2023-11-12 12:52:55
The Mexican Agustín Lara, born, according to him, in 1900 (some biographers say in 1897 and others in 1901), in Tlacotalpan, state of Veracruz, had just received an extraordinary tribute in the Plaza Monumental de México, with regarding 100 thousand people cheering him to the point of delirium.
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But he came to Peru to sing and do his refined and emotional show at the Municipal Theater of Lima; and also to be on TV. Peruvian and make people vibrate in presentations at the Grill of the Bolívar Hotel, in the center of Lima, and in other cinemas and theaters in the capital city.
That April 17, 1964, Agustín Lara was friendly to the press, in good humor, and dedicated himself to destroying several myths regarding his life. (Photo: GEC Historical Archive)
It was a great artistic activity during the week that the Mexican artist remained among us. And his thing was music, the lyrics and melodies of his boleros, the love stories of his songs; However, the press and everyone in general were looking for something more from him, that April 1964.
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“El flaco de oro”, as they called him for decades, had already made his entire artistic career in music, film and theater, and he came to Peru as a star, to enjoy his fame and sing ‘Only once’ , ‘Noche de ronda’, ‘María Bonita’, ‘Arráncame la vida’, ‘Pecadora’, ‘Granada’, among other popular songs that made his romantic audience enjoy since the 40s.
However, Agustín Lara’s visit to Lima was tinged with a certain scandal, because although he did not present it in public, everyone knew that the young woman he had raised as a child and whom he later “married” in 1963, Rocío Durán, I was with him in Lima. She was only around 20 years old and he was already 63 years old.
The notable Mexican composer Agustín Lara did not stop smoking during the entire informal chat with the Peruvian press. (Photo: GEC Historical Archive)
The “wedding” had taken place in Mexico, in the Basilica of Guadalupe; However, said marriage union was not legalized, because a previous marriage certificate was still in force. However, Rocío and Agustín were together and seemed to enjoy the scandal they had caused at that time.
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THE CULTIVATED AND INTELLIGENT AGUSTÍN LARA PLEASED THE WHOLE PRESS AT THE BOLÍVAR HOTEL
The day he arrived in Lima, Friday, April 17, 1964, he held a press conference at noon; The reporters who surrounded him in the hall of the Hotel Bolívar, in front of Plaza San Martín, realized that Agustín Lara was – as never before – in an excellent mood and was very kind to all of them.
He had not only arrived in Peru with Rocío Durán, but also with two of his compatriot musicians: Alejandro Algara and ‘Rebeca’, along with the musical director Jesús Ferrer. But the one required was “El Flaco de Oro”. The popular ‘musician-poet’ was willing to answer all questions, always with his cigarettes, a glass of pisco sour and a bottle of legitimately French cognac, which he had brought from his trip to the City of Light.
April 17, 1964 fell on a Friday. A favorable day for confessions and Agustín Lara complied with that unwritten law. Out of hand, out of hand, he ruled out being a millionaire person. (Photo: GEC Historical Archive)
One of the first questions was precisely regarding Paris, a city where he had been a short time ago. “Any sentimental affair?” they asked. Agustín Lara responded with another ingenious rhetorical question: “But is a visit to Paris conceivable that does not have some sentimental relationship?” (EC, 04/18/1964)
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The Mexican composer was sharp that followingnoon, but it was impossible for him to avoid questions regarding his young spouse. They pointed out the age difference, and Lara came out with a certainty of life (at least of her life): “Can you imagine that a 62-year-old man is going to look for a 62-year-old woman to marry?” reporters. Nobody refuted it.
His personal and artistic tastes were something everyone wanted to know more regarding. Inevitably, they asked him regarding his ex-wife María Félix, and he said that she “was a great person, a lady here and there, and everywhere. She is a true lady.” (EC, 04/18/1964)
The day following the meeting with the press, Saturday, April 18, 1964, Maestro Lara presented his musical show at the splendorous Municipal Theater of Lima. (Photo: GEC Historical Archive)
The same lady, María Félix, responded with the same admiration and respect, since she had recently been asked regarding Agustín Lara, to whom she was married from 1945 to 1948, and I consider him “my teacher to whom I owe so much.”
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“Poets?”, he said, mainly two: the Frenchman Charles Baudelaire and the Nicaraguan Rubén Darío. “Composer?”: the American Cole Porter answered; and, “the interpreter?”: there was no doubt in him, Pedro Vargas, his compatriot. In the cinema, “which star did he admire?” Her slanted eyes shone and she mentioned the German Rommy Schneider, a female icon, who in those years made numerous films in Europe and the US. (EC, 04/18/1964)
Agustín Lara spoke in the hall of the Hotel Bolívar regarding bullfighting, an art or sport or cultural practice for which he felt admiration, like most people of his generation. From Peruvian Creole music, he liked the “picadito tone” that ‘Los Panchos’ taught him.
