A day at the best festival in Catalonia: Càntut

Cassà de la SelvaThe issue isn't being optimistic or pessimistic, but taking action. An optimist who does nothing to move forward is as useless as someone who, overcome by defeatism, throws in the towel. The sociolinguist Isidor Marí spoke about this in relation to the language situation in Ibiza, but it applies to almost everything. Taking action, like the Cantuto, the Cassà de la Selva Oral Tradition Song FestivalSince 2016, Marí participated from the audience in a talk about Ibizan double-repeated singing, a magnetic rhythmic chant that the duo L'Arannà incorporates into one of the most interesting artistic proposals of the moment: oral tradition and electronic music combined to move the listener. It was one of the activities of the ninth edition of Càntut, which took place from November 14th to 16th. Càntut, the best festival in the country.

Let's say you arrive in Cassà de la Selva on Saturday the 15th around midday. In Plaça de la Coma, the heart of this cork-oak village, the sounds of vermouth hour mingle with the songs of the Empordà group Akoblats. Music is integrated into everyday life. The Gastronomic Association has already set up its stage at Can Quirze, near both locations. The participants in the singers' luncheon are arriving. This year, journalist David Fernández is hosting the forty or so guests; therefore, it falls to him to open the singing. As the 50th anniversary of Franco's death approaches, he chooses the poem End! by Joan Brossa: "Rat of the worst crime, another violent death loomed before you, the end of so many since that July."

David Fernàndez and Quim Carandell

Salad, omelet, mussels, snails, and noodles in the casserole keep the conversation going. Fernández manages the shifts with unseen protocols. The singer only has to tap his glass, stand up, and sing. A grandmother sings. The old spinning wheelwhich speaks precisely of work, of honoring the dignity of work; more than one tear of emotion is shed. A girl silences the room by playing a habanera. The duo Folk y Ceniza livens up dessert with Ebro jotas. Carol Duran, now Director General of Popular Culture and Associations, but formerly and always a violinist with groups like La Carrau, also sings. Quim Carandell, the singer of La Ludwig Band, is one of those who was captivated by Càntut since his performance in 2022. Midway through the meal, Carandell gets up to assert that the author of The song of the scales The song popularized by Ovidi Montllor is by his grandfather, Josep Maria Carandell. He sings it with Fernández on guitar. And as with the rest of the songs, everyone sings along.

Quim Cadanet, from the Gastronomic Entity of Cassà de la Selva, illuminates the hour of muscatel, ratafia and coffee with The seventh heaven, by Sisa, and with a song dedicated to Josep Capdevila, "El Dinàmic," an illustrious figure from Cassà. As illustrious as the oldest man in Espolla in the song by La Ludwig Band, which is also sung by singers of all stripes.

Francesc Viladiu, the festival programmer, comes and goes from the dining room simply to confirm that everything is running smoothly. And indeed it is, because everything that happens at the festival is done with care, discernment, and sensitivity, devoid of any posturing. The most interesting thing about Cántuto is the way it presents traditional music, with such naturalness, without museum-like trappings or forced pairings, but laying bare an obvious lesson: songs explained us yesterday, they tell us today, and they will continue to do so tomorrow. What powerful tools.

Of the diners, a few are later present at the talk on double-time singing in the library auditorium and also at the concerts in the courtyard of Can Trinxeria and in the hall of the Recreation Center. In the square, while some make coffee and others go to the supermarket or simply stroll, students from the Cassà high school dance the choreography on the occasion of Canigou Mountains who have worked with Santi Serratosa. Càntut, as all festivals should be, is much more than a succession of concerts with a bar.

The songs of Víctor Català

At Can Trinxeria, musician Carles Sanjosex and writer and anthropologist Adrià Pujol present a talk-show inspired by the Songbook of the Empordà Compiled by Lluís Albert, Víctor Català's nephew, from family tradition. The duo was brought together at the Indilletres fair in La Bisbal d'Empordà, and is gradually spreading far and wide. Family anecdotes, insightful looks at Víctor Català's monumental work, and diverse anthropological considerations alternate with the songs performed by Carles Sanjosex, who preserves the emotional punch in his voice. He also sings Canigou Mountains, which is the song leitmotiv of this year's Cántuto festival. The audience, of course, fills the tent. The Recreation Center's hall is also packed, accessed through the small building that will host the grand dinner that evening, culminating in "the musician's dessert" by the group Grana y Moscatell.

Terrae, the duo from Flix formed by Genís Bagés and Andreu Peral, also performs at Can Trinxeria. With tools of the present (electronics) and of yesteryear (ancestral percussion, guitar, and voice), they sing of the dignity of the Ebro region: in hardship, in the memory of the Republic, in the steam of Ascó that "illuminates all of Catalonia," and in the desire to celebrate (with a pasodoble rhythm). The live performance, with Andreu Peral singing and moving as if Nanni Moretti were a Sufi master, amplifies the impact of the album. Our grain"It was worth the three-and-a-half-hour drive," says Peral, amazed by the audience's response. The Cantuto encourages the audience to sing along and accompany the musicians, always in tune, so it's never intrusive.

In the hall of the Recreation Center, one of the musical moments of the year is taking place. As happened at the Mediterranean Fair in Manresa during the presentation of the project Turmarine, the duo L'Arannà They have before them an upright audience that applauds with the enthusiasm reserved only for something that has touched your soul. Anna Sala from Empordà and Lara Magrinyà from Ibiza revive the traditional double-barreled singing style within a contemporary musical context, but without resorting to anecdotal pastiche. On the contrary, they harness the magnetic power of Ibizan singing, its primordial mantra, to stir emotions here and now. There is, of course, a very high level of artistic commitment, also evident in the performance and staging. The encore has added value. Among the audience are Isidor Marí and Víctor Planells, members of the legendary Ibizan trio Uc. Les Arannà invite them to the stage, and the four of them sing. I have a girlfriendThey could be grandparents and cleaning women. They're singing together, and with the audience.

A natural extension of the Cantut archive, which brings together recordings of oral tradition songs, the festival organized by the Banyoles-based promoter Alter Sinergies was recognized with the National Culture Prize in 2022. More than it deserves. Well, at least once in a lifetime.