The Gerediaga association that organizes the Durango Fair and the Department of Culture and Linguistic Policy of the Basque Government have announced this Friday the project “Zu non, han DA! ”. The project will have two pillars: on the one hand, the concerts that will be held in different rooms of Hego Euskal Herria; and on the other, the catalogue of cultural products that will be activated in the libraries after the dates of the Durango Fair.

The measures to deal with COVID-19 mean that this year’s programming in Durango is very limited compared to that of other years. In Landako gunea you will see, among others, book presentations and audiovisual programming; and in Plateruena, musical performances, among others.

The latter are not limited solely to Durango: In Amurrio you will enjoy the concerts of the Jimmy Jazz of Vitoria-Gasteiz, the Kafe Antzokia of Bermeo, the Euskalduna Palace of Bilbao, Beikozini de Ondarroa, Sanagustin de Azpeitia and Soreasun de Azpeitia, the Doka de Donostia-Villago. Concerts will be paid and tickets will be available from November 21 on the website of the Fair.

The concert programme shall be as follows:

Closed room bars

This Friday’s press conference had a morbid point in connection with the announcement of the concerts: The statements made just over a month ago by the Culture Advisor of the Basque Government, Bingen Zupiria, to the Diario Vasco, generated great uncertainty among the managers of musical rooms, among them due to their relationship with alcohol consumption. The presentation of this programming can be understood, therefore, as a gesture towards this sector; yes, when journalists have asked whether in these sessions related to Durango the bars of the halls can be opened, Zupiria has closed the door to that possibility.

The counselor has repeatedly stressed the importance of Durango’s citation in the field of “cultural industries” in Euskera and has stated that this year’s edition will be a “challenge” for its survival. For this reason, he has called on the public to “respond collectively”, since according to Zupiria the purchase of products in Euskera is the way to protect the creators behind this “industry”.

Bookshops from 9 December

In addition to the concerts that will be held at different points in Euskal Herria, another of the announcements of this Friday has been that Durango will also be present in the bookstores throughout the days. Nerea Mujika, president of Gerediaga Elkartea, explained that from 9 December to 8 January 2021, the products from the catalog of the Fair will be on sale in “as many bookstores as possible” of Euskal Herria. As he explained, Gerediaga will be in charge of managing the requests made by this means and Elkar will be in charge of managing the distribution.

As there will be no face-to-face trade in Landako this year, the Azoka has already announced that it would turn the website durangokoazoka.eus into a platform for online sales; in this sense, it seems that the bookstore catalog announced this Friday is intended to extend the “Durango effect” to the Christmas shopping campaign. The president of Gerediaga has specified that this project is supported by the House of the Book of the Basque Country. He has also thanked the Department of Culture of the Basque Government for its cooperation in this project, which will enable the Azoka to be opened outside Durango.