Ana Rosa Trujillo is the winner of the contest of Coplas San Benito Abad 2022convened by the Fundación Canaria Los Sabandeños in collaboration with the Municipality of La Laguna. And it is not the first time for her, this retired biologist and secondary school teacher has won this award in previous editions, as well as second and second prizes, and also in the Alhóndiga de Tacoronte contest. On this occasion, his set of 20 couplets titled Arena y Sal-Nuestra Tierra y sus cantadores were awarded, eight of which were performed during the award ceremony, within the framework of the reading of the proclamation of the San Benito festivities, last June 30.
-What are these 20 winning songs about? What inspired you?
“Above all about two things that are reflected in the title: the exaltation of our Canarian landscape, our people, our customs, there is one particularly for La Gomera, because I lived there as a child. And after the singers, I referred to those who have died, to Dacio, José Manuel Mena, María Mérida… It is the feeling of being a Canarian and how singing the folías, or the feeling with the malagueñas influences us”.
-Since when do you participate in this contest and what motivated you to do it?
“I think that the first time I participated was in 2004, and the truth is that almost every year I have received an award, although there have been some years that I did not present myself. I did it to try, because I had been writing coplas for a long time, and I didn’t know if people would like it and if the singers would like to sing them, and what I did was try, and if they were rewarded, well at least someone liked it, so it was. And as I saw that they liked it, well, I kept doing it”.
-What do you feel when you listen to the singers perform their couplets?
“Fantastic, everything is the best, for me it is worth more than the prize. It’s what I think all authors like, because to have them written on paper, even if people read them, is not the same as hearing them sung, they are revalued, and even more so if they are good voices. I was lucky that, for example, the first time I won the singers were Besay Pérez, Javi Hernández and Virginia Rodríguez. This year it was sung by a group called Emuná and Ayla Rodríguez, the daughter of ‘El Colorao’, and they sang wonderfully, the truth was that it sounded very good, because, furthermore, it was at the Teatro Leal, which has a very good sound, because other For years the awards ceremony has been held on a stage in Plaza de La Concepción and the sound is lost more there. Yeah, it’s very exciting.”
-Since when have you been writing couplets and why?
“As a child I lived in La Gomera and there I learned to play the timple and dance some folkloric dance, and I always liked listening to folklore. On the Island there is a long tradition of romances, maybe if I had heard it so much there when I was little, I would have been a little easier to know how to do it, the measure and that. I went little by little, by dint of listening a lot, I thought that I could also write it and I started to try, but that was about 30 years ago. I really started with poetry and then I decided to try copla and as I saw that I could do it and that I liked it, well, I continued”.
– Do you think that the couplet has enough recognition?
“The impression it gives me is that copla and folklore are not highly valued, because many consider it the younger sister of culture, and I think that is not the case, because it is something completely characteristic of us and a good folia sung is a precious thing. But you have to keep insisting to see if people get used to it, because a verbena with an orchestra is something that shouldn’t be done at a magician’s ball, because partying is typical”.
-What do you think is special about the copla?
“More than anything it is a matter of feelings, when I hear a well-sung folía and that the copla is good…, because the coplas have to have a measure and a rhythm and there are people who care about what they have to say, but they don’t in the how”.
-And how do you live the San Benito festivities?
“Since I was at the University studying my degree, I always participated in the San Benito pilgrimage, so it is something quite close and I have experienced a lot. Although lately a little less, but this year I will surely go because as we have been two years without being able to go, well, one is looking forward to it”.
