The 2005 Grec Festival arrives to Barcelona again for its 29
edition with a wide offer of theatre, dance and music. This
succession of shows, that will be celebrated from the 27th of
Juny until the 8th of August, has turned into a cultural point
of reference of the city, which seeks to promote the creation,
the concreteness and its internationalization, according to
sources of the organization.
In theatre, the event has made agreements of exchange and
co-production of shows with some of the most important
institutions and companies of the world. An example of this is
the work of The Karamŕzov Brothers directed by Krystian
Magnifier, fruit of the joint work with the Vienna Festival.
Likewise, the collaboration with the Volksühne of Berlin
expresses itself in The Ten Commandments, directed by Christoph
Marthaler. The Catalonian Xicu Masó directs the comedy of
William Shakespeare “To your pleasure”.
In dance the emphasize is upon the contemporary Trisha Brown and
the new proposal by Mal Pelo “Atlas”, where the last one is full
of reflective and intimate poetry.
Music and cultures
In the world of music, continuing the keynote of the extensive
range of offers that exist in Barcelona throughout the year,
many of the artists will delight the public with a greatly
varied performance. With this they intent to attract musicians
that have not yet performed in Barcelona and experiment with
“magical” matches where musicians of different styles coincided
on the stage.
Here you’ll have a taste of what is waiting for you in this
festival, the Italian singer and songwriter Paolo Conte will
visit the count city for the first time, the fragile Marianne
Faithfull will contribute strength and emotion, the young Jaime
Cullum show us the world of jazz, the up-to-date Silvio
Rodriguez will reflect on the war of Iraq, the sensual Craig
David will introduce you to his second record Slicker than your
average, the spiritual Cheikh Lô will present to us the Muslim
and African culture, while the English Joss Stone stands out
with one of the most appreciated voices of the soul. Orishas
will give a Latin touch to the festival with an explosive
mixture of hip hop with “son cubano”.
Of Spanish representatives, the incombustible Joan Manuel Serrat
will give four recitals, Martirio and Miguel Poveda will honour
to the couplet and Bebe and El Bicho from Madrid will offer the
coolness of their music. The Majorcan pianist Agustí Fernández,
the drums player from Alicante Ramón López and the English bass
player Barry Guy will fuse the improvisation with the tradition
of the modernity.
Social awakening
25 years ago, the members of the Catalonian theatre, gathered in
the Assembly of Actors and Directors, decided to impel an aimed
initiative to give a voice to their demands, so much in the
professional as the social plan. Besides intending to obtain
improvements in the sector, they sought to bring the theatre
closer to the people, to make the culture a necessity, not a
luxury.
The 1st of July 1976 the Grec is opened in the old theatre of
Montjuďc with “The 7 hours of rock”. The Assembly decided to
give priority to the music to emphasize the popular character of
the event, in that period the effervescence of the phenomenon
was given to the “singer-songwriters”, the symbol of the social
and political demands of the post Franco’s regime.
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