Category: Catalonia/Spain
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In a small world
[This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, December 2020.] Barcelona isn’t well-known for flamenco but Kayoko Nakata, thinks it should be. As a Japanese flamenco dancer with a Catalan husband and two year-old son, she lives near the city’s Sant Pau hospital. When she can, she goes back to her […]
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House closed
[This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, November 2020.] "Precarious:" a word that accurately describes so many jobs under modern hyper-capitalism. In Catalonia over the last few months this word has become a sword that is hovering over the lives of thousands of people. For around 300 employees at […]
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Living too together?
[This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, September 2020.] People in Barcelona wearing masks. ORIOL DURAN. Back in mid-July, after more than four months, I (reluctantly) set foot in the city of Barcelona. I also made the mistake of driving in the centre, having wisely used public transport in the past. I […]
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“Los okupas:” Squatters in Vilafranca del Penedès
[Graffiti wall in Vilafranca: “Enough speculation! The Penedès is not for sale!] (This article was first published in Catalonia […]
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Spain: a gateway to Islamic acceptance?
[First published in Catalonia Today on 13 March 2008.] [Photo coutesy of Vilafranca mosque] ‘There is respect for Muslims here’ BRETT HETHERINGTON El Hajj Ibrahim, spokesman for the mosque of Vilafranca del Penedès, talks about the evolution of the city’s growing Muslim community –Is it easier or harder for an immigrant to adapt to […]
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Black lives matter in Barcelona
[This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, July 2020. ] Unlike the UK or USA, one of the more visible ways that many Europeans are used to seeing black people is at work as street sellers, especially during summer in the bigger cities. These are the so-called ‘top manta’ who display their products […]
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Lockdown loaded
[People outside after easing of health restrictions. O. DURAN..jpg] [This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, May 2020 and is dedicated to the memory of Theresa-Eunice “Terry” Parris (1926-2020).] The decision to send at least four million “non-essential” workers back to their jobs on April 13 strikes me as an extreme mistake. A […]
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Remembering Pau Casals
[This article was first published in catalonia today magazine,march 2020.] The first Catalan name I ever (knowingly) heard was that of Pau Casals. I was around eight years old and listening to a Monty Python comedy record. An English mock-commentator’s voice introduced “The Sonatino in E sharp by Antonio Vivaldi to be played […]
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Post-sentence
["February 12, 2019," photo (by the artist) of a piece from the exhibit."] [This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, March 2020.] If art is to be meaningful it has to say something significant from the private or public world and one artist who does this is Xavier G-Solis, from Barcelona. […]
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Generation precarious
[This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, December 2019.] [Photo: Gran Via, Barcelona — Oriol Duran] I saw the best minds of my generation being dog-walkers or asking ’Would you like fries with that?’” This may well be the sentiment of plenty of young people under the age of 30 across the […]
Brett Hetherington 