Panama, September 23, 2019. Two great folklorists from the Azuero region will receive from the Ministry of Culture (MiCultura), the award Dora Pérez de Zárate and Manuel F. Zárate, within the framework of the National Festival of La Mejorana.
The trajectory in the execution of the churuca, güiro, box, drum, harmonica and above all its gentle saloma and singing of the Tenth, which has Mr. Héctor Virgilio González Bustamante has led him to be worthy of the Manuel F. Zárate medal.
Héctor “Tito” González, a native of the town of La Enea de Guararé, began his careers from a very young age, when he read his tenth prioras through poetry reading, becoming a folk subject by nature due to his high knowledge of music Panamanian and his dedicated work for the aggrandizement of national folklore.
“Tito” González learned from the best. The teacher Chávale Barrios taught him the touch of the harmonica and since then he turned to the pages of the history of typical Panamanian music when he plays, for the first time, in harmonica the National Anthem, execution that led him to be recognized nationally. Among his best musical selections are: “Pueblo Nuevo”, “Tenth Fifth Festival” and “Canajagua Azul”.
The Dora Pérez de Zárate Medal will be awarded to Mr. Iván Martínez, a leading folklore researcher and instructor of typical dances.
This important folklorist deserves the award for his interest in the documentation and training of folklore and cultural identity, which has led him to take a variety of courses and seminars, including: “Folklorology and Research Methods,” dictated by the missing folklorologists Argentina Isabel Aretz, her husband the Venezuelan ethnomusicologist Luis Felipe Ramón y Rivera and the Panamanian Dora Pérez de Zárate.
Martínez, is president of the Regional Institute of Patrimonial Studies (IREP), member of the International Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Traditional Arts (CIOFF) – Panama Section and member of the Association of Professionals and Specialists in Folklore and Intangible Cultural Heritage (ANPEFOLK).
Activities at the Manuel F. Zaraté Museum
The Ministry of Culture, in addition to the tribute to these prominent folklorists and the delivery of the contribution to the Board of Trustees of the National Festival of La Mejorana, will have from September 25 to 28 activities at the Manuel F. Zárate Museum in Guararé.
During these days the museum will have an exhibition of handicrafts and games of yesteryear for the whole family from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
On Thursday, September 26, the pilgrimage will take place at Manuel F. Zárate and on Friday, September 27, the symposium “Folklore and Tourism” will take place at 1:00 p.m.
