
In addition to being distributed to public libraries in the state, a digital booklet -a summary of the book- is available to all citizens on the website cultura.yucatan.gob.mx, while in October copies will be on sale at the Sedeculta Bookstore, located in the “Manuel Cepeda Peraza” Central State Library in downtown Mérida, Yucatán. They will cost 600 pesos.
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