Football and culture come together in Seville before the Copa del Rey final – La Provincia

The Letters and Football festival, which aims to attract people from cultural backgrounds to “passion for the ball“, held an event in Seville to build bridges between creativity and football in the week of the final of the Copa del Rey.

Organized by the Athletic Club Foundation in collaboration with the Andalusian Center for Contemporary Art, the Real Betis Foundation and the Sevilla FC Foundation, the event featured the comedian and comedian Alfonso Ramos and the singer Kiko Venenowho have contributed through their testimonies experiences of rapprochement between their disciplines and sport.

The festival, which is in its fifteenth edition, has offered a talk that has functioned as a “gift” to the citizens of Sevillewhere the final of the Copa del Rey will be played next Saturday between Athletic Club de Bilbao and Real Mallorca, who will fight for the title that Real Madrid still holds.

Zarra: a very present ‘aitite’

One of the protagonists of the day was the dancer and granddaughter of the legendary Athletic forward Telmo Zarra, Adriana Bilbao Zarraonandíawho performed the seed piece of his work ‘Zarra’ during the event.

As the artist explained, ‘Zarra’ is a tribute to the spirit of “sportsmanship and nobility” that characterized his ‘aitite’, specifically an anecdote that he remembered with nostalgia in which the Bilbao player decided to “throw the ball out” instead of “scoring a goal”, due to the disadvantage that the opposing team had at that moment .

The piece has been performed with three dancers who have traveled to the capital of Seville, although it was originally performed by six artists, who have worn clothing reminiscent of football equipment and which has been accompanied by original music in which one could hear , among other verses, “Zarra, Zarra, strength, nobility and courage” or “Zarra, the king of the selection”.

Zarraonandía has remembered her grandfather and has acknowledged that, although she confesses not to be a football fan, Athletic Club de Bilbao continues to be very present in her life.

Telmo Zarra (1921-2006), five-time Cup champion (1943, 44, 45, 50 and 55) and the competition’s all-time top scorer with 81 goals, was a footballer attached to popular culture and a great fan of bullfighting. .

Football and culture, incompatible?

During the talk that preceded the show, the participants debated the cliché that places footballers as people with little interest in culture and the relationship between both disciplines.

Kiko Veneno has reminded the players that even today they continue to receive criticism for showing a certain sensitivity towards culture. “There was a player in Sevilla who played the piano and they looked at him badly,” he said.

The singer has acknowledged that, although in the capital of Seville The sports clubs continue to carry the nickname of “cultural”, on many occasions they do not fulfill this role and has explained that this sport should be understood as an “interculture”.

“The important thing about soccer It is its social fact, how the stadiums are filled. A team is community territory, that is what interests me, although then there are economic interests that mediate and make it something that it is not. For example, when you see that the National Police has to intervene in stadiums, what the hell does that have to do with culture? There, football loses,” she claimed with indignation.

For his part, Ramos recalled his experience combining football and humor and highlighted how “complicated” it sometimes is to unite both worlds: “Humor in football is a minefield. Both disciplines are very passionate, but also very thankless. People like to laugh, but when it’s at yourself, at the team you belong to, it’s more complicated.”

North, south and football

The meeting has had a space in which the relationship between the north and the south of Spain through football has been remembered, a moment in which the dancer has claimed one of her professional objectives, to increase the infrastructure of the Higher Conservatory of Dance from Bilbao and include a space for flamenco.

The singer Kiko Veneno has highlighted the “cultural transformation” of the north in recent years, has described the people of Bilbao as a group that has “lost the fear” of “clapping to the rhythm” and has explained that he has always perceived a connection special between Bilbao and Seville.

2024-04-02 21:40:37
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