Culture Nights, Culture Years: The OCB

It may not have been 31 December on Friday, but this didn't stop there being an awards ceremony in honour of 31 December. And why would there be an awards ceremony to honour this date? Because 31 December, unofficially, is Mallorca day (note the lower-case "d" as a result of it being unofficial).

As anyone with a smattering of Mallorcan history can tell you, 31 December was the day in 1229 when King Jaume I invaded (didn't re-conquer; invaded and then occupied). The Jaume invasion introduced Catalan to the island of course, and the rest has been history; one very complicated history ever since.

733 years after Jaume invaded, on 31 December 1962, an organisation was formed. Oddly perhaps, given the times they lived in then, this was the Obra Cultural Balear, arch-defenders in Mallorca of all things Catalan. It is the OCB which was dishing out the awards on Friday. It does so every year, but this, being its 50th anniversary, meant there was more to make a song and dance about (a dance that was probably in good, traditional Mallorcan "ball de bot" style).

In fact, the 50th anniversary has been given special meaning, as 2012 has been a very good year for the OCB. Because there has been so much anti-Catalan stuff flying around, it has been able to assume new purpose, kicking up a fuss left, right and centre (mainly left though), the devil of the Partido Popular attempting to play havoc with the demons of tradition and the language and culture of the island.

For its ceremony, the OCB chose Manacor. And why Manacor? Ostensibly, because 2012 is also the 150th anniversary of the birth of a famous son of the town, Antoni Maria Alcover, man of words and ideas, man of story-telling (mostly in Catalan). The choice of Manacor was fortuitous, however, as the town is the centre of opposition to the PP that has come from within the PP, or rather from those now no longer members of the PP, as they have been expelled. And they include Manacor's mayor, Antoni Pastor.

The ceremony, also known as the night of culture, was, as the OCB spelled out, an occasion that demonstrated a "clamour for the rights and linguistic identities of Mallorcans". On 6 January, the whole thing will be broadcast by Catalonia Television, thus extending fraternal Catalan cultural greetings across the water to the mainland and reinforcing, the OCB would believe, as it believes also in the rights of the mythical Catalan Lands, the fraternity of Catalan culture. The gala was offered to the Mallorcan channel IB3, but it seems that the offer was turned down. From what I understand, groups like the OCB and its environmental chums, GOB, are pretty much verboten by IB3 (all to do with impartial editorial direction, determined by a PP plant).

But what of this grand gala, this night of culture? Who got the awards? Well, if I were to reel them off, you wouldn't have a clue who I was referring to, and to be honest, I hadn't heard of most of them myself. One whose name is familiar, and is familiar to this blog, was Francesc Vicens. You might recall that he is the musicologist who has written, among other things, a book about pop music in Mallorca. The book's title is "Paradise of Love", and I wrote about this recently (http://alcudiapollensa.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/los-kinks-mallorca-and-sixties-pop.html).

As for the others, there were groups who defend Catalan in education, one of which helped to organise a day of protest recently, an actor called Antoni Gomila (from Manacor) who referred to the theatre as being the "backbone" for the expression and consolidation of Catalan language and culture, and a band from Valencia called Obrint Pas that mixes punk, ska and rock, all with a clear Catalan flavour.

So, there you are. What an evening of culture it must have been. And onlooking was Pastor, there with other former PP members of the town hall who await any further childish reprisals from the PP for having had the temerity to disagree with the party line. The auditorium in Manacor was packed. Whether one can read much into the attendance is hard to say, but the night of culture, it could be argued, demonstrates the serious divisions in Mallorcan society, ones created by the assault on Catalan. But how serious really are they? It suits the OCB to emphasise them, but then the OCB has its belief in the Catalan Lands and so therefore, and ultimately, some sort of independent Greater Catalonia. This is not something that has wide support in Mallorca. Indeed, it has very little popular support, and among politicians formerly of the "popular" party, I very much doubt that Pastor supports the idea either.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.