BIOGRAPHY - Festival de Música de Lanzarote

“Nowhere else shall we see such a clear creative process like the one we can see in Lanzarote. The island promotes artistic behaviour and a physical approach to pure creation.”

Brian Eno

THE FESTIVAL

The Lanzarote Visual Music Festival, created in 1989 at the proposal of artist Ildefonso Aguilar and organized by the Cabildo of Lanzarote, is an extraordinary artistic event based on the integration of avant-garde musical proposals with different artistic languages in complete harmony with the special characteristics and singularities of the natural scenic spaces of the island of Lanzarote, such as the Jameos del Agua and Cueva de los Verdes Auditoriums.

The perfect integration of the new music and the insular volcanic landscape awakened, from the beginning of the festival, the interest of contemporary musicians such as Brian Eno or Michael Brook, among others, making this event become, throughout its thirteen consecutive editions held between 1989 and 2002, one of the most attractive and extraordinary encounters of avant-garde music in the world.

In 2017, after fifteen long years of pause, the Area of Culture of the Cabildo of Lanzarote rescued this innovative musical proposal so demanded by residents and visitors, setting among its objectives, on the one hand, to recover the prestige and cultural impact that an initiative like this means for Lanzarote and, on the other, to turn it into a unique artistic alternative that consolidates the island as a cultural destination of the highest level and with sufficient entity to attract those who intend to discover a unique musical experience in the context of a unique nature and landscape such as Lanzarote.

THE
SCENARIO

Lanzarote is a subtle and outstanding volcanic territory, with extraordinary spaces perfect for cultural manifestations of nature. The combination of the volcanoes and the quiet work of local farmers on a hostile land, helped shape a landscape where there have always been delicate sounds that can be heard by attentive and excited viewers. Therefore, the composition and performance of new music can find in Lanzarote the perfect set, which results in a revealing symbiosis.

Throughout the different editions of the Festival, there have been plenty of natural areas and unique buildings used to hold the concerts of the Festival, but it has been two volcanic bubbles, turned into auditoriums, the ones that have become its main headquarters. The Auditoriums of Jameos del Agua and Cueva de los Verdes, set up as volcanic caves with a perfect symbiosis between art and nature, the senses of viewers are exposed to the most suggestive and innovative sounds.

In addition to these two main venues, new scenic spaces have been incorporated for the development of concerts, such as the Cuervo Volcano, the old quarry of volcanic ash extractions of Tahíche Mountain or the Convents of San Francisco and Santo Domingo in Teguise, as well as the Church of San Ginés, the beach of El Reducto or the Cultural Innovation Center “El Almacén” in Arrecife.

JAMEOS DEL AGUA

“Jameo” is a term used to refer to an opening caused by the collapse of the top of a volcanic tube as a result of the loss of gases built up inside.

Jameos del Agua are located on the inside of the volcanic tube, caused by the eruption of Volcán de la Corona, and named after a lake on the inside that is a unique geological formation, that was created through filtration, as it is below sea level. In this pristine water natural lake, there live several endemic local species, such as Munidopsis polimorpha, a tiny, blind albino crab of unknown origin.

Its environment is protected as Jameos Site of Scientific Interest by the Law of Natural Spaces of the Canary Islands, and it is part of the Volcán and Malpaís de La Corona National Park, as well as Site of Cultural Interest.

The Auditorium of “Jameos del Agua”, main headquarters of the Lanzarote Visual Music Festival, is a spectacular stage space set up on the inside of a volcanic cave, with capacity for 500 people. This is a unique place in the world thanks to its geological features and peculiar acoustic conditions.

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CIC EL ALMACEN

The former “Centro Polidimensional “El Almacén” is a space conceived in 1974 by the artist César Manrique for the development of contemporary cultural activities in all its facets: visual, performing, audiovisual, literary arts, etc., becoming, as was its original purpose, the essential reference of culture in Arrecife de Lanzarote. During the Festival, activities complementary to the main concerts are developed in this space, such as workshops, meetings and film screenings, all of them linked to the exploration of the different manifestations of the contemporary sound and music scene.”

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CUEVA DE LOS VERDES

“The Cueva de los Verdes, like the Jameos del Agua, belongs to a system of subway volcanic tubes about six kilometers long, being one of the most interesting volcanic formations of the island and one of the longest visitable volcanic tubes in the world. An important part of the cave is its auditorium, located in the heart of the cave and with a capacity for 350 spectators. Its special acoustic characteristics, its layout and the extraordinary beauty of its geological formations make it a privileged setting for the development of selected concerts. Like the Jameos del Agua, its surroundings are protected under the denomination of Site of Scientific Interest of the Jameos by the Law of Natural Spaces of the Canary Islands and is part of the Natural Park of the Volcano and Malpaís de La Corona, also enjoys the declaration of Cultural Interest”.

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CONVENT OF
SANTO DOMINGO

“Located in the old capital of the island, the Villa de Teguise, this convent, founded in the early eighteenth century from a church already built in the seventeenth century, was the convent church of the order of Santo Domingo. At that time, the convent area extended along its left side, now converted into the Town Hall, where some of the original vestiges can still be seen today. Inside, the main altarpiece of the original temple, dedicated to Nuestra Señora de Gracia, is still preserved. Today, its church has become a space for the development of cultural activities, standing out as an exhibition hall and, as happens during the Festival, as a space for concerts. This building is one of the exponents that have made possible the declaration of the Royal, Noble and Señorial Villa de Teguise as a Historic Site.”

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JAMEOS DEL AGUA

CUEVA DE LOS VERDES

CIC EL ALMACEN

CONVENTO DE SANTO DOMINGO

JAMEOS DEL AGUA

CUEVA DE LOS VERDES

CIC EL ALMACEN

CONVENTO DE SANTO DOMINGO