Miguel Angel Fuertes, heroes “in the shadow” of the carnival

Isabel Laguna | Cadiz (EFE).- One of the heroes of this year's Cadiz Carnival is on the “dark side” and invisible of the stage, and coordinates everything so that every night, for a whole month, a stage show Gran Teatro Falla Able to transform into different universes in a few minutes.

The protagonist of “In the Shadows” is Miguel Ángel Fuertes, known as “Salmendro.” He has been COAC's theater consultant for 41 years, a position he will bid farewell to this year because it is time for him to retire.

Manage the “talisman” of Vala

“In this scenario, during the competition, there is a lot of magic, a lot of emotions. This competition is not normal,” says Miguel Ángel Fuertes, in an interview with EFE, who during these four decades has been the “tamer of the falla,” as he was called, And the person responsible for making sure everything is ready for everyone.Performances of more than 4,000 choirs, chirigutas, bands and quartets made way on the stage.

Miguel Angel Fuertes says this year's competition “feels like a lump in his throat.” A knot that tightens every time a group leaves the stage after their performance and looks at them, knowing that next year they won't have the same person who took it upon themselves, before the curtain opened, to dissipate their nerves with a look. Or a joke or a “slap” on the back.

In his position, “moderation,” and sympathy for each member of the groups arriving on stage, is a necessary “yes or yes.”

He was able to prove so much that they dedicated verses to him this year.

Among them is the tango dance dedicated to him by the “El Paraíso” choir, in which they demand that the Carnival give “Salmendro” the tribute owed to him “for a long time.”

Since I was a little kid

“Since he was a little boy, behind the scenes/ He won the position without discussion with his father as mentor./ Knowing how to allay the fears of the quarry/ Always respecting those who sing, whether they are from Cadiz or from abroad/ He is always ready to help when needed… He soothes The nerves of everyone who comes to sing,” they sing to him.

Miguel Ángel Fuertes learned to perform his role from his father, who was also a municipal official who was in charge of the same job at the time. “When I was 8 or 9 years old I came with him,” he recalls.

He “inherited” the position years before he obtained the position of official and driver in the Cádiz City Council. In this position he was a driver for the four mayors of the democratic period of Cádiz, from Carlos Díaz, to the current Bruno García. Every year, a decree is signed to transition from being a driver to the position of advisor to the Civil Aviation Commission.

This year's carnival star admits that a week before the competition started, he had “terrible stomach pains” because she “has so much responsibility”, but it fades away towards the second session, when he “gets into the rhythm”, and they don't. Back until the day of the Grand Final, that marathon day that usually lasts all night, until the early hours of the morning.

“After that day, I felt feverish, and I didn’t leave the house for a week,” says the council member, who for many years managed to combine his work with membership in one of the choirs participating in the competition. .

In front of thousands of spectators

For him, and for the 14 people on the technical team he coordinates, competition days during this month start around 1:30 p.m., when groups from at least the six groups that compete in each session arrive on stage (there can be up to to 16 in the final). “Each one is a little play,” he says.

Everything must be ready and organized, because in the session they will have a maximum of ten minutes for assembly. And ten more have to be dismantled and make room for the next one. In a place that at this time could transform from being a park to becoming a flamenco painting. Or shanty town.

He says he coordinates the entire mechanism without difficulty. “I have to issue very few orders because everyone knows what to do.”

Live broadcast

And all this taking into account that in front of the stage there are only 1,200 spectators that the theater can accommodate. But thousands and thousands are watching live TV, or delayed broadcast via YouTube, from their homes.

For his successor, who actually accompanies him in this Aviation Control Commission, he leaves a stage where he believes that working behind the curtain of the Anti-Corruption Commission should be given a “role”. “We were not keeping up with the development that the groups presented in these years in their stages.”
“Look, it's still good for us,” he says.

Miguel Ángel Fuertes regrets that he did not write down the thousands of stories he lived during his 41 years on the boards of Fala. Perhaps, when these champions draw the curtain next February 9 on the final COAC final, all those memories to make up Carnival history will be on display from the other side of the curtain of the sectional “temple.” Evie