Censorship, cancellation and administrative problems: a culture war in Valencia?

In 2022, the Valencian music industry had a net turnover of 34.7 million euros, being the fourth autonomous region after Madrid, Catalonia and Andalusia. Before the pandemic, in 2019, the figures were close to 59 million, numbers that are expected to be recovered in the current year, with activity at full capacity and without the logical distortions of last year..

The Valencian Federation of the Music Industry (FEVIM), which brings together from the large promoters of macro-festivals to small concert halls, and the Valencian Institute of Culture of the Generalitat launched, in 2022, the Yearbook of Valencian Music, a study that analyzes the state of the question and offers a roadmap to face the future. Since 2015, the structuring of the sector was one of the political commitments of the previous government, with two guidelines: the budget increase and the promotion of initiatives that would help to consolidate it, such as the Carles Santos Valencian Music Awards, the Valencian Cultural Circuit, the Sonora Circuit or the Valencian Music Office. In short, the creative and musical industries were strengthened, considering culture as one more economic engine of the Valencian Community. In his first demonstrations, during the transfer of portfolios, he declared his commitment “to prioritize freedom and equal treatment, respect for all cultures and plurality”. But the inexperience in public management and certain doctrinal elements against the co-official languages and the Valencian diversity, included in the electoral program of his party, such as the “defense of our own traditions, customs and institutions against the false Catalan Countries”, warn about a possible slowdown in economic growth that only the pandemic dynamited between 2020 and 2021. The Valencian Community is the first bilingual autonomy where Vox will manage culture and the latest cases of censorship in some municipalities have raised alarms.

If the new Valencian executive incorporates the battle of symbols and the linguistic conflict into the framework of the debate, as occurred during the Transition, trying to relate the normalization of Valencian, a transversal and fundamental axis in the cultural industry, with non-existent political positions both within the framework parliamentary and public opinion (Països Catalans), could not only disturb the framework of coexistence, but also the development of a growing cultural industry.

Rafa Jordán is director of the promoter Pro21Cultural. During the last decade, this music production company has contributed to the incorporation into the music industry of very popular groups that sing in Valencian (La Fúmiga and El Diluvi) or in both official languages (Maluks and Marala).. This and other medium and large companies, belonging to the Association of Musical Promoters of the Valencian Community, have formed a musical ecosystem that reflects the multi-stylish and multi-linguistic reality of Valencian society.. “The hunch is that we are heading towards a time of setback for all the transversal and integrating work carried out for ten years. A Valencian music industry has been created, endorsed and visible every year at the Carles Santos Valencian Music Awards, with winners and nominees in all languages. Groups of different styles and languages have participated in the music circuits launched by public institutions. After the events suffered in recent weeks, the fear of an involution in our cultural rights is real”.

These events have been the withdrawal of the name of Vicent Torrent from the Torrent Auditorium and from the magazines in Valencian from the Burriana library, the postponement of Cebarock in La Pobla de Vallbona and the non-inclusion of Smoking Souls in the concerts of the Elche City Council. “Hiring times and administration times are different, but they work in parallel. First, an agreement is reached and a date is reserved through a verbal agreement, which is what happened with Smoking Souls, which later materializes with the public contracts law, which is sometimes long and cumbersome. The Elche City Council clings to this subterfuge that there is no consolidated administrative process to claim that there is no agreement. They do not go ahead with their part, and no group that sings in Valencian appears on the final poster of the festival, as had happened in previous years.. That is why we think that it is a deliberate decision against an official language”, comments Jordán.

The concert promotion sector works with public administrations based on a competition requirement, in which several companies opt for the production of live shows.. “Now it seems that an arbitrary decision is emerging that does not respond to technical decisions but to political ones, and that is an involution. Music in Valencian came out of the trench years ago. During the last decade, it has gone through different styles and has normalized discourses, beyond the defense of the language.. There is urban music, pop, rap and a multitude of desires expressed in Valencian that are far from political commitment”, explains the promoter, “a normalization has been reached and it seems that the new administrations see an aggression in Valencian”.