Musicians and Bands O F Valencia
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MUSIC MUSICIANS AND BANDS OF VALENCIA THEFESTIVALS AND COMPETITIONS HELD EACH YEAR PROVIDE THE MOTIVE FOR THE BANDS TO PERFECT THEIR MUSIC. THERIVALRY AND THE WISH TO TRIUMPH MAKE FOR LONG HOURS OF STUDY AND REHEARSALS. RICARDO RODRlGO MANCHO UNIVERSITAT DE VALENCIA "Music composes discomposed souls The origin of this tradition is fairly re- of performing, the warm breeze and the and lightens the work arising from the cent. The first band associations were weight of tradition encourages large spirit". CERVANTES set up in the nineteenth century. Grad- numbers of boys and girls to study mu- ually, during this century, every town sic and dream of success. Or else the mongst the Valencians one finds and village put together its own band, young simply want to enjoy themselves musicians wherever one goes. frequently of between forty and eighty with the artistic experience that lies clo- This may well be a common- musicians. Rivalry and imitation, en- sest to hand. The musical activity in the place, but the reality ensures its survival. thusiasm and high spirits, the logical towns and villages is the culture's most In any village or outlying city district aspirations of new initiatives and out- widespread and visible sociological phe- it's easy to find a band of musicians and looks ... al1 come together in a unique nomenon. Every self-respecting town the corresponding musical association combination to form this unequalled has a music society and an administra- that runs it. In the País Valencia there ethnographic phenomenon. tive board responsible for channelling a are a total of more than four hundred This is something unknown in the rest large number of individual efforts and federated bands and more than 35,000 of Europe today. The expansive, easy- shared aspirations. musicians. going Mediterranean character, a love Behind the melodies is an important MUSIC m..,,.:;.. job of administration. The least each setas each; a double bass, at least deformed by the work of the artisan, society has to have is teachers special- 700,000 pesetas. Mouthpieces, reeds, sco- made it seem al1 the more unlikely. The izing in music theory, woodwind, brass res and study material, costumes ... al1 Europeans couldn't believe it: the next and percussion, under the supervision adds up to a surprisingly lively business. day the president and board of one of of a conductor. And apart from finding Alongside the sharp-eyed businessman, Lliria's bands took the European musi- young people prepared to give up televi- the craftsman, with his fantastic know- cians on a guided tour of the everyday sion or football to study music, funds ledge of instruments, still lives on. In life of the Valencian musicians. They are needed to cover the considerable Valencia, in one of the city's traditional went to see the smith, the carpenter, the expenses. The financial structure of tradesmen's districts (known as El Car- carrier ... and they visited the fields these bands rests on members' subscrip- me or Ciutat Vella), Senyor Martinez outside the town. They saw the same tions, but is founded on institutional can fix instruments that have been men who the night before had been subventions and day-to-day fund-rais- played by fifty mouths or spot the badly making music fit for the angels hard at ing (lotteries, donations and perfor- fitting stop on a new clarinet. It's true work next morning on a thousand and mances by the band). Each musical so- that we Valencians haven't developed a one jobs that had nothing to do with the ciety's members lead the way with their musical technology . comparable with music profession. And some of them financial and moral support, but local that of the French, English or Ameri- had got up at five or six in the morning authorities, provincial corporations and cans, but these places full of old instru- to go to the factory or start the day. It's the Department of Culture face the chal- ments, where a handful of craftsmen in the amateur, disinterested nature of lenge of maintaining and improving on find answers to the little problems that the thousands of musicians that the the present situation. For example, the crop up in keys and bellows, also have charm and seduction lie. campaign "Música 92", promoted by their fascination. That's Llíria: a town that lives for mu- the Department of Culture, Education The towns of Lliria, Cullera and Buñol sic. But to some extent and in differing and Science, has made donations of stand out in the music scene, each degrees every town is the same. Every- pianos to each society, and has also made having two bands of high musical quality where you go, as you take a quiet walk, it possible to rehabilitate club premises. recognized by the many