“The City Council has been programming Le Bukowskin until now, even though it knew that it did not comply with the legislation,” says the manager of this place, Asier Aizpurua. In fact, the concerts of the Le Bukowskin Donostikluba circuit are held and the City Council decides which group plays in them. The bar has a 20-year history and is a reference in San Sebastian music, but now it is obscured by the shadow of prohibition. Although the venue is soundproof, it does not have the character of Teatro de Café and, as the legislation explains, having this distinction is necessary to be able to perform concerts. Although so far Le Bukowski has not been bothered by the City Council to give concerts, knowing that the new neighbors enter the building and do not comply with the legislation, one denounces it. “It wasn’t because of the sound, last week we measured decibels and we were within the law,” says Aizpurua. However, in recent months the City Council’s employees have come “a thousand times” to see the decibel level and considering this the denunciation has not come unexpectedly.

The owner of Le Bukowski believes that the accusation has come because the legislation has not been adapted for years, which is obsolete: in addition to the baffles that the bar has, it is forbidden to install others, for example. That is, the limitation is not based on the decibels of the sound, but on the number of baffles. “The DJ can put the music louder than in a concert and it will be within the law, but the concert will not. It’s not logical,” says the owner of Le Bukowski.

From around twelve concerts a month, Le Bukowski has gone from offering only four in addition to Donostikluba’s programmes. Initially, the City Council allowed them to offer only those sessions that were programmed in the Donostikluba circuit. The owners of the bar found it unacceptable and informed the City Council that all concerts would be cancelled in the face of this. This generated a movement on the street, as well as on social networks (for example, on Twitter, eleven messages were spread with the hashtag #freebukowski) and the City Council changed its attitude towards the end. Although the number of concerts has been greatly reduced, the owners of the bar are not completely sad because they have reached this minimum agreement.

There's a scene in San Sebastian from underground

It has been observed for years that all this type of premises are durable and strong. On weekends people want to rest and relax and the music is a great tool for this. There are those who complain about the few concerts in San Sebastián. In response, the bartenders say that concerts are held; although the musical culture of San Sebastian is clandestine, and today commercial music has too much strength, there is also an underground scene in San Sebastian. These bars are frequented by all kinds of people who want to enjoy music. Some are more commercial and others more alternative. Le Bukowski, for example, has nodded to every band that has wanted to offer a concert so far. In the face of the new situation, they will have to take the best quality equipment without having the opportunity to open the doors to many beginners.

And although Le Bukowski is the bar that has suffered the most from the obsolescence of the legislation, others also suffer restrictions and limited hours, such as Dokak and the Red Cave.

Limited hours

Bars and Coffee Theatres that have the possibility to give concerts have to agree on the schedule with the neighbors. Thanks to the agreement with them, Doka and the Red Cave have the opportunity to organize musical performances and poetry recitals in peace, provided that they close before 23:00.

The Red Cavern has no problems at present, but after seeing what happened in Le Bukowskin, they fear that in the future they too will suffer the same situation, and in view of this they ask that the legislation be adapted to reality. “If we want to be the capital of culture, we have to be clear that people will come to our city to listen to music and enjoy the culture, otherwise we have a party,” says Julio Biurrutia, owner of the Red Cave. He also points out that the culture is diverse and that in the Basque Country in general we have a very oppressive culture: “What culture can we offer? The culture that wears the gag? Where's the tolerance? This is the legacy of the harshest fascism.”

The Department of Culture and Youth of the City Council is trying to solve the problem with music in general, but as Biurruti points out, “The City Council is the one that regulates the laws and it is clear that the laws that violate people’s freedom should have been changed a long time ago.”

Denunciation also by Doka

Doka is the only Café Theatre in San Sebastian. They offer concerts, theater plays, lectures, video shows and although the people who visit them are about 20 to 30 years old, many go to see specific concerts. The owners of Doka claim that it is a tool for the cultural movement that the Teatro de Café was created to respond to some of the needs of society. All kinds of bands play there, although they try to give strength to the Basques. “We want to promote the Basque language, but within the program of the City Council, the Basque language does not have a place, or if it has a place, it is not enough,” says Haritz Barela, head of Doka.

Doka has also been subject to denunciations and restrictions in recent times. Like the Red Cavern, it has agreed a schedule with the neighbors, and since they did not ask permission to give a concert one day, the neighbors denounced them. “Normally the local police make five measurements to find out the volume. That day they were eighteen and the average was positive.” This forced them to close the place while everything was fixed. However, they managed to fix things quickly and it was only closed for one day. But things didn’t end there, as they soon realized, as people began to photograph their posters and file complaints for putting posters where they couldn’t. “I understand the neighbor. It is the cartel that hurts us the most. What we don’t know exactly is whether it has been something promoted by the City Council and/or everything that comes from the neighbors,” says Barela.

The capital of culture

The owners of the bars are clear that society needs to know in advance what it is asking for. They would like to maintain the bars that exist today and that the city has life, but for this they consider it necessary for the City Council to provide support and have a positive attitude from the people. In addition, they emphasize that music can help the city and the entire population of the city.