Summary\u00a0\ud83d\udc47<\/h3>\n
\ud83d\udd38<\/span><\/span>Editorial<\/span> \ud83d\udd38<\/span><\/span>Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects<\/span><\/p>\n \ud83d\udd38<\/span><\/span>A little something from my side : Vig\u00fcela’s tribute to the 150 anniversary of Manuel de Falla, Falla: voices of a time<\/span><\/p>\n \ud83d\udd38<\/span><\/span>Open calls and professional events: Sauti za Busara festival, open call for artists; Hide & Seek: free concert access for professionals; Summer rate for WOMEX and conferences announced<\/span><\/p>\n \ud83d\udd38<\/span><\/span>Meet me at \u2708\ufe0f<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n \u27a1\ufe0f This is the link for subscription<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Hello, how are you?<\/p>\n I hope you’re well. I’m doing fine, though I’m in one of the busiest periods of work I’ve had in years. The picture is in Palma de Mallorca, with Thanos Stravridis and his colleagues of Drom, who performed there on 16th of July. It was our first concert together and it won’t be the last. We have a date in Tavira, Portugal, on 6th of September.<\/p>\n There’s no interview in this edition. I have a very interesting one to edit, with the team of Ultranesia<\/strong>, whose work is extraordinary. The raw transcript is 24 pages long and touches on \u2014or even crosses into\u2014 painful territory regarding how things work in the cultural field in my country (and probably not just in my country). It will be part of the August edition \u2014at least a portion of it, as it\u2019s long but very insightful\u2014 and I may publish it in several parts. Here’s a sneak peek:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “Why don\u2019t we even consider sending a proposal to the major classical music auditoriums? Because at that level, we\u2019re no longer talking about social circles or even about artistic inbreeding \u2014 we\u2019re talking about pure elitism. And not even the kind masked as favoritism; it\u2019s openly elitist.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n A prominent historian of contemporary music once shared this anecdote: he was asked to curate a program on a famous contemporary composer, and the organizer\u2019s first question was: \u201cAnd which family do you come from?\u201d That says it all.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n What’s worse is that when that man, despite his aristocratic mindset, <\/span><\/em>stopped programming contemporary music, that meant also missing out regular contemporary concerts at some public cultural institutions.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n When you work in large cultural institutions, many of which are related to monarchy and state politics, it feels like we\u2019re still trapped in a mindset akin to the novel El Lazarillo de Tormes \u2014 having to flatter the \u201clords\u201d just to be allowed to do our work. Or like in Vel\u00e1zquez\u2019s paintings of court jesters: you\u2019re lucky if you\u2019re near the king, but you\u2019re not really there as an artist \u2014 you\u2019re there as a curiosity. A dwarf, a cripple, a \u201cstrange one.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Tomorrow \u2014well, in just a few hours, since I\u2019ll be leaving home at 4:30 in the morning\u2014 I\u2019m traveling to Sweden, to Urkult, with Vig\u00fcela. Below you\u2019ll find a new project I\u2019ve developed with them. It will be their second time performing there. They were there in 2016. Since then, many things have happened. Over the past nine years, different people have passed through the band. Two of the musicians who came with us to Urkult left the group that same year. Shortly before playing at Urkult, during another festival \u2014the kind any band would dream of attending\u2014 a situation came up that surprised me. These two people didn\u2019t want that path. They weren\u2019t interested in traveling the world, sharing the music of their homeland and the joy of their art with audiences. They told us they preferred not to travel so much and to live a more, let\u2019s say, normal life. Honestly, it was a learning experience for me \u2014seeing that people with the talent to make art, which they had, didn\u2019t view that path as the one they wanted to follow. Years later, I\u2019ve been reinterpreting it. I think the demanding path of excellence and artistic depth wasn\u2019t something they were willing to commit to. They were content with what they already knew how to do, and that\u2019s where they\u2019ve stayed. They\u2019re still active in more locally-based groups. I think that\u2019s fair. But me? Tomorrow \u2014well, in a few hours\u2014 I travel to Urkult.