PERSONAJE
PA N A M Á
Jimenez Jr to have lunch with
Mr. Vargas at Gran China in
Avenida Balboa.
I haven’t met him before,
but he seemed to be a mode-
rate man and I had the feeling
the lunch was going to be
kind of disappointing. I was
completely wrong!
Pedro Vargas was an out-
going person, with a sharp
sense of humour. I noticed
that he wasn’t insecure and
he often laughed at himself.
I remember one of the
jokes he told us. He was dri-
ving at Baja California in or-
der to make business and he
had to stop at the gas station.
He asked th man in the
station “How far am I from In-
dio?” (A small town in Califor-
nia), and he replied “Not that
far, you only need to wear
feathers, sir”.
The conversation was ca-
rried even after lunch, since
Eduardo Morgan Jr. joined
us. Enrique Jimenez Jr. had to
leave, but he handed Pedro
Vargas an invitation to his
nephew’s after-wedding.
I had no choice but lea-
ving, sadly. I said “I have to
go too, my wife Itza has to
sing tonight at the church to
Raul Morrice, Enrique Jime-
nez’s grandson. As you might
know, he’s marrying Jeanette
Boyd.”
Surprisingly, Pedro Var-
gas said: “I’d like to go too.
Could you pick me up? I’m a
close friend to Mr Jimenez. He
had hired me to Teatro Tropi-
cal’s opening, which I wasn’t
able to do due to other com-
promises. Hugo del Carril did
it, and I sang there two weeks
later.”
My wife and I were on our
way to the wedding in Iglesia
del Carmen. We picked up Mr.
Vargas and his old friend and
pianist Alvarito, at El Panamá
Hotel.
In order to get to the
church’s chorus you had to
go upstairs a long way. Al-
varito was tired, almost brea-
thless, and he said “I can’t be-
lieve how much energy you
have, you’re going to kill me
one of these days.”
When Itza was getting re-
ady to sing, Mr. Vargas asked
her if he could go first and then
she followed him.
That way they improvised
and sang several songs related
to this kind of ceremony. Indeed,
there were a lot of people surpri-
sed and amazed by listening to
Pedro Vargas great vocals.
That was his wedding gift to
his grandson’s good friend.
From that day in 1966
my wife and I started a close
friendship with Pedro Vargas
and his wife, Doña Tere.
We could enjoy the great
talent and virtues of this good
man, who always loved our
country.
But let us not miss the point. Back to
the Mexican artist, Loyola Fernandez,
Cuban m.. Assures: “Pedro Vargas was
a particular singer: he used to intonate
slowly, and his pitch was very special.
He pronounced every word so it could
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be perfectly understood. Thanks to
that he stood out from other Mexican
and Latin American singers in gene-
ral.”
Pedro Vargas was the second of 12
brothers, he studied opera but he was
captivated by pop music. He showed
in more than 70 movies, he was given
more than 456 prizes and orders, and
he sang the main songs of Mexican
and Latin American composers.
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