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Aloumiñando o Patrimonio

By Iria Palacios

We are living in a very special situation. Covid has changed our life all over the world.

Lots of ideas and projects are being difficult to do. In this situation, teachers and students are trying hard to create different alternatives.

Here, in Ies A Pobra, the department of galician, history and geography and music have worked together in a multidisciplinary project that shows us a little bit more about the historical wealth that we can find next to our high school.

With the aim of highlighting the cultural heritage of the town, a video has been created where we can see how music, played by the students, and the elaborate explanations of those who know everything about the church of Santa Maria do Xobre, mix and create an artistic work that shows us the monument.

“Aloumiñando o patrinonio, de Santa Maria a Santa María” creates a original reference between two concepts. We can know Santa María as the medieval cantiga, but at the same time, is linked to the name of the church. This way, a relationship is made between the different departments.Before the video was released, I decided to investigate and learn more about the creator.I talked to the person that has created and organised this, the music teacher Esperanza Mara, who was in our centre for a little time.

Before she began the projectl, she explained her idea to the other teachers and all agreed that that was a great idea. “ The idea was to make a documentary, an interdisciplinary project with the participation of several departments through one of their professors who would be interviewed and that would serve for the students to learn how a documentary is made and how the specific aspect of music is treated in it” she says.

Since the beginning,a way was sought to educate students in a more creative way, something that has made students respond in a very good way. It tells us how they united concepts such as heritage material, that is the church of Santa María ( which is next to the high school), with the objective of getting to know it much better; an the inmaterial:the cantiga Santa María Strela do día, one of the most popular cantigas of Alfonso X el Sabio. This year is the 800th anniversary of his birth, so the use of this can serve as a tribute to him.

The I asked Esperanza to explain a bit what inspired her to do this:

“In general, I am very sensitive to heritage and to work on projects as a team.

Given the current situation with COVID, it seemed like a good way to leave the classrooms without hardly moving and without major logistical issues. I am also a humanistic woman within a romantic body. Let me explain, I am multifaceted and I have romantic ideals such as being able to give a piece of myself wherever I go” a very surprising and interesting answer.

Clearly, we can see what her intentions were: to give a great piece of her heart and great creativity in our IES. We see how she refers to the current situation, something that I already commented on previously. In this pandemic situation, we have seen a process of total adaptation to move forward with the different ideas.

“It seemed very appropriate to be able to offer the IES this work from the shadows. As you can see, I don't appear in the credits. It is my way of thanking the system, the public education, who ensures that the heritage is preserved, the teaching team of the centre and its students, the circumstances themselves, for giving me the opportunity to return what was given to me.

Esperanza, with all our teachers, have carried out a spectacular job with always good intentions.

From this blog, we have decided tha Esperanza would be the person interviewed because, although we would have liked to be able to speak with each of the participants, seeing that she is the only person that does not appear in the video, we wanted to acknowledge her great work from here.

Throughout the documentary, we can see a differentiation. At the beginning, the history department, represented by Fran, gives explanations about the story of the monument, referring to the heritage part. In the middle of the video we see the intervention of the parish priest, Don Manuel, who more than anyone, knows perfectly every detail of the church of Santa María.

On the other hand, we see participation by the students representing musical works inside the temple, something that helps to mix all the different parts of the project.

To continue, we see the trace of the Galician department, with the explanations of professor Pilar Ponre, who talks about the history of Alfonso X and how his figure influenced Galicia. She also explains the cantiga in a specific way.

Finally, we see the representation of the cantiga, made by the fourth grade students.

After that, the music teacher, Clara Pino, explains to us how the project came about and how, with the help of Esperanza, these two workers were able to carry out this incredible documentary. She discusses the process of adapting “Santa María, strela do día” to the available instruments and the total creation process.

In closing, we have decided to represent a different perspective. To do this,we have spoken with a student to tell us her experience.

Carmela Fernández, a fourth Eso student, tells us:

“At first it shocked us, because it was like a very big project in a short time. But we took it with great enthusiasm, we really wanted to do something different”.

She tells us that the vast majority of things were organized by the teachers but they were able to give their point of view as to what certain shots should be taken.

Given this, I decided to ask her how that learning process had been for them. She answers me: “We learned a lot, the process was easy, but we all tried a little of everything. We learned to record with video cameras, how professional microphones work, how scenes and takes are named in a video clip and things like that, which was very entertaining”. This shows us that, in addition to enjoying themselves, the students were really able to learn a lot from this. She says: “Yes, we certainly had a good time. In addition, we did not acquire knowledge only of music, that aldo, since we worked on tonalities and how to combine instruments when we made the “rock” version; we learned concepts from the audiovisual field”

Amoenus Band Strikes a Chord

By Maria Begoña Andrés Noche

“The band Amoenus was created in 2018, at the end of September,” says Manuel, one of its members.The band is made up of 5 boys between the ages of 16 and 19. The members of the band are the following: Mateo, lead vocals and guitar; Brais Paisal, drums or piano; Diego, bass; Manuel, drums or guitar together with the voice; Brais Olveira, also the guitar. The first concert was on May 4, 2019, in the town of Boiro. The first song was written before the concert. By the time the first concert was organized, they were already including it on their first EP.

