The festival that unites art, gastronomy and farming in the Empordà

GironaFollowing the warm reception of last year's inaugural edition, the Brots de l'Empordà Festival returns: a truly interesting and original proposal that places top-tier artists alongside local producers and restaurateurs in the same program, all tied together with a very conscious and vindicatory discourse about the land and culture. The initiative, organized by Joventuts Musicals de Torroella de Montgrí, was born as a way to artistically channel the cry of the Revolta Pagesa protests. This year's edition is held in a dozen towns in the Baix Empordà, featuring concerts, dance, performance, poetry, and visual arts in churches, squares, fields, and forests, from October 22nd to 25th. The festival brings together names like Tarta Relena, Toti Soler, Alosa, Raül Refree, and Momi Maiga, centered around a theme focused on the preservation, recovery, and reinterpretation of ancestral heritage.

"What do we do today with what we have received? Ancestral heritage, whether it be cuisine or music, is a form of knowledge, and at the festival, we consider how to reproduce or reinterpret it from a contemporary perspective. Brots is born from what we bring into relationship and so that everything that is part of our legacy may challenge us once again," explains Montse Faura, the festival's artistic director. And she concludes: "A sprout does not appear out of nowhere; it appears because there was soil underneath."

All cultural proposals are accompanied by tastings, meals, or commentary that enrich and round out the visitor's experience. Rosa Bel, responsible for gastronomic coordination, highlights the role of the producers who craft the food firsthand and that of the professionals who use it in the kitchen: "The producers allow us to talk about the agri-food landscapes that make the Empordà unique: vineyards, apple orchards, cereals, rice paddies... We bring together an entire network of producers from wineries, oil mills, and livestock farms, with olive oil and wine from the Empordà DO, bread from the bakers' guild, Fonteta 'recuit' cheese, and Pasturabosc cheeses. Then we have the professionals who receive this product, such as chef Iolanda Bustos, the Empordanet chefs' collective, or pastry chef Oriol Balaguer, who will prepare it under the best conditions," comments Bel.

La Gio Symphonia, Tarta Relena, Lecocq and Toti Soler

The programming will begin on Thursday, October 22nd in Torroella de Montgrí with the protest manifesto La Revolta, written by journalist Agnès Batlle, with the help of a young farmer and musician and a member of Revolta Pagesa from Girona. The opening day will also include a walk through the town with local actors from Torroella, Daniel Casanovas and Josep Massó, and a musical performance at Espai Ter with the GIO Symphonia, under the artistic direction of Francesc Prat, which will end with olive oil tastings explained by the producers themselves.

On Friday the 23rd, the festival will combine early music and contemporary creation: Carles Blanch and Viola de Mar Ensemble will perform in Ultramort with Mediterranean Renaissance music, and the castle of Peratallada will host the visual show by Cube, RUS Sonic, and concerts by Tarta Relena and folk singer from La Bisbal, Lecocq.

Saturday the 24th will be the turn of the Tour Brots, which invites spectators to discover different spaces in the Baix Empordà on a guided route by bicycle or bus. It will begin with a hearty fork breakfast at the Gala Dalí Castle in Púbol, provided by the restaurant És! Carxofa, inspired by Dalí's eggs; followed by a recital with Rosa Pou, Josep Pedrals, and Xavier Lloses. For lunch, a sung meal in Cruïlles enlivened by the folk group Coi Els Montgrons, in co-production with Càntut. The day will also reach Ullastret with Blai Mateu and Rupià with pastry chef Eva Feliu, and will end with a final night stop with Miriam Moukhles, Christiane Jatahy, and Raül Refree at the ruins of Empúries, with a table set inspired by the Odyssey, in collaboration with the Festival Clàssics. The festival will close on Sunday the 25th in the Gavarres forests and the charming streets of Monells, where Toti Soler, Oriol Marès, Alosa, Diego Armando, and Momi Maiga, among others, will perform, with various tastings facilitated by gastronome Pep Nogué.