Fira B! further strengthens its collaboration with Catalonia and Valencia in its 3rd edition
Núria Abad
The third edition of Fira B!, the professional Balearic music and performing arts market, will be held in Palma from the 20th to the 24th of September. Its programme, as well as the novelties featured this year, was presented on June 5th at an official act hosted by Fanny Tur, Minister of Culture, Participation and Sports for the Balearic Government, and Francesc M. Rotger, director of the Institut d'Estudis Baleàrics (ILLENC), both organising institutions, accompanied by Rafael M. Creus, director of Culture for the Consell de Mallorca; Noemí Garcies, general coordinator of Culture, Heritage, Historical Memory and Linguistic Policy for the Council of Palma city; and Frederic Pinya, president of the Art Palma Contemporani Association of Gallery Owners.
Minister Fanny Tur wished to highlight the main novelties of this year's edition of Fira B!, which include “shows and concerts by artists from Catalonia and Valencia, who incarnate de cooperation between the Balearic, Valencian and Catalonian governments in order to promote Catalan language and culture”, as well as the consolidation of the alliance of the most important Mediterranean music fairs, in order to boost the sector. This alliance includes, as well as Fira B!, Trovam! (the Valencian Music Fira), the Living Music Market of Vic and the Fira Mediterrània.
New and exciting collaborations do not end there. Fira B! will fuse on Saturday 23rd September with the Nit de l'Art de Palma, a celebration of the beginning of the artistic season. The resulting symbiosis will include performances, especially by electronic groups, in some art galleries, who in this way will be added to the musical programme of the fair.
Another of the novelties that Minister Tur has put forward as very positive is the participation in Fira B! of the Institut Ramon Llull who, for the first time, will bring international producers.
Fira B! 2017 is also joining in with the celebratory acts of the Year of Pasqual Calbó i Caldés, to commemorate the bicentenary of the death of this Menorcan enlightened painter, by including in the scenic arts programme the premiere on Mallorca of the piece Calbó o el viatje d'Orfeu, a bespoke joint production for this tribute by the Ministry of Culture, Participation and Sports and the Consell de Menorca.
For his part, the director of the Institut d'Estudis Baleàrics, Francesc Rotger, explained that Fira B! has as its main aims “to establish, consolidate and make visible the sector of creative and cultural industries from our community, within a unique display of proposals, as well as showcasing the latest and most representative performances from Balearic artists, by means of an attrative programme aimed at producers, artists and the general audience.”
In total, 41 music groups and 24 performance companies participate in this professional Balearic music and performing arts market, all of whom have been selected by two specialized commissions amongst the more than 200 requests received. It all adds up to 65 cultural proposals.
And so, the final selection for the music programme offers 21 pop rock / indie concerts including Astrolabio, Blaumut, Damià Oliver, EnZel, Garras, Go Cactus, Go!Man!Go!, Jane Yo, Jordi Maranges , Jorra y Gomorra, Lava Fizz, El Emperador, Leonmanso, Model Slaves, Novembre Elèctric, Poomse, Quin Delibat!, Satellites, Sweet Poo Smell, The Prussians and Anthony Bloom; 5 jazz concerts, with Enric Pastor & Co., Highlands Project, Lemon Emigrants, Pere Navarro Quintet and The Jazz Fingers; 2 singer-songwriters, Apol·lonia and Arantxa Andreu; 8 bands of world music, with the performances of BOC, Biel Fiol, Nafas Ensemble (Jaume Compte), Marta Elka, Rumba Katxai, Tel·luria, Tugores and Zaruk (Iris Azquinezer & Rainer Seiferth); 2 of American music, Erik Göransson and No Room; 2 of electronic music, Bearoid and El Día Eléctrico; and 1 rapper, Jerry Blunt.
Regarding the performing arts, the programme of Fira B! is made up this year of 16 text theatre shows: Abans que arribi l'alemany, by En Blanc; Calbó o el viatge d'Orfeu; Carinyo, by Pérez&Disla; Dolça Sodoma meva, by La Trup; Guium o la ciutat adormida, by La Fornal d'Espectacles; He vist balenes, by La Impaciència; Jo, Odisseu, by Cultural-ment Produccions; Las dos en punto, by As Marias; Melosa fel, by AMC Producciones; Només quan plou, by Produccions de Ferro; Por, by Cia. La Reforma; Ricard3, by Iguana Teatre; Síndrhomo, by La Teta Calva; Smiley, by El Somni Produccions; Trasplantar, by Diabéticas Aceleradas; and Una furia patria, by Grupo Caníbal. Also on the billboard are 4 new theatre art shows: Nautae, by Espai_F; Ningú no va als aniversaris a l'estiu, by los Hermanos Picohueso; Pares nostres, by la Cía Indòmita, and Replay, by Trampa Teatre; 2 dance shows: BaRockballet, by Pasodos Dance Company; and Dosis, by UnaiUna; 1 physical theatre show: Frontera, by Migrants; and 1 circus show: Makam, by la Cía. Makam.
As well as an artistic attraction, which last year gathered more than 5.000 spectators, Fira B! is above all a meeting space for professionals. In this sense, the organizers are expecting the attendance of around 200 art promoters, including producers, distributors, managers and other professionals from the world of communications and general culture in order to “encourage the promotion further afield of Balearic artists”, Rotger explained.
This year, as well as all the shows and concerts, Professional Sessions will be carried out around two core concepts: conferences and meetings aimed at cultural agents from the music and performing arts sectors; and speedmeetings, which are short encounters between producers and venue managers and interested artists. Fira B! has set up a professional space on the website, with access only for artists and producers who register to participate in the fair, offering a basic management tool that allows for artists, producers and other professionals to meet easily. Registry to these Professional Sessions is already active at the following link: http://pro.firab.org/contacts/register.
The opening gala of Fira B! will include the Symphonic Orchestra of the Balearic Islands at the Teatro Principal, ceded for the Consell Insular, taking the audience on a voyage through the history of musicals, from New York's Broadway to London's West End.
