Past and
Present
The Estudiantina
of the Autonomous University of Queretaro
continues with a tradition that dates
back to October 4th, 1963, with a young
and enthusiastic group of students of
different professional careers from those
years at the University.
Pioneer
of an important commercial movement in
the sixties that allowed this group to
become popular worldwide, having several
discographic productions and national
and internacional tours, highlighting
the awards given by radio companies to
the first record of this group (1964),
where the song El Bachiller (The
Bachelor) stands in first place, composed
by Guillermo Munoz, the acordeonist of
this group, and that allowed the university
students of Queretaro be identified within
the country and overseas. Later on, the
song Viva el Amor (Hurray for Love),
which was arranged from a tradicional
French song, has found the perfect circle
that everyone born in Queretaro wants
to hear in the voices of this dear university
group in every solicited event.
Tours
have always been an important part of
this group, as they have allowed them
to be heard and acknowledged for their
high professionalism and enthusiasm. In
these forty two years, they have travelled
to Central and Southamerica, Northamerica
and Canada, Spain, France and Italy, and
be the first Mexican group representing
its country in the Socialist Republic
of Albania in 1989. The friendship
bonds they have kept are most significant
in 30 years with the Organization of Sister
Cities of Orange, California in the U.S.
and the opening of academic bonds
with universities from different parts
of the world after visiting Santiago de
Compostela, Spain (1978), Laval University
of Québec, Canada, Hope Collage
of Michigan, and several more.
During
the year 2003, this group participated
with the Municipality of Queretaro, the
State’s Tourism Office and our Autonomus
University of Queretaro in the production
of the "First Internacional Congress
and Encounter of Tunas and Estudiantinas
in Queretaro, 2003", within the
frame of festivities in the city of Santiago
de Queretaro, being able to reunite for
the first time in history, related groups
of sister cities (Santiago de Compostela,
Spain; Santiago de Chile, and Santiago
de Queretaro, Mexico).
Within
Queretaro’s exchange of Sister Cities,
the Estudiantina of the Autonomus University
of Queretaro was proud to participate
in The Internacional Youth Festival
in Yeosu, South Korea in August 2003.
The Estudiantina
of the AUQ was honored during the General
Audience of His Holiness John Paul II
in the Vatican City (special emission
transmitted by Maria Vission for all Latin
America, and by Internacional Italian
Radio Television) INTERNATIONAL NEWS "2003
Europe Tour".
During
the months of July and October 2004, The
2nd. And 3rd. Internacional Encounter
of Tunas and Estudiantinas in Queretaro
took place, achieving, in a historical
way, the participation of the excelent
group Pulse and Pua, and the ARS TUNAE
Association of Old Time Tunos of the Universities
of Catalunya, Spain, the Tuna of
Law School of the University of Santiago
de Compostela, Spain, and the Tuna
of Psychology of the Complutense University
in Madrid in these events.
And finally,
on Wednesday, December 15 of 2004,
during the General Audience, the 40th
Anniversary Record and the original music
scores of the theme "Pilgrim of Faith"
of the Estudiantina of the Autonomous
University of Queretaro was given tu His
Holiness John Paul II, which was dedicated
to him by professor Aurelio Olvera Montaño.
ANGEL
FERNANDO FERNÁNDEZ NIETO
DIRECTOR
ESTUDIANTINA OF THE AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY
OF QUERETARO
TOURS
AND PERFORMANCES
Undoubtedly,
some of the greatest satisfactions of
the Estudiantina of the AUQ have been
the numerous tours taken place along these
thirty years. Among the different generations
that have conformed it, most of them have
been able to go on tour, some more attractive
than others, but all equally interesting
and with endless anecdotes to tell. In
the testimonies given by its members along
these memories, you will be able to find
a series of details which show us how
interesting it is for all of them to recall
their experiences.
We will
only highlight some of the details related
to those places visited in our country
and abroad as well.
We can
assure that most of the states of the
Mexican Republic have been visited; we
will mention just some of them that come
to our minds: The Federal District, Puebla,
Guanajuato, Celaya, León, Irapuato,
Salamanca, San Luis Potosí, Saltillo,
Monclova, Monterrey, Chihuahua, Parral,
Tampico, Torreón, Veracruz, Guadalajara,
Mazatlán, Laredo, Oaxaca, Mérida,
Toluca, Pachuca, Morelia, Pátzcuaro,
Acapulco, Zacatecas, Durango, Cuernavaca,
Jalapa, Tlaxcala and Aguascalientes.
The internacional
tours are certainly part of one of the
most important aspects of the group; their
projection abroad has been most interesting.
The first two tours took place in Central
America. The visits to different universities
in the north of the United States, having
the University of Willamete, in Oregon
as host. The authentic relationships developed
at Orange County made friends that last
forever. We can truly say that the Sister
Cities’ program is due mainly to the great
relationships that exist between Orange
and the Estudiantina.
