CCEMiami invites you to the book presentation  Entre la risa y la sonrisa by Gonzalo Reig and with the illustration been made by Alfonso Ortuño on Tuesday June 5th at 7 p.m. There is free admission.

The presentation will be performed in Spanish.

This book reinvents the genre of the anecdote, which its author Gonzalo Reig prefers to call a ‘humorada’. It tells of a life lived in funny scenarios in places as diverse as the small Valencian town of Mogente or the revolutionary Paris of 1968, a city that, at that time, was the artistic center of the world and where Latin American music was all the rage. From Paris we march on, joking our way through America and the island of Menorca, returning to Madrid at the time of the transition to democracy, with everything to be done and much laughter to be found.

More than 60 characters – some well known by everyone, others very close to Gonzalo Reig –  make up a story that is a reflection of the author’s life. The 130 humoradas are full of empathy, where sometimes the simplest gestures, like a kiss or a smile, hide the most complex and at the same time most authentic parts of the human experience.

Ultimately, this book full of laughter is a tonic for life. As psychologists say: laughter strengthens the heart, relieves digestion, improves our breathing and protects our immune system.

Each of the humoradas is illustrated by the great artist Alfonso Ortuño. His drawings paint a smile on people’s faces – something that, in today’s world, is more necessary than ever.

About the Author

Gonzalo Reig
Born in Valencia (Spain). He was a musician of Onassis and María Callas in Monaco. He studied architecture in Paris and co-founded the Calchakis group with whom he toured Europe, before making multiple trips to America to deepen his musicology. He returned to Spain in 1973 to create the Ibero-American Folklore Center, the Toldería. To this day, he continues to record, tour and perform live. He has been writing the history of Cuban music for years and, as a diversion, notes down jokes and anecdotes, which he presents in this book.

About the artist

Alfonso Ortuño
Born in Orihuela (Alicante, Spain). He is one of the best caricaturists and cartoonists in Spain. He developed his craft in the information services of RTVE and still collaborates with media channels such as: El Sol, Triunfo or Hermano Lobo. It has been written about him that he ‘spends good humor and is light in pencil’. As well as having an ‘enjoyable friendship’, what unites Alfonso and Gonzalo is a passion for music, architecture, gastronomy, cinema, the bohemian life and a sense of humor. Admirer of the great Spanish painter Velázquez, Ortuño is famous for painting buffoons and politicians. Particularly memorable was his ‘political shuffle’, edited by Fournier, with cartoons of foreign political characters. His favorite color is red.

In the course of this presentation, Gonzalo Reig will sing to the public and briefly talk about the ‘Habaneando’ conference on the history of Cuban music.