INTERNACIONAL ALGUER

The famous Algherese group "Calic" has published its latest work "Terres de Mar" : this work represents an important contribution for popular algherese music and even if, it is part of the traditional folk trend, it tries to open new creative spaces and at the same time shows the mutual influences between the musical and cultural forms of Sardinian and Catalan people in Sardinia.

Francesco Pinna was an Algherese artist who showed his creative spirit during the XVI century and in spite of the fact that he has been forgotten even in his own town, we can find some of his works in Palazzo Pitti in Florence, in different Sardinian towns above all in Cagliari, and one work in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. This work in particular has enabled the experts to appreciate other works of the same artist. Recently one of his works, that was restored in Florence and belongs to the parish church of Vilamar, has been shown in Cagliari . Unfortunately, none of his works have remained in Alghero.

1996 has been a fruitful year for the publication of books in Algherese and without claiming to give exhaustive information, we can point out the following: the collection of volumes of Aniutxo edited by Antoni Arca and dedicated above all to the pupils of the primary school.
Andreu Bosch and Susanna Sannaís collection entitled Histories de l'Alguer, entre la marina i la campanya : in this work they have gathered together the stories and memories of some elderly Alguerese people. Moreover, it is a brief but interesting contribution to the Algherese ethno-history and at the same time it shows the Catalan language of Alghero in use.
Probably Prof. Joan Armangue is the author that more than any other has edited books on themes related to Alghero this year.
Three are the volumes that Joan Armangue offers us :
-Ramon Cravellet-Antoni Useri. Rondalles i Cançons populars. La Celere 1996.
-Llengua i Cultura a l'Alguer durant el segle XVIII. Bartomeu Simon. Curial Edicions 1996.
-L'Epistolari algueres de Rossend Serra. La Celere-Omnium Cultural 1996.
These three works that have all been published this year are the fruit of research developed by Prof.Armangue during these last years as lecturer of Catalan language at Sassari and Cagliari University.

As a result of the last general elections in April 1996 two Algherese men are at the Italian Chamber of Deputies. For the Alghero constituency, the lawer Francesco Carboni, representative of the PDS part of the Ulivo coalition, gained the most votes. For the Sassari constituency Dr.Paolo Manca, a member of the Ulivo coalition, was elected. Dr.Manca was born in Oschiri, but he has worked as a surgeon for many yeas in Alghero hospital, and so for that reason he is considered an Algherese by now. So we hope that they will do a good job in favour of their town and their people.

In April and May the towns of Sassari and Alghero were the centres of the cultural manifestations for Sardinia pertainig to ì Culture dei Mari. Viaggio nelle città e nelle terre del Mediterraneo project. This project involved all the seaside towns of the Italian Republic to which other european cities were linked, among them Barcelona and Valencia.
In Alghero during these manifestations on 3rd and 5th May there was also the "Festival Manuel de Falla i la cultura Mediterrania" that was part of the Mediterranean project, with various concerts at the Civic Theatre and St. Francesco Cloisters.

This year for the second time the Valverde Sanctuary was the place where the Celebration of the Summer feast took place. More than 300 people enjoyed a very pleasant party during which there was every kind of entertaining performance. We should drawn attention to the large number of people that took part and collaborated to prepare excellent and abundant meals which delighted everybody.
The day was a manifestation of the Algherese culture with music, songs, drama and also the occasion for the Algherese people to meet a group of 50 members of the Omnium Cultural from Catalonia

Carlo Sechi the present mayor of the municipality of Alghero received on 28th June 1996 the St. George Cross decoration, at the Palau de Generalitat of Catalonia. This is the highest decoration that the Catalan government offers to anybody that by his own merits has distinguished himself for services given to the Catalan nation and culture. The awarding of this decoration represents a tribute to the work of defending of the Catalan aspects of Alghero and at the same time it encourages the young generations of Alghero to be faithful to their language and identity.

During the celebrations for St. Michealís Day, the patron saint of Alghero, for five days the cultural association Calic carried out various artistic and cultural manifestations in the streets of the town with a large number of the public, which showed how good the performances were. The main groups of this theatre in the street were: the animation company Flic Flac, the conjures Malabor-los, the Origamundi group and the unconvencional cabaret of Cesare Gallarini and the musician, Francesc Miralles

On 29th September, still during the celebrations for St. Michael ës Day, the cultural association Obra Cultural awarded the "Rafael Sari" Awards for poetry and prose works in the Catalan language of Alghero. This year the award for prose was won, ex-equo, by Maria Medalla with "Atraccio més aviat fatal" and Miquel Rondello with "El campio del Barri" . For poetry the award was granted to Antoni Canu for his work "Insidia"

