Yolanda Ortega hadn’t really thought of her work as essential until last Sunday.
As a multi-decade veteran of the Denver stage, she’s performed for thousands. She has inhabited iconic roles for which she has been lauded. For many, she is a human link to their culture and heritage, writ large in all its beauty.
Still on this day, in this unusual moment, it was a Facebook post that delivered the news.
A recent airing of her KUVO radio show, Cancion Mexicana, elicited response on social media. But one comment in particular struck a chord.
“What you are doing helps us live.”
Then the comments poured in. People heard their childhood in the music. People were sharing dances they had never shared with their children. People were feeling joy, even if they were dancing alone.
“I think of the grocery store, the postal office, the hospital. It hit me in a way that I wasn’t expecting, that I have something essential to bring to this as well,” Ortega said. “That I have a way to contribute in this moment.”
This felt like a revelation to Ortega, who was performing on her familiar stage at Su Teatro in a production of War of the Flowers, when the theater was forced to go dark to protect actors and audiences alike. It was a hard closure for the theater, which had never abandoned a production in its decades of existence. And then, the actors in the company went home and stayed there. Many of them losing their entire income – acting and waiting tables – in an instant.
“I found myself turning to art to make sense of it myself. I wrote a silly song based on the old Spanish folk song, La Llorona – La Corona – to release my tension. I shared it with a few friends. We laughed. I watched the news. I got nervous again. It was only day two of being in the house. We didn’t really know what this was about. What does it mean to stay inside?”
“As artists, this is the work we do. We process and share, even in this strange time, that continues. My voice has always been the theater. On the stage we reflect what’s in our minds, what’s in our hearts. We reflect that we’re not so different as we think we are.”
Be the first to hear La Corona Llorona
Lyrics and vocals by Yolanda Ortega with thanks to Simone Alexander. Guitar accompaniment by Debra Gallegos. Sound recording by Dee Burleson.
La Corona Llorona
Ay, de mi Corona, Corona,
I wish you’d just go away now
Ay, de mi Corona, Corona
Mi casa no es tu casa
You’re scaring all of our gente, Corona
I can’t even hug Abuelita
Mis tias won’t even make me tortillas,
They think we will get masa poisoning
Ay de mi Corona, Corona
Our gente are taking precautions
Ay, de mi Corona, Corona
We’re constantly washing our manos.
Pues, pass me my lotion, please, Corona
Mis manos feel like sandpaper
And we don’t dare touch our caras, Corona
Because we’re too guapa, Dios Mio!
Ay, de mi Corona, Corona,
My beauty’s not really nachural
Ay de mi Corona, Corona,
Pa que pongo mucho makeup
No tengo mi Loving Care, Corona
And I miss my manis y pedis
Good thing we have to wear masks, Corona
I made mine con chones del viejo!
Ay de mi Corona, Corona
What’s up with the toilet paper?
Ay de mi Corona Corona
The stores don’t have them on shelves
Mis hijos are using corn husks, Corona!
Pues, no puedo hacer mis tamales!
I try to give them home schooling, Corona
Pero, son smarter than I am!
Gracias Corona, mil gracias Corona
I realize how precious life is.
Ay de mi Corona. Corona
A hard way way to teach us a lesson.
We promise to live life con gusto, Corona
If you would just go away
We promise to live life con Gusto, Corona
If you would just go away!
~ Yolanda Ortega
May 2, 2020
Week 7 – Quarentine