PORT TOWNSEND — Each year, Juan Reynoso travels thousands of miles from his home in Mexico to Port Townsend for one reason: to keep his music alive.
Reynoso, 90, is a national treasure of Mexico and a human repository of more than 1,000 sones and gustos, the folk music of his native Tierra Caliente, an isolated area of southwest Mexico.
Ironically, Reynoso’s music only started to be appreciated in his own country after he was discovered by music lovers in the United States.
That recognition includes a National Prize for Science and the Arts from the Mexican government in 1997 and honored-guest status at Encuentro de Dos Tradiciones, an annual music festival in Mexico City.
Although Reynoso has appeared twice in other North American venues, Centrum’s Festival of American Fiddle Tunes at Fort Worden State Park is the only one he returns to year after year.
The three-day Fiddle Tunes festival starts Thursday at McCurdy Pavilion at the retired Army fort.
Tickets for Thursday’s concert, which starts at 2 p.m., are available through Centrum, 360-385-3102, and also at the Food Co-op and Quimper Sound in Port Townsend.
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The rest of this story appears in the Wednesday Peninsula Daily News. Click on SUBSCRIBE to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.
