Anxo Lorenzo @ FolkWorld:
FW#42, #42, #46, #49
www.myspace.com | www.youtube.com
www.anxolorenzo.com
Eoghan Neff @ FolkWorld:
FW#27, #46, #50, #50
myspace.com | youtube.com
www.eoghanneff.com
In early 2012, a previous FolkWorld article presented a list of folk, traditional, world & Celtic music festivals that have been regularly taking place in Spain during the last years.[47] The subject was introduced with a description of the profound economical crisis that the country has suffered since 2008, and how that could substantially diminish the budgets for these musical events in the future. The summer of 2013 is over now and the good news are: despite the ongoing recession lots of folk music festivals still go on all over Spain, although with some reductions in several cases.
In the Fog
Austerity: Back in 2011, after the landslide victory of the right wing Partido Popular in Spain’s national elections, their conservative government has established strong budget reductions on a lot of public services and institutions, as well as a generalised raise of taxes. Such measurements are aiming to reduce Spain’s national debt, and they may be in line with the guidelines enforced by the European political & financial centres. But so far, these have not so visibly helped to restore economical growth, except for some increase on the export of goods, now with more competitive prices due to some reduction on labour costs.
Employment: A deep historical deficiency in the development of a sufficiently broad industrial economy, still keeps Spain highly dependent on sectors such as: tourism, agriculture, or the (now staggering) housing industry. There are a few competitive technological corporations, and the general industries are insufficient to provide jobs to a large number of unemployed people of all ages.
Back in early 2012, we mentioned that Spain’s climbing unemployment reached a peak of 23%. But in mid 2013 it jumped to a new record of 27.2%, with some debatable signs that it might have reached some sort of ceiling. An unemployment rate of almost 50% suffered by the younger part of the population, is pushing them to leave the country in all directions, even more to those with a higher level of scientific or technical education.
Leadership: The general discontent of the Spanish population has progressively increased in 2012 & 2013, and the credibility of the ruling Partido Popular has steadily gone down. This is not just because their policies have been in clear contradiction with many of their promises from the 2011 election campaign, and the alleged signs of recovery in the economy & employment are not yet tangible for most of the Spaniards.
On top of that, concerning cases of corruption & illegal founding are under investigation, affecting both main political parties (right & left wing), and other top institutions.
Back to the Info on Folk Music Festivals
But the fact is that despite the current hardship and the financial difficulties to organize and promote folk music festivals, there is still momentum left. In many places, the local authorities wisely consider these events as valuable touristic attractions. Therefore, luckily a majority of those festivals have taken place already in 2013. Our hope is that such remaining inertia will help most of these to continue in following years, until some clear recovery of the Spanish economy starts taking place.
The festival's list presented in the previous 2012 article was quite exhaustive and it included a total of 67 events taking place in all parts of Spain.[47] Nevertheless, at least another 34 were missing, and these are now listed below grouped under each of Spain’s autonomous communities.
Most of the data compiled in these lists of 2013 folk festivals was gathered from Spanish resources such as:
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As it frequently happens, some of the links to the festival’s web pages may get obsolete. An internet search typing the festival’s name & location might help you to find out their latest site for the corresponding year. In some cases you will realize that at some point in time the festival’s annual editions just stopped taking place, probably because of the kind of budget difficulties mentioned above.
ANDALUCÍA
Festival: INTERNACIONAL DE CANTE DE POETAS
Festival: INTERNACIONAL DE MÚSICA SEFARDÍ
Festival: DE LA GUITARRA DE CÓRDOBA
Festival: FOLK POZOBLANCO
Festival: TERRAL
ARAGÓN
Festival: IBERI@HUESCA.FOLK
Festival: INTERNACIONAL DE FOLKLORE JAMINFEST
Festival: INTERNACIONAL DE PERCUSIÓN DE LOS PIRINEOS / FIP
Festival: DE MÚSICA Y CULTURA PIRENAICAS / PIR
Festival: MUSICA TRADICIONAL DE MONREAL DEL CAMPO
ASTURIES / ASTURIAS
Festival: FOLIXA NA PRIMAVERA
ISLAS CANARIAS
Festival: INTERNACIONAL DE FOLKLORE VILLA DE INGENIO
CANTABRIA
Festival: SAN JUAN FOLK
Festival: TIERRADURA FOLK
CASTILLA Y LEÓN
Festival: ALMUENZA FOLK
Festival: BENAVENTE FOLK
Festival: CASTILLA FOLK
Festival: CRISOL DE CUERDA TRADICIONAL
Festival: FIESTA DEL PANDERO CUADRADO
Festival: INTERNACIONAL DE FOLKLORE CIUDAD DE BURGOS
CASTILLA – LA MANCHA
Festival: DANZAS SIN FRONTERAS
CATALUNYA / CATALUÑA
Festival: TRADICIONARIUS / CAT (CENTRE ARTESÀ TRADICIONÀRIUS)
EUSKADI / PAÍS VASCO
Festival: MENDEBALA
Festival: SOINUENEA. CICLO ANUAL DE CONCIERTOS
EXTREMADURA
Festival: ESTIVALIA FOLK
Festival: FOLK CÁCERES TRÁNSITOS
Festival: INTERNACIONAL DE LA SIERRA / FIS
GALICIA
Festival: FESTA FOLC DE VILARIÑO
Festival: REPERKUSIÓN
MADRID
Festival: JORNADA DE MÚSICA Y TRADICIONES DE BRAOJOS DE LA SIERRA
Festival: FOLK TRÁNSITOS GALILEO
MURCIA
Festival: FIESTA DE LAS CUADRILLAS DE BARRANDA / BARRANDA FOLK
Festival: INTERNACIONAL DE FOLKLORE EN EL SEGURA
Festival: MURCIA TRES CULTURAS
Photo Credits:
(1) Anxo Lorenzo
(by Sue Wolfe);
(2) Al Andaluz Project (unknown/website);
Posters/Logos:
(3) INTERNACIONAL DE CANTE DE POETAS,
(4) DE LA GUITARRA DE CÓRDOBA,
(5) INTERNACIONAL DE FOLKLORE JAMINFEST,
(6) DE MÚSICA Y CULTURA PIRENAICAS / PIR,
(7) TIERRADURA FOLK,
(8) CASTILLA FOLK,
(9) DANZAS SIN FRONTERAS,
(10) INTERNACIONAL DE LA SIERRA / FIS,
(11) FESTA FOLC DE VILARIÑO,
(12) JORNADA DE MÚSICA Y TRADICIONES DE BRAOJOS DE LA SIERRA,
(13) FIESTA DE LAS CUADRILLAS DE BARRANDA / BARRANDA FOLK,
(14) INTERNACIONAL DE FOLKLORE EN EL SEGURA,
(15) MURCIA TRES CULTURAS
(unknown/websites).
