Italian popular music and boleros with a cause

Eirinet Gómez

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, October 16, 2025, p. 3

Javier Camarena blushed as soon as he heard the request to sing for the La Jornada camera.

"Can't you see that I get carried away when I have to sing offstage?" he joked, laughing. But he was in a good mood, and after a brief silence, he agreed.

He settled into the armchair in the La Jornada bookstore, took a deep breath, and began to sing Cómo fue , the bolero by Cuban composer Ernesto Duarte Brito. His clear, powerful voice pierced the bookshelves, drifted through the reception area, and traveled through the halls of the building.

The workers in the lobby began to look out, drawn by the unexpected performance. “That was a serenade,” someone commented, noting that the song was dedicated to his wife, who was accompanying him during the interview.

A few minutes earlier, Camarena had shared that the bolero was his standard, and that he would perform with it at the gala he participated in yesterday at the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, an event organized by the Antes de Partir association, in order to raise funds to open a Casa Colibrí in Xalapa, Veracruz, where the tenor is from.

Antes de Partir, through Casa Colibrí in Mexico City, provides medical, psychological, and thanatological counseling to families with children and adolescents with advanced-stage cancer. Camarena became involved with the organization when, during the Fall Festival of the Society of Authors and Composers of Mexico, he proposed bringing music to people who couldn't attend a concert hall.

▲ Tenor Javier Camarena performed Cómo Fue (How It Was) with his wife at this newspaper's bookstore. Photo by Roberto García Ortiz

The initiative found a following, and he soon presented his musical project dedicated to Francisco Gabilondo Soler at a nursing home, a CRIT, and Casa Colibrí, an experience that resonated with the tenor. “That's where I learned about their work; it was very moving, and I gave them my word that I would collaborate whenever possible.”

That's why, when she learned about the space they wanted to open in her homeland, she immediately accepted. "This makes me very happy, it fulfills me, it motivates me, and it makes me feel that my work as a singer has a profound significance," she said.

At the gala, the tenor, along with pianist Ángel Rodríguez, offered a repertoire that combined popular Italian songs and Mexican boleros. "The concert is focused on pleasing the audience, who, by attending, are contributing to this cause."

▲ The installation by artist Elisa Malo, commissioned by the Femsa Collection, will be included in the permanent exhibition at the Diego Rivera House Museum. Photo courtesy of the Femsa Collection/Michelle Lartigue

Reyes Martínez Torrijos

Sent

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, October 16, 2025, p. 4

Guanajuato, Gto., Rumors of the Night , commissioned by the Femsa Collection to Veracruz-born Elisa Malo, took on the task of materializing the dreams told by other people, in what the artist considered an approach to this “potential mythical universe of creation, freedom, and imagination.”

The work, which will be added to the permanent collection of the Diego Rivera House Museum, is part of the visual arts program of the 53rd International Cervantino Festival. On its 50th anniversary, the venue also hosted the exhibitions Kahlo Without Borders and Diego Rivera: Forms of His Imagination .

On the second level, in one of the rooms of the building where the renowned muralist was born, the piece integrates a bed and sheets of Xuan paper illustrated with enigmatic and evocative strokes in a darkened environment. It also includes the audio reproduction of many narratives that the artist collected throughout the installation process.

The proposal was born from a long-term investigation by Malo (Xalapa, 1989), for which he carried out a series of "listening sessions" where several people told him their dreams and with that inspiration he drew on a paper surface and later covered his sculptural installation with it.

He explained that this nocturnal universe "is a very valuable tool for creativity and imagination, which listens and provides this space for dreams as a moment of sensitivity in which I channel what they shared with me. It's a return to intimacy, something we need."

Space of freedom

The graduate of the La Esmeralda National School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving added: “It was very enriching to be able to see the diversity, even in the way of thinking, in how different people's dreams materialize and what they mean to each person. Ultimately, dreams are a space for freedom, resistance, self-knowledge, and a way to slow down the daily pace.”

The artist spoke in her studio with representatives from the Femsa Collection about the themes she was exploring, and they decided to formally invite her to the commission. “It was very enjoyable to have the freedom to imagine and create the piece I wanted.”