Like never before, the Peruvian press tried to obtain as much information from the Mexican musician as possible. And they did well, because it was the last time that Agustín Lara came to the country. (Photo: GEC Historical Archive)
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“I debuted on August 28, 1928 at the Teatro Lírico de México, and I only play by hearsay. I have composed songs like ‘María Bonita’ and ‘Granada’ in half an hour,” confessed the creator of beautiful boleros. He was then dressed in Lima with a red sweater, a white sweater, steel gray pants and black shoes. (EC, 04/18/1964)
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He had met the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa in his early youth, which is why, he said, he took the issue of freedom very seriously. “The people positively want peace and freedom to live. If they are not achieved for peace itself, it is worth a revolution to achieve it,” Lara stated.
Before finishing talking with the Lima press, the gallant and kind Don Agustín left in his own hand a generous dedication to the leading newspaper, which said: “For Diario El Comercio (great newspaper). With devotion… Agustín Lara.” (EC, 04/18/1964)
The author of emblematic songs like ‘María Bonita’. ‘Only once’ and ‘Granada’ gave himself time to think carefully regarding what he might write to a diary that he was going to turn 125 years old in a few weeks. The result was memorable. (Photo: GEC Historical Archive)
At the end of the informal and warm press conference, Agustín Lara broke the program and asked his musicians to perform two songs: ‘Rebeca’ sang ‘Estrella solitaria’ and Alejandro Algara ‘Gift of travel’. That day he rested his body and voice, and prepared himself physically and emotionally for his appearance the next day at the Municipal Theater of Lima.
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AGUSTÍN LARA: THE PRESENTATION IN THE MUNICIPAL THEATER AND HIS VISIT TO TV. PERUVIAN
The time for Agustín Lara’s presentation at the Municipal was approaching, but his words, his thoughts regarding his life and life itself still resonated. “If I didn’t make songs I would die of hunger,” he had declared with a tone of irrefutable sincerity. (EC, 04/19/1964)
A sector of critics in his country called him a “womanizer,” and he only managed to say that beautiful women always surrounded him. They also accused him of being “too sarcastic,” but if that hadn’t been the case, he wouldn’t have been himself. In Lima, Lara sarcastically admitted: “I am sensitive and ugly,” and reiterated, as if he had the need to do so, that he was not a millionaire as people believed.
After his presentation at the Municipal, Agustín Lara appeared on Sunday, April 19, on Channel 13, in the program ‘La Hora de Pablo’, with Pablo de Madalengoitia. (Photo: GEC Historical Archive)
“I’m not a millionaire either as they say. If that were the case I wouldn’t work. And I would spend it all… in the end, nothing is going to be taken away on the last trip,” she stated. The Mexican artist was somewhat tired of living in myths or people’s fictions regarding his life. “I don’t even know the reality of my life. That’s how secret I have it,” the Mexican musician closed the song. (EC, 04/19/1964)
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On Saturday, April 18, 1964, Agustín Lara shone at the Municipal Theater. The famous composer selected for that Peruvian night some of the most popular songs from his rich musical repertoire.
In the show titled ‘Noche de Ronda’, each piece he played and sang next to his elegant black piano concluded with a burst of applause and cheers from the audience. Her show was complete, as the singers ‘Rebeca’ and Alejandro Algara, and the Hispanic acts “Los Goya” and Pepita Ortega also appeared on the program.
Very elegant, this is how Agustín Lara looked in his musical show at the Municipal Theater. Two days later, he did it at the Grill of the Bolívar Hotel, where he performed three shows. (Photo: GEC Historical Archive)
The next day, Sunday, April 19, 1964, Lara appeared on Channel 13, to participate in Pablo de Madalengoitia’s new program, who had just shined with his previous TV program. ‘This is his life.’ The new sequence of De Madalengoitia was called ‘La Hora de Pablo’ and there Agustín Lara told more details regarding his artistic life and proved to be an exquisite conversationalist. (EC, 04/20/1964)
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He also announced on Pablo de Madalengoitia’s television set that on Monday, April 20, he would perform three presentations of ‘Noche de ronda’ at the Grill of the Gran Hotel Bolívar, where he was staying.
After a break on Tuesday the 21st, on Wednesday April 22, 1964 he appeared with his entire team (‘Rebeca’, Alejandro Algara, Jesús Ferrer, etc.), at the Western cinema, on Risso Avenue, half a block from the Arequipa Avenue.
Agustín Lara, the Mexican ‘musician-poet’, made two other presentations before leaving with his team for Mexico. He was also accompanied by Roció Durán, his young wife, whom he did not expose to the press. (Photo: GEC Historical Archive)
And then, on Thursday, April 23, 1964, he would perform his last performance of that tour. And it was, without a doubt, the last time that Agustín Lara sang in Peru. Those who saw it live at the Teatro Mariátegui, by Jesús María, enjoyed it eternally. That same night. Agustín Lara y Cía. (including Rocío Durán) returned to Mexico.
Two months following that Lima incursion, in June 1964, the great Mexican artist managed to marry Rocío Durán in Francisco Franco’s Spain, who personally advised him to do so.
Four years later, in 1968, his health began to fail. Until November 6, 1970, Agustín Lara would die in Mexico City, like a glory, like a star of Latin American popular song.
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