By Domingo Medina.| This small street, 231 meters long, begins at the roundabout that the City of La Laguna has dedicated since 1956 to the poet Manuel Verdugo (Manila 1877-La Laguna 1951), ending at its meeting with Avenida de San Diego and Paseo Oramas. .
This street was built in the area where, until it dried out, was the lagoon that gives its name to the municipality. On both sides of the road, and on individual plots, houses-chalets with large gardens have been built. Along its route, it has a beautiful grove of trees, flower beds and sidewalks that make it a walk integrated into the large green area that the city preserves next to the neighboring road that reaches Mount San Diego and its historic hermitage.
According to Viera and Clavijo, the drainage works of the lagoon began in the 18th century. During the flood of 1826, which affected the Canary Islands, the lake overflowed and flooded the city. In 1837 the Engineer Command drained the water and by 1839, the lagoon had already been drained, according to geologist Sabino Berthelot. Despite the infrastructure works and channeling of rainwater, during some winters this area continues to flood, as occurred on April 10 and 11, 1977.
The La Laguna City Council labels this street with the name of Marcos Redondo, a Spanish baritone, considered a specialist in the lyrical genre of zarzuela. For many years he participated with the Lyric-Musical Group Los Fregolinos, in the Carnivals that were celebrated in La Laguna and Santa Cruz, although at that time they were called Winter Festivals. On Carnival Monday, troupes, rondallas and murgas walked through the main streets of the city, coming up from Santa Cruz to join the laguneras, and especially the Rondalla del Orfeón La Paz. Los Fregolinos, with Marcos Redondo as soloist, offered an extraordinary performance at the Rondalla Lagunera venues, with so many people in attendance that they had to follow them from the street.
Legend or history, since ancient times it has been said that the friars of the Convent of San Diego came down to the city, during the winter, crossing the old lagoon by boat., Before the drains were drying the wetlands.
Legend or history, the truth is that when the population of Santa Cruz suffered the naval assault of Admiral Bleake on April 30, 1657, in a tough confrontation between the powerful British navy and the Spanish ships that repelled it, in the area known as the Huerta de los Melones, today the Almeyda Museum, the troops of Captain Don Tomás de Nava, under the command of Ensign Don Cristóbal Lordelo, replacing Captain de Nava, (Juan Tous, historian), who fell ill in La Orotava, one of The three English boats that tried to reach the coast, two of them fled, were rescued by the troops that covered that garrison. The small boat captured was handed over to the Lord of La Laguna (Holy Christ) being received by the guardian father Fray Sebastián de Sanabria. The delivery of this boat to the Franciscans was so that it could be used by the monks in their movements from the Convent of San Diego to San Miguel de las Victorias (Convent of San Francisco).
Who was Marcos Redondo?
Marcos Redondo Valencia, known artistically as Marcos Redondo, was born in Córdoba on November 24, 1893 and died in Barcelona on July 17, 1976. He was a Spanish baritone specialized in the zarzuela genre.
Encouraged by his grandparents, who recognized in him from a very young age that he had a great voice, he moved to Madrid in 1913, in order to be able to enter the conservatory to study singing. Upon finishing his studies he debuted with The Traviata at the Teatro Real in Madrid in 1915. After the success obtained in the capital of Spain, he moved to Italy in order to perfect his artistic style, studying in the Italian capital with the teachers Betinelli and Franceschi. After returning to Madrid, now as a professional, his popularity grew to the point that he returned to Italy, and toured several cities in America, obtaining great successes where he performed. At that time, he was considered the best zarzuela baritone in Spain.
In the month of October 1961, several friends from Tenerife who loved poetry met with the idea of participating each year in the Carnivals of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, their first appearance being at the Winter Festival of 1962, the presentation of Los Fregolinos. , differentiated from the rondallas of yesteryear by using wind instruments, and with a repertoire of famous zarzuelas, of the so-called “chico genre”, joins the murgas contest, election of the queen, participation in the rondallas… This Lyric Musical Group had as Maestro Estany was the first conductor, and the group’s main soloist was the aforementioned Spanish baritone Marcos Redondo, who participated in the Winter Festival uninterruptedly until 1970.
