Guadalupe Urbina Juárez returned to Guanacaste more than a year after her last visit. This Wednesday, July 31, she received in Liberia a tribute to her career in the framework of the bicentennial of the Annexation of the Party of Nicoya to Costa Rica.
It’s the only event in the province that is graced with her presence, and not because she wanted it that way. “I’ve never been very welcome in the province,” she firmly believes, saying so in a calm voice.
Her critical voice ― she told The Voice in a conversation this morning― makes her incompatible with activities where a single Guanacastecan personality is continually exalted, that of the man from the savannah and the rancher, and where machismo (male chauvinism) is reproduced dressed in tradition in rhymes, bombas (rhyming limericks with a punchline) and songs.
“This concealment [of women] not only distorts our understanding of musical art, but also deprives future generations of inspiring female role models,” she herself wrote on her Facebook when she reflected on why she was not invited to “any official bicentennial celebration.”
Looking at the role of women in Guanacaste’s history was what the Liberia campus of the National University (UNA), Liberia’s Culture Association and the Literary Center of Guanacaste sought to do.
To do so, they chose her and the centenarian and marimba player María Bolandi, as the honorees of their bicentennial commemorative events.
Four years ago, she was declared Liberia’s favorite daughter for her contribution to regional musical culture.
“We generally focus on men who have permeated Guanacaste’s traditions, and what about women?” members of the bicentennial commemorative commission at UNA in Liberia asked themselves, said Blanca Barahona, the institution’s coordinator and librarian.
“And the majority of us on the commission are women, and perhaps it’s due to a principle of sisterhood, because all of us, in addition to being women, are all from Guanacaste, and we believe that Guanacaste’s women are worthy, have fortitude, and deserve all of this,” she added.
Below is an excerpt from the conversation that The Voice had by telephone with Guadalupe Urbina Juárez about this recognition, about her role and critical eye in Guanacaste, and what it means for her to share the tribute with María Bolandi.
The commission set the goal of recognizing women, taking into account that in many areas, they continue to be on the sidelines of recognition and cultural events. What does being one of those honored make you think and feel?
It seems very good to me, and not because women should have special recognition, but rather because we should have a place in the recognitions.
It’s urgent, especially in a province like Guanacaste, a province that still has a strong heritage that permanently honors and opens spaces, applauds, coddles and combs the hair of its men, and we still have to listen to the retahílas (rhyming verses with word play and improvisation) that say: “that pretty brunette, I’m a colt that neighs in any corral and that rides any mare.” This is very sad, that we continue to be compared to the mare that anyone can ride in the humor of traditional verses.
And that type of manifestation continues to be reproduced in cultural activities…
Well, I just saw it in the bicentennial celebration, verses of that type. And they are very sad because it can’t be that in the middle of the 21st century, in such an important celebration, there isn’t a person who curates those events and says “no, this can’t be done.” There we can put censorship.
Was there any specific event that made you notice this in this bicentennial?
Normally you see that everywhere and I don’t want to say names and things directly because that’s why I’ve never been very welcome in the province. For two reasons. One: because I’m an uncomfortable person for those who reproduce and reproduce and reproduce the same ways of celebrating, of living folklore and of seeing the tradition of the people, as if we were all sabaneros (men of the plains) with cowboy boots riding horses. And no. In Guanacaste, there are towns that aren’t like that. They are farming towns, on the coast, with small plots of land. But we continue to emulate the large haciendas (ranches) with horses and bulls. For me it’s very pitiful. And second: I’m also not welcome because I can say these things, that we [women] are here and we have a place on this earth. I can’t keep quiet about these things, but I’ve also learned that it’s the same old story.
It seems that taking a strong stand against stereotypes and machismo is still an act of bravery, although it shouldn’t be.
I always say it. And I’m not ashamed of it in the least. I’m never invited to the important festivals in the province and I never will be because I’m not going to sit down to drink shots at a table to emulate the men who have a lot of money who pay for that and who are fascinated that here we continue with traditions that are not very healthy for the province. In a province that always has to be kind to the men, I’m not so kind to the men unless they have a deep respect for me in my condition as a hard-working person, a creative person, as an intelligent woman.
My cultural work hasn’t been promoted in the province as a job dedicated to the province. Before, it hurt me a lot; now it doesn’t. Now I understand that many years have to pass and that there must be many changes so that this work can be heard and used as well.
How did not feeling welcome in your own land stop being an emotional burden for you?
You’re aware that what you do is important, that it’s important to do it, that it doesn’t matter how people from outside perceive it, because it’s your own legacy and inheritance, and you have to honor that inheritance and that legacy.
Both María Bolandi and you are icons and artistic geniuses. What does it mean to share the recognition with her?
It’s an enormous honor. I listened to my father talk about the parties in Liberia at the Bolandi house, I remember that. I met María Bolandi at a presentation in Liberia, about 10 years ago or more. For me, it’s an enormous source of pride to be next to a woman like her. She’s one of those women who always broke the mold.
I should also say that Liberia has always had a lot of affection for me. And it’s not the first time that I receive attention from the people of Liberia and expressions of affection for the work I do.
Being far from Guanacaste, on the other side of the country, how do you keep the province alive within you?
Those who are born here already carry that legacy for free, just by the fact of having been born here. It’s a legacy that determines in some way how you face the world.
I believe that one walks with the legacy wherever one goes. And Guanacaste is a land that leaves a very deep mark on those who were born here and on those who lived here for a time in their lives.
The tribute to Guadalupe Urbina Juárez took place on Wednesday, July 31 at 4 p.m. in the parish of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, in Liberia.
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