Festival celebrating Catalan culture held in Catalan-speaking Sardinian town

In the northwestern coast on the Italian island of Sardinia, is a small town resident to a Catalan speaking enclave, where a dialect of the language still survives hundreds of years after colonists first made landfall. Even to this day, around 20,000 to 30,000 people speak Algherese, a variant of the Catalan language itself, and Catalan culture is still celebrated. The Barnasants festival has kicked off for its 23rd edition with the concert presenting a book and a CD.

The initiative, set up by the Plataforma per la Llengua, takes traditional childrens songs from Alghero and interprets them by children and musicians from all throughout Catalan-speaking territorties. The aim is to distribute aroun10,000 copies of the CD and book to the local education community.

The NGO, La Plataforma per la Llengua, or Platform for Language in English, took into account a “deficit” of the teaching materials in Alghero's schools, the project aims to reach children and adults alike through the Ccatalan-speaking domain, and those who “are aware that traditional and popular culture has no borders.”

The concert was held Alghero's Civic theatre, where songs from the CD were performed with modern electroninc “bass” and “breaks”. Traditional songs such as 'Mariner bon Mariner' (Sailor good sailor) and 'La Pastoreta' were just some included on the playlist. The event finished with a long applause.

Although the premiere of the project took place on Sardinia, the show will arrive to Catalonia on March 23, in Hosptitalet de Llobregat, just outside Barcelona.

A meeting with the mayor of Alghero

Representatives of the Platform for Language as well as the delegation of Alghero met this Saturday at noon with the mayor of the 'Comune di Alghero', Mario Bruno. The mayor of the municipality showed interested in the Catalan political situation and has discussed with the members of La Plataforma de la Llengua issues  regarding the linguistic policies of the Italian state. In the NGO, reminded Bruno of the need to maintain the cultural ties of Alghero with the rest of the Catalan linguistic community.