Once again, the Mare Nostrum Folk Festival is here, this year taking place on September 21 and 22. Nine folk groups, five from Ibiza and the rest from Navarra, Pontevedra, Murcia, and Zamora, will participate this weekend. The Festival is organized by the Federation of Dance Groups and Popular Culture of Ibiza and Formentera, with the sponsorship of the Consell d’Eivissa and the collaboration of the island’s municipalities.
The festival will be divided into two days:
This year, Txori Zuri Euskal Dantza Taldea from Navarra, Hai que Roelo from Cuntis, Pontevedra, Coros y Danzas de Zarandona from Murcia, and Aulas de Música de Aliste y Tras Os Montes from Zamora join the dance exhibition offered by Colla de Can Bonet, Colla de Sant Rafel, Colla de Vila, the Sant Josep de sa Talaia Folk Group, and the Es Broll ‘Ball Pagès’ group.
The events on Saturday, September 21, will take place from 7:30 PM at the Sant Mateu Social Center, coinciding with the celebration of the town’s patron saint festivities. In case of bad weather, the event would be moved to the Quartó de Portmany municipal pavilion. The invited groups will participate along with Colla de Can Bonet.
Then, on Sunday, September 22, there will be performances in the other municipalities: at 12:00 PM, in Sant Josep Church Square, a performance by the folk group Coros y Danzas de Zarandona, Murcia, with the Sant Josep de sa Talaia Folk Group. Also at 12:00 PM, in Santa Eulària des Riu Town Hall Square, a performance by the Hai que Roelo Folk Group from Cuntis, Pontevedra, with the Es Broll ‘Ball Pagès’ group.
At 12:30 PM, in Sant Joan de Labritja Church Square, a performance by Txori Zuri Euskal Dantza Taldea from Navarra, with Colla de Sant Rafel. And at 7:00 PM, in Reina Sofia Park in Vila, a performance by Aulas de Música de Aliste y Tras Os Montes from Zamora with Colla de Vila.
The Minister of Culture, Education, and Heritage, Sara Ramón, has stated that this activity, which has always been well-received by the public, “has counted on the collaboration of the Island Council since its inception, as the Festival’s objective is to disseminate the island’s typical dances both at this event and beyond the island, thereby promoting and raising awareness of one of the facets of Ibiza’s popular culture, which is ‘ball pagès’.”
Alongside the Minister, the events of the XXIII Mare Nostrum Festival were presented by the festival councillors from the island’s five municipalities and the treasurer of the Federation of Dance Groups and Popular Culture of Ibiza, Josefa Torres.
