The Ypacaraí Festival has been held in the city of

Ypacaraí Ypacaraí is a town in the Central Department of Paraguay on the Lake Ypacarai. On the Paraguayan highway system, it is located between Asunción and Caacupé, near Areguá and San Bernardino. Known as the "City of Folklore" after the Ypacara ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, since 1971, between August and September. It is a folklore festival organized with great emphasis on all kinds of cultural manifestations. The purpose is to keep alive the memory of great people who have become icons in diverse artistic disciplines. Above all, it is to promote appreciation of art.

History

The Festival of the Lake, as it is called, started in 1971, the initiative of a group of Ypacaraí citizens who were fond of folklore, with the purpose of celebrating the anniversary of the foundation of the district. The first festival was organized in September. It presented a valid alternative to encourage a love of the things that were authentically national, against the new musical tendencies of foreign origin that had fast acceptance among young people. In the first festival, the organization paid homage to Demetrio Ortiz, author of the Guarania (music genre) that is representative of the city “Recuerdos de Ypacaraí” (Memories of Ypacaraí), who in spite of the hard regimen that ruled the country in those times, could make a presence at the festival. The first festival took place in the club “24 de Mayo”, on a small stage. The very good acceptance of the population towards the event encouraged the producers to go a step further and repeat it the following year for a greater audience and with many more national talents.

Stages of the festival

The festival has come through two stages. In the first stage, the festival was all about maintaining the traditional values of the cultural expressions of the country through the dance, poetry and craftsmanship, reaching its culminating point in the 1980s. The second stage started when the organization decided to assume also a defense of human rights, which they considered were not being respected by the current government of President General Stroessner. This resulted in the festival being prohibited in 1986, by a resolution of the Department of the Interior. However, the people of Ypacaraí did not abandon hope of continuing this activity. They took courage and received the support of the entire country and the festival moved to the property of the parish church, all with police custody. In 1989 with the overthrow of the dictatorial government and the arriving of

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

, the festival was reborn with much more expectation.

Festival with international presence

Since its first years, the festival had a fluent exchange with other international festivals, similar in their objectives of making known and gives importance to the culture of the country. Delegations from this festival participated in Argentina's festivals of Santa Fe, Córdoba, the Folklore National Festival of Pirané, in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

in the Folklore Festival of Yacuiba, and also in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and Bolivia. The delegations from other countries also came to the festival of the Lago Ypacaraí.

International exposure or participation

Since 1973 other international groups joined the festival, they were Los del Suquia, from Argentina, Los Carabajal, Los Cantores del Alba, La Compañía Argentina de Danza, Teresa Parodi and many others. From Brazil participated groups such as: Ballet Primitivo del Arte Negro from the state of

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it List of Brazilian states by population, sev ...

, Xaxado, from Paraíba. From

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

came the group of ballet Peru Negro, Aukamaru, Roberto Parra and many others.

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

was present too with the Mariachi Los Pasajeros, Mariachi Nacional of Mexico among others. Other groups of artists from

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and Bolivia also have participated in the festival. The list would be too long to name all the people. The festival did not stick only to the musical; from it was born the first municipal school of ballet, which allowed the diffusion of this art, and with time, other artistic manifestations also added to this festival.

Awards

In 1976, it was instituted the trophy “Recuerdos de Ypacaraí” (Memories of Ypacaraí), which was granted by a specially selected jury in every edition of the festival, it was national and international. Nowadays it can be said that the Festival of Lago Ypacaraí is the most famous in Paraguay, of all the Latin American Folklore festivals.

Homage people in the festival

The following is a list of people that have been honored in the different editions of the festival, with the passing of time, the organization added more categories such as folkloric dancing and local craftsmanship. In 2006, homage was made to Renée Ferrer in the festival of poetry for the second time. In 2001, the organizing commission decided to include among the list of homage the people the artisans too.

Festival of Lago Ypacaraí

* 1971, Demetrio Ortiz * 1972, Félix de Ypacaraí / María Cristina Gómez Rabito * 1973, Alberto de Luque * 1974, Diosnel Chase * 1975, Luís A. del Paraná * 1976, Teófilo Escobar * 1977,

Agustín Barboza Agustín Pío Barboza (5 May 1913 – 18 December 1998) was a Paraguayan singer and composer. Biography Childhood and youth Barboza was born in Asunción, Paraguay. While still an adolescent in 1929, he went to Buenos Aires to work as a seaman ...

* 1978, Mujer paraguaya compañera del artista * 1979, Florentín Giménez * 1980, Eladio Martínez * 1981,

Mauricio Cardozo Ocampo Mauricio Cardozo Ocampo (May 14, 1907 – May 5, 1982) was the main reference of the so-called "golden generation" of the Paraguayan popular music and a strict studious of the Paraguayan folk music. Biography He was born in Ybycuí on May 14, ...