<\/p>\n Also coming is Eduardo G\u00f3mez-Olmedo, from Candeleda, \u00c1vila (in the picture, in yellow, playing the Spanish lute). After a few years away from our activities due to personal reasons, he is traveling with us again to perform. Eduardo has spent years playing informally with the elders of his village, which is known for its strong traditional arts. Several times a year, the elders still gather in the town square, around a bonfire, to sing and play music. Here<\/a>\u00a0you can see Eduardo playing with Vig\u00fcela before the concert in Okarina Festival in 2019.<\/p>\n My company is legally based in Castilla-La Mancha, and the reference city for both Helechosa and El Carpio de Tajo, the village of Vig\u00fcela, is Talavera de la Reina, in the province of Toledo. If there is any traditional art that truly feels like my own, it\u2019s this one.<\/p>\n Traveling back to Urkult with Vig\u00fcela, nine years later and after everything that\u2019s happened, inevitably leads me to reflect on the paths we take and how identity is built. Those who chose not to continue traveling didn\u2019t choose wrong \u2014they simply chose differently. And in that choice lies a deep gesture of identity. Sometimes we think being true to ourselves means sticking with what we do, but it can also mean letting go, redefining, or prioritizing something else.<\/p>\n Antonio leaves his vegetable garden to join us. Eduardo resumes something he had paused. What does that say about them? And what does it say about me \u2014still here, getting up at 4:30 a.m. to once again cross Europe with a traditional music band?<\/p>\n Perhaps identity is not only a reflection of our roots, but also of our willingness to return to them again and again \u2014or even to forge connections with some that brush past us. Every decision \u2014to stay, to leave, to return\u2014 speaks not only of what we do, but of who we are at that moment.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed any part of this newsletter, feel free to share it with someone who might like it too. Thank you in advance.<\/p>\n * Lazarillo de Tormes is a 16th-century Spanish novel considered one of the earliest examples of the picaresque genre. It tells the story of a poor boy, L\u00e1zaro, who survives by serving various masters \u2014 often flattering or tricking them \u2014 in order to get by in a rigidly hierarchical and unjust society.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n
\nAbout elitism, about who you are and where you belong<\/span><\/p>\n
\nThis edition of this newsletter is the number 85. The previous one completed 7 years\u00a0<\/strong>\ud83e\udd42<\/h3>\n
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Joining us is Antonio Mir\u00f3n, whom I\u2019ve written about in this edition<\/a>.\u00a0I spoke about his work teaching music to children in tiny villages in the province of Almer\u00eda. Antonio has a deep understanding of the traditions of his region \u2014not just musically, but also in terms of what they mean, or perhaps meant, as a social fabric. Antonio will leave his garden for a few days to come with us to N\u00e4s\u00e5ker. I\u2019m truly grateful. How does he perceive all this? I don\u2019t know \u2014but I\u2019ll ask him.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/993c677d53044839b1b39b2dc\/images\/80bde529-f433-75cd-82da-60002b218366.png\")
I grew up in Alcorc\u00f3n, a commuter town 12 km from Madrid. We\u2019re so close to the capital that I believe the city never really developed its own cultural identity. My father is from Madrid. My mother left her village (Helechosa de los Montes, Badajoz, 562 current inhabitants) as soon as she could. She doesn\u2019t even have the accent from her region. She brought nothing of folklore with her. She wanted to leave \u2014like the young women who had already moved to the city and returned home on vacation, beautiful, well-dressed, and free from the fieldwork. What is my folklore?<\/p>\n
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“The Call for Artists is now open for the 23rd edition of Sauti za Busara festival, set to shake the walls of Stone Town, Zanzibar during 5 \u2013 8 February 2026.\u00a0Sauti za Busara showcases unique and diverse music, primarily from the African Continent, music that is connected to Africa and diaspora.”<\/p>\n