Mural in Honour of Manolo Mena

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Art · Subcategory: Urban art · Year: 2022 · Authors: Sabotaje al montaje

In the Barranco Grande neighbourhood, the urban artist Sabotaje al Montaje (Matías Mata) completed in October 2022 a large mural on one of the free walls of a building, as a tribute to the soloist and timple player Manolo Mena, a prominent member of the folk group Los Sabandeños.

Manuel González Mena (1952-2009), known as Manolo Mena, was born in Barranco Grande when this neighbourhood belonged to the municipality of El Rosario, before it was ceded at the end of 1972, along with other lands, to the city of Santa Cruz. Mena, known from a very young age as El Majuelo or La Estrella, was one of the great references of Canarian folklore, marking an entire era and consolidating a peculiar style with his great tenor voice. From the age of fourteen he began his journey in folk groups as a soloist and timple player until he founded the group Los Majuelos. In 1975 he joined “Los Sabandeños” where he developed his own style with a melodic and clear voice. His different ways of conceiving folklore gave rise to true beauties in the singing of malagueñas, folías and isas, not forgetting the boleros and ballads that he embroidered with his clean and precise voice. Manolo Mena died of a pulmonary disease on 12 February 2009.

The mural in his honour, created by Sabotaje al Montaje, is a work where the performer is represented realistically and without ambiguity in his two facets: singer and timple player. Against an ochre background, the clear images of Manolo Mena stand out evidently, immortalising the unforgettable popular musician.

Manolo Mena has another work in the city that remembers him. It is a bust located in the Cabo-Llanos area. This speaks well of the value of this unforgettable artist.

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