prizes won in you hear the sound of instruments and A complex financial and cultural struc- international contests. the children going over their exercises. ture líes behind the musical network of Today there is almost a mythology at- Here you hear a tuba and there a trum- the País Valencia. For example, the tached to the phenomenon our grand- pet. The neighbours are used to it and purchase and renovation of instruments parents took it on themselves to pass on to the hours of practising are just another involves large quantities of money. A us. Some European music clubs came to part of the musical geography of Valen- saxophone (of the sort normally used in Lliria and were fascinated by the qua- cia. The musician, like the blacksmith, an average band) can cost 200,000 pese- lity and the quantity of its musicians. learns his trade through hard work. tas; a clarinet, trumpet or trombone Those ruddy faces, burnt from working The festivals and competitions (organ- -nothing special- can cost 100,000 pe- in the fields, and those swollen fingers, ised according to the number of musi- MUSIC cians) held each year provide the mo- the front row so as to bring out defects generally high technical leve1 but their tive for the bands to perfect their music. in their opponents; feuding and gibes lack of musical education, are to be fa- The rivalry and the wish to triumph between neighbours. During the Second miliarized with serious music. make for long hours of study and re- Republic each band's casino acquired There are large numbers of Valencian hearsals. But at the same time it's the its own ideological connotations (each musicians in bands and orchestras al1 chance to meet with fellow enthusiasts social group identified with a different over Spain. But there are obvious diffe- that is so important for a scattered so- band), something that still happens to- rences in technique and sound between ciety like Valencia's. Music is a pretext day . working for one or the other. The work for the thousands of activities that The traditional repertory has been ad- is doubled when one has to adapt one's spring up around the bands (talks, thea- ded to with "pasodobles", Valencian way of understanding the instrument so tre, choirs, human relations, etc.), filling band music, "zarz~ela'~,marches and as to integrate it in orchestral work. The leisure centres but at the same time in- the bands' own orchestral adaptations. habits acquired in childhood and youth directly promoting the clubs' activity, Chapi, Bretón, Serrano are inevitable have to be shaped to provide new democratic participation and the use of names in the files of each society. The acoustic impacts. The move away from our language. The whole phenomenon authorities' current programme "Retro- exclusively festive music and into is worthy of recognition. Musical acti- bem la nostre música" (Let's rediscover symphonic music will be a good train- vity is an aesthetic and communicative our music) sets out to publicize the ing for the bands. experience that supports ego-construc- compositions and band music by con- Now that the trend towards self-taught tion and at the same time is a powerful temporary Valencian figures: Manuel improvisation is a thing of the past, the means of socialization. For many years Palau, Bernat Adam Ferrero, Manuel future presents a series of challenges. At the musical societies have been the cen- Penella, Salvador Giner, Josep M.a Iz- present what is needed is a greater pre- tre of cultural life in the towns. quierdo, Francesc Tamarit Fayos, Mi- sence of stringed instruments and in- There is also musical rivalry within que1 Asins Carbó, Rafael Talens Pelló, vestment in teaching and in youth towns that have more than one band. Amand Blanquer, Josep MSaCervera bands. But it's especially important that The famous rivalry between La Primiti- Collado. music should be made part of school va and La Unió Musical de Llíria has The sound of the bands isn't always the education from the very start. With the spread to towns like Buñol, Cullera, Al- best for playing symphonic arrange- right syllabus, schools can face the coi, Carcaixent, Montcada, Carlet and ments, so that sometimes, depending on challenge before them of introducing Sueca. Stories of jealousy and rivalry the artistic quality, the courage of some children to this language, to this side of abound: married couples who don't musicians shows a certain irreverence art and culture. As J.J. Rousseau said, speak to each other because they belong towards these great works (for example, "The most beautiful melodies will never to different bands; fireworks to cele- those of Wagner or Tchaikovsky). But mean anything to those who are not brate a victory, but let off on the rival this is a risk one has to take if these used to listening to them.