In Vallarta there is always something old too..
Volta
I told you about some of the cultural events that accompanied last February’s Winefest in Puerto Vallarta. Something I will never forget was the performance of the group Volta, performing music from across the last 2000 years!
 Well, they made surprise visit and this time they played at the church of San Miguel at the main square of El Pitillal, a town that now is part of the city of Puerto Vallarta. This church features a monumental Jesus carved out a single huge piece of wood.
The setting made for a fantastic experience with great acoustics too.
There were nine performers, they played about ten different flutes and wind instruments; as far as strings are concerned, they carry a great diversity of differently shaped violin relatives, as well as cellos, guitars, lutes and even a hurdy-gurdy or wheel-fiddle. Percussions also vary in materials and size, there were drums, cymbals, rattles and things I have no idea what they may be called but the ensemble is exceptionally harmonious and captivating.
They sang in Spanish, German, Latin, Hebrew, Portuguese and transported us through time and space from the middle-east in the tenth century; the England and Mediterranean Europe of the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries and Mexico, then colonial New Spain, of the seventeenth century.
The leading voices are Vladimir Gómez, tenor, with a vigorous voice and personality; and Angélica Cortez, soprano, the most graceful of mythological species, the blending of a bird with an angel, capable of charming anyone into believing themselves part of fairy tales or epic legends.
I will try keep track of where they will be performing next and remember to let you know..
Papantla Flyers
And talking about old things that make news, we should not forget that the Birdmen, the “Voladores de Papantla” (or Papantla Flyers) perform daily and nightly at the “Malecón” (boardwalk by the water) and all visitors and locals alike can enjoy their performance for free!
 The Papantla Flyers originated in Papantla, Veracruz, in the Mexican Gulf Coast back in the Pre-classic period (2500 b.c.- 200 a.d.) and you are glad you don’t have to wait 52 years to watch this celebration. 52 years was the length of the Mesoamerican century and the times the four “Hombres Pájaro” (or Birdmen) turn around the pole, 13 times each, from the moment they leap from about a hundred feet high to the time they touch the ground.
I could not tell you in these few lines all about the beautiful history across art, religion, astronomy, mysticism and nature that accompanies this ritual so you’ll have to come down and see the feathered men dance across the Vallarta sky by yourselves, on the “Malecón” by our traditional monument of the kid riding a seahorse. See you there. Email to a friend
Eduardo Rincón-Gallardo
E-mail: toureps@prodigy.net.mx
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