The Diplomat
The Dominican Republic has been the guest of honour at the 27th edition of the prestigious La Mar de Músicas Festival, which is held in the city of Cartagena, in the province of Murcia. In addition to music, the festival includes other artistic, literary and folkloric manifestations from the beginning of July.
With the participation of more than fifty artists in music, song and the visual arts, as well as several Dominican writers, the Festival has been held with the collaboration of the Dominican Ministry of Tourism and the Spanish airline Plus Ultra.
La Mar de Cine began on 3 July with the screening of the films: Liborio, by Nino Martínez Sosa; Candela, by Andrés Farías; Malpaso, by Héctor Valdez; Hotel Coppelia, by José María Cabral; Miriam Miente, by Natalia Cabral; La fiera y la fiesta, by Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas, and Papi, by Rita Indiana.
In the section La Mar de Arte, three photographic exhibitions on the Dominican Republic by the prestigious Cartagena photographer Juan Manuel Díaz Burgos were presented: “Son”, “Fluye” and “Archivo Conrado”, and the photographic exhibition “Hielo entre fronteras”, by the Dominican photographer Pedro Farías. The Dominican poet Frank Báez presented the exhibition “Sea of Tranquility” together with the visual artist Nono Bandera.
Dominican writers José Mármol, Plinio Chahín, Alejandro González Luna, Rosa Silverio and Frank Báez met at La Mar de Letras, where they held talks and recitals on Dominican poetry and presented their literary works.
On Friday 15 July, Ambassador Juan Bolívar Díaz attended the inauguration of La Mar de Músicas, with concerts by the Queen of Fusion Xiomara Fortuna and Vicente García, Dominican artists accompanied by a dozen musicians, several of whom live in Spain. That day, Ambassador Díaz was received at the Palacio Consistorial by the Mayoress of Cartagena, Noelia Arroyo, whom he thanked for the gesture of inviting the Dominican Republic to participate in such an important cultural festival. At the meeting they also discussed actions to further strengthen ties in favour of culture. The Ambassador was invited to sign the book of distinguished visitors.
On Sunday 17 and Monday 18 July, the artists MULA from Santiago and the singer Alex Ferreira performed in front of a large audience in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. The festival continued last week with performances by Dominican artists Riccie Oriach, Sandro Reyes, Rita Indiana and Leton Pé, with the latter bringing the festival to a close.
The Dominican participation in this varied festival has been made possible thanks to the Ministry of Tourism of the Dominican Republic and the Spanish airline Plus Ultra Airlines. La Mar de Músicas is considered one of the three most important music festivals in Europe. It has a reach of approximately 45,000 people and its media impact is valued at more than 6 million euros.
