"Two Fathers," by Tony Garcia
It gives me great pleasure to share this moving, powerful song by my friend and colleague, Professor Tony Garcia in the Department of Chicana/o Studies at Metro State in Denver, Colorado and founder of Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center, also in Denver, Colorado. I did a quick search and came across this website where you can learn more about the history of Colorado's Chicana/o history here.
Upon sharing the Youtube "Two Fathers" song with me, I reached out to him expressing these exact sentiments:
"The images are so beautiful. The spirit shines through. Our youth need to see these images and get inspired. And the tone, plaintiff and loving. So tender and sincere."
I then asked him to share with me more information about the background to this song so that I could post it, with his permission, to my blog. What you see below is what he shared.
Thank you, Tony, for your great work, and this beautiful, mystical song of remembrance.
-Angela Valenzuela
***
I actually wrote the song for my buddy and musical collaborator Daniel Valdez, who through his work with his brother Luis and El Teatro Campesino had known Cesar Chavez as a family member. Cesar was like an older brother or a tío to him. He also had been very close to Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales. He met Corky as a teenager and often stayed with the family and saw Corky very much as a father figure.
Although I met Cesar a number of times, as Su Teatro had performed a number of times at rallies where he spoke. And I knew of Corky’s work and heard him speak regularly here in Denver. I did not really form much of a relationship with him until after he had the stroke
(actually it was a heart attack, he suffered while running; the loss of oxygen resulted in a stroke that erased much of his memory of the movement). He would come to see Su Teatro perform and we would talk. Okay, he would talk and I would listen.
Nonetheless, there is no doubt that I was influenced at a young age by the words and actions of these great men. My father was pretty much absent and I spent a lot of my early years in search of a male figure to emulate and grow from. When I played the song for Danny, he said this is about me. And I guess what I did was meld the two ideas, taking Danny’s experience and making it my own.
Danny marched from Delano to Sacramento not me. He stayed in Corky’s house and worked to build the music for the film production of, “I am Joaquin.” I guess I then realized that I had learned the deep foundational values from two men that had taught me how to be a man and a father and eventually a teacher.
I did sing the song originally for the benefit of my actors, and then they took over. I have a number of musicians and friends, I have sent it to them and we are all waiting for the opportunity to sing it en masse. It is really is a choral song that is very personal.
I worked on it for a couple of years, and finished it right before the last election, because I believe that it is people of color who will actually save this country from itself. It is the immigrants and the marginalized that have historically made the sacrifices for the betterment of all, and at some point we will be successful in creating better conditions for our communities.
My daughter did the video. Mica is very talented. She has an incredible sense of timing and perspective. She is able to combine movement images because she understands the historical significance of each of those images.
This was a Zoom recording, which is why there are some weird hiccups in the recording, but we look forward to the different iterations as we are able to improve the technical quality.
I am hopeful that it will have a longer life. I very much see it as an anthem for people to evolve it and share it.The song has the kind of weight, a foundation that will allow it to grow musically. I mean that it is simple enough that it can be learned easily. The melody calls for choral and group arrangements. We have already been messing with a more blues and gospel-oriented version of the song.
Lyrically, it might be more difficult, as it is story-specific, but who knows what I have missed. We (the musicians at Su Teatro) have played a bit with lyrics in Spanish and perhaps adding a third movement. I, of course, would like people to examine and expand their connection with it. If that results in a progressive evolution, that would be wonderful. But I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to believe that my song would represent an immediate transformation of thinking and information gathering, as it is only a step along our journey and a personal and melodic bridge in that conversation.
No comments:
Post a Comment