The School of Early Childhood and Primary Education (CEIP) San Luis Gonzaga lived yesterday a day around folklore. The educational center hosted a tribute in its facilities to the local artist Africa Alonso, a neighbor considered a reference in Canarian folklore and whom the educational community wanted to recognize by expanding and improving the small square that bears her name. The idea for this Friday was to present the project for that public space to Africa Alonso herself and, in parallel, pay tribute to it to the rhythm of traditional music and poetry.
More in detail, the center replaced the typical celebration of the Day of the Canary Islands with this event “to pay tribute to the artist Africa Alonso in life and present to the community the project for the new square that will bear her name, a large garden area that will have playground, boulevard and amphitheater », they indicated from the City Council in a press release. “It is a meeting in which several artists and the Infant and Primary students performed songs of Canarian folklore, recited verses and made visible the importance of the figure of the Lagunera singer,” they highlighted from the local institution.
The Councilor for Education and Youth, José Juan Gavilán, recalled that Alonso has been “a benchmark in the municipality and in the Islands and that he has taken Canarian folklore to different parts of the world”, and highlighted: “What better day than in this celebration of the CEIP of the Day of the Canary Islands and having his great-grandson singing some malagueñas». For the mayor, “this meeting is also a space for community union that gives continuity to the great involvement of the educational community of CEIP San Luis Gonzaga with the recovery of public spaces.”
For her part, the director of the center, María Virginia Alonso, explained that with this action the school “wants to promote Canarian heritage and, above all, take advantage of the figure so close to us that we have from Africa, a figure from the neighborhood and who deserves a at its height that the students could also enjoy ». And he continued: «My predecessor, Lucía Bermejo, together with Carmen Franquis, were the promoters of the project and I am very grateful to them for the work carried out with the families, businesses and neighbors to make it possible for the need to improve this facility for public use to be taken into account. and enjoy everyone.
With regard to the square, the project, promoted by the Department of Municipal Works and Services, comes to solve the “numerous problems” of the current one, between Taco Avenue and El Sol Street at its intersection with Academia Street. Among these difficulties is “the significant difference in level” and “a single area of stay.”
