There are people who leave this life, for some reason, an indelible mark, and this makes us always remember them, that we always keep them in mind. It is the case of Nile Caparrosa, the trumpeter of Dominican origin, who died suddenly last March, and that the chicharreros remember, with great affection, for entertaining, with his music, for more than 15 years, everyone who passed through the central street del Castillo, in the capital of Tenerife.
Nilo was born on September 26, 1957, in the Dominican Republic, he moved to Madrid in 1989, where he had the opportunity to collaborate on a recording with Juan Luis Guerra. Then he came to Tenerife, where he finally lived for 35 years. A time in which he launched several musical projects such as Dominación Canarias and Magnética Banda. It was a time when, without a doubt, he made the island, and, specifically, Santa Cruz, his home, and in which everyone welcomed and valued him.
This is the reason why the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council, through the Department of Culture, has decided to pay tribute to this urban artist, with a mural in which you can see two images of the musician playing his trumpet, the instrument for which he was known. It is a large fresco, which he is painting Matias Mata, from Assembly sabotage, and that is not leaving anyone indifferent. Neither the local people nor the tourists.
The work, which measures more than 16 meters high and almost six wide, some 100 square meters mural, is located on one of the walls of the area where Nilo Caparrosa used to play many days, in the Castillo Street, at the height of Valentín Sanz Street.
Matías Mata tells DIARIO DE AVISOS that he has been working for seven days now and that he hopes to finish this Sunday so that it can be presented in public, by the City Council of the capital, at the beginning of September.
Mata explains that he is “very happy and grateful”, not only because he believes that with this work his sector is further professionalized, but also because of the fact that they have counted on him for this project, in the heart of Santa Cruz, where he had been doing a long time. that he did not paint.
In addition, he says that during these days there have been many people who have stopped by and have been observing the work he is doing and for which, by the way, he is known, also, for more than 30 years.
“It is the mural, of all the ones I have done so far, in which I have seen the most people taking photos and videos. It is true that it is on a busy street and that a work like this always attracts attention, but also, if the protagonist is someone dear as Nilo is, that undoubtedly influences. There are many people passing through, many tourists, and also many people who did not know that Nile had passed away. There is everything. That people stop and recognize your work, it is very positive and I, honestly, am very happy “.
Among all those people who have seen Mata work on the mural these days, there is a very special one. It is about the daughter of Nilo, the also artist and young singer Sislena Caparrosa, who could not contain his tears when he saw, on the wall, the image of his father, whom many knew as ‘the trumpeter with the eternal smile’.
“On the third day of painting, Sislena, Nilo’s daughter, appeared and I was moved to see how she was crying. It was very nice to see that your daughter reacted like this when she saw my work ”.
It was a moment in which the young woman recounted having felt something inexplicable. “My hair stood on end and I started crying. It seems that it is there. It’s him, as is. Matías’s work seems supernatural to me. I really have no words to describe it. It is real. It is one thing to see it online, in photos, and another is to see it in person. In person the difference is abysmal ”.
He recognizes, like all chicharreros, that his father deserved the tribute “for his music, for having made the streets of Santa Cruz happy for so many years, for his knowing how to be, for his sympathy and for his joy” and he believes that he would have loved it. He says that he would surely have reacted by saying: “Sislena, look. That’s me. I am famous, you see. I’m already famous ”. (He smiles when he tells it).
The mural is located in a space where, on many occasions, Sislena, known for her great voice, and for winning important talent shows in Spain, such as Tú si que vales on Telecinco, in 2013, with her interpretation of Nessun Dorma , by Puccini, was with his father singing.
This mural is a work that the Santa Cruz City Council plans to inaugurate next month, in an appointment to which Sislena believes that many people will attend and in which she would like to “sing something”, although she admits that she does not know if the excitement will let you do it. He says he would love it, but the way he reacted to seeing the mural, he does not know if he will be able to.
While that long-awaited day for everyone arrives, Matías Mata, the painter, receives messages from all parts of the world, through social networks. Messages from artists and people who knew Nilo, and who are happy that this endearing tribute is being paid to him.
Sislena, for her part, continues in her father’s footsteps and continues singing because she assures that he “wanted me to be a star” and she would like to achieve it.
He has just arrived from the Peninsula, specifically, from the Valencian Community and Castilla la Mancha, where he has been on tour. He has short and long-term projects. He is going to open a small business, a small 24-hour shop, in Arafo, where he currently resides. In addition, she says that she is “very excited” because soon she will begin to record music and for projects for next year, which “surely people will like a lot”.
Without a doubt, a talent that runs in the family because not only his father, Nilo Caparrosa, was a musician, but also his paternal grandfather and his mother, who was a singer.
Surely this is not the only tribute that is paid to Nilo. When he died five months ago, his friend Simone Turinese, president of the Association of street musicians of La Laguna, asked that the Callejearte festival, which is usually held in the Park from Las Mantecas, it was renamed Festival Nilo Caparrosa. In addition, his daughter indicates that she would like her father to also have a bust for posterity
