Ángel Tavira(1924-2008)
- Actor
Was born into a musical family; his grandfather Juan Bartolo Tavira was
a prolific harpist/lyricist and developed a style of music known as
Calentano, the music of Mexico's Tierra Caliente region, which
straddles the states of Guerrero and Michoacan. There are several
stories as to how Angel lost his right hand, but he has been without it
for most or all of his adult life and is a very able violinist. He
connects his bow to his 'stump' using a fabric strap, as seen in the
movie "El Violin". As a young man, he played violin in one of the most
widely known traditional bands of the region, Poker de Aces. Later, he
moved away from the Tierra Caliente, to nearby Iguala, Guerrero, where
he taught music in a secondary school for many years and raised a large
family. He retired from teaching decades ago, but continues to perform
and record traditional Calentano music with his sons Luis and Daniel,
and daughter Margarita. Francisco Vargas produced a documentary about
Angel before writing "El Violin" as a vehicle for his newly discovered
muse. Angel continues to live in a modest duplex in a teachers' housing
subdivision in Iguala, Guerrero. He is teaching his grandchildren to
play violin in the Calentano style. As of February '08, he has just
wrapped on a small part in a movie called "La Morenita".