The process of consolidation of these two Algherese cultural associations is continuing and a new centre has been opened to the public at 33 Carrer de la Marina ( Via Carlo Alberto ), this new centre was inaugurated last October with the participation of numerous citizens and various personalities of the social and cultural world of the town. Don Matteo Guillot, President of Omnium Cultural in Alghero acted as Chairman at the inauguration, and among the other personalitiea we should note : Josep Millas, President of the Omniun Cultural, Prof. Ignazio Delogu, Director of the Centre de Recursos and professor of the Catalan language and literature at Sassari University; Dr.Ceglie, Provincial Director of Education; Joaquim Arenas, Director of the Catalan Teaching Service at the Generalitat of Catalonia; Prof. Mastino, head of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy at Sassari University, who represented the Rector os Sassari University, at this inaugural ceremony. After this inauguration everybody moved to the house that once was Don Manunta( the first President of Omnium Cultural in Alghero) where a bouquet of flowers was laid and Josep Millas said a few words to render homage to this deceased noble man.

Last October the XX Congress of ìAssociazione Italiana di Studi Giapponesi ì (Aisturgia ) was held in Sassari. This prestigious Congress that assembled more than 200 experts of the culture of the country rising sun, concluded its sessions, with the special partecipation of the Japanese Ambassador in Italy, at the St. Francesco Cloisters in Alghero, thanks to the support of the Algherese council.

The "Enllaç" twinship with Alghero is a project created by the Omnium Cultural which was presented on 28th October at the main centre of this association in Barcelona. Josep Millas, President of Omnium Cultural, Joaquim Arenas and Antonio Soggiu presented the "Enllaç" project to about 80 people. It was created with the intention of strengthening the Mediterranean platform that the Catalan countries form, and among them the smallest and farthest of all is Alghero.
The intense promotion of the use of Catalan language at school and in the Algherese society as a whole, that Omnium Cultural of Alghero has exercised for five years, now gives rise to the creation of this platform so that it would be possible to decidedly strengthen this desire to work and transform the Algherese reality.

The Algherese Dr. A.Soggiu received on 29th October at the Sala de Cent of the town hall of Barcelona the Jaume I award of the Actuccio Civica, for his Catalan activism in Alghero . The Jaume I foundation intended to recognize in this way the work of the founder of Radio Sigma, the only one that has broadcast in our language in Sardinia. At present Dr. Soggiu fosters the monthly magazine "VerdAlguer" and is a foundation member of the Omnium
Cultural of Alghero.

Text: Gustau Navarro i Barba

translated by Daniela Tilloca i Fadda


E-Mail:

Alghero: Daniela Tilloca zaza@ssnet.it
Barcelona: Gustau Navarro navarro@trivium.gh.ub.es

THE CONFEMILI MEETING IN ROME

The European Committee for the Minority Languages in Italy met at the end of 1996 in Rome at the presence of 13 ethinic and national minorities existent in Italy, the Committe discussed about state and regional legislations concerning them and prepared their programme of initiatives for 1997. At the end of the meeting the new Confemili Presidencial Council has been nominated: President Prof. Mimmo Morelli (Albanian), vice-president Bojam Brezigar (Slovene), counsellors: Fabio Chiocchitti(Ladin), Carles Sechi (Catalan), Sergio Bonato (Cimbro), Giampiero Boschero (Provençal), tomas Prader (German).

THE ALGHERESE OPEN A WINDOW ON INTERNET WORLD

The”Centre deRecuros Pedagogics Maria Montessori “ is the first algherese cultural association that has its Web pages in Catalan language set up on Internet (www. partal.com/alguer) this is the result of the collaboration between the Centre de Recursos and VilaWeb the main resourses server on Internet in Catalan Language. The Arboix Group of the “Centre de Recursos Pedagogics Maria Montessori” together with the responsibles of the “Istituto Professionale per l’Industria e l’Artigianato” in Alghero, have realized the electronic publication on Internet of different texts already published by the Centre de Recursos and Omnium Cultural of Alghero and sold in the algherese bookshops. The texts, on net, are:Tin Tin, Robin Hood, Pinocchio.

LITERARY WORKS ON ALGHERESE THEMES

In the last issue of International Alguer we gave a brief description of the different literary works that have been produced on Algherese themes, now we give a complete list of the most interesting titles published in 1996:

-Arca,Antoni. Barceloneta. La historia de l’Alguer ensenyada als minyons. La Celere. Alghero 1996

-Arca, Antoni. La torre de l’Espero. La Galera. Barcelona 1996.

-Armangué, Joan. Records d’infancia i altres memories de Francesc Manunta. La Celere-Omnium Cultural.Alghero1996.

-AA.VV. Alghero e il suo volto. Delfino. Sassari 1996

-Palomba, Joan. Tradicions, Usos i Costumes de l’Alguer. Preface by Antoni Nughes. Edizioni del Sole. Alghero 1996.

