Ramámuri pianist Romeyno Gutiérrez Luna. Pulse News Mexico photo/Melissa T. Castro

By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS

Ramámuri pianist Romeyno Gutiérrez Luna, considered to be the most acclaimed indigenous keyboard artist in Latin America, was the star of the night when the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua presented a dinner-show gala at Mexico City’s Hacienda de los Morales restaurant on Monday, March 27, within the framework of its tourism promotion as part of the country’s 47th annual Tianguis Turístico tourism fair.

A member of the local Tarahumara community, Gutiérrez Luna comes from a family of musicians, his father Juan Gutiérrez being a prominent local violinist from Retosachi, Chihuahua.

Gutiérrez Luna took up the piano as a toddler and, with the help of encouragement and training from U.S. citizen Romayne Wheeler, who was living in the area, mastered the likes of Fryderyk Chopin, Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by age 12.

As a teen, Gutiérrez Luna performed and studied in both Europe and the United States, where he perfected his technique and gained global acclaim, becoming an international ambassador for Mexico’s indigenous Tarahumara people.

The Chihuahua cultural evening, which included a sampling of classic norteño cuisine and a nonstop audio presentation of music and images from the largest state in Mexico, was dedicated to famed Mexican revolutionist Francisco “Pancho” Villa, who died in Chihuahua in 1923.