In June, he visited Guanajuato, and from that moment on, his artistic process began, influenced by his previous explorations. What was unique this time was that it wasn't based on his own dreams, but rather opened up to those of others.

To make Night Rumors, he captured the dreams he heard on Xuan paper with Chinese ink and, after pouring large quantities of water, waited for the materials to emulsify until they became “dream images.”

“The drawings begin to change shape with the water. I initially drew something very figurative, a scene, a person, or a landscape; as time passes—it could be a few minutes or even the next day—it changes. Images that were initially easy to recognize become abstract stains.”

Elisa Malo emphasized that she likes to think of the result as an analogy to the dream process: "these memories that evaporate, that become less clear, and we find ways to try to recover them. The main thing is the need to contain them in this very useful medium of drawing."

For her part, curator Isis Yépez (Mexico City, 1991) commented that achieving this work was the result of a constant dialogue with the artist to bring together her discourse and what interested her, that perspective of the dream world, as well as to deepen her vision of her interests and research.

“This piece focused a lot on listening to other dreams. From there, the proposal was created in an appreciation of the museum space, which was also a home. It was nice to have the bed installation in dialogue with other rooms and other beds where people once lived and dreamed,” the writer said.

The result included a series of lamps that, like sentinels, illuminate the path to the piece. “From a curatorial perspective, it was also about allowing the environment to change, moving from the daytime world to the dream world, where you are in contact with another space and time.”

Reyes Martínez Torrijos

Sent

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, October 16, 2025, p. 4

Guanajuato, Gto., In the beginning was nakedness, then discovery. The choreographic production "An Eve and an Adam" accompanies the primordial biblical couple on the path of body acceptance and the natural sensuality it represents.

The dance performance by the Danish company Granhøj Dans, directed by dancer and choreographer Palle Granhøj, explores aspects of the mythical sojourn in the original paradise and the time in which they come to terms with what it means to touch. It took place last Tuesday and Wednesday at the Cervantes Theater, as part of the 53rd International Cervantino Festival.

The characters played by Sofia Pintzou and Mikolaj Karczewski meet in the semi-darkness, where the light is tinged with prohibition. They walk a path of conquering modesty and the light that prevents them from touching each other.

The starting point is a dark stage where only the rustling of dry leaves can be heard, and the protagonists rise from the dust to reveal themselves and be seen. The lighting shatters their pleasure, which we recognize from the panting after the cycles in which they unfold.

The staging raises questions about the meaning of the recurrent, murmuring dead leaves, with the trail of dust they produce and the essence of the absolute light that paralyzes them in the moments of enjoyment of their bodies.

Instead, there are faint luminescences that Eve and Adam control and enjoy. Sparks that surround their joy. A place of sylvan murmur is evoked, punctuated by the song of unknown birds. The first reaction upon being illuminated is to conceal their sexes: she dresses, he covers himself with green leaves.

But it is Eve who first executes the movement and the shamelessness. The audacity of living without fear of being seen, although the dance suggests the tension between modesty and insolence. Cyclical time. The greater the intention to conceal it, the more the feminine attitude prevails, and the overall cadence occurs.

They recognize each other's sexes in the darkness, surrounded by the voice of the tape recorder. Again the rustling of leaves. Now he tenses his body in the shadows, perhaps whipped. The light fades and remains in the darkness.

Cyclical: the shared undulation returns, skin against skin. Eve lies and her partner explores her, rubs the entirety of that body. He touches the now dormant flesh, immediately trembling. He caresses vigorously. Movement of limbs, meeting under the revolving or flickering light. The first words between them sound. Her kiss and the fragile sway.

A new separation is imposed, and the bodily release is repeated. A scene of great plasticity, against the wall and in the dim light, magnetism overpowers them. The loving touch subdues them, and they embrace, accompanied by the intimate sound of a piano. A body up to the light. Recumbent, ready, they move away sweating. Gaze in gaze.