Mateo reports that his interest began at the age of 6 with the violin. Manuel said that music had always been listened to at home, music was very important to everyone.

On the other hand, Diego said, “Since I was really little, I have been in music since I was 5, 6 years old. I was always very interested in this world, at first I started playing drums. Then I switched to the trumpet and then to the tuba. Finally the electric bass, yes I know, I have tried many instruments. And currently I play tuba and bass.”

Brais P, answered the question with a reference to childhood, saying that he used to play a toy drum set at his grandparents' house. Otherwise, Brais O commented that his interest in music had come relatively late compared to the rest of the group, coming at age 13.

All the boys, until relatively recently, did not expect anything from music, they know that making a living from music is something very complicated. However, they are quite clear that trying does not cost anything. The band has made them change their perspective, making them see that music can give them something. Some had it as a hobby rather than a job, but all are clear that they will fight for it.

For Brais O, it is difficult to decide on the best song they wrote, but in the end he manages to decide on "La cuerda floja." He thinks that it is a very dynamic and complex song, so it does not become repetitive when listening to it. “It has a singular ending that I love,” the guitarist affirms.

We also talked to Manuel about how the creation of the band has come about He says, “Well, it's a pretty curious story hahahaha. Basically I always wanted to play in a group from a very young age, and I have been playing drums for almost 6 years. So I wanted to start a group but I didn't know how. It so happened that one day in early September 2018 I saw an Instagram story where it said that they were looking for a drummer to play something like a hobby. So I didn't even think about it and sent a message. The story was uploaded by Mateo, the one who is the singer of the group now, and I practically did not know him, but I did not care at that time and I told him to meet one day to play. Then everything was born there. We saw how we got on very well and that we both had very similar musical tastes. After 1 month or 2 we decided to call a couple of colleagues, one who plays the guitar and a bass player, (these are no longer in the group now) but things did not go as we wanted and in the end we had to look for others, to Brais and Diego. Then we went rehearsing a lot, composing and giving concerts until we saw that a pianist was needed, that's when we called Paisi.”

4 of the 5 songs that the group has were composed by Mateo. The main vocalist comments that for him the most difficult songs to write were 'The Tightrope' and 'Have you ever heard the story that ends at the beginning?'

Mateo speaks for everyone when they say that studies and music get a bit complicated together, since they cannot dedicate all the hours they would like to music.

Brais Paisal claims that his parents supported him at all times on the idea of having a band. He also tells us that some of the groups that this band listens to the most are: Artic Monkeys, Red Hot Chili Peppers ... The pianist also confirms that they are all in very good common ground in terms of musical taste and that they have not had any downturn at the moment.

We also spoke with Manuel and Diego about what it is like to be in front of so many people: “Well, it feels good, I'm not going to lie to you hahahaha. There is always that pinpoint of nerves before going out to play in case something goes wrong or like that. But I think that the 5 of us feel great when we see that we are able to fill the 4 pipes or the elma cinema. It is very emotional to see how we grow little by little and to see how all the work done has a reward. Also, I don't think any of us are embarrassed to go on stage, as it is actually what we like to do and we really enjoy stepping on stage. Manuel affirms. On the other hand, Diego tells us that the nerves are felt the first times, but that little by little you get used to it.

Brais Olveira tells us an anecdote, about his first concert, with a very funny tone.

“I think the funniest anecdote that happened to us was at our first concert, when we were still The Fender's Leña. There were approximately 40 min until the concert and we decided to go for a drink at a bar in Boiro. Each one asked for something to drink, Mateo asked for a cappuccino. When the waitress brought us the order, she tripped and her coffee fell all over Mateo and part of Manuel. As they left the bar, Mateo's pants had a large coffee stain on them and Manuel's shirt was splattered with brown drops. Luckily we had spare clothes and everything was sorted out before the concert. Left alone in a fright.”

To end this interview we wanted to call a special guest, Iria Palacios. Iria has shared the stage twice with this group and affirms that it is very comfortable singing with them, that you feel part of what they have. She also considers herself a big fan of them, attending almost all of their concerts.

Iria tells us a little about how she got the opportunity to sing with them: “When we were in the quarantine period, it occurred to me to contact them to make a version of a song for social networks, which ended up being a proposal from them to collaborate on one of the songs in their new project: “¿Has oído alguna vez la historia que terminar empezar empezar? '' Of course I had to accept, “Sobreviviré.”' It seemed like a great song from the beginning and I think that by combining his personal and characteristic style of the band with my touch, the result was a total success.

She comments that his parents took it in a spectacular way, since they are his No. 1 fans, they were delighted that he had finally been presented with a proposal in front of him. Iria tells us that she can listen every week as her father listens to the entire album at least twice a day.

Before we signed off, we wanted to know a little more about the life of this charming young woman, about what her goals were. Iria says that she has always wanted to dedicate herself to singing and that little by little she believes that she is taking advantage of every option that is presented to her. She herself affirms that she does not put pressure on herself, although she would like to be able to record an album one day. Something of her own, she says, of which she can be the boss of everything.

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