-Serra, Antonio. Los Germans Blancs. Per una storia della confraternita di Nostra signora della Misericordia in Alghero nei secoli XVI-XVII. Edizioni del Sole. Alghero 1996

HOMAGE TO FRANCESC MANUNTA

On January 18th 1997, the Omnium Cultural of Alghero, together with other cultural associations of the town,carried out the cerimony entitled “Memoria de Francesc Manunta” an homage to the first president of Omnium Cultural in Alghero and one of the most important religious personalities in the town. Joaquim Arenas, Nicola Marotta, Gianfranco Russino, Guido Sari, Alex Susanna and Joan Armanguè took part to this cerimony. Moreover in this occasion Joan Armangué presented to the large audience the book Records d’infancia i altres memories a collection of Manunta’s works edited by J.Armangué on behalf of La Celere and with the support of Omnium Cultural.

A PRIZE TO PROF. IGNAZIO DELOGU

Ignazio Delogu professor of Catalan Language and Literature at Sassari University and director of the “Centre de Recursos M.Montessori”, received the prize of the Second Internacional Competition “Giovanni Corona” with the poem “Sera a Auschwitz” (Evening in Auschwits). This poem is a tribute in memory of the atrocities that millions of men , women and children suffered in the concentration camps. The horrors carried out by Nazism and Fascism are one of the darkest periods of the history of this ending century.

ALGHERESE THEATRE

On the last 22nd of february the theatrical algherese group of the Primary School of “ Sacro Cuore” put on the Comedy “Nadal a una famiglia Algueresa” at the Civic Theatre of the town. This performance is one of the instruments of teaching algherese dialect realized by different teachers of this school. Children were directed by the teacher Nicoletta Ianetta.

THE ALGHERESE HOLY WEEK

Holy Week in Alghero is one of the most important religious events in the Catalan town of Sardinia, not only for the Catholics but for the whole society as well, because it is an exhibition of the traditional elements of the Catalan religiousness. At the centre of these popular religious cerimonies there is the precious wooden simulacre of Jesus Christ, a piece of remarkable beauty and artistic perfection. The ship carrying it from Alicante to Genoa was wrecked on the algherese coast in 1606, since then it has been venerated by the whole town of Alghero and it is preserved by the “Confraria del Gonfalo”. This year the Confraternities of Torrent (Valencia )have been inviteted to take part to the cerimonies of Holy Week.

CONSIGNMENT OF A BUST OF JOAN PALOMBA

The association “Amics de l’Alguer” from Barcelona, taking the oportunity of their visit in Alghero during Holy Week, consigned to the town the bust of the teacher Joan Palomba, one of the most emblematic personalities of the “Renaixença Algueresa” ( Algherese Renaissance). The cerimony of consignement took place at the Civic Theatre at the Mayor presence who, in the name of the town, received the bust and thanked the “Amics de l’Alguer” for the generous present. During the cerimony Joan Palomba’s book :Tradicions, Usos i Costums de l’Alguer, Preface by A.Nughes, was presented. The manifestation ended with the concert of the chorus “Orfeo Martinenc”

PRESENTATION OF THE “REVISTA DE L’ALGUER”

On March 30th at the conference room of St. Francesco, the presentation of the “Revista de l’Alguer” took place. This is an academic yearbook of Catalan culture, edited by the “ Centre de Recerca i documentacio Eduard Toda” with the support of different public institutions of Catalonia, Sardinia and Alghero. At the presentation there was a numerous audience and partecipated several personalities of the cultural and politic life of Alghero and Sardinia. Among the others : Rafel Caria, Jesus Huguet, Neria de Giovanni and Esteva Campus took part and spoke during the conference. At the end of the presentation it was possible to enjoy the concert of the Chorus “Akademia Cantus et Fidis” dedicated to the famous artist Madilde Salvador from Valencia , who, invited at the manifestation , received a present by the chorus that it is named after her.

AWARDED THE SECOND “JOSEP SANNA PRIZE”

This year the “Josep Sanna Prize” has been awarded to “Alghero, la Catalogna e il Mediterraneo” a work realized by the History Departement of Sassari University which collects in more than 800 pages all the papers of the Internacional Congress that took place in Alghero in 1985 and that gatherd sholars from all over the world. Professors Antonello Mattone and Piero Sanna were the responsibles that edited the compilation of the works presented at the congress.

FIRST EXHIBITION OF BOOKS WRITTEN BY WOMEN

For the first time in Sardinia and in Alghero from April 20th to 23rd the exhibition “Impronte al Femminile” was organized. This exibition of books written by women was enriched by different round tables at the Civic Theatre with the presentation of some volumes of recent creation.

THE PRIZE “ALGHERO DONNA” FOR WOMEN WRITERS

This year in May there will be held the third edition of the Prize Alghero Donna for literature and journalisme dedicated to women writers, journalists and poetess; the Prize is a combined initiative of the Azienda Autonoma di Soggiorno e Turismo and the cultural review " Salpare”

Text de:

Gustau Navarro i Barba. e-mail: navarro@trivium.gh.ub.es

Daniela Tilloca i Fadda. e-mail: zaza@ssnet.it