Playwright, poet, novelist, researcher of Canarian speech and communicator, the recently created Orlando Hernández Association keeps his work and his memory alive, with the collaboration of the Agüimes City Council.
Few people have done as much to investigate and recover the idioms of Canarian speech as the versatile writer Orlando Hernández. Born in the historic center of Agüimes on March 19, 1936, he was a restless and creative personality from a very young age. Playwright, poet, novelist, printer, radio host, columnist and art collector, among many other occupations, died at the age of 61, on May 2, 1997. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his death, a performance by friends, Relatives and members of the cultural association that bears his name, made a floral offering at the foot of his grave this Monday, in the Agüimes parish cemetery.
Present at the event were, among other personalities, the president of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales; the mayor of Agüimes, Óscar Hernández; the Councilor for Culture of this City Council, Francis González; the professor at the University of Burgos, expert in the work of the Aguimense writer, Agustín Carlos Barruz; the plastic artist Paco Suárez; the writer María Jesús Alvarado; the parish priest of Agüimes, Miguel Lantigua and the president of the La Salle Association, Sebastián Sánchez Vélez, an entity to which Orlando Hernández belonged and for which he wrote the order of the Three Wise Men 'Towards Bethlehem' and the order of the passion 'And 'he was the son of man', which continue to be performed every year, for Three Kings and Holy Week, in the streets of Agüimes.
After the floral offering, the tribute to the figure of Orlando Hernández continued in the house museum that bears his name, where the newly created Orlando Hernández Martín Cultural Association was presented, which will be the entity responsible for promoting the dissemination of his legacy. Among his more than thirty works, story books such as 'Sancocho. Canarian tales', traditional works such as 'The Barber of Temisas' or 'In my town I rule', books of poems such as 'Baladas del Guanche', plays such as 'La escandalosa', musical compositions such as 'Vamos a Agüimes' and novels such as 'Mask and Earth' or 'Catalina Park', his most successful and recognized publication. Precisely this work will be republished by the association, with the support of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria and the Agüimes City Council, with the expectation that it will be published in October of this same year.
Orlando Hernández was also a regular press columnist in newspapers such as El Eco de Canarias, Canarias 7 or La Provincia and for 14 years he maintained a highly rated program on the now defunct Radio Atlántico, dedicated to Canarian customs and entitled 'Things from Pepito the Arab. and teacher Rafael'. Among his main recognitions, he was awarded the 'Luis Benítez Inglott' journalism award in 1966, the Pérez Galdós national theater award, awarded by the Casa de Colón in 1968, and favorite son of the municipality of Agüimes, in addition to cultivating unanimous affection and appreciation. of the great personalities of Canarian culture of their time.