The #Trànsits cycle is back for a third season!
Co-organised by L'Auditori, the Museu de la Música de Barcelona and Barcelona City Council's Religious Affairs Office, the “Trànsits, Music of the Spirit” cycle continues to pursue its commitment to a plural and intercultural vision, one that aims to show the historical link between music, spirituality and the cultural and religious practices of the different communities that live together side by side in the city.
The programme comprises a series of sessions consisting of a preliminary conversation plus a celebration that may be either ritual, liturgical or take the form of a concert, in which music and sound play a prominent role. This year marks the third edition of the event, and aims to familiarise audiences with worship within Gypsy communities, the Quechua, and the music of the Maronite Church, together with much more.
The cycle will begin this November as part of L’Auditori’s “(Contra) Natura” season, which charts a journey that explores the relationship between human beings and nature over the course of time.
The term trànsit, which gives the cycle its title, is both an initiative and a state of being. A journey and a moment in time, the word becomes a transition between states, a living link that combines disparate elements. Changes in the everyday soundscape, either through music or through characteristic acoustic signals – such as the death knell, the Holy Week rattles or the adhan, the Islamic call to public prayer, recited by the muezzin, are the incarnation par excellence of sound understood as an environment-altering phenomenon. This transformational power, which circumscribes and connects temporal, social and life spheres, is a key element of music as a transition, as a sonorous realisation of the divine spirit and as a link between human beings. It’s an invitation to move between (and to step outside) repertoires, practices and contexts.
THE “TRÀNSITS” CYCLE
Barcelona is a rich, diverse and plural city. The people of Barcelona contribute to this richness with their diversity of cultural backgrounds, customs, beliefs, spaces and social structures. In terms of beliefs, this plurality can be appreciated in more than 1,000 religious communities and organisations with as many as 36 different traditions expressed in over 500 places of worship.
In “Trànsits” the spiritual dimension is a way to work on interculturality through music. Activities such as this one aim not only to raise awareness of this plurality among the public, but also to enhance its value. Religious traditions also contribute to enriching the city’s cultural life. In this case, through music. There is a need for programmes like this one to showcase the diversity that exists in the city. “Trànsits, the Music of the Spirit” is an agora for meeting and a place for debate, sharing the knowledge and enjoyment that allows people to become more aware of how music forms part of the construction of collective identities.
The programme is also unique in that some sessions allow people to listen to and experience music within the context of the liturgy or festival from which it takes its meaning. To give an example, many people are familiar with gospel, a very popular style of music. However, few are aware of its spiritual meaning, and listening to a concert by a gospel choir is not the same as being able to experience the way such music is performed in the context of a religious service. Therefore, the cycle is also an example of participation, and the sharing of a set of living practices.
It not only involves the programming of concerts that allow the public to become aware of the links between music and religion or spirituality, but does so in a way that is rooted in the reality of the city’s cultural and religious life. “Trànsits” is a clear example of the interaction of the social and cultural spheres, and of public participation, as it is the communities themselves that are the real protagonists. According to Sara Belbeida, Barcelona City Council’s Commissioner for Citizen Relations and Cultural and Religious Diversity, “Trànsits” is “an example of public participation, as it is the communities themselves who open their doors and allow others who live in the city to share in these ritual and liturgical moments”.
The organisation of this cycle has been made possible by the collaboration between the Museu de la Música de Barcelona and the Religious Affairs Office (OAR). Barcelona’s Music Museum is Barcelona City Council’s institution dedicated to experimentation and reflection on musical activities. As well as contemplating instruments and documents and preserving heritage, the objects also open up a dialogue between emotion and reflection surrounding music. And it is in this third edition that this dialogue and the link with musical instruments is revealed within Barcelona society, which is rich and plural in every way, including in the sphere of music.
The OAR is a municipal service that is part of Barcelona City Council, which seeks to guarantee the right to freedom of religion and conscience in the city, creating spaces for dialogue and positive interaction. Moreover, one of the OAR’s tasks is to work to raise awareness of the plurality of spiritualities and beliefs in the city. With this activity, the OAR is continuing its ongoing collaboration with the city’s public cultural institutions to highlight religious plurality as a reflection of the city’s cultural richness.
#TRANSITS 2024-2025
The dancing, drums and trumpets that are a part of the celebration of the Sinulog with the Santo Niño, the linchpin of the Filipino diaspora; the music and the recitation of the of the Sufi Qawwali song of praise; the spiritual tradition of the Song of the Sibyl at midnight mass on Christmas Eve in the Pityusic Islands; gospel singing and worship in the evangelical churches; the a cuncordu polyphonic liturgical chant of Sardinian Catholic Christianity; the significance of the music of northern India, with the tabla as the central element; the musical communion represented by the Balinese gamelan; performance of the Magal Porokhane, a celebration of Mouride Sufism; Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas in the Lutheran churches, and the lila, a musical ritual belonging to the Gnawa communities of Morocco are just some of the sessions that have been included in past editions.
The sessions you’ll be able to see this year are the following:
- Worship at the Filadèlfia Evangelical Church has its roots in the Pentecostal movement born in France in 1921, a movement that was to spread rapidly through the Gypsy community in Spain. The first church was established in Lleida in 1965. It has maintained strong ties with Roma families, and is the largest evangelical Roma church in Spain.
- Caramelles de Nadal: are associated with Christmas and Easter festivities, and traditionally consist of a group of men, known as the ‘esquadra de caramellers’, who enter the church in procession and sing a lengthy series of redoubled chants accompanied by the flute, castanets, drums and ‘espasí’ (a traditional metal instrument that sounds similar to a triangle).
- Ave Maris Stella: a work by Cristóbal de Morales. The programme will include some of his most important compositions, characterised by the use of cantus firmus, a technique used by Morales to integrate pre-existing melodies into his polyphonic works. It’s a hymn in Latin, and the name comes from the fact that it begins with these three words. In the Catholic church it’s sung in the Liturgy of the Hours on Marian feast days, specifically at Vespers.
- The legong (and the gamelan): the legong is a type of traditional Balinese dance accompanied by a gamelan, a traditional percussion ensemble, an orchestra that provides music for religious events.
- Caramelles del Roser: the singing of the ‘caramelles’ has been associated with the Goigs del Roser, and some villages still celebrate the Roser for Pasqua Florida (these were originally ‘goigs’ dedicated to the Mare de Déu del Roser). The singing, performed in a leisurely way, alternating between two rows of ‘caramellaires’, is accompanied by the band, which plays the chorus after each verse. This means that the ‘goigs’ are sung uninterruptedly all the way along the route.
- Danza de las Tijeras [Scissors Dance]: typical of the Quechua community, and characterised by choreographic competitions between the dancers, who are accompanied by the harp and the violin. Originally it was part of a spiritual, religious and cultural ritual in the hope of ensuring a good year for agriculture.
- Jashan: in Islam, the qasidas and the naat are poetry recitations that are a prominent part of various Shi’a community ceremonies. These recitations are often performed at liturgical or celebratory events and are a form of poetic devotion, praising the purity and spiritual wisdom of sacred figures.
- Maronite Church Music: with deep roots in the Syriac region of Antioch, this is a tradition with close ties to its cultural heritage, and includes hymns and liturgical chants that play a central role in the spiritual life of Maronite communities.
Information about previous events and talks will soon be available on the OAR and Museu de la Música de Barcelona websites.