Fiestas de San Isidro 2010: Day-by-Day

Canonized by pope Gregory XV in 1622, Isidro Labrador isn’t only an important saint of the Catholic Church but also patron saint of his city of origin, Madrid. This is why for over two centuries now May 15th is marked with festivities and displays of utter Madrilismo. What began as a memorial service in a Tenerife church back in 1667 has now evolved into a five day celebration–you know how Spaniards like excuses to party. And this year there’s more than one excuse: apart from San Isidro, the 15th will mark the hundred anniversary of Gran Via.

In light of these events the city will be showered with all sorts of cool and often free activities, here’s our list of day-by-day essentials that lead up to the Gran Via finale on the night of the 15th!

May 12 - Los Pasacalles
One of San Isidro’s most colorful traditions. The Asociacion Comparsa de Gigantes y Cabezudos takes care of creating an array of big headed puppets that will march through the city center in a parade of music and folklore. Especially popular with the kids, these creations aren’t only entertaining to see but also represent the most traditional of characters that reside in Madrid’s collective memory: from the elegant and religious old Spanish lady to the flamenco dancer, to even the king and queen. The parade will begin at the Plaza de Santo Domingo at 18:00 p.m. and continue on calle Preciados, La Puerta del Sol and the Plaza Mayor before ending in the Plaza de Villa.

May 13 – XXX Feria de Cacharreria
As a homage to  Doña Natacha Seseña and her long history of work with pottery in Madrid, the city is organizing a craft-work fair that will be inagurated this day at 13:00 p.m. The fair will feature a large array of  traditional pottery work and crafts for all purposes, yet it doesn’t stop there. It will also feature an exhibit of items–photographs, newspapers, memorabilia–that intend to represent the last thirty years of the city’s history. It will be set up in the Plaza de las Comendadoras until May 16th,  and during the last three days of this event there will be a demonstration in the art of pottery making by Luis Monge–at what time, however, they’ve yet to say.

May 14th – Festival de Musica y Desarollo Sostenible
The appropriately named music and sustainable development festival will aim to promote entertainment and environmental consciousness by combining bitchin’ music,  children’s workshops and civic duties.

Taking place in the Paseo de la Chopera at 17:00 p.m., there will be something for everyone:

Music - Opening up will be the contemporary Jazz group Chop Suey Quartet, followed by Senegalese band Jac Et Le Takeifa and well known flamenco fusion musician Chico Ocana. These artists will play between 17:00 p.m. and 22:00 p.m., at which time Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra will perform. A gifted film director from Serbia, Kusturica has made all of his film’s music with his band, a rattling group of trumpets and trombones that play ska-like music with an eastern European touch. To  top it all off, the festival will be closed rave style by DJ Chandra Sound System. By the way, the performances by these well known artists will be completely free! (if you come late and the festival is full you may have to pay, so come early).

Kid’s Workshops - There will be two workshops, one for children between 4 and 8 years old and one for kids between 8 and 12. The first will feature drawing and decorating butterflies and other creatures, while the second will focus on learning about local and wild animals. Each workshop will last an hour and include up to forty children, there will be three sessions for each workshop in total. Also included will be a fun zone featuring giant play thingamajigs–made completely from recycled material–for the kids to entertain themselves with.

Civic Stands - there will be an area of stands represented by different government and municipal agencies that focus on environmental issues. It is the perfect chance to get informed and perhaps involved in social and environmental work.

- Recycling activities and information given out by the municipality
- The ” fair wood campaign”, which promotes responsible consumption of product that come from forests
- COPADE, Solidaridad Internacional and Intermon Oxfam representatives that work to promote fair trade of food products
- The Solar Decathlon, a demonstration of how solar powered kitchens work

May 15 –  Gran Via Centennial Celebration
From 18:00 p.m. to 24:45 a.m  (and probably till much later) Madrid’s Gran Via and the immediate surrounding areas of the city center will be filled with people, music and theater performances–a show that will light up the city. Traffic will be completely cut off from the busy calle Alcala up to Gran Via’s end in Plaza de Espana, area whose streets will be covered by an (extremely) long red carpet for you to walk on. To celebrate the centennial and relish in Gran Via’s intimate history with music and dance, three stages will be set up along the way: one in the Red de San Luis, Callao and finally Plaza de Espana. Along the way,La Fanfare Électrique y La Brassa Band will not only be offering spontaneous performances, rock-outs and solos, but also parades involving the famous pascalles figurines typical of San Isidro.

Red de San Luis – Madrid’s municipal symphonic orchestra will start off the celebration with traditional and fantastic tunes. At 19:00 p.m. they will be joined by tango performers Iñaki Urlezaga y Eliana Figueroa, and later the Compañía Tango Ciudad de Buenos Aires (Argentina is coincidentally celebrating its bicentennial anniversary) which features some of the world’s best tango dancers. At 20:30 p.m. the Mastretta band will present a show featuring a medley of traditional Spanish dances.  Finally, at 22:30 p.m. Gran Via musical legend Esperanza Roy, along with newcomers Pastora Soler and Diana Navarro, will join the symphony for more dancing and singing.

Callao – Being located in the heart of Madrid’s version of Broadway, the performances around Callao will feature musicals leaving the theater and entering the streets: at 21:00 p.m. pieces from the famous Spanish musicals 40 El Musical and Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar will be seen on the street, these will be replaced after 24:00 a.m. by fragments from Chicago and Mamma Mia!

Plaza de Espana - the night’s finale will happen here, where numerous groups and artists from La Movida will perform. This particular show is dear to residents: La Movida is the name used to describe the movement of artists, cafes and bars that flourished after Franco’s death–they are, in more ways than one, the builders of the nightlife and culture the city enjoys today. The concert, which will begin at 22:30 p.m., will include classic artists like Nacho G. Vega, Rafa Sanchez and Mercedes Ferrer, and new hot acts like  Seeders, Contacto en Francia, El Alpinista and Vikxie.

With a celebration like this it’s only natural to expect a lights show so, at 12:30 a.m., a big fireworks spectacle is expected to light up the sky. If you’ve read what’s going to go down in Gran Via on the 15th then you know this is will be a unique event–don’t miss it!

By Daniel Sznajderman