As if it were a gentle caress, the requinto will travel through the notes of pasillos, albazos and sanjuanitos. This music, born in the Andes, will be the centerpiece of El Concurso de la Canción Nacional Ecuatoriana (The Ecuadorian National Song Contest), a festival with 17 years of history. This year, the stage of the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater in downtown Peekskill has been chosen for the gala that will bring together 12 participants on Sunday, Mar. 15.
The competition, aimed at amateur performers, will begin at 12 p.m. and continue until 6 p.m. The program will be devoted to the traditional music of the South American nation, whose population in Peekskill exceeds 4,300 people. According to official figures, 1 in every 6 residents in the city is Ecuadorian.
The festival is organized by the Ecuadorian Civic Committee in Westchester. William Juca, the organization’s secretary general and director of the contest, said the final rehearsal ahead of the event will take place Wednesday, Mar. 11. The competition has drawn significant audiences during its nearly two decades.
“We came up with the idea of creating a festival for new talent, for people who enjoy Ecuadorian music,” he said. “It is the only event of this kind in the tri-state area.”
The format is simple, but demanding. Participants must sing accompanied by live musicians. Recorded tracks are not allowed.
“In this contest everything is live,” Juca added. His own musical talent will also appear on stage, although not as a contestant. Instead, he will perform as part of the entertainment for the audience. The pasillo “Regresa” will be his selection for the gala.
This year, 12 singers will compete, selected from 16 applicants. Two were disqualified after the committee determined they had previous professional experience. “The requirement is to be an amateur,” the director emphasized.
The performers will be accompanied by guitars and requinto. Musician Marcelo Sánchez is responsible for the instrumental framework of the festival.
The competition unfolds in rounds. The jury will first select six semifinalists. They must perform a second piece. Organizers have asked contestants to prepare three songs in order to advance through the process.
In the final stage, three finalists will remain. From them, the winner will be selected. The prizes are $1,000 for first place, $500 for second place and $300 for third place.
The jury will be composed of five professional musicians, including Alfredo Villamar, a member of the well-known Ecuadorian duo Hermanos Villamar. In addition, a group of children studying singing at a local academy will perform both the opening and closing numbers of the event.
Juca said this edition of the contest is special after a yearlong pause due to the tense immigration climate last year. “We preferred not to hold it,” he said. “With the immigration situation and the raids, we did not want to expose people.” For him, that atmosphere of uncertainty has partially changed. “The fear has not disappeared completely, but people are getting used to it,” he said. “It is not the same level of fear as before.”
Organizers expect an audience of about 200 people, a number similar to previous editions held in cities such as Croton and Yonkers. Ecuadorian music, Juca said, remains at the center of everything. But the contest is part of a broader calendar of cultural events organized by the Ecuadorian committee in the county.
In August, for example, they hold a community festival at Croton Point Park that in 2024 brought together about 7,000 people. There, in addition to music, visitors find traditional food, crafts and guest artists from different countries. “We want to internationalize the festival,” Juca said. “People from Puerto Rican and Dominican communities also attend.”
The director emphasized that pasillos, albazos and sanjuanitos will always remain the inspiration of the contest, whose goal has been to keep Ecuadorian music alive among younger generations who grew up far from their country.
