Portal de Alhama de Murcia
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José Antonio Ayala, director of the municipal music school of Alhama de Murcia has been the preacher of # Christmas2019 in the municipality.
The act that began after 8:30 p.m.
in a church of San Lázaro crowded and prior to this year's Christmas concert that has had the band and choir of the Musical Group of Alhama and the children's choir of the music school.
Celia Cánovas, president of the choir of the Musical Group was in charge of presenting the preacher of Christmas Alhameña 2019, and did so remembering that each year this vocal ensemble is responsible for choosing that figure.
He has described Ayala as "alhameño of presence and heart, without which Christmas is not understood in Alhama".
He also highlighted "his human quality", valuing his status as "tireless worker", for whom his work "has not been an obligation but a devotion", forming "generations of musicians."
Ayala gave the witness of the titular band last March to Alhameño director Raúl López.
On November 24 this training was held with the XXIX National Contest of Music Bands 'City of Murcia'.
López has been in charge of directing the band, adult choir and children's choir of the music school this year, in a concert divided into two parts: the first, only instrumental, and the second with the voices of more than 100 children and about thirty components of the choir of the Musical Group, led by its director José Bermejo, when the twentieth anniversary of this formation is celebrated, since it began its journey in April 1999.
Christmas proclamation 2019. José Antonio Ayala García
"Mrs. Mayor of the City Council of Alhama, Pastors of the church of San Lázaro and the Church of the Conception, councilors, relatives, friends, ladies and gentlemen good night.
To begin, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Alhama Musical Group Choir for choosing me to proclaim Christmas.
When Celia called me to tell me that she wanted to talk to me, I thought it was something related to the preparation of the choir and band Christmas concert.
My surprise was when he told me that they had agreed that I would be the one to proclaim this year's Christmas.
At the beginning, my reaction was a bit negative: first, due to the little time I have and the amount of work that I always accumulate on these dates with the direction and teaching of the School of Music;
and secondly, because preparing a proclamation that is up to the act carries a great responsibility.
Celia told me: think about it and then we talk ... But knowing that the Choir is celebrating its 20th anniversary and that at the concert it would act together with the Band of the Musical Group, I could not refuse.
Thank you very much for thinking of me.
Christmas is a time that is characterized by the encounter of family, friends and loved ones.
Families gather and celebrate the most important days of these holidays: Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve, New Year and Kings.
The festivities begin on December 22, the day on which the Christmas holidays begin and the lottery draw is celebrated, with a great tradition in Spain.
I remember affectionately when, in my childhood, I listened on the radio to the children of the San Ildefonso school singing the numbers and prizes of the raffle.
I think, being the coin the peseta, everything had a charm that has been lost with the arrival of the euro.
Although there is something that remains the same, despite the change in currency, and once the draw is over, health day begins.
Day in which we all say the same thing: the lottery has not touched us, but the important thing is to have health.
When we talk about Christmas, most of us go back to our childhood.
And images of joy, anecdotes, pranks begin to flow….
I want to start by telling you my memories of my childhood Christmas with my parents and siblings.
Nowadays Christmas is a time of great commercial activity, exchange of gifts, business meals, streets illuminated with colored lights, showcases full of gifts, Christmas decorations, toys….
In my childhood everything was lived very differently: I remember going with my mother to buy the ingredients to make the typical Easter sweets.
I also remember my father splitting and grinding the almonds and my mother making the masses of the cordial, mantecados, bundles, alfajores and the typical Easter cakes, the house was flooded with aromas that reminded you that Christmas had already arrived.
My brothers and I were in charge of bringing the plains of the baked sweets and we took advantage of the cooking time to join the friends who also waited for their sweets, and play ball, when we returned with the cooked sweets always disappeared some by the way and I can assure you that they did not fall to the ground.
They were also lovely Christmas Eve dinners, very varied and copious dinners in which we ate food that during the rest of the year we did not usually enjoy, in which there was no lack of turkey, nougat and Christmas sweets.
At these dinners we met with my uncles and cousins ​​at my grandparents' house, while the elders prepared dinner, all the cousins ​​played, although some always punished for doing some mischief.
At the end of dinner, as our family has always had a lot of musical tradition, there was no lack of Christmas carols and popular Easter songs.
Then, equipped with the coat, gloves and scarf we all went to the mass of the rooster.
On Birth Day we used to go to the center of town, to see the different rocks making their parades and moving from one house to another to ask for the bonus.
Already in adolescence I began to live Christmas differently, continuing with the musical tradition that I have lived since childhood.
