Agustín Lara was a Mexican composer and performer of songs and boleros.
Gerardo Agustín Lara, son of the famous Mexican singer and actor Agustín Lara, El Flaco de Oro, assured this Tuesday that his father was a feminist, one of the reasons why his memory must be preserved with events such as the Agustín Lara International Festival (Tlacotalpan, 1897-1970), which will be held in April in the magical town of Tlatlauquitepec.
"(Lara) was a feminist. She empowered and liberated women. They were women they had in their homes and who listened to the radio and Lara was profane at that time. She also made protest songs, and, although few people know it , I have a manuscript that he did: ‘sing of the regiment’, to exalt the patriotic fervor, "the son of Agustín Lara explained to Efe.
From April 8 to 12, the Agustín Lara International Festival will take place in the municipality of Tlatlauquitepec, in the mountains of the central state of Puebla, a magical town in which both Agustín Lara’s father and the family’s surname were born.
As explained by the municipal president Porfirio Loeza Aguilar in a press conference in Mexico City, on this occasion they wanted to give a twist to the Cerro Roja Festival, which was already done in other years, and dedicate the importance of this mountain with great value for culture pre-Hispanic to the artist who crossed borders and composed part of the current Mexican songbook with songs like "Noche de ronda" or "Solamente una vez".
The celebration of this event, which was previously held in Veracruz, comes after a year in which there was no celebration dedicated to this beloved artist in his native land (Veracruz).
Despite the fact that a few years ago the festival began with great force with a tour from Spain (land on which Lara composed several songs even when she did not know it) to Veracruz passing through other places such as Argentina or Cuba, the support has been diminishing.
"If Puebla wants to do an Agustín Lara Cerro Rojo International Festival, and if they wanted to do many in other places. Well, how good that my father’s work is preserved because there is much to tell about his own myth that he made," said Gerardo Agustín Lara.
During the five days of the festival, not only concerts and activities related to El Flaco de Oro will take place, but also other types of actions focused on publicizing the culture of Tlatlauquitepec, a municipality with great gastronomic, cultural and natural attractions of 53,500 inhabitants.
Also present will be artists such as the Peruvian Tania Libertad, the versatile Astrid Hadad, the rocker Javier Bátiz (present at the press conference) and others such as Rubén Albarrán (Café Tacvba) and Óscar Chávez.
"For me, who was born in Peru and has been in Mexico for 40 years, it is an honor to remember the music of Agustín, whom I saw in the movies. Being at a festival that honors him is very significant for me," he told Efe Libertad. .
Bátiz and Hadad agreed that it is "fantastic" that the singer’s memory is not lost with the preparation of this type of event that shows that Lara continues to gain followers today, 50 years after his death.
Gerardo Agustín Lara highlighted, finally, that "wherever he goes" he finds people who love his father’s music and that young people continue to discover his figure and some have given impetus to his music, such as Natalia Lafourcade, also from Veracruz, with her tribute album "Divine Woman" (2012).
"That affection with which people talk to me about him … That is his legacy. It is something inexplicable: wherever I go, they talk beautifully about my father," he concluded.
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