On April 30, the Spanish businessman CEOE hung this picture on the networks: on the left is Antonio Garamendi, son of Getxo president of the CEOE, and on the right is the bilbaíno Alfonso Santiago, head of promoter Last Tour in the world of music festivals, member of the Basque Council of Culture, dependent on the Basque Government. The May First portal reported the entry into the CEOE of the company that condemns workers to act in precarious conditions, as has been reported several times.
More data. Last Tour makes an annual invoice of EUR 100 million, which invoice in Bizkaia and will satisfy more than one. It organizes festivals and events such as BBK Live, Azkena Rock, BIME, Santaspascuas, BilboRock, etc., it has a restaurant in Bilbao and a room of a thousand square meters, the label Oso Ederra, the editorial Libros... and many other businesses it does under strange names. In Basque, four drops. And half: the last one we've seen "Buy More Tickets."
Last Tour is a great speculator that does not act alone, is not private; it has the absolute support of governments and institutions that drive this model of macrofestivities: thousands and thousands of euros a year, providing resources and contributing to the promotion. It's no small thing.
Last Tour receives thousands and thousands of euros from institutions
Interesting is the interview that Iñigo Astiz has made to the J Martina in Berria – the phrase he has brought to the headline is the one that has come out of his own song aimed at the music industry. According to Kattalin Barcena in the interview: “All the altenative circuits are terrifying [Last Tour]. People explode. A corrupt industry is landing in the Basque Country. Everything is monopolizing, both musicians and circuits. It's really a monster." And it goes, "We alone can't cope with that. It is not enough to stay in personal elections, and to say that we, J Martina, are not going to play the BBK Live, it is OK, and they have asked us and we have not touched, but apart from that, we cannot remain in a negative position. Therefore, our option is to potentially generate new circuits.”
There are two paths that open up, and not necessarily contradictory. One, and one that would provoke the confrontation, that the musicians who participate in the macrofestivities of the exploitative model be pointed out – this is the question/idea that came out of the audience at a conference given by Urzelai and Cruz. And the other, following the words of Barcena, choose for another organizational model. Any crisis opens the door to reflection.
With this photograph, this is how disaster is announced. And, as a matter of urgency, we can only speed up reflection.
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