The preparation of this June Carnival and its contests and galas has been complicated for everyone, murgas included, who have returned this week to the stage of the Fairgrounds for their event. the mythical Bamboos act today, in the third phase, and its director, Primi Rodríguez, with more than 30 years at the head of the murga, admits that it has been a difficult year: “The components that come out this year have terrible merit, it is what like, our party, and, in this case, Bambones says that it goes out for the people, because the most comfortable thing would have been not to go out, because it has been a very difficult year, but we do it because we want, from our modesty, to do our bit so that everything goes back to normal and people have a little bit of enjoyment and happiness, and for that it is worth the sacrifice”.
And it is that two years of pandemic, with the confinement, its restrictions and the continuous changes in regulations, have taken their toll. “We, of 97 components, in this Carnival we are going to go out with 72, we hope to recover in September [de cara al Carnaval de 2023], but it is an example of what has gone down, and all groups are similar”, Primi points out in a sense. In fact, the director of the El Cardonal murga even affirms that “with the pandemic the groups are in danger, and I think they are in danger, not of complete disappearance, but of unsubscribing from the number of groups, murgas and everything. ”. This is so because, with the confinement and restrictions, “people have discovered the nights off, with the family, that this hobby takes up a lot of time, we have accommodated ourselves and for many their safety is in their environment. Now it’s hard to get out.”
“That is why this June Carnival was important, to get back together and that there is enthusiasm to start again in September for the February 2023 Carnival”, he indicates. In this sense, Primi considers that this Carnival, although it was almost summer, was “necessary, in all areas”, not just the economic one. “Socially for the city, the Island and for us it is great, people want to be distracted, they want to make up for lost time and have a social life, and I think it is necessary to recover everything, to get together, hug each other, forget what we have been through and Let’s start living normally. And this Carnival is also good for 2023, so that everything is the same”, he emphasizes.
For this reason, from the murga they have worked hard, and adapting to all the restrictions and different phases of the pandemic, to get out this year, first when there was talk of February and then when it was delayed to June. “It has been very expensive, rehearsing by groups of a maximum of 15-20 people, by groups of voices, with masks. Then in a ship all together, but separated, with the masks… Now for a month or so, normality has already recovered, and whoever is ill or has some flu symptom does not come. People have been super responsible, we are proud of the murga”, says Primi. For what he considers that “we must not forget it and emphasize where we have come from and how we came out, so that they understand the mistakes that the groups can make, that we still cannot be like in a normal February. We are trying to do everything that is humanly possible and doing everything on our part”.
As for the changes introduced this year, with only one theme in the phase and another for the final and 20 minutes of performance, they understand the special circumstances of this edition, but “I fight because it is only like that this year and recover the two themes in phase (and those of the final) next year, since the murga makes much more sense with two songs, because many things are left out and the show with 20 minutes is too rushed for a murga, you get lame everywhere ”, explains Prime.
Even so, the director of Los Bambones affirms that they arrive at the contest today “very happy, because we have been able to rehearse well, in the end we will be quite sure of what we sang, which was what we were most afraid of. And the songs are very murgueras, we are quite critical, apart from a lot of irony and with very clever lyrics. I invite people to discover things that are inside the songs when they listen to us”. “We are looking forward to singing, once again, the parade with the people. Let’s download, let the public forget and enjoy. That when he enters the Fairgrounds he enjoys and forgets what month we are in, that it is February in there and to have a good time”, he emphasizes.
