The group, made up of 14 Santoñeses, will take the stage on January 31 in order to go through the qualifying round

La Chirigota de Santoña will sing again at the Gran Teatro Falla, in Cádiz, on January 31 with 'Fariña de mis ojos' on the occasion of the celebration of the Carnival festival in this city.

Although Agustín Povedano and Francisco Roger Cruz will not participate this year for personal reasons, the group, made up of 14 Santoñes, has been rehearsing since September in order to  seek a place in the next round  and repeat what happened in 2019 when, for the first time in In history, a non-Andalusian chirigota managed to get into the quarterfinals of this contest with 'Los de Cádiz Norte, pero Norte Norte'.

“It is difficult, but for work that is not lacking, the best possible will be done and you have to try,” said one of the murguistas, Álvaro Rodríguez.

Eric and Cristofer Montero, Alejandro Martínez, Francisco José Montes, Álvaro Rodríguez, Javier Calle, Eloy Ortiz, Juan Antonio Subisaga, Roberto Ruiz, Eder Rey Prada, David Ruiz and Aarón Palacio  are the 12 murguistas  who will travel to Cádiz with the desire to do so the best possible.

All of them, except  Javier Calle and Aarón Palacio, who are new,   have already performed on the stage at the Gran Teatro Falla, especially Eloy Ortiz, who has not missed a year since the first time, in 2010, when Santoña decided to make the leap from north to south to appear in Cádiz.

Precisely Aarón Palacio and David Durán are the guitarists, Juan Antonio Subisaga is with the bass drum; Francisco José Montes with the box, which also, together with Alejandro Martínez, is responsible for fine-tuning the group musically, and Eder Rey is in charge of the lyrics, although he also receives some suggestions from his colleagues.

In fact, when singing in Cádiz,  the lyrics will deal  with national issues, with the inclusion of local issues related to this city and some reference to what happened in Andalusia.

The Chirigota de Santoña is not forgotten, which has also received the help of the musician from  Cádiz, José María Barranco , known as 'El Lacio', who participates in this chirigotas contest.

Immersed in preparing their performance, La Chirigota de Santoña is rehearsing three or four days a week. "An idea that we already had from last year, but due to the covid-19 and the change of dates of the contest, we could not be present," explained Álvaro Rodríguez.

By 2023, the members of the Chirigota de Santoña will cross the country by plane a few days before with the aim of carrying out the last rehearsals in some of the venues of the city's peñas, something that José María Barranco has managed.

Autofinancian

To carry out this initiative, the murguistas from Santoña  practically finance themselves  with lottery sales and save 50 euros a month each in a boat, although they have collaborations and a principle in agreement with the Santoña City Council to bear the name of Santoña from north to south.

And that money is used to cover expenses, costumes, travel, registration and the design of the scenery, above all, which is designed in the Andalusian city itself.

All of them, with a great career in the Santoña murga contest, have in common that they love Carnival and also that of Cádiz, where they will be together with the best of the country and it helps them to make friends with members of other groups. "We like the sauce of being there," they say.

In addition, and  before a very demanding audience , the goal is to be liked and applauded. "It's a great feeling to be at the Gran Teatro Falla when a group likes the attendees," says Chirigota de Santoña,  a group of friends, as they define themselves,  who devote their time and effort to enjoying one of their hobbies.

Source: periodicofiltration.es