And the red apple she gives him, close to her breast. Musical accompaniment. Eve lies down, he offers her his green leaves. The apples multiply. Even one between his knees. Meanwhile, their spasms with Adam's embrace. They devour the fruit. Suddenly they turn, look at us. They look at us and offer us the fruit in unison.

Una Eva y un Adán will be presented tomorrow at the María Grever Theater in León, as part of the Cervantino Circuit.

▲ " Between Quetzalcoatl and Che ," a book by writer and sociologist Tatiana Coll (right), was presented at the International Book Fair in the Zócalo. In the photo, she is accompanied by editor and translator Mar Gámiz and journalist Luis Hernández. Photo by Luis Castillo

Angel Vargas

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, October 16, 2025, p. 5

The book Entre Quetzalcóatl y el Che , by the writer and sociologist Tatiana Coll, is an act of justice, vindicating the life and work of the archaeologist and anthropologist Laurette Séjourné (1911-2003), a central but overshadowed figure in the intellectual history of 20th-century Mexico.

Editor and translator Mar Gámiz, economist and editor Francisco Pérez Arce, and journalist Luis Hernández Navarro agreed on this at the presentation of this work at the 25th International Book Fair in the Zócalo, Mexico City.

The event became a rallying cry for support for the Palestinian people worldwide, concluding with cheers for Palestine, led by the author. It was also announced that the FIL at the Zócalo (World Book Fair) will serve as a collection center for those affected by the rains in Veracruz until its conclusion on Sunday.

The publication of this biography is linked to the 60th anniversary of Siglo XXI Editores, which falls this month and on whose imprint this volume appears.

Séjourné was not only the wife of Arnaldo Orfila, founder and director for nearly five decades (from 1965 to 1989) of that publishing house, a position for which she is best remembered. According to Coll, she herself played a crucial role in the destiny of that cultural enterprise, and she also "has a very personal life: she was an exceptional woman who left a great legacy."

Of Italian origin, naturalized Mexican, she was "a woman of many qualities," whose thoughts and life went against the grain, he said, and described her as a "convinced Marxist," although not following the line of her second husband, the Russian writer and activist Victor Serge.

"She wasn't a member of a party, she wasn't pro-Soviet, pro-Trotskyist, or pro-China," the educator and contributor to La Jornada explained, "but rather a Marxist in the broadest sense of what that can mean."

Arriving in Mexico in 1942, she added, she was a film editor – she participated in the editing of El gran Makakikus , by Joaquín Pardavé – before delving into archaeology, a field called by “machirrines,” as Hernández Navarro would later say.

With a passion that led her to wait for sunrise and sunset in archaeological sites to "make the stones speak," Coll emphasized, she dared to challenge "theories established almost by decree," affirming that Teotihuacan, and not Tula, was the mythical Tollan, the great mother of civilization.

She emphasized that Séjourné, like Leonora Carrington – with whom she was a friend –, Tina Modotti, and Frida Kahlo, “was a fundamentally free woman,” who did not need to declare herself a feminist because she already embodied that freedom.

Regarding the book's title, the author clarified that the name Quetzalcoatl encompasses the woman's archaeological background and the pre-Hispanic deity's sense of the founder of Nahuatl civilization, while the name Che relates to her idea of ​​the "new man." Both figures, she said, represent the search for distinct human communities.

Marked cards

Hernández Navarro, Opinion Coordinator for La Jornada , highlighted the exceptional nature of the book, written with what he called marked cards, in four senses.

The first, a natural empathy between the biographer and the subject, both coming from families of exile and great anti-fascist defeats. The second, the use of Séjourné's private correspondence, which Coll credits with providing the necessary context for a full understanding, he indicated.

The third meaning is "the Cuban key," because, according to the journalist, the archaeologist dedicated many years of her life to supporting and disseminating the Cuban revolution, becoming "an organic intellectual" of the cultural process. He noted that Tatiana Coll followed a similar path, traveling to the island in 1970 and returning as "a supporter of revolutionaries from across the continent" who passed through Mexico.

The fourth letter, she continued, was the close friendship that united both women – Coll was Orfila's secretary – allowing for a deep and intimate look.

