Keywords: alternative culture, Europe, flamenco

Published in: Ciutat Nord, local newspaper of Barcelona, Spain. Originally written in Spanish.

Date: November 1998

WRITING

Europe in the Ateneu

The center held the last meeting of the Trans Europe Halles net

Last October the Ateneu of Nou Barris became for some days the reference point of the alternative culture in Europe. More than 60 representatives of 27 independent and multifunctional centers in the Trans Europe Halles net (TEH) gathered in Barcelona to celebrate the most recent of their meetings during which there was time for debate but also for entertainment.

Aged 15, the TEH is one of the oldest cultural nets in the continent, born in Middle Europe but nowadays extending to the East and South. Their aim is to promote the exchange and mobility of people, ideas and experiences amongst different countries to enhance innovation in all the artistic expression and cultural production domains, as well as to use this international cooperation to get involved in the cultural politics developed by governments and local European administrations.

But this is sometimes hard. The president of the TEH net, Cor Schloesser, warns that in the South it's specially difficult to get finantial and political support from governments. Also the European Parliament has traditionally rejected to acquire an economic compromise with the net, even though we may observe a mutual approach through certain initiatives such as the Caleydoscope program.

One of the common problems to all the TEH centers is the lack of support from administrations to renew the old industrial buildings where they have settled down. Sanja Tropp, from the Attack center in Zagreb, explains that due to the anarchist and antigovernmental character of the community where she works, they get no help to renovate the old factory they inhabit.

However there are always exceptions, and this is the case of Wuk, a locomotive factory built in the XIXth century in the heart of Vienna, which has become a meeting point for people of all ages. Thanks to the social project of education and integration into the working market of unemployed people Wuk carries out, they have managed to receive public finantial aid, Sabine Schebrak explained.

The Ateneu in Europe

The Ateneu of Nou Barris is currently the only center in the Iberian Peninsula which belongs to the TEH, but the president of the net says that they carefully pondered the entry of the Catalan center: "they work differently, in terms of programs, for example. The majority of our centers focus their activities to a regional or international scope, not only local, but we understood that the Ateneu also aims to extend their influence far beyond the neighbourhood, and this made us make up our mind and admit them as a new member".

This will to operate in an international level is an indispensable condition to be admitted in the net. In the case of the Ateneu, it was Puk Draiby who awakened this interest in the center, a Dane who works in the Casal Jove of Roquetes, and who transmitted her enthusiasm for the building of a European project to the team of the Ateneu.

From the moment she started taking part in the TEH discussions as an observer, three years ago, she knew that they had to organize a meeting in Barcelona in the short term, since the personal implication of the members of the center in the Portlligat Street was impossible without knowing the people in the net. Yet more bearing in mind how the Ateneu could contribute to TEH: "bringing the will to build up things and to prove that you can organize many activities, a special energy, I don't know if it's from the South or not, and more concretely, very good circus professionals, a kind of show which hardly exists in the other European centers", Puk tells.

The manager of the Ateneu, Xavi Perez, values this last meeting and states that it has been very positive since they have started new projects to exchange cultural and artistic companies with centers in Switzerland, Italy, Serbia or Ireland. Moreover, and regarding their relationship with the Administration, Xavi Perez remarks: "the Ateneu has proved that it has a notorius activity, coherent with our will to move forward to the maximum quality in its management, besides the fact that being in contact with Europe is always important, and there's still a great deal to do".

Puk Draiby agrees with him and comments: "from here they look towards Europe, they speak about Spain as if it didn't belong to Europe, but with this meeting we have confirmed the acknowledgment of the task of the Ateneu within the net and we've also managed to locate its artistic productions in the cultural map of Barcelona".

Maite Martin, typical Spanish

Apart from debates and working sessions, those present at the Trans Europe Halles meeting in the Ateneu enjoyed a special program which included circus, a devils party, fireworks, DJ's and a splendid flamenco concert by Maite Martin.
Accompanied at the guitar by Juan Ramon Caro, the singer offered a complete repertoire composed by cantes por peteneras, levante and malagueñas, in her second show in the Ateneu of Nou Barris. In 1977, at the age of 11 years old, she took part in the 30 hours marathon held by the center.

Maite Martin is today one of the most reputated so-called Catalan flamencos, but she hasn't only cultivated this musical field, since after releasing 'Muy fragil', she edited 'Freevoleros', an album devoted to the most famous boleros, as its name suggests. She had the chance then to work with the deceased Catalan pianist Tete Montoliu, and she admits considering that a privilege. She will soon finish her third album, a collection of ballads with chord arrangements.

Maite Martin appreciates classic flamenco the same as the most innovative one, "provided that it's well done", and she denies that the origin of the singer, whether Andalusia or Catalonia, determines his or her musical orientation. However, she believes there's a significant difference in the way they both learn flamenco: as a part of the folklore in the South, and as studio music in the North.

This 'flamenca', who paraded her art over half of the world and who assures that foreigners appreciate flamenco because it is an excellent music, remarks that she noticed abroad that the knowledge about foreign music in other countries has increased, and that they are able to understand a kind of music they don't usually listen to.