They prepare the chingana of the Patron Saint Santiago
The Chingana will take place next Saturday, starting at 4 p.m., on Sarmiento Street. It's a very old tradition that includes singing and dancing.
On Saturday the 19th, starting at 4 p.m., the second chingana will be held on Sarmiento pedestrian street in honor of Santiago Apóstol, the patron saint of Mendoza .
According to the event organizers, La Chingana is a place where people sing and dance, with a very old tradition , as it takes us back to Mendoza in the early 19th century.
“Returning to the chinganas and honoring our patron saint will be a sensory journey on Sarmiento pedestrian street, connecting us with men and women who preserve the dances of 1800s Mendoza , inviting us to dance cuecas, gatos, chacareras, and zambas,” says journalist and teacher Serafín García Sáez, one of the organizers of the event, along with the organization “Friends of Don Pedro Sosa. The Immortal Herder.”
The Saturday event, which will last approximately three hours , will feature performances by, among others, the José Hernández ensemble from the Directorate for Senior Citizens; the Gaucho Federation's Folklore School; the dance groups Sol Incaico, Brisas Maipucinas, Amigos de la Danza, and Los Bailarines del Hualilán. Also performing will be the Lucerito Ballet, representatives of national and Cuyanía folklore, Omar Hernández and Eduardo Campos, and the tangos of Juan Barrera.
It is said that the chinganas were the ancestral site of Peruvians and Chileans, where they distilled sociability and popular entertainment. However, when they were conceived in colonial Mendoza, they became the archive where the zamacueca, created in Lima, acquired the identity of the cueca and was catechized with the tune as the expression of the soul of Cuyanía. There, musicians, singers, payadores, and poets also shaped the songs and dances, preserved the traditions, and became guardians of our deepest roots.
The Mendoza folklore composer, Alberto Rodríguez, the first compiler of Cuyo's popular music in the 19th century, maintains that in ancient Mendoza, the chinganas were housed in old mansions or in ranches with eaves, with large dirt patios, and he notes that the one run by a "strong-willed woman on what is now the corner of Córdoba and San Martín" stood out.
For his part, Juan Draghi Lucero affirms that in them: “the lyrical and choreographic art of Cuyo was polished to perfection. The best guitarists, harpists, and requintists had their place of honor in these places. There, the singing 'girls' shone, and the refined tap dancers showed off their unparalleled moves…”
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