The artistic programme of the 26th Fira retrieves an international feeling

7/4/2023

Music from beyond the Catalan frontiers constitutes 55% of the programme, with a strong Mediterranean accent, and there is also, from beyond the Mediterranean, some Galician and Portuguese music

Artificial intelligence is currently the centre of attention, both in the artistic world and in the professions

The period for professional accreditation begins today, as does the sale of tickets for the performances

The 26th Fira Mediterrània de Manresa, which will be held from 5th to 8th October, will be notable for its retrieval of the Mediterranean spirit and the consequent increase in the number of international offerings in the artistic programme. A good example of this is the Fira’s opening show, Evoé!, a proposal from the Fira’s international Obrador d’arrel (Roots Workshop), headed by the musician and producer Raül Refree and the Italian singer Maria Mazzotta, that takes us through the rituals of collective catharsis, represented principally by the tarantela of southern Italy. The performance will be on Thursday, 5th October, the first day of the Fira, at 21 h, in the Sala Grande of the Teatre Kursaal. The offerings from beyond our frontiers will be mainly in the musical part of the programme, and 55% of them will be international or from other parts of the State. This was one of the themes that was awaiting the changes of model that had to be effected during the pandemic.

A focus beyond the Mediterranean to get to know the music scene with Galician and Portuguese roots

As well its notable inclusion of innovations on the Mediterranean stage for world music, the 26th Fira will look beyond the Mediterranean, at the musical scene with Galician and Portuguese roots. In the Fira’s official programme there will be ten artistic offerings from Galicia and Portugal, and a delegation of professional and programming people from those areas is expected. In addition, there will be artistic and professional interchanges with the MUMI - Encontro Profesional de Música Galiza_Portugal (a Professional Meeting with Galician/Portuguese Music), with OuTonalidades -Circuito português de música ao vivo (a Portuguese live music circuit) and with EXIB Música, which disseminates Iberoamerican music in Portugal. The aim is to become familiar with new scenes and ways of presenting traditional (roots) music outside the main hub, which is the Fira, the Mediterranean, thereby generating other artistic and professional interchanges for Catalan artists.

Artificial Intelligence in the creative process

Artificial intelligence is another component that will stand out, both artistically and professionally, at the 26th Fira.

The Fira is a strategic marketplace for artistic proposals that use roots, tradition and popular culture as creative forces. Since Jordi Fosas joined the Fira team as its artistic director, it has worked with the full spectrum of traditional roots, from the intangible and cultural heritage, through the associations for popular and traditional culture (which work to connect society to its intangible heritage), to the professional component, and the artists who base their creations on that tradition. Particular emphasis is always placed on interchange and interaction among all of these.

All of this crystallises into a programme consisting of offerings that are based on traditional roots as the creative force, roots with a polyhedric outlook but which speak in the present tense. This year, with artificial intelligence as one of its principal axes, it speaks in both present and future tenses. From the start, the central axis of the Professional Sessions, whose most important activity is directed exclusively at accredited professional people, will be artificial intelligence in creative processes. This will also be present in several of the artistic offerings in the programme, such as Ni.U, by Núria Andorrà; Berenguera, by Gerard Franch and Maria Jover, and Crui, with the Orquestra de Músiques d’Arrel de Catalunya (OMAC), all three from the Obrador d’arrel, the programme that accompanies and supports creators who present new artistic proposals based on popular and traditional culture.

Artificial intelligence was also present during the creation of this year’s poster, which once again was produced by the design studio Kocori, which was founded and directed by Anna Brugués. During our past years of collaboration with Kocori, the pictures played with gazes at the past (at roots and tradition) as well as at the present. This year, completing the cycle, they gaze, through artificial intelligence, at the present and the future. Symbolically, a cloud designed with the help of AI absorbs our gaze at the head of a girl playing the pandereta, a traditional instrument that is frequently seen on the stages of the Fira.

The Fira’s figures

As a multidisciplinary marketplace, the Fira presents, every year, two large domains in its artistic programming: that of music and that of scenic arts and popular culture, which includes dance and memory, heritage and oral narration, with theatrical and circus performances.

83 artistic proposals

47 proposals of music (57%), with origins as follows:

21 from Catalonia (45%)
13 from other parts of the State (27.5%)
13 from other countries (27.5%)

36 proposals of scenic art and popular culture (43%), as follows:

20 of dance
14 of memory, heritage and oral narration
2 of popular and city culture

Origins:

24 from Catalonia (66%)
14 from other parts of the State (31%)
1 from abroad (3%)

61 premières (74%):

40 absolute premières
5 State premières
16 premières in Catalonia

All origins:

45 proposals from Catalonia (54%)
24 proposals from other parts of the State (29%)
14 proposals from other countries (17%)

Sales of tickets

Coinciding with the presentation of the Fira’s artistic programme, the sale of tickets for the performances begins today. The Fira offers financial advantages when tickets are purchased in advance.

Budget

The Fundació Mediterrània, the Fira of traditional roots shows, has a total budget of 1,219.000 euros, to cover the Fira Mediterrània (999,000 euros), the Obrador d’arrel (120,000 euros) and the Plan to promote traditional roots dance (100,000 euros).