Close to ten years ago, I first heard a live concert by Tania Libertad. She sang as one of the invitados de honor (honored guests) at the Encuentro Internacional de Mariachi (International Mariachi Festival) in Guadalajara. To say she knocked my socks off is an understatement. Unless noted, all photos are copyright Mexico Cooks!.
Less than two years after performing as one of the Mariachi Festival's guests of honor, Tania Libertad returned to Guadalajara for a solo concert in the Plaza de los Fundadores (Founders' Square). My neighbor and I attended that concert and were privileged to meet the artist. Soon thereafter, Tania invited me to her home in Mexico City for a private conversation. That conversation, published here on September 1, 2007, has been quoted repeatedly in articles by others as source material regarding her long and brilliant career.
Fast forward a few years: in February 2012, Tania Libertad celebrated her 50th anniversary as a professional singer. Seeing her ageless beauty and hearing her magnificent voice, it is frankly impossible to believe that she has been performing professionally since age nine, when she first made recordings in her native Perú.
Tania has sung and been celebrated throughout Europe, parts of Africa, and Oceanía. Of course she has given frequent concerts all over the Americas. She has recorded 38 CDs, with sales totalling well into the millions of copies. Today, she is one of the most widely recognized Latin American singers and arguably the most notable singer of what many people call World Music.
Passion and commitment for the values of love of life and the human rights struggle have marked Tania's career from the beginning. In 1997, UNESCO honored her lifelong work by naming her an Artist for Peace. In addition, she has been decorated by the governments of Argentina, Brazil, and Spain, as well as having been the recipient of numerous awards and decorations from both her native Perú and her adopted Mexico. In 2009, she received a special Grammy award for lifetime musical excellence.
Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Palace). Photo courtesy Luis Osorio. In February 2012, in celebration of her 50th professional anniversary, Tania sang two successive nights of sold-out three-hour concerts in the auditorium of this magnificent building. Mexico Cooks! was there with a group of friends on the first night, seated second row center.
Tania sang more than 35 songs during the concert we heard, accompanied by her incredibly talented 10-member band of musicians as well as by the Mexico City Orquesta Stravaganza. Among the passionate songs she chose to present was La Paloma (The Dove) by Rafael Alberti. When Nobel laureate José Saramago heard her sing this song for the first time, he wrote, in part, "...cada nota acariciaba una cuerda de mi sensibilidad hasta el desalumbramiento..." ('each note caressed a chord in my feelings until I was completely dazzled...')
One of the evening's surprises (although Tania had whispered that he might sing with her) was an appearance by Armando Manzanero, one of Mexico's most prolific and treasured song writers. He and Tania are old friends and have often sung publicly and recorded together. They brought the house down as they sang three songs during this concert.
During his long career, Manzanero has written more than 400 songs, including many which are considered to be standards in Mexico's romantic genre. His most famous songs include Voy a apagar la luz (I'm Going to Turn Off the Lights), Contigo Aprendí ( With you I Learned... ), Adoro (I Adore), No sé tú (I don't know about you...), Por Debajo de la Mesa (Under the Table), Esta Tarde Vi Llover (This Afternoon I Saw It Rain), Somos Novios (English version "It's Impossible"), Felicidad (Happiness) and Como Han Pasado los Años (How the Years Have Passed By).
Listen to Tania Libertad and Armando Manzanero singing a duet of Como Han Pasado los Años, recorded on the DVD titled Manzanero y La Libertad.
The elegantly dressed crowd gathered and we began to settle into our seats. We all watched the famous curtain at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, waiting for it to be raised for the start of the concert.
The early 20th century Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass curtain in the Palacio de Bellas Artes depicts (left) Iztaccíhuatl (the Sleeping Woman), Mexico's third-highest mountain at 17,126 feet; (center) the valley of Mexico, and (right) Popocatépetl, Mexico's second-largest mountain at 17,802 feet and the country's largest active volcano. The curtain, from designs by Mexican artist Gerardo Murillo (better known as Dr. Atl), is made of nearly one million pieces of stained glass. It weighs 24 tons and is the only one of its kind in the world.
Detail of the poppies at the lower right corner of the Tiffany curtain.
The pre-concert anticipation in the auditorium for the first night, which sold out several weeks in advance of its date, was a whirling buzz of whispers, eddies of perfume, and flourishes of fancy dress and furs. Mexico Cooks! had heard that Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón and his wife, Margarita Zavala, would attend and sure enough, shortly before the curtain went up they helicoptered into the theater atrium and were seated without fanfare in the presidential box. From the next box, Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera) leaned over to chat briefly with the president. Carlos Slim, businessman extraordinaire (yes, he's the wealthiest man in the world) was present, too, along with a number of Mexico's notable stars, including Silvia Pinal. Consuelo Sáizar, the president of CONACULTA, the Mexican government's arts council, also attended.
During the concert, Tania sang some of the most important songs she has interpreted. She sings to touch the heart, to touch the mind, and to touch the soul. She sings to advance the fight for human rights, both here at home and around the world. And, after acknowledging the presence of Mexico's president, she sang two of her strongest songs: La Maza (The Mallet), by Cuban trova writer and singer Silvio Rodríguez, which speaks of beauty, hope, song, and the battle for human rights; and D.L.G., by the Argentine artist Fito Páez, which speaks of love, prophecy, change, and apocalypse.
About 40 years ago, Tania began singing Alfonsina y el Mar, which she continues to sing at the close of each of her performances. She closed her anniversary concert with the song, sung a cappella as always in her crystal-clear voice. The audience, raptly attentive and steeped in emotion, barely breathed as she sang.
After the concert, Tania greeted Judy and me backstage. We congratulated her and chatted for a few minutes. Photo courtesy Celia Marín.
Felicidades en tu aniversario, querida amiga Tania--enhorabuena! (Congratulations on your anniversary, dear friend Tania--all best wishes!)
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Good on you TANIA LIBERTAD for using your voice to sing out the peace we so needed for this world in this decade. Thanks for sharing this post. I enjoyed it!
Posted by: Vinnie | March 10, 2012 at 02:53 AM