BORDER ARTS
by Andrew Reyes, Staff Writer / Translator
Siempre en Domingo Tapes in El Paso
The variety show "Siempre en Domingo" (Always on Sunday),
which has an estimated audience of 50 million worldwide according
to the El Paso Times, taped in El Paso on March 15.
The event took place at the University of Texas-El Paso's Don
Haskins Special Events Center. Raul Velasco, 65, founder and host
of the show, made his final appearance on the program. It has
aired every Sunday since December 13, 1969. This would be Velasco's
last "concierto massivo" (major concert) outside of
Mexico, and he will be retiring on April 19th, due to health reasons,
Francisco Cabral, a local promoter, informed the Times.
The show, which was co-conducted with Velasco's daughter Karina,
features well known artists as well as up-and-comers, said Alfredo
Rodriguez, station manager at KINT-FM (93.9).
"All the important artists of the Hispanic world have performed
on 'Siempre en Domingo' at one time or another," according
to Rodriguez.
The El Paso show had been scheduled to feature Houston-based recent
Grammy winner La Mafia, Venezuelan crooner Ricardo Montaner, Mexican
rock and pop star Alejandra Guzman, ranchera singer Pepe Aguilar,
the young pop group Sentidos Opuestos, veteran singer Alberto
Vasquez, who started his career as a teen idol in the 1960's,
bolero singers Paquita La Del Barrio, and the techno sound of
the Mexico City trio Moenia, and American-country influenced Caballo
Dorado, whose first major release was a Spanish version of "Achy
Breaky Heart,".
Not all of the scheduled acts performed in the three hour presentation,
including the anxiously awaited group La Mafia. Their unexplained
absence upset several Texans in the audience.
Guzman also missed the show. She married Farrell Goodman in Mexico
City the night before the El Paso show.
In addition to the acts that did perform was a local four-man
and four-woman chorus called Voces Del Paso, a local band Azucar,
a ballet from Juárez, as well as the colorful movement
of La Onda Vaselina, and a duo by Carlos Cuevas and Jorge Muñiz.
The program also featured a tourism segment about El Paso. Mary
Lou Gallegos, advertising and marketing director for the El Paso
Convention and Visitor's Bureau, said the "phenomenal exposure"
that comes from the program being shown worldwide was exciting
for the Bureau.
Velasco, who will soon be receiving a liver transplant at Texas'
San Lucas hospital, was given a standing ovation despite the audiences
dissatisfaction in the way he exited the stage. Some viewers apparently
felt that Velasco did not properly say good-bye.
Singer, actor, and conductor César Costa, will be replacing
Velasco's "Siempre en Domingo" with a similar program
titled "Mundo de América" (World of America),
a network executive told El Diario at a press conference.
Costa, who appears on "Un Nuevo Día" (A New Day),
has not announced when this program will be finalized. It is assumed
that "Mundo de América" will air in mid-April
or early May.
Sources: The El Paso
Times, El Diario, Norte de Ciudad Juárez