More than 250 representatives from Catalan ex-pat communities around
the world are in Tarragona this week for the Trobada de Comunitats
Catalanes de l'Exterior.
In all, there are 117 Catalan cultural centres, or casals recognised
by the Generalitat, and the majority attended the fourth edition of
the annual conference. The event began on April 22 with a welcome
dinner in Pineda. (Full story in printed edition).
Many countries hace had to suffer exile on a large scale throughout
their history. The Irish, Armenians, Gypsies, Basques and Catalans are
a few examples, but the attitudes towards the diaspora have been
radically different.
In many cases there is pride and gratitude towards émigrés that have
done and do so much to represent the homeland in the host countries to
which they have emigrated. This is something that has always made me
wonder what has led Catalan society to ignore its own diaspora in the
space of only a couple of decades. (Full story in printed edition).
As a measure to bring Barcelona's many and largely unregulated
"tourist flats" under control, the City Council has introduced new
regulations which are predicted to result in the closure of over 500
flats in the city centre now illegally rented out to tourists. Failure
to comply with new regulations by this summer could result in fines of
up to €30,000 and owners being reported to tax officials. Under the
new ordinance, even legal tourist flats could face fines of up to
€15,000 for failing to comply with complaints from neighbours. (Full
story in printed edition).
Jordi Margelí, 51, has been in charge of teacher training in foreign
languages at the Departament d'Educació since 1993 . In this interview
he speaks about the Pla d'Impuls de l'Anglès, a wide-ranging plan to
improve the level of English of pupils at primary and secondary
schools. (Full story in printed edition).
Summer is almost here and while children are anxiously awaiting the
end of the school year, some parents are wondering what to do with the
younger ones in the family when school stops and work continues.
Luckily there is no shortage of options to help pass the time in ways
that are much more constructive than watching telly or loitering in
online chat rooms.
A veritable army of everything from small non-profit foundations to
pricey sports training centres means that nearly all interests – and
budgets –will be covered. (Full story in printed edition).
Talk of economic crisis has not discouraged Catalan shoeshop chain
Vialis from wanting to expand abroad. The specialist in high-quality
women's footwear is planning to open up to four shops a year,
including stores in Berlin and Paris in 2008, while on the horizon is
the possibility of a presence in New York. (Full story in printed
edition).
It was a perfect spring day for this year's Sant Jordi celebrations on
April 23 and the public turned out all over Catalonia in their
thousands. In Barcelona, traffic on Les Rambles was cut before noon as
over a thousand book and flower stalls set up shop on the Catalan
capital's main thoroughfare.
It was a similar story all over the country, with the predictions on
book and flower sales fulfilling expectations, especially in the
afternoon. As forecast, Carlos Ruiz Zafón was the top-selling Catalan
author, while flower stalls sold around 6 million roses. (Full story
in printed edition).
Melinda Gebbie likes her porn. At least her own lushly illustrated
Victorian fantasy, drawn by her and fused with a story written by her
husband and creative partner, comicbook writer Alan Moore. Lost Girls,
the result of this 16- year collaboration, describes a meeting between
the female lead characters from Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz
and Peter Pan in an Austrian hotel in 1913. A 61-year-old born in San
Francisco, Gebbie presented the Spanish translation, published by
Norma comics, at the recent Saló de comic. (Full story in printed
edition).
It was creative talent that kept alive the spirit of resistance in
Catalonia under the Franco dictatorship. That is the claim made by
photographer Pilar Aymerich, who is displaying 71 of her portraits of
major Catalan figures from the world of letters, thought, music, art
and theatre at the Museu d'Història de Catalunya (MHC). (Full story in
printed edition).
If the success of Sant Jordi's day on April 23 was not proof enough,
most Catalans consider themselves to be readers, a new study has
found. Commissioned by the bookselling industry in Catalonia, the
report – Hàbits de lectura i compra de llibres a Catalunya – concludes
that some 59.4% of Catalans consider themselves regular or occasional
readers, with the majority claiming to read daily or weekly. (Full
story in printed edition).
