The HolaNola Lab festival, which will begin next week in Santiago de Compostela, is one of the most unique ideas to emerge in Galicia in recent years. Its philosophy of “community music” could be described as an open door to receive musicians based in New Orleans, eager to exchange experiences with other artists and get closer to traditional Galician music. This itinerant spirit is what drives the festival, which this year will also take place in Orense and Madrid, from September 17 to 28.
The essence of this festival could almost be described in the story of the American musician Noel McKay. In 2022, he arrived to perform in the first edition of what was a musical experience. He landed in Santiago and coincided that year with Galician artists such as Caldo or Mallou. Shortly after, he decided to stay. “I am very interested in traditional Galician music, I meet artists that I like like Xabier Díaz or Leilía and that is why I decided to buy a house and stay,” explains McKay, who today lives in the village of Tapia, an enclave known for its cozy river beach, a few kilometers from the city. This musician born in Texas and with Scottish roots was not exactly a layman, since he knew “some recordings” of Alan Lomax, the American musicologist who had traveled through Galicia in the 1950s, recording musical gems. traditional.
McKay arrived to play in Galicia just two days after his mother’s death, unexpectedly finding a refuge where he could heal the wounds of his soul caused by that and other losses. He had passed through New Orleans several times and was looking at that time for a space to offer his compositions. country in which humor and emotion are intertwined. Slowly and with his Spanish and Galician “which is improving”, he drinks a coffee and tells his story next to the old record players. pick up from Café El Muelle in Santiago, accompanied by Martín Calviño, the promoter of HolaNola. Noel McKay will be one of the musicians who will perform in this edition alongside Sabine McCalla in tribute to Lucinda Williams and presenting her fourth album, You still live” He recorded it in the first months of the year accompanied by a group of musicians that he named with a name that mixes his birthplace and his host country: The Galician Cowboys.
Like all the artists that make up the HolaNola line-up, they don’t fill stadiums and their names don’t appear on the posters of macro-festivals, but they are brilliant and talented musicians and for the most part with impeccable voices that deserve to be discovered. “They are artists who live almost itinerant, sometimes traveling on freight trains from one place to another, not even on passenger seats, very committed to social causes and who know street music,” explains Martín Calviño, head of the festival. The head of HolaNola calls them “heirs of the purest tradition of Woody Guthrie”, a leading American singer-songwriter, considered by Bob Dylan as “the last hero” and also known for his lyrics in favor of the oppressed classes. as a recognized anti-fascist. Guthrie became famous thanks to the declaration of intent written on his guitar: “This machine kills fascists”. [esta máquina mata fascistas].
New Orleans Beyond Jazz
The HolaNola festival has its epicenter at the Riquela Club, the venue that Martín Calviño has transformed in a few years into an essential reference in the city’s music scene and a space that promotes the concept of “musical community.” Once a year, Calviño spends several weeks in New Orleans, letting himself be carried away by the frenetic musical rhythm of the most important city in the state of Louisiana. “There are artists and more artists everywhere. New Orleans identifies with jazz, but it’s not just that. There’s music from electro to trap, through fanfaresmusic with Arab or Balkan roots. That’s probably why they like to come to Galicia and get closer to traditional music,” explains the creator of HolaNola about this city marked in recent history by the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, which in 2005 cost the lives of 2,000 people. “When you spend time there, you realize that it is a city abandoned to its fate, devoid of social assistance and services, with many people addicted to drugs like fentanyl,” explains Calviño, who is in regular contact with musicians and producers in the area. , that these days a new hurricane is happening.
“Every now and then, there are people who find themselves without water or electricity, isolated, and in those cases, musicians have an extraordinary sense of solidarity. They come together to play and raise money for those who are losing everything. It’s a community spirit, the source from which HolaNola draws,” Calviño explains of the emotional connection of his festival.
Among the musicians who will be performing at the festival this year are the luminous voice of Sabine McCallan, the country by Duff Thompson, Max Bien Khan, or the songs of the talented Sam Doores, leader of the group The Deslandes, as well as Spanish musicians such as Julián Maeso or Pajaro Sunrise, the name under which the exciting songs composed by Yuri Méndez emerge. Several have already participated in other editions of HolaNola, but this will be the first time for an elusive artist who particularly excites Calviño: Kiki Kavazos. “It makes me particularly excited. He arrived in New Orleans shortly before Katrina and is a legend there, respected by all. He formed the group Soundown Dogs, which had a huge impact,” explains Calviño. Kavazos is a hermetic artist, with a warm and hypnotic voice and a mystical aura, who this year recorded her first solo album in fifteen years: Mountain Country Songs.
Beyond the performances and the presence of the artists, magical moments always occur at HolaNola, which often take place backstage, with impromptu concerts in each place visited, before and after the concerts. “The American musicians who come love traditional Galician music and have asked us to take a tambourine and traditional dance class. “They have that New Orleans spirit that is imbued with many traditions,” says Calviño about the meeting that the American musicians will have with Mercedes Prieto and Sergio Cobos, from the group Brúa, or Benxamín Vázquez, from Mallou, who this year had the privilege of making the reverse trip and spending several weeks in New Orleans.
HolaNola will expand this year to Ourense, where there will be a performance at Café Torgal or in Madrid, based at Café Berlin. Not only will there be shows or classes to generate community, but there will also be moments to talk, such as the symposium on musical resistance that, on Saturday, September 28, will bring together journalists Fernando González, GonzoJacobo Rivero and Fernando Navarro, the latter two also being musical advisors to the competition. “The truth is that it is a unique and differentiated proposal. A small festival without the intention of being big. It will always be small and close, with musicians who enrich each other and an audience that appreciates it closely,” concludes Martín Calviño.
The HolaNola Lab Fest will take place from September 17 to 28, with events in three Spanish cities: Santiago, Ourense and Madrid. The festival will kick off in Santiago from September 17 to 22, continue in Ourense on the 25 and 26, and end in Madrid on Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28.