* 1982, Félix Fernández * 1983, Darío Gómez Serrato * 1984, Teodoro S. Mongelós * 1985, Músicos de la Epopeya del Chaco * 1986, 1987 y 1988, PROHIBIDO * 1989, Maneco Galeano * 1990, Augusto Roa Bastos * 1991, Dúo Quintana-Escalante * 1992, Alejandro Cubilla * 1993, Juan Alfonso Ramírez y los Indios * 1994, José Magno Soler * 1995, Zulema de Mirkin * 1996, Vocal Dos * 1997, El pueblo * 1998, Rigoberto Arévalo * 1999, Los hermanos González * 2000, Juan Cancio Barreto * 2001,

Efrén Echeverría Efren Echeverria (4 March 1932 – 19 June 2018) was a Paraguayan musician guitarist, composer, and compiler. Childhood and Youth When Efren was nine years old, a neighbor, Eusebio Cantero, taught him the first chords on guitar. With hi ...

* 2002, Carlos Federico Abente * 2003, Carlos Niz * 2004, Neneco Norton * 2005, Ricardo Flecha * 2006, Epifanio Méndez Fleitas * 2007, Oscar Safuán

Festival of Poetry

* 1990,

Elvio Romero Elvio Romero (1926-2004) was a Paraguayan poet, active in the 1940s and 1950s. Early life Elvio Romero was born in Yegros, Paraguay in 1926. At a young age he became associated with fellow Paraguayan literary figures Hérib Campos Cervera, Jo ...

* 1991, María Luisa Artecona de Thompson * 1992, Félix de Guarania * 1993,

Renée Ferrer de Arréllaga Renée Ferrer de Arréllaga (born 19 May 1944) is a contemporary Paraguayan poet and novelist. She is Secretary General of the Board of Governors of the twenty-member Academia Paraguaya de la Lengua Española. Her novel ''Los nudos del silencio ...

* 1994, Gladys Carmagnola * 1995, Luis María Martínez * 1996, Ramiro Domínguez * 1997, José Luis Appleyard * 1998, Elsa Wiezell * 1999, Oscar Ferreiro * 2000, Teresa Servián de Sosa * 2001, Pedro Encina Ramos * 2002, Ramón Silva * 2003, Mercedes Jané * 2004, Aurelio González Canale * 2005,

Rubén Bareiro Saguier Rubén Bareiro Saguier (January 22, 1930 – March 25, 2014) was a Paraguayan writer, poet and diplomat. Early life Rubén Bareiro Saguier was born and grew up in Villeta, Paraguay. At the age of 11, he learned of the injustice of living in an ...

* 2006, Renée Ferrer de Arréllaga * 2007, Mario Rubén Álvarez

Festival of Theater

* 1982, José Arturo Alsina * 1983, Máxima Lugo * 1984, José L. Melgarejo * 1985, Josefina Plá * 1989,

Alcibiades González Delvalle Alcibiades González Delvalle (born 20 July 1936) is a Paraguayan journalist, playwright, essayist, and novelist. He won the Paraguayan National Prize for Literature in 2013 with his novel ''Un viento negro''. In 2016 he was named a member of the ...

* 1990, Ernesto Báez * 1991, Sin datos precisos * 1992, Rudi Torga * 1993, Tito Chamorro * 1994, Pedro Moliniers * 1995, Sara Giménez * 1996, Erenia López * 1997, María Helena Sachero * 1998, Edith Errecartes * 1999, César Álvarez Blanco y Rafael Rojas Doria (Los Compadres) * 2000, Jesús Pérez * 2001, Victoria Figueredo * 2002, Nizugan * 2003, Mercedes Jané * 2004, Luís D’Oliveira * 2005, Humberto Gulino * 2006, Jorge Ramos * 2007, Compañía Roque Sánchez-Graciela Pastor

Festival of Dancing

* 1990, Celia Ruiz de Domínguez y Gilda Ruiz de Segovia * 1991, María Magdalena Duarte Melgarejo y Emilio Barrientos * 1992, Petronita Vinader * 1993, María Balbina Vera * 1994, Rosa Vera de Barúa y Dora Rabito de Sosa * 1995, Lilian Garicoche * 1996, Elizabeth Vinader * 1997, Mercedes Vera * 1998, Sussy Sacco * 1999, Mirtha Cabañas de Bonzi * 2000, Pamela Fretes * 2001, Cándido Duarte y Gladys Lenguaza * 2002, Reina Cáceres * 2003, Natalia Ramos y Felicita Patiño de Márquez * 2004, Mirta Lenguaza * 2005, Katy Ortega * 2006, Beatriz Frutos * 2007, Zully Vinader

Festival of Craftsmanship

* 2001, Marcial Medina * 2002, Indalecio Chávez y Del Rosario Sanabria * 2003, Rosa Brítez * 2004, Federico Giménez * 2005, Benjamín Patiño y Serafín Montanía * 2006, Alejandrino García * 2007, Ramón Ayala Salim

References

Festival del Lago Ypacaraí on Facebook

Festival del Lago Ypacaraí at Bienvenido a Paraguay

External links

Viva Paraguay

Secretaria Nacional de Turismo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ypacarai Festival Festivals in Paraguay Central Department Folk festivals in Paraguay