The tours
to Canada (Toronto and Montreal), just
as the one to Santiago de Compostela,
Spain, due to the Internacional Fare,
the Olympic Games and The First Internacional
Festival of Estudiantinas marked the maximum
experience when representing not only
our university or our State, but, especially,
our whole country.
In Spain,
our Estudiantina stood out among the best
of a group of 60 Estudiantinas that participated
in the event. About Canada we remember
the loving welcome we received from an
always numerous audience throughout its
warm applause.
We made
other trips to the State of Texas and
the city of Atlanta, Georgia. This last
one took place in 1986, thanks to the
generosity of a great American friend,
Dr. Louis, who met us by means of the
great relationship we have with our also
friend Juan Diego Oliva. Our thanks and
acknowledgement to all of those who made
all these tours possible.
During
one of the visits to our city, the Ambassador
of Albania (in those days still a Socialist
Republic), told the Governor of our State,
Mr. Mariano Palacios Alcocer, that in
his country, practically nobody knew anything
about the Mexican music, because their
only contact with it had been through
our old movies, as no Mexican musical
group had ever visited their country.
That is why, in 1989, and after various
assessment interviews with the Estudiantina,
he invited us to several cities of Albania
to promote our music. For different reasons,
not all of the members of our group could
go, so we had to make a selection and
form a representative group that would
play more Mexican music than Estudiantina
music.
The tour
lasted seven days, in which we gave seven
recitals in seven different cities, closing
our trip with a performance at the Opera
Theatre of Tirana (capital city) and all
the theatres in which we performed were
totally full. During the first part of
each recital we dressed in sarape and
Mexican hat, singing romantic Mexican
music; in the second half, we dressed
in our tradicional capes and played estudiantina
music, closing the program with Mexican
vernacle music.
In the
same year of 1993, we had the honor to
be invited to Ciudad Victoria to participate
in the First Internacional Festival of
Estudiantinas, in which our Estudiantina
won an honoring third place, after the
Madrid Tuna and the UNAM Tuna.
In 1994
we had a Good-Will Tour to Québec,
Canada as a result of the excelent relationship
that the municipal government of that
city has with our own, formalized by the
agreement that exists between the Laval
University and the AUQ, and which possibly
will give place to another Sister Cities’
program.
In the
year of 1997, we had the honor to share
the stage with our very admired brothers
"Los Ccomicos de la Legua",
with whom we travelled to Merida, Campeche
and Tabasco.
In a marathonic
tour in the year 1998, we were invited
to visit the universities of Illinois,
Chicago; Holland, Michigan; Western Michigan,
and some others.
In August
of the year 2001 we travelled to the city
of Orange, California where the Sister
Cities Organizations of Orange, California,
the Orange County of California, the municipal
government of Queretaro, and the Estudiantina
of the Autonomus University of Queretaro
got together to render hommage of Love
and Respect to professor Aurelio Olvera
Montano, who stood up front for the Estudiantina
of the AUQ, and has been a great character
during the relationship that Orange, California
and Santiago de Queretaro have kept for
more than 30 years.
Nowadays,
the group has been lucky to share the
stage in different moments with the Temucana
Tuna of the Temucana University of Chile;
the Estudiantina of the University of
Guanajuato, the Guadalupan Estudiantina
of San Luis Potosí; the Santiago
de Compostela Tuna of Puebla; the San
Luis Rey Estudiantina of San Luis Potosí;
the La Paz Institute Estudiantina of Queretaro,
and several more.
In September
14, 2002, we were invited to participate
in the emission of the program "Ronda
la Tuna" from our excelent friend
and announcer Luis Herrera Ramirez, in
Clara + Internacional Vission.
During
the year of 2003, this group participated,
along with the Municipality of Queretaro,
the State’s Tourism Office and our Autonomus
University of Queretaro, in the development
of the "First Congress and Internacional
Encounter of Tunas and Estudiantinas in
Queretaro, 2003", within the
festivities frame of the city of Santiago
de Queretaro.
Within
the exchange of Sister Cities that our
State counts for, our Estudiantina of
the AUQ was proud to participate in "The
Internacional Youth Festival" in
Yeosu, South Korea in the month of August,
2003.
During
the recent Europe Tour 2003, this University
group participated with the following
recitals:
- Encounter of Tunas with Ars Tunae
(Association of Long Time Tunos of Barcelona,
Spain).
- Recital at the Assembly Hall of the
Mayor Seminar in Toledo, Spain.
- Participation of the Estudiantina
of the AUQ in the solemn religious Ceremony
"The Pilgrim’s Mass", Saint
Cecille’s Day in the cathedral of
Santiago de Compostela, Spain and afterwards
as street-trotters through the main
avenues of that city.
- Internacional Encounter of Tunas and
Estudiantinas at the Auditorium of Galicia
in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
- Participation of the Estudiantina
of the AUQ, during the General Audience
of His Holiness John Paul II in the
Vatican City.
