Redaccion
The Academy pays tribute from Malpica to the cantareiras, a figure of Letras Galegas that «celebrates the past and looks towards the future.»
The president of the Real Academia Galega (RAG), Henrique Monteagudo, called during the institution’s plenary for Día das Letras Galegas for a «reformulation» of the language policy in Galicia, with changes that reverse the loss of speakers and put children and youth «at the center.»
Monteagudo made these statements while sitting next to the President of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, during the solemn event held at the Centro Cívico e Cultural de Malpica de Bergantiños (A Coruña). Many authorities were present, including members of the regional government, the president of the Parliament, Miguel Santalices, and the government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, along with hundreds of residents of the municipality where the Pandereteiras de Mens group was created, honored on this May 17 alongside the cantareiras Rosa and Adolfina Casás Rama, from Cerceda, and Eva Castiñeira, from Muxía.
Towards the end of the event, in his first public speech since taking office last April, the president of the RAG referred to the «alarming panorama» painted by the data from the Instituto Galego de Estatística (IGE) published last year, which showed that Galician ceased to be the most spoken language in the community.
In the face of this «secular position» loss, Henrique Monteagudo celebrated the «good reception» among institutions and political parties of the proposal to reach a grand pact for the language and the renewal of the Plan Xeral de Normalización.
In this regard, he urged the leaders of the main parties not to let that hope of reaching consensus fade. «Our enthusiasm will not die out,» he added.
Thus, Monteagudo called on institutions, especially the Galician government, to reject «sterile controversies» and issues «unrelated to the citizens» who aspire to see the language as a «normal language,» and to acquire «tangible commitments.»
In this context, he called for the language to be used «without hindrance in the classrooms.» One of the most controversial points in the negotiations is the multilingualism decree in education from 2011, which determines which subjects should be taught in Spanish, which in Galician, and which in English.
Throughout this journey, Monteagudo reaffirmed that the RAG will maintain «open arms to collaboration.»
A TRIBUTE THAT «LOOKS TOWARDS THE FUTURE»
In an event where music took center stage — opened by Tanxugueiras — the RAG wanted to pay tribute to the cantareiras as transmitters of Galician oral poetry.
«Although it may seem paradoxical,» this year’s Letras Galegas «celebrate the past and look towards the future,» because «the traditional is modern,» as summarized by the Academy’s secretary, Ana Boullón, in the first of the speeches of the day.
Boullón explained how oral tradition is now giving rise to «all kinds of adaptations,» showing that it is not only about an archaeological dissemination, but also about opening up to new times and intergenerational transmission thanks to groups and artists like Tanxugueiras, Baiuca, Caamaño&Ameixeiras, Mondra, and De Ninghures.
«The new leisure expressions in festivals, the new foliadas, the traditional music and dance classrooms can become a tool for language normalization,» affirmed the academic, who also lamented that the language currently does not have «strong institutional support.»
In this context, the president of the RAG did not overlook that 2025 is also the 75th anniversary of the death of the historic and multifaceted Galician Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez Castelao, who referred to the working people «as creators and faithful custodians, for centuries, of the culture and the golden key of Galician identity,» which is the language.
WOMEN AS TRANSMITTERS
In her speech, Boullón highlighted the importance that the creation of academies and groups of traditional Galician dance and song had during the Franco regime and subsequent decades. She also emphasized the central role of women as transmitters of popular culture and music, something that was «a differential fact of Galicia» compared to Portugal and Castile within «a patriarchal society that also used verses to denigrate them.»
In fact, the seven figures that the Letras Galegas 2025 tribute to the cantareiras personifies were «strong, regal women, raised in rural areas and who went through difficult circumstances in life.»
«Some were daughters of single mothers,» others «had to emigrate» abroad or to cities, and even some «were illiterate.» «Even so, they possessed a great cultural and material knowledge, and knew how to transmit the rich heritage they were the custodians of,» praised Boullón.
«AN UNPRECEDENTED ‘REXURDIMENTO'»
In the same solemn event, the academic Antón Santamarina, co-author of the ‘Cancioneiro Popular Galego’ with the Swiss ethnomusicologist Dorothé Schubarth, also spoke. Santamarina gave a speech drawing on his 80 years of personal and family memory to recall his approach to the popular songbook as a child in A Fonsagrada (Lugo).
«Our resistance to assimilation was strong. Now it is no longer a rural phenomenon but an urban one, or more urban than rural, but the tradition continues in another way. We are experiencing an unprecedented ‘rexurdimento’ that is here to stay,» he proclaimed.
Having said that, the academic appealed to «the commitment of the people to finally overcome the sickness of our character that leads us to abandon everything of our own, as Cuevillas said.» «And, above all, the commitment of those responsible to make a language planning that decisively tries to stop and reverse this trend,» he added.
With similar words, the former president of the RAG, Xesús Alonso Montero, also spoke before the Centro Cívico e Cultural de Malpica, highlighting the influence of the popular songbook on his life and academic career.
