Festival Con Sabor Catracho ~ Festival With Honduran Flavor

A few weeks ago the Sprout family had a night out to enjoy a festival concert of music and dance typical of Honduras. A few weeks prior, I saw in the local newspaper, La Prensa, a small article about the event with the picture of Angel Rios you see at the left. Angel is from Honduras and also plays outside of Honduras now too. Gosh is he talented. There has always been something about the violin that gives me shivers when I hear it played well. So I was very excited when Sister came home from school one day last year telling me that her class was selected to take violin lessons for a month or so in their weekly music class. Sister loved it. She would tell me about what she was learning and that she really wanted a violin. I bought her one even though I knew we were moving out of the country to an unknown city, and not sure if she would actually be able to take lessons. I had hope that someone in the industrial capital of Honduras would play the violin. And here I found one. A really good one.

Angel was the feature artist, but we enjoyed a night of different types of music and dance from the various cultures here in Honduras. The concert took place at the local museum called el Museo de Antropología e Historia in downtown San Pedro Sula. I recommend a visit if you like museums. They have a beautiful garden and performance auditorium too.


Surprisingly, Brother was all ears throughout. Papa and I were both shocked at how well he was listening, sitting and watching. I had fears of having to walk out with him in arms to entertain his curiosity for something else. He was content to snack on crackers and raisins with eyes and ears on stage pretty much the whole time. He didn't leave Papa's lap. Brother has always like music though and would dance as an infant in his bouncing chair. He also likes to sing, but he's a bit shy. If I can catch him singing, I'll try and get a video, but the times I've tried he clams up and turns away.

Sister was all ears too and also enjoyed the folk dancing. The only trouble she had was during some of the strong drum jams when the garífuna group, Black Men Soul were playing. She has always been sensitive to loud noises, but after the concert she begged to go meet Angel. She was so impressed with him and wanted to meet a "famous person", especially a violinist. Angel was very gracious and Papa told him how Sister really likes the violin and wants to take lessons. He gave us his personal number and said we could call him so he could give us a name and number of a person who gives lessons. We will be calling, but the timing is not good right now with all the extra tutoring Sister is requiring for Spanish and math. Hopefully soon though.

It was a wonderful night out with the family and even Papa said it made him feel very proud of his Honduran heritage. Teaching and reflecting pride in the mother land is something that may be done less and less here. I hope this changes.

I took some videos from the concert. They really mixed things up a lot. I did take more video of the garífuna group, but the drumming is too loud so the sound comes through bad. Everyone got a kick out of a little old grandma who jumped up on stage a few times to dance. There were lots of whoops and hollers for sure. Especially when she was dancing the Punta. This is just a little sample, of course not nearly as beautiful in video as it is in person.