Before a crowd that has already made the surroundings of the Mario Alberto Kempes stadium a place of its own, the second edition of the National Quartet Festival once again consecrated Carlos “la Mona” Jiménez as the popular idol that he is and will be for a long time to come. One who no longer attends the Monumental Sargento Cabral week after week but maintains an obligatory appointment with his followers every two or three months.
If in January it was within the framework of Bum Bum and in February in the context of The Greatest Dance in the Universe, the dawn of May had as an excuse the continuity of the festival dedicated to tunga-tunga that Universo Jiménez had started in mid-2023 in Villa Maria.
In this second version, based in Jiménez’s new house, when it came to thinking about live performances, the producer led by her son Carli chose to concentrate everything in a single day and proposed 12 uninterrupted hours of quartet as the particular slogan of the event. .
The programming was up to the occasion and brought together several of the main figures of the genre, in what was a new confirmation of the quartet as a rising musical genre, with an increasingly transversal reach.
The presence of Eugenia Quevedo and LBC at dawn, El Loco Amato acting as the luxury opening act for La Mona, the power of Magui Olave, the classicism of Sabroso and the self-confidence of DesaKta2 provided their seasoning for a festival that seems to have come to stay.
However, the “Boss” once again became the main reference of a collective ritual that any circumstantial reader should experience before leaving this world.
Jiménez, always Jiménez
When La Mona Jiménez’s band started playing around 11:30 p.m., everything made sense for the varied range of audiences that filled the Kempes grounds, packed and spacious at the same time.
The show, somewhat more limited than usual, was a festival of classics (Jealous, He is 18 years old, Chinese ink, Two in one, Oh Lord) that had Jiménez plugged in, happy, excited and in permanent contact with his audience. “The dedications are coming, calm down, calm down. Let me warm up. “I’m an animal, I have to warm up,” said the singer in the first section, where he also took the opportunity to thank his colleagues and the public who came from other provinces and countries.
In another segment, he dedicated the show to the doctors who have accompanied him recently and to “Juanita” Delseri, whom he defined as his “best friend” on more than one occasion. And when it was time to Rain, there was also an allusion to Luis Miguel’s failed concert at Instituto: La Mona parodied the Mexican and also had an assistant with an umbrella who followed him throughout the song. “It’s raining hard huh. Get the plane ready and we’re leaving,” she joked.
Although there was never any doubt about who was the main protagonist of the night, during the hour and a half that Jiménez played it was clear that people had come to see the most famous quartet and that was going to be the climax of the day. Once again, the cult of “Mandamás” was experienced as what it is: a unique musical manifestation of its kind.
At times, it was inevitable to be distracted by what was happening outside the limits of the stage. The bodies that managed to stand above the heads trying to connect with the idol’s gaze. The flags and tattoos displayed with the corresponding ritual. Devotion beyond everything, regardless of whether La Mona tuned or matched the phrases of those songs that are already hymns in time.
With a final stretch that included Luis, Russian roulette and Terry before making a hasty jump to the close of the list (Only with you), Jiménez came to the abrupt end in his prime. He made people laugh (he asked why they called him “old ruiner”), he enjoyed it, he was happy to find familiar faces among the attendees. When the clock was ticking and the programming had to continue, La Mona made her band stop playing to get closer to the edge of the stage and receive the popular affection.
Justice has been done
With general tickets sold out and parked buses that revealed the arrival of Cuartetero fans from different parts of the country, the fall of night found the venue located behind the northwest sector of the Kempes with a significant crowd.
The income, with a long boulevard improvised with stalls of choripán, drinks, “chewing gum” and monero merchandising, it showed the usual movement of the catalog of events that Universo Jiménez has been holding in this part of the city.
From 5 p.m., Simón Aguirre, Banda Mix, Lore Jiménez, Monada, the ascendant DesaKta2 and the magnetic Magui Olave were in charge of putting rhythm to a day that, shortly after 9 p.m., while Sabroso displayed his orchestral power, still had many hours of tunga-tunga ahead.
By the time El Loco Amato took the stage, around 10:15 p.m., the human tide was already truly impressive and he was delirious with lady lover, Adventuress either Makumba, along with Monada’s vocalist, Juaninto Ninci. “Thank you for the respect and affection,” said the former singer of La Fiesta and Trulalá as he closed his vibrant performance, another of the highest points of the night.
With an increasingly well-organized organization, the festival received more than 40 thousand people who bought their tickets. The gastronomic sector, converted into a “flavor fair”, made it clear that the event is mirrored in megafestivals such as Cosquín Rock or Lollapalooza, only on a smaller scale and with an exclusive focus on our characteristic rhythm.
The punctuality in the schedules was also highlighted, which towards the end of Saturday had only moved about 10 minutes compared to the original programming. In any case, when Euge Quevedo and LBC began their presentation, the delay had doubled and The Monkey came on stage at the scheduled closing time, at 4.
Before, Cachumba and Damián Córdoba had contributed their share of “quartetazos” for a crowd that, although it dwindled after Jiménez finished, the vast majority did not leave the ship until early morning.
With 12 consecutive hours dedicated to the genre, and after a three-day debut at the Villa María amphitheater in 2023, this second version of the National Quartet Festival seems to have put things in their place. Wasn’t the city of Córdoba missing a festival 100% dedicated to tunga-tunga? It sounds like historical justice. And it also has to do with the present of a music that long ago stopped being Cordoban heritage to become a national and popular rhythm that goes for everything.
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