GABRIELA VARGAS-CETINA RECEIVES A TROVADOR AWARD

Each year in Merida [Mexico], there are festivities to celebrate the "Day of the Trovador" (and now the "Month of the Trovador", as of 2005), since Yucatecan Trova is the local pride (it is the direct predecessor to the Latin American Bolero music). There are many events associated with this. The organizers give out presents to people who are considered an important part of the Trova scene. This usually takes place in a party only Trovadors attend. They also give out a medal to the older and most respected Trovadors, during a public ceremony at one of the main city theatres. They called me up in April to invite me to the party but I thought it was because a friend of mine was being given one of the small presents. I couldn't go because I was in Ithaca, NY, when that happened. I have been playing with a Trova choir since 2001, as part of my fieldwork for the book I am currently writing, so I have been to two of these parties already, as a friend of the organizers.

The other day I went to visit with one of the two organizers of the festivities, and she told me that she had a small present offered to me by the Committee of the festivities. This is the first time I am officially recognized by the Trovador community as one of their own! I don't think I'm the best Trova guitarist or singer, but obviously they seem to think I am good enough.

I am [first and foremost] an anthropologist. This is the second time in my life that the people among whom I work honour me by including me as part of their own in a public, recognizable way. This really means a lot to me.

Gabriela Vargas-Cetina

www.myspace.com/gabrielavargascetina

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