Famous For Not Being Famous: Mallorcans

If I were to ask you to name the top ten most important or influential Mallorcans, would you be able to arrive at a full list of ten? Would you even be able to name one? And by "you", I am mainly referring to people who live in Mallorca, though not exclusively, and by important Mallorcans, I mean those who are alive and kicking, so there would be no room for Ramon Llull or any of the famously dead obscure Mallorcans (of whom there aren't that many in any event). If I were to broaden the question out and ask for the most important or influential Spaniards, I don't know who that would produce by way of answers either, other than lists of Spanish footballers, the odd singer and the King.

We are incredibly ignorant when it comes to people who mean something on this island, and I include myself in this ignorance. Sure, I can name - and will name - some people whose importance has made itself known to me, but I wouldn't suggest that they would be totally representative. We know so very little, and it's probably worth asking why we know so little.

Is it just the case that there aren't important people? Such a view would be incredibly dismissive; arrogant even. Importance and being influential depend on circumstances. Mallorca is not the UK. It is not Spain, but within the small population of Mallorca there are nonetheless people who are important and who should, one would think, be better known.

Is it the case, therefore, that importance and/or influence is defined according to the community with which one is more familiar, the expatriate community? It could be, but if so, then this also smacks of the arrogant as well as of the parochial self-important; the elevation to quasi-celebrityhood of the distinctly non-celebrity, except in the minds of those who believe themselves to be important or about whom sufficient is said and often enough to grant them importance.

Is it the case that we just don't care? That we have little interest in knowing about people who, for different reasons, might in fact contribute to shaping the place in which we live, be they from the worlds of politics, sport, tourism, culture, medicine, entertainment, wherever. Perhaps so. We all choose the limits of our knowledge and we all choose the extent of our ignorance. It is a choice; knowledge and taking an interest cannot be forced in a free society.

Or is it the case that it is simply easier to be knowlegeable of people who don't shape the place in which we live, who shape a distant place and of whom it is therefore more convenient to display such knowledge, even if it is reduced to the inconsequentiality of an inconsequential and stupid, name-calling Conservative politician? I really don't know.

But to come back to the question, who might find their way into top ten lists of the most important or influential Mallorcans?

In terms of fame, of whom even the least knowlegeable cannot be unaware, there is one Mallorcan and only one. Rafael Nadal. Sport does at least lend itself to internationalism and international recognition; hence, Carlos Moyà, Jorge Lorenzo and perhaps basketball-player Rudy Fernández can also have the garland of importance draped around their necks. Sport, though, is the easy side of fame and importance, thanks to its universality. Tennis or motor sport need little or no explanation and do not need an appreciation of culture or language. Entertainment, on the other hand, often does require such an appreciation. Tomeu Penya, now embarking on recording his 25th album, and María del Mar Bonet are singers of unquestionable importance, yet how known are they? Or the guitarist Joan Bibiloni, the film director Agustí Villaronga?

Politics throw up any number of potentially important people, but few endure or are as significant as Gabriel Cañellas, the first president (for twelve years) of the Balearics and still around; to the partial discomfort of the current president with whom he doesn't see eye to eye on attitudes towards regional politics. Similarly, tourism has numerous claimants as to importance, many of them in the hotel industry; Gabriel Escarrer of Meliá, Miguel Fluxá of Iberostar, to name but two, and the Fluxá name and family go much wider - to Lottusse and Camper as well. 

There are many others, once you start looking around: Pedro Serra, president of the Grupo Serra communication company and founder of the "Majorca Daily Bulletin" as long ago as 1962; Miguel Barceló, the artist; DJ Sammy who has been DJ-ing for almost 30 years; Bartolomé Beltrán, doctor, broadcaster, one-time president of Real Mallorca; Magdalena Ribes, president of GOB, the environmentalist pressure group.

These are just a few. There are very many more, but how many can you name?


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.