Hibernating Bears and Music Festivals

Writing in the local paper. Local Issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs.

While it seems that summer
doesn’t quite want to let go, it’s that time of year again. The time of year
when the croaking of storks, ringing of church bells and clanking of
processions are replaced by sounds that are normally heard on the banks of the Liffey,
Tajo or Mississippi. Autumn in Caceres means music. A time of year when every
other weekend the old town fills up with thousands of people taking advantage
of the somewhat cooler evenings in order to enjoy the sounds of eclectic Pop,
Irish music, Jazz and Blues in the open air. The normally quiet UNESCO core comes
alive with this exchange of cultures from around the world and the more
intimate nature of these concerts allows for more relaxed viewing than when the
masses invade the city in spring during WOMAD. Children dance and get up close
to the band in the calle Moret during the welcoming street party for the Blues
festival, amazed that three or four people can get together and create so much
fun. The steps in the Plaza Mayor become an impromptu stage as the Irish Fleadh
says goodbye for another year and the city vibrates with the positive feelings
ringing behind long after the stages have been packed up for another year. But
as autumn turns to winter, the nights get longer, the weather becomes less
inviting and the clanging of the bells once again becomes the old town’s primary
soundtrack, what happens to the music? Unlike the storks that come once a year
or the penitents taking the saints out for an airing in spring, music stays
with us year around, sliding from the city’s squares indoors to the intimate places
where music is born. Every weekend, live music pulses inside one of these rhythm
temples, keeping alive through the darker months of winter those beats that give
so much life to the city. But if the throngs that danced and laughed in Santa
Maria don’t come out to hear it? Unlike the bears of my homeland, music, the
musicians that play it and the brave souls that promote it can’t hibernate and without
the support of music lovers throughout the year…well it might not make it
through the long winter.