Valentín Rincón captured in his music the wonder of growing up and discovering the world

The death of musician and composer Valentín Rincón, last Tuesday, leaves a gap that will be very difficult to fill, they told The Day family and friends of the man who was the creator of the group Los Hermanos Rincón, founded in 1971.

With more than 20 albums of melodies for children, the group He captured the wonder of growing up and discovering the world, as well as forging the sentimental education of many generations in the country, through notions of active school, in which children are formed as people with democratic values.his loved ones added yesterday during the funeral.

With songs from his repertoire such as The robot boy o White-tailed bird, His close friends bade him farewell in a moment full of emotion. His son, Iván Rincón, who is now the group’s musical director, remembered his father as someone very sensitive and simple. “He was very generous, not only in relation to his work, but also with others. He always had a great social sense. If from his work it can be assumed that he loved children very much, from the way he raised them it was evident.

“When we were little, he would show the songs to my brothers and me so we could tell him what we thought. We would tell him: ‘Dad, those lyrics are too sad for such a happy song, or vice versa,’ and after laughing he would change them. During the heyday of Enrique Guzmán and Alberto Vázquez, one day I asked him: ‘Why don’t you do a rock and roll?’ and the lyrics came to me: ‘This was a monkey who danced rock.’ That’s where the song came from. The rock of the monkey; he always took us into account, even though we were children.”

Lyrics with an educational focus

The Rincón Brothers began their career in the 1970s, in a context in which children’s music was focused on entertainment. However, they adopted an educational approach, using music to teach children about values, culture and social principles with a style that included a fusion of traditional Mexican and Latin American rhythms with lyrics that address themes such as friendship, the environment, respect and diversity.

Julio Gullco, an expert in children’s music and a friend of Valentín’s, said that they were pioneers not because they were the first or the only ones to make songs for that audience, but because of how they reflected the social context that existed at the time. They had very present in their lyrics notions of active education due to the outbreak of the student movement in 1968, and in their rhythms the so-called new Latin American song was very marked, with a great social charge..

The Rincón Brothers became an essential reference for generations of children and teachers in Mexico and Latin America. With their educational approach, and albums like The viper of the sea (1995), The robot boy (1996) y The painted bird (2004), contributed to the creation of a space in which children’s music not only entertains, but also educates.

The composer’s life partner for 45 years, Cuca Serratos, remarked that “after Cri-Cri, There is no composer like him. He was very cheerful. He composed every day, and he always made me laugh. I don’t know how I’m going to manage in solitude; I need it. I live on earth, he lived in the air.”

Serratos emphasized the role played in the group by the poet and sister of the composer Gilda Rincón, and recalled that in 1994 they were invited by Casa de las Américas in Havana, Cuba, to participate in the first Latin American and Caribbean Children’s Song Meeting, which was held in that city.

For his part, Omar Rincón, part of the second generation of the group and current director of the Casa de Sensibilización Artística La Mariposa de Hojalata, a school that continues the family legacy through introductory music classes for babies and children, mentioned that Valentín was “very hard-working, he always had ideas.

Between my mother, Gilda, who wrote the lyrics, and him, who provided the rhythms, they created more than 120 songs, including 26 for each letter of the alphabet. Part of this tireless work led him to found Amexcami (Mexican Group of Children’s Music Songwriters). In the third stage of his life, he dedicated himself to compiling books. He was always unstoppable, and his legacy will continue for many generations.he concluded.