Rumbo al’Anacua to perform at arts center

Rumbo al’Anacua

By FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com

The Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center in San Benito will be hosting Rumbo al’Anacua, an event filled with poetry, music and culture.

Rumbo al’Anacua is a folk duo comprised of husband and wife, Joe and Rosa Canales Perez, who chronicle their cultural experiences of growing up in South Texas through storytelling, poetry and music.

The musical style can be described as folk, blues and traditional Mexican or Ranchera.

“Rosa and Joe (Perez) are retired teachers,” said NMCAC co-founder Rogelio Nuñez. “They are some of the few remaining folk singers who have developed music in the hopes of maintaining Mexican traditions.”

According to Nuñez, the Perez’ have written an abundance of songs about the happenings in the Valley, including San Benito’s very own Stonewall Jackson.

“This is homegrown folk music that’s also really good,” Nuñez added.

The Perez’, who currently reside in Olmito, used to host a radio program on KMBH that focused on border issues.

“We usually do Mexican folk music when we do cultural presentations, but this performance is a little looser, so we’ll end up performing ranchero and original music that Rosa has written, which is a little more blues influenced,” said Joe Perez describing the sound of Rumbo al’Anacua.

According to Joe Perez, the name “Rumbo al’Anacua” started as a sort of play on words, with significant value, of course.

“Rumbo al’Anacua basically means ‘towards the tree,’” Perez said. “Rosa, during her last year of college, lived with her uncle and aunt, who also happened to be her godparents. Her uncle used to have a barbeque pit under an Anacua tree in his yard.”

Joe Perez said that whenever his wife asked her aunt where her uncle was, her aunt would say “rumbo al’anacua tree,” or headed to the anacua tree to relax. The Perez’ decided to use the phrase to name their folk duo, signifying their plans for relaxation after retirement.

“When we retired we decided to do these musical cultural presentations,” said Joe Perez, who cited the Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center as the launch pad for Rumbo. “We were later put on Texas Commission of the Arts and toured around the state. Now we only perform locally.”

“We’re not regular volunteers there anymore, but we appreciate that the center even exists,” added Perez. “We want to help them out with the fundraising effort. We love the concept of the whole cultural museum.”

Rumbo al’Anacua is scheduled for Thursday, January 17, at 7 p.m. at the Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center, located at 225 E. Stenger St. in San Benito.

Read this story in the Jan. 9 edition of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.