Pioneering women honored

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Jul 18, 2006 by Bill Blankenship

By Bill Blankenship

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Shimmers of heat seemed to dance to festive Mexican music and sobs of sorrow mixed with cries of joy at the unveiling Monday of a downtown Topeka monument to Mariachi Estrella de Topeka.

The 18-foot tall memorial on the grounds of the Topeka Performing Arts Center celebrates the all-female mariachi troupe, which was perhaps the first of its kind in the United States.

The monument, which was sculpted by Colorado artist Emmanuel Martinez and is entitled "Mariachi Divina," also recalls the four Mariachi Estrella de Topeka members who died July 17, 1981, when two skywalks collapsed at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Kansas City, Mo., where they were to perform, killing them and 110 other people.

"We do believe it's a very important and historic day for the city of Topeka and the United States of America," said David Chavez, the former Topekan who spearheaded fundraising for the nearly $70,000 project.

Chavez commended the city for "not only embracing cultural diversity but sharing it with the country."

Mayor Bill Bunten said the memorial offered a way to pay tribute to the pioneering women and "to remember their lives, their music and the joy they brought to all of us."

The city government's sanctioning of placing "Mariachi Divina" near TPAC and City Hall also was a way "to appreciate the great value that the Hispanic community brings to our city," Bunten said.

Other local officials spoke, but it was Councilman John Alcala's comments that had many in the audience in tears.

Alcala's voice broke with emotion as he recalled how one of the dead mariachi members, Connie "Chea" Alcala, serenaded his father at a birthday parties.

In addition to Alcala, 32, Dolores Carmona, 35, Dolores Galvan, 26, and Linda Rokey Scurlock, 36, also died in the Hyatt disaster.

Their faces now are preserved for the future in bronze bas- relief profiles below the 10-foot statue of a female mariachi with her arm extended skyward.

Some in the crowd said the ceremony triggered somber memories of 25 years ago.

One relative of the slain women, Ediberto Gonzales, recalled getting word of the disaster while at Fiesta Mexicana 1981 and having to go to Kansas City with other family members to identify their loved ones' bodies and then notify other next-of-kin.

Mariachi Estrella member Isabel "Bolie" Gonzales, who because she was nursing a 4-month-old baby and also had a 2-year-old at home, didn't go to the Hyatt gig, said she, too, had been thinking a lot about her sister, Alcala, and cousin, Carmona.

"I went to Mass this morning to give God thanks for today, and I ran into a teacher friend of mine, and after Mass, he said, 'May your memories today be gentle.' That's what I hope for everybody," Gonzales told the crowd.

Gonzales and the two Mariachi Estrella members who were injured but survived the collapse, Teresa Cuevas and Rachel Galvan Sangalang, joined the sculptor in unveiling the monument after Chavez shouted, "Viva, Mariachi Estrella!" three times, with the onlookers responding "Viva!" to each call.

When the covering dropped from the monument, Mariachi Campanas de America, an internationally acclaimed, San Antonio-based group that played two nights at Fiesta Mexicana 2006, began playing "El Son de la Negra," a mariachi tune about a dark-skinned woman.

Cuevas, Gonzales and Sangalang joined in, as did members of the new all-female Mariachi Las Palomas de Topeka.

Teresa Galvan, another relative in the audience, said the fact that Topeka has three active mariachi bands is part of Mariachi Estrella's legacy.

Chavez said in the next several days "Mariachi Divina" will be permanently installed on a concrete base near the canopied entrance on TPAC's S.E. Quincy side.

The completion of the memorial, funds for which came from private and business donations, as well as proceeds of Mariachi Spectacular concerts staged by Chavez, was possible by two large gifts this year: $15,000 from the Wal-Mart Foundation and $10,000 from the Capitol Federal Foundation.

"We're not done yet," he added. "We'll keep raising money. We want to install benches and landscape it."

"Americans of Latino descent need to have their stories told," he said, saying he wants the story of Mariachi Estrella de Topeka told well for generations to come.

Bill Blankenship can be reached at (785) 295-1284 or bill.blankenship@cjonline.com.