Of Crickets and Cicadas seeks to spread the message that no one owns everything

It is said that cicadas call for rain. Some of them are arriving this weekend, along with some crickets, at the National Arts Centre (Cenart) to sing opera and tell how a fire destroyed their home and that, despite the fact that both insects are very different, instead of fighting, they can share the same territory.

Catalina Pereda, actress and artistic director, spoke about the work Of Crickets and Cicadas: A Brief Migrant Opera, which makes a fable with these sound bugs, which are from two different towns that confront each other.

As an adult-centric society, we think we have to protect children from difficult issues, when in reality they are in the world, they live and see them, but no one explains them to them. We should not be afraid to expose them to the problems that happen to them.says the author.

The director of the company Opera portátil also observes that many have changed houses, schools or jobs at some point, like cicadas that are forced to migrate. These are situations that They affect us allbecause displacement is the biggest global problem we have.

We feel that we should not be condescending towards our youth. On the contrary, we should give them the tools to face the world. Our idea has been to make art, have a good time, but also to bring people together. And the performing arts do this in a very particular way, because we are all present in person, which, with so many screens, is somewhat lost. We have the opportunity to go to a room to sit down and watch a play and when we leave have a lot of questions to start talking and think critically about the issues.Add.

Catalina Pereda said that Many Mexicans are children of migrants; for example, the composer is the son of Spanish exiles; I am the son of a Uruguayan exile. Our identities are crossed by migration..

The actress highlights that everything is told with a lot of humor and through music, which is the beauty of opera. Of crickets and cicadas It is for the whole family; Obviously, with a childish approach, but adults read other more complex layers.

With four performances this Saturday and Sunday at 12 and 2 pm, at the Teatro de las Artes, the cycle Opera is Pure Story… and Theater and Circus Too! begins at Cenart (Río Churubusco 79, corner with Tlalpan).

In addition to four singers who bring the insects to life, the live music on stage is performed by a quartet consisting of violin, cello, flute and clarinet, with musical direction by Jomi Delgado and stage direction by Daniela Arrojo.

Musically, it is very rich, because it has brief nods to classical operas.but also with many sounds, with different rhythms, such as a habanera, a Cuban son and another from Veracruz, or textures of contemporary music. Two composers created the scores: Marcela Rodríguez and Jomi Delgado, A man and a woman from different generations and aesthetics, perfect for this work that addresses two cultures that clash.

The opera was created during the pandemic, while some of the company lived in Morelos, where they observed that before it rains, cicadas make an impressive sound. The libretto is by Pedro Antonio García, who read a lot of the anarchist philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who reflects on private property and when it occurred to us to put up barriers and not let others in.

Individualism, everyone’s problem

The audience is introduced to issues such as habitat destruction, forced displacement and private property, “a topic that is central to childhood, even if it doesn’t seem like it. The child starts to talk and says: ‘mine, mine, mine’. It’s like a way of differentiating ourselves from the outside world,” says Pereda, who plays a cicada.

“We ask the little ones to share while we have the same problem: ‘my house, my car, my country, my village’. We don’t let others interfere. It is very much at the heart of our modern Western way of life.

“It is a problem that concerns us all. We know about the global migration crisis and the war in Palestine, which we are all seeing before our eyes, which does not stop and has become a tremendous genocide, because some say: ‘this territory is mine’. At its root there is something about appropriating the world, when in reality we are part of a habitat that is larger than us. That is precisely the vision we try to give: no one owns everything, but we have to think differently.”

The Ópera portátil company is celebrating its tenth anniversary and is ending a tour at Cenart that has taken it across Mexico since the beginning of this year. Something special happened with the performances on the southern border, in Tapachula and Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, as well as in shelters in Ciudad Acuña and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, where the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees took them to bring opera to their centers.

It is full of children who have been displaced from their countries. We sing to them and their families. For us, it was a very moving and powerful experience; it taught us a lot.. Before, they also went with the work to some shelters around the city. “It was impressive to see how overwhelmed they are and how little we are aware of.

Once a person sees the work, the theme remains in their head. That’s the beauty of art, that something moves you and suddenly you start to see life in a different way.

The sounds of crickets and cicadas culminate an operatic trilogy starring the little animals. “We began to be captivated by the world of insects since we made our first opera, Apoidea, which is about a bee, because they are very sophisticated bugs and, on the other hand, very similar to us.

“Bees organize themselves to make their hives; ants have societies underground. The second piece was about fireflies, we realized that there was a big difference between males and females, because they did not fly; so we also talked a little about gender differences.

Each insect has very crazy peculiarities, each one is a universe, they are fascinating, with highly sophisticated constructions. In the end, we also see ourselves as human beings.concludes the composer.