- Special Emission transmitted by Maria
Vission to all Latin America and Internacional
Italian Radio-Television.
- Concert at the St. Charles of the
Four Fountains Church. Millenium Music
Festival in Rome, Italy.
- Concert at the St. Bibiana Agli Orti
Church. Millenium Music Festival in
Rome, Italy.
- Recital for the Mexican community
in Rome, at the Casa Di Accoglienza
Ancelle Della Caritá in Rome,
Italy.
During
the months of July and October of 2004,
The 2nd. And 3rd. International Encounter
of Tunas and Estudiantinas took place
in Queretaro.
And finally,
during the General Audience in December,
Wednesday 15 of 2004, we gave His Holiness
Pope John Paul II the record of the 40th
Anniversary of the Estudiantina of the
Autonomus University of Queretaro and
the original music score of the theme
"Pilgrim of Faith", dedicated
to our Holy Father by professor Aurelio
Olvera Montaño.
The group
continues participating in a great number
of forums supporting diverse works of
our beautiful State of Queretaro, as Street-trotter
performances sponsored by the Tourism
Office of the State, the Christmas Festivities
organized by our respected and admired
professors Aurelio Olvera Montaño
and Luis Olvera Montaño President
y Vice-president respectively of the Festivities
Board of the Autonomus University of Queretaro,
that, under the presidency of Mrs. Guadalupe
Ruiz Rubio, has impulsed in a highly significant
way, different items of our Alma Mater.
| Going
into details of so many trips would
be an endless task. It’s enough
to say that in the memory of each
one of the members of the Estudiantina
that were lucky to participate in
any national and internacional tour,
a series of experiences have been
recorded, that would hardly be erased
from their memory, and that, for
sure, has been of great help to
better mold their character, reassure
their personality and appreciate
our traditions even more.
Aurelio
Olvera Montaño |
Recordings
One of
the greatest illusions that any musical
group or musical artist could have when
starting their activities is the possibility
to, some day, have a discographic production.
In the case of the Estudiantina of the
AUQ, it didn’t persue such high aspiration
when it was born, but simply make music
to project it in different social spheres,
just for the pleasure of doing it; but
circumstances were appropiate enough for
the Estudiantina to sign a contract with
the record company Musart after just several
months of being launched. This company
produced our record in the first months
of 1964. From this production we can surely
highlight the song El Bachiller
(The Bachelor), composed by Guillermo
Muñoz and Salvador Cuevas
Within
the 14 productions recorded by the Estudiantina,
the contributions of the musical talent
of its members, who were launched as composers
leaving great memories, remain as testimonies.
Among them we’d like to mention Memo Muñoz,
Gonzalo Aguirre, Jorge Carreón,
Juan Jaime, Alfonso Ramírez, Felipe
Muñoz and Aurelio Olvera. Its solo
singers, Miguel Ángel Epardo Ibarra,
Eugenio Valencia, José Miguel Epardo
Osorio, Enrique Benítez and Librado
Anderson, who definitely brightened the
Estudiantina as a solo singer, with that
extraordinary and fine voice that motivated
other groups to make an effort in having
also good solo performers.
We also
had the pleasant experience of a co-production
in which we worked in a musical studio
of the sister city Orange in California,
with the new elements of the Estudiantina,
and recording original compositions like
A Student’s Illusion, Yearning
for Queretaro, and other uneditted
songs as My Queretaro, from Pepe
Guizar. Among the important things that
happened is that we found out that, technically,
we have nothing to ask for in foreign
countries when it has to do with recording
materials.
Our 11th
record was produced in 1993. It was recorded
live in the Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez
Auditorium because we were celebrating
our 30th Anniversary, and we had the participation
of all generation members of the Estudiantina.
The repertory included in that ocassion
surely brought pleasant memories to all
(tunos, girlfriends, wives and the public
in general), because it included from
the first to the most recent songs that
our group has performed.
The 12th
record appeared in December, 1994, which
content included christmas carols, and
where we could hear a beautiful opening
by Mr. Roberto Servin Muñoz denominated
"Campanas Queretanas" (Queretaro
Bells).
And it
is returning from the successful tour
in Europe, 2003, that the group starts
working on a project long cherished for
several years, the production of a record
in which ex-members would participate
with the current Estudiantina; this accomplishment
is the record named "The 40th
Anniversary of the Estudiantina of the
Autonomus University of Queretaro",
in which, apart from finding tradicional
themes from our Estudiantina, you may
also find compositions from our Honorary
Director, Professor Aurelio Olvera Montaño.
Also including videos and images of this
unforgettable tour.
When
making this brief analysis of memories
concerning the recordings, we must give
special acknowledgement to all the members
that participated in any of them. All
of them must feel proud of being able
to take part in such beautiful experiences
with no other interest than participating
and leaving a footprint. Other young ones
will come and follow, we hope, with the
same or better fortune.
