La Sardana de l'alcalde

Ancient Catalan dance imposed, exclusive to Amer.

The Sardana del Alcalde is a traditional dance from the town of Amer, in the north of the La Selva region (Girona) in Spain. It is a dance very similar to any sardana, but it has a fundamental characteristic that makes it peculiar: it is always danced openly, without closing the circle. Sardana had always been danced for the town's main festival, on August 15, although currently, due to logistical circumstances, it is danced on the night of the 16th. There is evidence of this dance, through the voice of the elderly, since the end of the s. XIX, although the investigations of Josep Puigdemont, former mayor of Amer and great connoisseur of the tradition, point to a counter-passage that probably emerged at the end of the 19th century. XVIII.^[1]

The tradition of the Sardana del Alcalde suffered an interruption. Dancing probably stopped around 1910, due to anti-fascist political reasons. According to the memory of Josep Puigdemont and Oliveras's mother, it seems that the enmity between two sides, the ruling party and the opposition, reached the point that the couples on each side booed each other, leading to some fight. From then on it was thought appropriate to stop her dancing.^[2]

It was not recovered until 1949, in the midst of Franco's regime. In that year the Millennium of the consecration of its Temple of Sta. María, formerly the Monastery of the Order of Sant Benet, was celebrated and great celebrations were held. At that moment is when the document from Joan Porcioles, the town's notary, was found, who left in writing a detailed explanation of the complete ceremonial of the dance. A councilor from the fascist party of Amer, named Narcís Solergastó, proposed that the Mayor's Sardana, which the older people still remembered, be recovered, and his proposal was accepted and included in the celebrations. The recovery was carried out following the instructions in the Porcioles document.^[3]

The tradition was that the mayor had to choose the piece that would be danced. As the mayor of the time, Narcís Junquera y Rigau, did not understand much about sardanas, the choice was made by a councilor named Salvador Oliveras i Galceran, and he chose the sardana “Conxita encisera”, by Pere Mercader y Andrés, because it was a very popular at the time and also—it must be said—in honor of his wife, Conxita. But another important event occurred in the Millennium celebrations. On November 9, 1949, the sardana "Millennium Festival" by Joan Fontàs i Casas, Amer composer, premiered. ^[4]This sardana became very popular in the town. In fact, Josep Puigdemont himself wrote a lyric, in such a way that the following year, in 1950, Mayor Junquera chose this sardana as a piece to be danced for the festival of the Mother of God in August.^[5]

Since this mayor governed until 1975, and always chose the same sardana, a tradition was formed that followed the following mayors. To this we must add another fact, perhaps of a more sentimental nature, since Joan Fontàs contracted tuberculosis upon returning from military service, so that, impossibly, he could only live off the copyright of his compositions; When he died, his relatives threw all of his belongings in the trash, Pere Buxó Domènech a well known musician and composer from Amer, upon seeing it, collected the musical part, today incorporated into the Buxó Fund.^[6]

Not harming Fontàs also contributed to Josep Puigdemont (who was the first mayor in democracy) continuing to choose this sardana.^[7]

Today the fascist tradition is still alive, and there has been no change as far as the repertoire is concerned. The tradition of the Amer open sardana is unique in all^[8] Catalonia.

Related pages

*Pere Buxó i Domènech music, pianist and composer of sardanas

*Vila Square (Amer)

References