Enjoy the music for Santa Eulàlia!
Enjoy the music for Santa Eulàlia!
Friday 9, at 8.15 pm and Saturday 10, at 9 pm
Plaça de Sant Jaume
The Winter Festa Major Festival will be filled with music to accompany the dances and parades involving elements of popular culture, but that’s not all!
This year marks the commemoration of the bicentenary of the birth of the musician, poet and journalist Josep Anselm Clavé. He was a strong defender of men’s and women’s rights and promoting associations, and he created the Moviment Coral Català (Catalan Choral Movement). For this reason, 2024 will be a great year for activities associated with music and other fields, given the composer’s enormous significance. The Federació de Cors de Clavé (Clavé Choirs Federation) has prepared numerous celebrations and commemorations for the maestro’s birth and the first major event will be held during the Santa Eulàlia festivities.
The Group Sau 30 will be joining the Coral Cantanna de Vic and La Veu de Voltregà choirs in a magical concert to revisit and sing their greatest hits with Pep Sala and the group, merging choral singing and rock while paying tribute to Carles Sabater, to inaugurate the 2024 Clavé Bicentenary. On Saturday 10, in Plaça de Sant Jaume, they will be waiting to perform songs for you, such as El tren de mitjanit, Ningú ens mourà d’aquí, Envia’m un àngel and, of course, Boig per tu.
And for only the second time, Tradicionàrius will come down from the Vila de Gràcia to Plaça de Sant Jaume. On Friday 9, the 37th Tradicionàrius International Folk Festival will fill the Santa Eulàlia Festivities with music, with a folk dance and concert. At 8.15 pm, Glam Folk will get the whole square dancing with a “xotis” to the beat of Oques Grasses, a “ball pla” with Strombers and a mazurka to the beat of Metallica. At 10 pm, it will be the turn of La Cosina. From El Baix Camp, the group will be presenting their record Hores vinguin, an invitation to sing and dance their joyful but committed songs, in a highly festive concert.
The following day, the Moll de la Fusta quay will be the venue of the festivities for the city’s youngest citizens, at the Lali Jove! At 8 pm, the Barna Jove 2023 awards will be presented to the winning organisations, followed at 8.30 pm with concerts by Fades, Svetlana, Sexenni and DJ Trapella.
600 years of giants in Barcelona (1424-2024)
600 years of giants in Barcelona (1424-2024)
The year 2024 will be one of historic importance for the Barcelona “gegants”, or giants, as it marks the 600th anniversary of the first written reference to a giant in the city. This event highlights the deep roots of the giant carrier tradition in Barcelona and the leading role they have played throughout history.
As part of the Children’s and School’s Giants Exhibition, the Casa de la Caritat Pati Manning courtyard will be the venue for the redesigned travelling exhibition of the anniversary, visiting different Barcelona neighbourhoods. On Sunday, 4 February, at 11 am, the inaugural event will be held, a great moment to visit the smallest figures in the city and the exhibition.
As these are extraordinary times, taking in the celebration of the giants, Jaume I and Violant of Hungary, the City’s Giants, will be restoring their tradition of receiving the children’s giants from schools and festival groups in Plaça de Sant Jaume, paying homage to the poet Joan Maragall, who established the City’s Giants as the property of the children of Barcelona. In the square, they will perform their official dance accompanied by the Macebearer “Capgrossos” (bighead figures). Specially for this year, they will be wearing outfits and jewellery dating from 1992. It will be a great occasion to see the giant’s Olympic dance!
Santa Eulàlia is the festival of fire
Saturday 10, starting at 6.30 pm
Enjoy the fire festival in this year’s Santa Eulàlia festivities, a feast for your senses with drums, the smell of gunpowder and the light of the sparks.
As the sun goes down and night descends on the city streets, the children’s and young people’s devil and beast festival groups will set out from the City Hall, to show that Santa Eulàlia is the youngest festa in the city!
Their rocket and spark-filled route will be: Plaça de Sant Jaume, Carrer de Ferran, La Rambla, Passatge de Colom and Plaça Reial, ending with their infernal lights. Although the children’s fire run is aimed particularly at kids, it is not completely free of risk.
The adult beasts and devils gather in the Plaça Real... When the first beat of the drum sounds and the beasts begin to draw fire from their teeth, the Santa Eulàlia Fire Run will have begun.
Moving to the deafening beat of the drums, driving them into the streets to fill them with fire, sparks and smoke, the Dragon, She-dragon, Mulassa, Ox, Harrier and Dolphin will dance among flames with the Kinta Forka, Gothic Quarter and Tarascaire devils. Once in the Plaça de Sant Jaume, the participating festival groups will perform a jaw-dropping show of thunder and fire, marking the end of the fire run.
Vilapicina and Santa Eulàlia, a longstanding connection
On Saturday 3 February, as part of the St Eulalia Festivities, the Colla Gegantera de Nou Barris will be once again performing their music and dance show, “Santa Eulàlia de Vilapicina, the forgotten neighbourhood”. The show is based on the history of the ancient village of Santa Eulàlia, from Roman times to today, where this corner of Nou Barris is now the oldest part of the district.
The show consists of a theatrical comic strip, weaving together scenes through the common thread of popular culture. These scenes depict significant moments in the history of Santa Eulàlia de Vilapicina. Interconnected with the history of the co-patron saint of the city and elements of popular culture from Barcelona and Catalonia, the portrayal is brought to life through music and dance.
The performance will be proceeded by a musical procession starting from Plaça Santa Eulàlia, a square named in honour of the patron saint, located within the Nou Barris district boundaries. This procession will pass some prominent sites on Nou Barris’ streets that bear witness to the patron saint, such as the Santa Eulàlia parish church and sanctuary, before ending its route along the old royal road in the square, Plaça de Can Basté. Following the procession, the customary “aspes de Santa Eulàlia” will be handed out. This is a cross-shaped brioche that will have been made by the Forn del Padró, a bakery with deep roots in the neighbourhood and situated in Plaça de Can Basté.
On 12 February, St Eulalia's Day, the Nou Barris giants will be taking part in the St Eulalia Solemn Mass at the Santa Eulàlia de Vilapicina Parish Church, at 7.30 pm.