barcelona’s - bcn.cat · the most traditional events reflect catalonia’s pop- ular culture as a...
TRANSCRIPT
4
La Mercè transforms Barcelona into a grand stage bursting with fantasy and ima-gination. creativity is the driving force behind it, traditions its roots, and music an outstanding voice. over 600 activities and shows go on during the week with more than 2000 artists and professionals taking part.The wide artistic endeavour embodies the city’s values. a key element is the invol-vement of a large number of local groups and associations, with spon- sorship and collaboration from private companies. all events are free.La Mercè aims to be a reflection of the city itself - enterprising, creative and inventi-ve. Barcelona is a city moving forward with a search for innovation and evolution. the Festival manages to maintain its qual- ity while at the same time it is searching for and pre- senting new trends.
Every year, around September 24th, Barcelona celebratesLa Mercè, patron saint of the city, and its Festa Major.
A festival of festivals, it draws together between1.500.000 and 2.000.000 people during its week-long run.
Festivities, cultural and artistic, take place throughout thecity in differing public spaces.
8
La Mercè iscommitted to performers ofquality, localand international,incorporatingdifferent styles and disciplinesfor outdoor publicspaces
10
The artists invitedto perform at La Mercè area sample of the city itself(Barcelona being an interna-tional meeting point with an 18% immigrant population).They are chosen fromthe current best shows and performances.In 2009 alone, artists came from all over the world:Russia, Morocco, the United States of America, China, Brazil, Cuba, Turkey, Pa-kistan, Australia, Sweden, Algeria, Canada...
11
All in all, it is a proposal of public nature that not only wants to get the magic of per-formance closer to peo- ple’s differing interests, but also to try more risky, daring and challenging artistic experiences.This major artistic event has consolidated Barcelo- na’s position over the last years as the perfect meet- ing point for programmers and artists, and in this way has become one of the best stages on which to see some of the most brilliant artistic expression of the moment, right at the beginning of the season.
La Mercè has an artistic program, with street theatre as the outstanding feature.Dance, circus, bands, fringe, and touring shows make up the bulk of the events;
in the evenings, large format installations that combine light and new technologyare integrated with fire traditions and pyrotechnic displays.
200YEARSOF HISTORY
From the past to the future. Traditions have always been and continue to be one of the pillars of the Festa Major
La Mercè is always in growth and development-absorbing new things from the world around,
and allowing them to continue to shape its own identity.
15
«TOC D’INICI »
CAVALCADE
CASTELLERS
SARDANES
DANCES
CORREFOC
BASTONERS
GRALLERS
TRABUCAIRES...
600.000 PEOPLE ON THE STREET
In the programmeof traditionalculture alwaysincluded are:
16
Over the last few years, one of the most important processes has been to rework the traditions with modern elements - the result being a folklore that is much more ac-cessible to today’s citizens of Barce- lona.The most traditional events reflect catalonia’s pop- ular culture as a whole. the toc d’inici (the start of the festival), the parade of the giants, the castellers (human cast-les), the sardanes and other dances, the correfoc (fire-run) and the street parades with bas- toners (stick dancers), grallers (a kind of oboe) and trabucaires (carrying blunderbusses), bring around 600,000 people onto the city streets, making our tra- ditional programme one of the largest public events in the whole of europe.
The Festa Major -a celebration which goes back more thantwo-hundred years. La Mercè wants to capture the character
of the city itself, a Barcelona which keeps renewing itselfand opening up to the world.
CONCERTS FOR EVERYONE
POPULAR AND MAJORITY
It is divided into twoprograms, all outdoor
1
2
Music playsa major role
Music festivalindependent
Festival [BAM]with the best sample of independentmusic from the Catalan, Spanish and international scene.
60CONCERTS
+ THAN
20
BaM, brings together more than 70 musical events on ten different stages, and has a massive response from an audience of almost 500,000 people year after year. at the same time, la Mercè presents a series of popular concerts for the general audience, with na- tionally and internationally known pop and rock artists. Among that, a pro-gram recently started stands out, with a stage dedicated to jazz music, combining international stars with up and coming artists.
Barcelona has always been a city with a wide anddiverse musical culture, as a result of which, music plays a major
role during la Mercè. the musical events are divided into, on the one hand, a programme of popular concerts for the general audience, and
on the other, the independent music festival BaM(Barcelona acció Musical).
MEDELLÍN20072008200920102011201220132014
ISTANBUL
QUITO
DAKAR
MONTREAL
STOCKHOLM
SANT- PETERSBURG
VIENNA
Guest city2015 BUENOS
AIRES
23
The cities of Medellin (Colombia), Quito (Ecuador), Istanbul (Turkey), Dakar (Senegal), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Montreal (Quebec-Canada), Vienna (Austria) and Stockholm (Sweden) have already shared the magic and quality of their top avant-garde artists in music, theatre, dance and film, as well as their most representative traditional expressions with the people of Barcelona. The stages of Barcelona become a great showcase for the guest city to present its culture to Catalan society.Buenos Aires will be the gest city in Mercè 2015.
Barcelona is an open city, a meeting point, a melting pot of cultu-res, origins and beliefs, that have left a mark in the history of our land. La Mercè encloses the Guest City program aimed to bringing
Barcelona’s people closer to the different cultures with whichthey coexist. Through this parallel program, a city from somewhere
else in the world is invited to present its culture and its topartistic proposals.
Barcelona’sFesta Major
is the festivalof the people
all who arein our cityand wish
to celebrateand enjoy it
26
In the last years those who havetaken part in the different
programmed eventsadd up to almost
2.000.000PEOPLE
Free ofcharge!“everything free” is the basis of the policy for public culture, withwhich the Institute of Culture ofBarcelona(ICUB) works
Bringing culture closer to the peopleand including more daring experiences
that help us move forward
31
The whole of Barcelona is ready to take part in its Festa Major
More than 200 groups and associations led by the BarcelonaCity Council’s Institute of Culture are part of the festival’s organizing team
Almost 30 major companies are sponsors or collaborators...
Organizing La Mercè is one of the mostmotivating challenges in our calendar, due to its complexity and notoriety.That’s why, among other reasons,Barcelona’s City Council, organizerof the festival through its Institute of Culture (ICUB), works all year round so that Barcelona has the best possibleFesta Major
That’s the secret of its success
ORGANITZA:
INSTITUT DE CULTURA DE BARCELONA
Departament de Festes i Tradicions
Cap del Departament: Marta Almirall Elizalde
CONTACTE:
INSTITUT DE CULTURA DE BARCELONA
Palau de la Virreina
La Rambla, 99
08002 Barcelona
Telèfon: + 34 933161160
e-mail: [email protected]
www.bcn.cat/merce