“Throughout the book, one sees the importance not only of Orfila, but of Laurette herself as an editor; her influence on difficult decisions (in the 21st century),” Hernández Navarro concluded.

“It's a fascinating work that seeks and succeeds in vindicating a woman who is worth bringing to light, with all her passions, her strengths, and her shadows, in a time like the one we live in.”

Francisco Pérez Arce, editorial director of Fondo de Cultura Económica, emphasized the historical significance of Séjourné, which in his opinion has been overshadowed by the figure of Orfila.

She was recognized not only for her important archaeological work in Mexico, but also as a historical figure who transcends borders, as her life spanned some of the most important periods of the 20th century, such as the First World War, fascism in Italy, and surrealism.

“She herself is a woman-story. In the end, she was Orfila's partner, whose figure overshadowed her. She's a great figure, somewhat forgotten, and well worth getting to know. This book will begin to do her justice.”

For Mar Gámiz, reading this biography not only provides insight into a part of 20th-century history, but also vindicates a female figure who was a key figure in Latin American critical thought and instrumental in the 21st century.

“She is well known for her militant publishing work. Without her work, Siglo XXI would not have been what it is and what it was. Among other things, the publishing house was known between the 1960s and 1980s for introducing translations of Marxist thought; today we know that Laurette Séjourné was behind this.”

Merry MacMasters

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, October 16, 2025, p. 5

Optimizing the public experience so they can more accurately understand the colors, materials, and textures of the 18 murals in the permanent collection housed at the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes (MPBA) is one of the reasons why a new specialized museum lighting system is currently being installed, which is now in its second and final phase.

This project is possible thanks to support granted, both in 2024 and this year, by the Banamex Art and Culture Development Call. According to Miguel Álvarez, associate curator of the MPBA, the change also means improved lighting technology to reach all areas of each mural, as well as improved conservation.

The initiative is being carried out with the support of the National Center for the Conservation and Registration of Movable Artistic Heritage (Cencropam) of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature. Before starting, a comprehensive technical study was conducted that analyzed the specific conditions of each space, including dimensions, materials, location, and lighting levels.

This isn't the first time the lighting has been changed. "José Clemente Orozco's Katharsis mural already had an LED lighting system, but each lamp contained four independent bulbs, and if one of them reached the end of its useful life, it affected the lighting in a certain area of ​​the mural. And so on, each one had to be replaced one by one. This type of technology didn't benefit the restoration or architectural teams, the murals themselves, and much less the public," Álvarez said in an interview with La Jornada .

“Friendly” to the environment

The lighting was inconsistent with the old system. The new technology also uses 25-watt LEDs, which are "environmentally friendly," the curator explains. Each light fixture will have a lifespan of approximately five years. Furthermore, "it is regulated by the lumens, which is the measurement of light radiation within the spectrum that Cencropam approves for the conservation of the murals."

The first stage of the project involved the installation of specialized lighting and the restoration of ceiling panels in the following murals: Birth of Our Nationality (1952) and Mexico Today (1953) by Rufino Tamayo; Xibalba, the Underworld of the Maya by Rina Lazo; Torment of Cuauhtémoc and Apotheosis of Cuauhtémoc (1950-1951) by David Alfaro Siqueiros; Allegory of the Wind (1928) by Roberto Montenegro; Pity in the Desert (1941) by Manuel Rodríguez Lozano; and Third International (1934) by Diego Rivera.

The second and final stage, corresponding to the current year, included Liberation (1963) by Jorge González Camarena, whose work was completed in April. On October 5, work was concluded on Victims of the War (1945), Victims of Fascism (1945), and New Democracy (1944) by David Alfaro Siqueiros, and the lighting change for Rivera's Carnival of Mexican Life (1936) is expected to be completed by November 9.

Until November 2, the focus will be on Katharsis (1934) by Orozco, while the last mural to be changed will be Man Controller of the Universe (1934) by Rivera, from November 10 to December 7.

Álvarez notes that those who cannot attend the MPBA have the option of taking a virtual tour of some of the murals on the venue's microsite, available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPbU7e4cEUJHEt8yAGlw3EUO8iWUC4DxX