With 12 or 13 years, we form several childhood friends the typical peña habitual at Christmas of Totana.
The group was made up of guitars, lutes, percussion, my brother Ceferino with the clarinet and I with the saxophone.
In our first performance, we all had a very rewarding experience, which, fortunately, kept the club going for many years.
We always used to meet two or three months before Christmas, to contribute ideas and expand the repertoire of songs that we premiered each year, in which we always prepared a song that was currently in those dates.
So, despite the fact that in those years the advertising of the shopping centers did not advance as much as now, we began to live the Christmas atmosphere well in advance.
When I started to live Christmas in a professional way it was in 1984, we started the Christmas concerts with the Band of Musical Grouping with a different format than what is currently done.
In 1988, for the first time the Band performed together with a choir that was created promptly for the occasion.
The experience was very good, which made this collaboration repeat itself on some other occasion.
Thanks to the restlessness of many of the people who formed that first choir and the illusion that the project would go ahead, the foundations could be laid for the constitution of the current Musical Group Choir, which precisely this year celebrates its twentieth anniversary.
For me, the preparation of Christmas is synonymous with a lot of work, since, once the concerts of Santa Cecilia are finished, in less than a month you have to prepare and organize the Christmas concert, prepare the exams, correct, rate, distribute the notes….
The truth is that I always do everything with great enthusiasm, and above all, with the goal of organizing a great concert in mind.
In 2000 I decided to change the structure of the concerts, creating a choir with the students of musical language.
This, in addition to making them get used to acting in public and making music together, also served to improve their intonation.
But this also had its small complication, because it meant having to lead a choir that sometimes exceeded 120 choralists, aged between 8 and 14, and a band of 55 to 60 musicians.
Numerous essays full of anecdotes come to mind, which, moreover, should be as agile as possible, because the little ones sometimes almost fell asleep ... On the other hand, and already knowing the most unruly students, I always tried to locate them in places where they could be more controlled so that they did not revolutionize trials too much.
The other great challenge I had every year was that all students memorized the lyrics of the 8 Christmas carols that we had on the program, so that, in this way, the attention to me was greater.
The truth is that that was what cost the most ... Especially for the little ones.
Once the concert was over, it was best to see the face of satisfaction of all the children, who had managed to thrill both me and the entire audience, who rewarded with applause that special concert they had just heard.
A special mention deserves José Antonio Gómez, who always had to do with all the children for the typical distribution of the bags of goodies that were given to them at the end of the concert.
And for the musicians, a dinner was organized, in which the roasts that José Antonio Gómez prepared for us every year were famous and in which the laughter and fun with the invisible friend was not lacking at the end.
We started this project in 2000 and we have been performing these concerts for 19 years, which, fortunately, have become a benchmark in the cultural activities of Christmas in Alhama, and in which we have the opportunity to enjoy the performance of more of 160 artists in this unique setting, such as the Church of San Lázaro.
In my private life I have always lived Christmas in a very familiar way with my wife Mª Dolores and my children José Antonio and Javier, along with grandparents and brothers.
We decorate the house with Christmas decorations, the tree and the birth.
Mª Dolores and I lived a very special day of Kings, it was the year that our oldest son was born.
After seeing the ride we went to the hospital and that same morning José Antonio was born.
We have always tried to create a good Christmas atmosphere for our children, starting with the Christmas Eve dinner, the visit to the relatives, the New Year's Eve dinner and especially the preparation of the coming of the Magi, which was what most excited I made them.
First writing the letter, and then taking it to the Kings who received all the children with that face of joy and their letter in hand to hand it over, the waiting time was endless for the lines that formed and the impatience of the children for wanting to deliver his letter as soon as possible to his favorite King.
The night of Reyes after seeing the ride, you had to go to bed early so that the Kings could move on to leave the presents, but not before putting the shoes on the door of the room.
Then we filled a bucket with water and put it on the balcony so that the thirsty camels could drink, and a tray of Christmas sweets to keep the Kings happy and so leave many gifts.
Mª Dolores and I enjoyed as much as our children with all these preparations and especially seeing the face of happiness and surprise they had the next morning.
I want to have a memory for all those people, family, friends ... who are no longer among us.
I also wish that these Christmas parties are the most pleasant possible for all those people in need of love, those who suffer from a disease, those who have no job or a home to shelter.
I hope that next year, about to arrive, be generous and help us fulfill all our desires and that there is peace in the world.
And of course everyone, Merry Christmas.
Thank you".
José Antonio Ayala García - December 21, 2019
Source: Ayuntamiento de Alhama de Murcia
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