Roll, roll and keep rolling. There are more and more regions Itinera Festival bus stops, we bring quality culture to the smallest towns in depopulated Spain. In just three years, the most touring festival has managed to be present in five autonomous communities, become a developing project in six regions and make waves beyond our borders in Italy and France with a great future projection. The Itinera bus keeps moving forward and there seems to be no end.
Three years have passed since a restless and creative entrepreneur named Marcel Marata from the Empordà region decided to apply for the well-known ‘Impulsa’ award of the Catalunya Cultura association with his Itinera project. What started as just another idea of a professional entrepreneur quickly became a reality as Itinera went through the stages and became the best brand in the world. Suggestion preferred by the jury.
Three years have passed since Marcel decided to board a ‘bus’ called Itinera and travel throughout the Catalonia region, accompanied by a large team. Bringing a culture of quality to all towns with less than 2,000 inhabitants. A bus worthy of its name has launched a route that currently seems to have no end, as more and more autonomous communities and regions both in Spain and in Europe are becoming interested in this project.
The first stop outside Catalonia was to the Valencian Community on the Itinera bus. There, with the help of traveling companion Joan Benages, they conducted the first pilot test, which ended in complete success in the autumn of 2022. realization 12 concerts that achieved great critical and public success It was the seed of the second raid on Valencian territory. The second edition aims to organize 100 quality concerts in ‘pobles xicotets’ in the Valencian Community.
But the bus does not stop; Geldo is 292 km and two hours and forty-five minutes drive from the town of Castellón – a little more by bus – we find the Castilla la Mancha town of El Hito, where the first Itinera concert in La Mancha was held. The Soprano and Harp concert, which was a complete success and became a beautiful tradition, surprised the public with the quality of the presentation. “It caused a sensation because it was a different kind of music that surprised the townspeople who did not expect to enjoy such a spectacle.” says José Antonio Montero, visible head of the edition of Itinera in Castilla la Mancha, Fundación Los Maestros, responsible for cultural programs. In its first edition, Castilla la Mancha brought the essence of Itinera to six locations: Valdemeca, Huélamo, Beamud, El Hito, Tragacete and Cardenete , where residents of one of the least populated regions in Europe (7 people per km²) can enjoy ‘World class’ concerts, at the peak of major festivals. Because if there was one thing that stood out from the first edition of Itinera CLM, it was the excellent quality of its participants; Along with the performance of ‘Ronda de Motilleja’, a well-known Folk group that collaborates with musicians Tanxugueiras, Raúl Márquez and Javier Sánchez from Melendi and Sara Baras or Carlos Herrero, Vetusta Morla’s regular collaborator. “Many artists dropped their participation funds and some well-known names became interested in the Festival,” says Montero.
But if there is one thing that has characterized the Itinera Festival since its inception, it is the desire to explore new territories and overcome all kinds of obstacles. That’s why the Itinera bus did not hesitate for a moment to board the boat and set off towards the Mediterranean to bring quality culture to the ‘llogarets’ of the Balearic Islands. A passage that began with the first edition in the islands around this time last year 10 concerts of Jazz, Blues, Soul, Gospel and world music; and a second edition will be completed this year next November, which could feature up to 50 shows, he said. “This year we will hold concerts on four islands: Mallorca, Ibiza, Formentera and Menorca,” Janira Benages, president of Itinera Balears, assures, “all these are the fruits of the success of the first edition, which took place only on the island of Palma de Mallorca.”
Itinera bus knows no borders and takes planes to land in countries like Italy or France
The shadow of Itinera Festival is long and continues to grow. In fact, the bus has new stops planned as follows: Castilla y León, Asturias and Cantabria, Galicia, Aragon, Canary Islands and Community of Madrid. The communities where the most traveling Festival will take place are the smallest towns with a population of 2,000, “because quality music and culture can be the best antidote to depopulation,” says Álex Rodríguez, president of Itinera Castilla y León. Rodríguez has fallen in love with the Itinera project and is already preparing an edition for the end of this year: “We must strengthen the alliance between regions to give visibility to the rural world and thus involve regional governments.”
And as they say; “by land, sea and air“, because the Itinera bus knows no borders and uses the plane to land in countries where they have previously held concerts, such as Italy or France, such as Occitania or the Island of Sardinia, giving an international character to the essence of Itinera.
The bus goes back and forth on an endless route, but with a common destiny uniting towns and regions, to democratize quality culture and bring it to all audiences, especially those who before Itinera could only access quality culture away from home. Like this the bus won’t stop rolling.