Formentera hosts Sant Jaume celebration full of all-age activities

festes-de-sant-jaume-2018 ball1The Formentera Council Office of Culture wishes to unveil the St James' Day programme (Sant Jaume, as he is known in Catalan, is also Formentera's patron saint). Calling the holiday “a day for islanders”, culture councillor Susana Labrador described the wide-ranging 11-27 July activities calendar as “offering culture, music and fitness to islanders young and old, and to tourists, too”.

Diada de Formentera
The holiday, dubbed the Diada de Formentera (“Day of Formentera”) and celebrated every year on 25 July, starts with an 8.00pm Mass at the Sant Francesc church. Immediately after, local troupes will offer a demonstration of traditional ball pagès dance. Passersby can then munch on a hometown favourite, orelletes. “There's no better time to honour our home-spun traditions”, quipped Councillor Labrador.

Cultural activities
All of Sant Francesc will don a festive veneer for a diverse spread of happenings and events. The programme kicks off Tuesday July 11 with Fils Roulants and Espai_F's stage production of Piel. What has been described as the piece's “feedback loop of movement, the soundscape and voice” produces an atmosphere that feels suspended in time, and those in the audience can dive right in. Nightly performances take place between 11-18 July (9.00pm, Thursday to Thursday) in the sala de Cultura.

Activities continue on Monday 15 July with the opening of an exhibition from Erwin Broner in the Ajuntament Vell gallery. The display contains works left to Catalina Verdera Ribas by Gisela Broner. To celebrate the opening, violinist Lina Tur will give a performance from 6.30pm in the Sant Francesc church.

The exhibit is split across two spaces: the Ajuntament Vell gallery will accommodate drawings and works of art on paper, and the gallery of la Mola lighthouse will house the artist's paintings. The Erwin Broner exhibit is presented by Espai_F.

July 24 ceremony
Honorary distinctions will be handed out July 24 from 8.30pm in a ceremony at the municipal cinema (sala de Cultura).

Kids' calendar
In Sant Francesc's plaça de la Constitució from 7.00pm on Saturday 20 July, youngsters will have a ball with Majorcan troupe Mel i Sucre's newest production, De Colors. It's music to dream to, laugh to, dance to ... play, sing, listen, share, imagine, create and be happy to! For all ages!

From 8.00pm in the square, kids can attend a workshop where they can gear up for the Flower Power. Mel i Sucre are hosting the children's party—Flower Infantil—and it starts at 9.00pm.

In Jardí de ses Eres at 7.00pm on Tuesday 23 July, Dudu Arnalot will present Insomni. The wordless production mixing clownery and physical theatre is for all audiences.

On the evening of Friday the 26th, the island's younger music-buffs have Nit Jove (Youth Night) to look forward to. Staged at Sant Francesc's central plaza, the event will feature the sounds of MCKea and Musica urbana, the dance moves of Zoocreative and Danscape, a performance by Tio de la Careta and plenty of rock, funk, ska and reggae to close out the night.

Fitness
Sport looms large in the island's patron saint celebrations, too. Take for instance the tennis and padel tournaments on the municipal pitch from 18-21 July, or a demonstration, by participants in the island's synchronised swim camp, before spectators at the Poliesportiu Antoni Blanc pool on Saturday the 27th.

Live music and concerts (20, 24, 25 and 27 July)
As ever, music is at the heart of Sant Jaume celebrations. The highly anticipated Formentera Flower (the “Power” familiar to English-speaking audiences is typically dropped) will take over Sant Francesc's central square on Saturday the 20th. Then, on Wednesday 24 July, globally renowned Majorcan indie-rock band The Prussians will perform in concert. Next up is rumba group Gertrudis. Over the last fifteen years, these natives of la Garriga, in Catalonia, have been working their way to the top of Spain's fusion music scene. Sidonie Dj set will wrap up the evening set with dance music tunes from the sixties to today.

Sant Jaume's true headliners come through the nit (“eve”) of the holiday, Thursday 25 July. The Andrea Motis Trio is the jazz ensemble of trumpeter-singer-songwriter (and titan on the Spanish scene) Andrea Motis. Sopa de Cabra are scheduled to wind things down. The group is headed by Gerard Quintana has been performing since 1986. They are currently preparing for a stint in the studio.

On the 27-July edition of Jazz a la plaça, audiences will get to hear Oh no Trio!, with Gerard Gusé on guitar, Geovanny Perez on bass, and Luis Amado on drums.

Sant Jaume, sustainably
This year's Sant Jaume celebrations are more sustainable. The Formentera Council has teamed up with Plastic-Free Formentera to help islanders cut their use of single-use plastics. Two locally-sourced water fountains will be installed on the premises so revellers can get water at no charge and at no cost to the environment.

The councillor also talked about a push to educate islanders about recycling and reusing drinks glasses made of plastic. A poster reading “Recycling is in your hands” will be placed at each bar where reusable glasses are sold—said Councillor Labrador, “to encourage people to take their glasses home or to dispose of them in recycling bins, so we don't generate more waste”.

Labrador thanked Plastic-Free Formentera and other groups working to put an end to plastics. She also thanked the event's other sponsors, particularly Trasmapi, for the transport company's support of festivities and local culture.


9 July 2019
Office of Communication
Formentera Council