In a city that often wants for decent Latin options, we have the
porteños, or Buenos Aires migrants, to thank for a host of Old World
delights. They can toss a mean pizza, do holy things to milk and
sugar, and carry the international title for devouring piles of steak.
Maybe it's just what happens when Galicians, Basques, Italians and
Lebanese get together in the kitchen. (Full story in printed edition).
Pirates: Finally the day has arrived. Yes, I have been waiting the
better part of my adult life to get the opportunity to write about
pirates, and I will not let this chance fate has granted me go to
waste. However, out of respect for the 26 sailors (13 of Spanish
nationality) who since April 20 have been in the hands of pirates off
the coast of Somalia, I will resist the temptation of incorporating
"walk the plank" into this here column. (Full story in printed
edition).
From the big chain bookstore such as Casa del Llibre, Fnac and El
Corte Inglés, passing through the smaller, more traditional bookshops
like La Central and Laie, all the way down to the second-hand English
bookstores, across Catalonia booksellers are revving up their engines
for Sant Jordi. (Full story in printed edition).
It is that time of the year again when people flood the streets,
exchanging books and roses with their loved ones. April 23 is Sant
Jordi, the most Catalan of celebrations, free from politics and debate
and full of rose petals and brand new book releases.
As always, enjoying the day takes nothing more than just joining in
the throngs of book buyers browsing through the book stands which line
the sidewalks and squares throughout every city, town and village. But
Barcelona is also offering a variety of activities to complement the
literary and floral festival. (Full story in printed edition).
Boon or blight, that is the question. Some see the more than 20 Irish
pubs in Barcelona as an assault on the indigenous culture of a city
populated by more and more cookie-cutter businesses and less and less
local charm. However, others see the dimly lit thematic bars as
providers of a legitimate service that meets a real demand. (Full
story in printed edition).
Their uniforms make them look more like doctors than police officers
and their weapons are swabs, syringes and microscopes. Life in the
forensic division of the Mossos d'Esquadra police force is often slow
and deliberate, but thanks to their patience many criminal cases are
solved. (Full story in printed edition).
Journalist Àlex Sántos has just published L'Entorn, Joan Laporta en la
lluita pel poder, an exposé on Barça's president and the men who
helped him win the presidency and bring FC Barcelona back to being
counted among the world's elite football clubs. The book, according to
the author, tries to illuminate the "difficult to understand
barcelonista universe," a task never more urgent than at the present
moment with the club surrounded by so much doubt and skepticism. (Full
story in printed edition).
Joan Solé was 38 years old when he was fatally wounded at the battle
of Vic as the Republican forces withdrew on February 1 and 2 1939 in
the dying days of the Spanish Civil War. Solé and three other soldiers
from the area of Gavà were buried were they fell in a common grave
already occupied by 22 corpses near the masia of Rovira de Gurb in
Osona. Some days later, Solé's family applied to the bishop of Vic for
a Christian burial for Joan in his home town. The response was as
blunt as it was insensitive: "Reds cannot be buried in a cemetery."
(Full story in printed edition).
Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has picked his team for
his second term, a selection of 17 cabinet ministers chosen with an
eye towards fulfilling a campaign promise of gender equality in his
administration. Nine of the ministers are women, forming a majority
for the first time in Spain's history. (Full story inprinted edition).
They began as modest ideas and have grown into successful, profitable
companies that in most cases have ended up as market leaders in their
respective sectors.
A belief in innovation and the drive to make their mark on the
international stage are the features that bind together a large number
of local firms that have been selected for an initiative called
Èxit.cat, sponsored by the Departament d'Innovació, Universitats i
Empresa. These businesses have been profiled in a series on Spanish
television TVE that showcases some of companies and business leaders
from Catalonia whose innovative outlook has been translated into
profits by offering their services and products to international
markets. (Full story in story edition).
