The chords of the lute ring out, and music from Algeria moves the attentive audience, transporting them momentarily to the neighbouring country.
Andalusian melodies have endured for centuries in North Africa, preserving their essential origins. Now the Baleària Foundation has sought to bring this cultural treasure to us thanks to an agreement signed last year with several social and cultural organisations in the city of Mostaganem, which the shipping company has connected with Valencia since 2016.
Cultural exchanges
As a result of this agreement, the Association Culturelle Ibn Badja de Mostaganem has travelled to various locations across the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands, giving concerts of Andalusian music, a traditional form of music in Algeria. Some members of the cultural association also received scholarships from the Baleària Foundation last year to take part in the Morella International Music Week (Castellón). Likewise, Valencian singer-songwriters Mireia Vives and Borja Penalba, together with the Colla El Falcó de Teulada (Alicante), travelled to the neighbouring country to share typically Valencian melodies and songs.
Foundation volunteers alongside musicians from the Ibn Badja association during their visit to Baleària’s offices in Dénia
Art has also played a leading role in this exchange project. As part of the Llonges de la Cultura programme, a network of cultural spaces managed by the Baleària Foundation, Algerian painter Hachemi Ameur has exhibited Naufrage en Méditerranée, a colourful exhibition that appeals to the viewer’s sensitivity by addressing migration and interpreting scenes of social realism. The vibrant, moving exhibition has been shown in places including El Verger and Pego (Alicante), Ibiza and Binissalem (Mallorca). ‘We have managed to establish a fluid and lasting relationship with Algeria, culturally connecting the two countries, creating ties and facilitating the free flow of knowledge between both territories,’ says Ricard Pérez, manager of the Baleària Foundation. Music, culture, painting… the Baleària Foundation is strengthening ties with Algeria.
Opening of Hachemi Ameur’s exhibition (third from the left) in El Verger
Hachemi Ameur
Hachemi Ameur, creator of the Naufrage en Méditerranée exhibition, was born in 1959 in Hadjout, in northern Algeria, and began his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Algiers. He is currently director and lecturer at the School of Fine Arts in Mostaganem. With a long career behind him, his aesthetic brings together cultural heritage and contemporary creativity through a diverse range of artistic styles and techniques. The artist has exhibited in countries including Algeria, France, Iran, the United States and Spain. ‘I would like to thank the Baleària Foundation for giving me the opportunity for my paintings to “travel” across the Mediterranean and reach other territories washed by this sea,’ says Ameur.