Mexican balladeer sings to save vanishing village - Boquillas del Carmen

Victor Valdez doesn’t need a microphone to sing. His voice echoes off the steep canyon walls that surround his unusual stage here. Standing knee-deep in the middle of the Rio Grande’s rushing waters – at the dramatic entrance of the Boquillas Canyon – Mr. Valdez belts out heart-felt ballads such as “Cielito Lindo” and “El Rey.” His baritone voice floats through the canyon and up the Rio Grande toward Big Bend National Park.

“This canyon is my stage,” Mr. Valdez added. “And I have the best theater along the border.”

He sings, he said, to remind people that this Boquillas del Carmen community, on the northern edge of the Mexican state of Coahuila, is alive. “*

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