He has been compared to Thierry Mugler, Alexander McQueen and John
Galliano, but it is obvious that like them, he has his own style. José
Castro, born in a Galician village, educated in Barcelona and London,
transfers the clothes he designs into an universe clearly inspired by
cinema. From Charles Chaplin, he inherited wide trousers and from
Blade Runner – he adores 1980s science-fiction – a passion for volume
and above all, shoulder pads. (Full story in printed edition).
Last February Barcelona celebrated 20 years since the muchpraised
artist Keith Haring (Pennsylvania, 1958-New York, 1990) visited
Barcelona and in only five hours painted a mural on a wall in Raval, a
vast painting denouncing Aids, the terrible illness that ended his
life in 1990. (Full story in printed edition).
"A festival of everything for everybody" is the promise from the
organisers of this year's Festival Castell de Peralada. The programme
for Girona's showcase culture fest, which will run from July 17 to
August 17, puts the onus on the eclectic. (Full story in printed
edition).
At the end of the 80s it seemed as if the comic book was doomed to
disappear in Europe. Then along came manga and saved the day. Yet,
there was another consequence of the rise of the Japanese comic book:
it brought women back on board.
Girls had all but given up on comics by the 70s, when the female
market had been dominated by pocket-sized romantic comics drawn by the
likes of Maria Pascual. In fact, this author's work has recently found
a new lease of life with the reissuing of Sissi, by the publishers
Zeta Bolsillo. (Full story in printed edition).
Contemporary art has a new home in Barcelona. On April 10, the
Fundació Alorda-Derksen opened a new gallery on carrer Aragó devoted
to contemporary art.
An initiative of businessman and art collector Manuel Alorda, the
gallery's inaugural exhibition contains 25 works by some of today's
most highly-regarded artists, including the likes of Damien Hirst,
Anish Kapoor, Anselm Kiefer, Jason Martin and Douglas Gordon. (Full
story in printed edition).
If you are a foreigner who has lived in Catalonia for some time and
has a grasp of the local language, this might be the perfect book to
give reading in Catalan a a start.
It may be true that it is not designed to be an introductory book for
non-Catalan speakers, and a Catalan-English dictionary may be
required, but Nosaltres, els catalans (We, too, are Catalans) relates
situations, feelings and experiences with which you will be familiar.
(Full story in printed edition).
The Bad Guy. So it seems more and more likely that Mariano Rajoy,
still punch-drunk from the beating Zapatero laid on him in the March
general elections, is now going to have to duke it out with the
baroness Esperanza Aguirre to maintain the leadership of the Partido
Popular. Big surprise I might say. (Full story in printed edition).
Complaints about the incessant racket of drills and bulldozers are
common in Barcelona, but not all the building in the Catalan capital
is in response to the seemingly inexhaustible demand for housing and
equally inexhaustible profit motive of developers. All over the city,
there are a number of building projects in varying states of
completion that will boost the city's claims to be a cultural capital
by providing venues, centres and places for study in everything from
music to film. (Full story in printed edition).
Barcelona wants to stop the plague of souvenir shop from spreading any
further. From now on, any potential entrepreneur looking to hock fake
Barça jerseys and Mexican sombreros in the tourist hotspots of la
Sagrada Familia and Parc Gûell will not be able to open his or her
souvenir shack. (Full story in printed edition).
The lines have been drawn and the first salvos fired. The worst
drought in the past 60 years in Catalonia is pitting brother against
brother with the Catalan government versus Madrid and Barcelona
against the other three provinces of Catalonia –Girona, Lleida and
Tarragona. The dispute, ironically enough, is not about how to deal
with the drought, but rather how to deal with a possible water
shortage for the city of Barcelona. Baring massive rainfall this
summer, the Catalan capital will run dry come October 2008. (Full
story in printed edition).
