Sara Gonzalez and her Peña

By IRINA ECHARRY, photos by CARIDAD

HAVANA TIMES, February 7 – On the last Sunday of each month, the flowers at the El Jardin de la Gorda Peña open with all their colors and shades to receive a public anxious to hear the voices and songs of Sara Gonzalez and her guests.

With Pucho Lopez on piano, and the support of other musicians, Gonzalez begins at 4:00 p.m.-and there’s no telling when it will end. She says the space is a great place to invite friends and hear their voices accompanying her to fill the afternoon.

During the January peña, Marta Campos, with her eternal smile, sang Vengo de lejos, cansada de amar (I’ve come from far, tired of loving), but everyone knows it was a game, she didn’t look tired.

Heidi Igualada followed with El rastro de una estrella (The trail of a star). She entered the garden with her sweet melodic voice, and even did a bossa nova, though she said she wouldn’t even move her shoulders because she doesn’t dance.

Folk singer Rita del Prado, who specializes in delighting children, this time sang Solo vengo a esconderme en tu sombra (I only come to hide in your shadow) for the adults.

Meanwhile, the wind moved the paintings donated by different Cuban painters to decorate the garden walls of the Centro Iberoamericano de la Decima y el Verso Improvisado, located on A Street in the Vedado district of Havana between 25th and 27th streets.

Also invited were the Jano and Romina Duo from Argentina, who in their songs ask: Where are we headed? Perhaps they remembered that they were traveling around the Americas for eight months until they decided to buy tickets to Cuba, and now they don’t want to leave.

As if it were a wish, Sergio, a security guard, put a sailboat in a bottle. However this time, instead of throwing the bottle into the sea, he gave it to Sara in appreciation of her voice and her music. He didn’t say how he did it. We didn’t even see his face; he just delivered the bottle and disappeared like a ship on the horizon.

The audience included people of all ages, a lot of elderly, and young trova musicians like Augusto Blanca, the Karma Duo, and friends of Sara, who all take advantage of getting together at this concert of women’s music that shows that -according to the host-“the songs never get old as long as people remember them and have them present in their lives.”

To confirm the holding of a Sara Gonzalez peña on the last Sunday of any month, call the Centro Iberoamericano de la Decima y el Verso Improvisado at 837-5383.

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