The transformative impact of Catalonia Freestyle
/Photographs: @saul.lens
Just 2 years ago, in December 2022, Periphery Gold Battle wins the Lluís Carulla Award for best idea. The entity, born of the collective work of Gold Battle, Raplegats and Llobregat Block Party, proposes to use rap in Catalan as a tool for social transformation With the aim of increasing the cultural participation of young people. Since then, with the promotion and accompaniment of the Carulla Foundation, the project has grown significantly. So much so that earlier this year, what is perhaps your most ambitious initiative has been launched: Catalunya Freestyle, the first improvised rap competition in Catalan in history. The idea is a tournament of battles of freestyle In Catalan on a national level, with qualifying tests throughout Catalonia and a grand final with a single winner. The goal? Build the foundations of a stable community of rappers and glossators in Catalan.
The start of the project is the presentation ceremony to Fabra i Coats, held in February this year. With 100 participants and about 1500 face -to -face attendees, the proposal seems to have a very high potential. The data that has been obtained from then confirm this assumption. Catalunya Freestyle has done 8 shows all over the territory with a total of 7,750 attendees. The most prominent event, at the Mercè festivities in Barcelona, managed to attract up to 3,000 people. With regard to digital presence, the Instagram account of Catalonia Freestyle exceeds the 9,900 followers. “Although, when we started, the demand was not so obvious, we have discovered that there was really a lot,” says Albert Alarcón, one of the main promoters of the project. “We have filled a gapthere is really no similar project, although the battles have been around for a long time. ” However, although all this demonstrates the success of the initiative, its true impact cannot be seen solely with figures.
“We thought that the winners of the qualifiers would be only people who were already on the radar, but it’s not the case.” Alarcón states that with the project a creation is being created Visibility platform of new artists: Catalunya Freestyle is the push that many young people needed to jump to the competition and show their talent. Thus, the initiative contributes to the promotion of the cultural participation of the youth, not only offering a voice to emerging artists, but also contributing new spaces to that audience, which, although it was already interested in improvised rap in Spanish, had difficulty Find in Catalan.
The project has a prominent impact on the use of Catalan, since, Until now, many glossators had difficulty finding spaces to improvise in their native language. But the scope of the proposal is not here. Alarcón considers the success of the project “He is helping to break prejudices, such as the idea that Catalan would not be able to generate a powerful circuit, or that there would not be enough level. ” The reality is that Catalonia Freestyle has the strength to attract people from very diverse profiles, even those who do not speak Catalan at home. The basis of a movement that continues to grow.
Alarcón, however, states that there are aspects of the impact of the project that must be continued. For example, The increase in female participation is still a major challenge. Although there is some equality in the public, the presence of women on the stage is still a minority. In the face of this situation, Catalonia Freestyle proposes to continue to act to generate female references on the scene and thus encourage the improvisers to participate. “It is a pending subject, although in recent years it has improved a lot.”
Despite the success of the proposal, Alarcón expresses that they are facing the uncertainty that marks every cultural project of the present day. For now, Catalonia Freestyle stands on its own, but without the financing of the administration, it is unknown how many years it will be able to continue to do so: “We are afraid of touching roof”. The question, however, is that Catalonia Freestyle is already transforming the world of Catalan rap. In a few months, the proposal has caught the attention of a considerable audience and it seems that the interest in the project will only grow. “The intention is to continue, expand the project, do more seasons and better; We see a lot of future for her, “says Alarcón. All of this is clear that Catalonia is a fertile terrain for the creation of a native improvised rap scene and that Catalonia Freestyle can be the seed.