Pakcelona radio is a lifeline for the local South Asian community,
providing not only the latest news from home, but lessons in Catalan
and Spanish, practical advice on negotiating the bureaucracy and other
challenges of a new land, and even helping newcomers or the
down-and-out find jobs and housing. (Full story in printed edition).
Casa del Tibet is a cultural centre and the only one of its kind in
Spain. It opened in Barcelona 1994 and has 400 members, mostly in
Catalonia. Thubten Wangchen has been director since its founding.
(Full story in printed edition).
Move over, USA, because soon idealists may start talking about the
Catalan dream. For some of those who have made Barcelona their new
home, Catalonia is shaping up to be a land of opportunity. (Full story
in printed edition).
The television series Lost begins with an aeroplane explosion that
leaves a beach strewn with passengers and suitcases. The luggage in
the programme, which survives the crash intact, was supplied by the
Californian company Peli. Yet far from Hollywood, Peli, from its base
in Barcelona, is targeting its 'indestructible' suitcases at the
European, African and Far Eastern markets and hopes to treble its
revenue over the next five years. (Full story in printed edition).
Some places on this planet can only be described as stunning. Others,
awe-inspiring. Yet others still as thrilling, beautiful, breathtaking.
But there is only one continent that, in my experience, can lay claim
to every superlative in the book, and that is, quite simply, the
magical continent of Africa. (Full story in printed edition).
To celebrate the centenary of the birth of Catalan novelist Mercè Rodoreda (1908-1983), an unusual show at Palau Robert explores the writings of the enigmatic Barcelona-born author from the inside out. (Full story in printed edition).
Ferran Barenblit (Buenos Aires, 1968) has been the director of the Centre d'Art Santa Mònica (CASM) since 2003. In this interview, he defends his project, which has been questioned lately. According to rumours unconfirmed by the culture minister, Manuel Trasseres, the venue could be closed down or turned into a Generalitat venue for the promotion of Catalan culture. However, Barenblit says he is committed to the value of Santa Mònica, which cannot be measured only in terms of the size of the public it receives. (Full story in printed edition).
Read more...After Cristian Mungiu's 4 months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) and Cornel Porumboiu's 12:08 East of Bucharest (2006), Tudor Giurgiu's Love Sick, hitting theatres this week, seems to be riding the crest of a new wave of Romanian cinema. The film narrates the shifting relationships between Kiki, played by Maria Popistasu, her brother Sandu and her friend Alex. Popistasu was in town this week to talk about the film. (Full story in printed edition).
Read more...Wrangling over control of Catalonia, Valencia and the other areas that make up the Països Catalans is nothing new, but between 65 and 230 million years ago there was one undisputed master of the territory: dinosaurs.
Still today, our knowledge of the dinosaur species that once held sway in the Països Catalans largely remains a mystery. This fact has now prompted the Institut Català de Paleontologia to bring out a book – Dinosaurios del Levante Peninsular – that classifies many of the dinosaur species that could once be found in the region. (Full story in printed edition).
For a number of years, places such as Vinçon or Maxalot have been at the forefront of design in Barcelona. Sleek, highbrow and moneyed, these temples to graphic design catering to the elite now have more down-toearth competitors. All over Barcelona, galleries have sprung up open to the city's emerging talent, allowing young, unknown artists of all disciplines to showcase their work. (Full story in printed edition).
Read more...Down one of Barceloneta's dark and dreary alleyways, the reader in dire need of a good mystery finds his way to the Negra i Criminal bookstore in order to plead for help from two of the city's experts on crime fiction and self-described "detectives of lost books," Paco Camarasa and his wife Montse Clave. During the day this couple scour the city for second-hand detective novels to accompany the brand new editions that line the shelves of what its owners say is the only bookstore in all of Spain dedicated solely to the subject of the detective and crime novel. (Full story in printed edition).
Read more...
