Friday night concert in Chapala and a mysterious singer
Friday nights at the Centro Cultural Gonzales Gallo in Chapala are becoming a go-to jewel of music and culture. I have attend some of the Sunday morning events, but very few because they conflict with other things on my schedule, so I decided to attend the El Canto de Agua concert last Friday (March 21) because I knew most of the members of the band. But I did not know the singer. More about that later.
The Gonzales Gallo Center has an interesting history. Located in the Old Chapala Railroad Station opened in 1920, it fronts on Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest lake. It closed five years later due to flooding and eventually ended up being owned by the local González Gallo family who left it untouched for over 10 years. A community petition prodded local, state and Federal governments to reopen it. They did and the “Lic. J. Jesús González Gallo” Cultural Center was created on March 28, 2006, administered by the Ministry of Culture of the State of Jalisco. It even has a outdoor model train. Its concerts are generally free to the public and the artists get paid.
The music there is generally some of the best in the state, so I was looking forward to El Canto del Agua. I wasn’t disappointed.
The evening began with a traditional blessing dance (which I was not allowed to video – sorry) in which a shaman, backed by hand drums and a small costumed dance group including children, , danced through the stage and then through the audience holding a sacred feather fan, bestowing blessings on the band and every member of the audience.
He sat down and Tohtli took center stage. Tall, bright-eyed, lovely and definitely in charge, she continued the ceremony with a hand drum and an beautiful chant (also not for video, I was chastised) . Then the group launched into a medley of indigenous, Mexican, and American standard songs, all done perfectly with Tohtli’s voice soaring through the two story atrium hall.
The band was Jose Antonio “El Chrris”, on guitarrón. Christian Cuevas on guitar, Chuny Medeles on guitar, and Raul Ortega on percussion (bongos, congas, cowbells, etc), most of whom played together in a mariachi and other local bands.
As I said above, I did not know Tohtli, who I found out later is Brenda Flores G., and was tremendously impressed. Not only was she a brilliant presence who did she take charge and guide the concert and the other musicians, but she sang with the a voice a young Joan Baez.
I waited after the concert while her many admirers talked with her to introduce myself and see I could get more information. The conversation relied on our minimal skills in each other’s language, but she gave me a card with just her stage name (or nickname or indigenous name, I am not sure which) and a Whatsapp number.
A WhatsApp message to her resulted in a voice reply in Spanish too fast for me to translate, which disappeared after one play.
I found her on YouTube and a song-free page on Spotify site and a private Instagram page which referred me to her YouTube page, so I can’t tell you much about her except that she is a brilliant, beautiful, angelic singer.
So, Tohtli is a mystery which I hope gets unraveled because her singing is world class and I would like to hear more of it, In the meantime check out her YouTube page https://www.youtube.com/@brendafloresgmusica or my YouTube page for video of the concert.
Patrick O’Heffernan
