The Sis Hores de Cançó in Canet de Mar was a mass festival of Catalan singing in a time when

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

, as a language and as a

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

, was somehow persecuted by the Spanish

Francoist dictatorship Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

. The embryo of this festival can be found in an event that ''Agrupament Escolta dels Pioners'' from Canet de Mar organized in the local tennis club court in August 1969. Their leader was Joan Ramon Mainat, brother of Josep Maria Mainat

one of the three members of a hugely popular Catalan band called La Trinca. Most of the greatest Catalan singers involved in the struggle to gain acknowledgment of Catalan as an official language performed there:

Lluís Llach Lluís Llach i Grande (; born 7 May 1948) is a Catalan singer-songwriter, novelist and politician from Spain. He is one of the main representatives of the ''nova cançó'' genre and an outspoken advocate of the right to self-determination of ...

, Ovidi Montllor i

Francesc Pi de la Serra Francesc () is a masculine given name of Catalan origin. It is a cognate of Francis, Francesco, Francisco, François, and Franz. People with the name include: *Cesc Fàbregas (Francesc Fàbregas i Soler) (born 1987), Spanish professional footba ...

. Attendance was about 500 people. In April 1970 they organized another concert, which gathered more people. The first edition of Sis Hores de Cançó took place on 18 September 1971. This time more singers took part and attendance went up to 1,800. The audience increased progressively in the following editions, 2,500 in 1972, and 5,000 in 1973. Between 1974 and 1978, Pebrots Enterprises, with La Trinca behind it, was in charge of the organization. This change was imposed by the fact that the Spanish Civil Government denied the legality of Agrupament Escolta dels Pioners. In this 1974 edition, with 15,000 espectators, a youth called frncsc was arrested for giving out political pamphlets and Joan Ramon Mainat and Toni Cruz, another member of La Trinca, were held by the Guàrdia Civil for 12 hours. In 1975, in front of 15,000 rapturous youth and slipping past censorship ( it must be said that the Spanish Francoism was coming to an end), Rafael Subirachs sang the popular Catalan anthem '' Els Segadors''. The main singers that took part in Sis Hores de Cançó were La Trinca,

Toti Soler Jordi Soler i Galí (born 7 June 1949), known by the stage name Toti Soler, is a Spanish guitarist, singer and composer, member of cult groups Pic-Nic in the 1960s and Om in the 1970s. He had a classical training with influences of blues, jazz and ...

Maria del Mar Bonet Maria del Mar Bonet i Verdaguer (Balearic Catalan: ; born 1947 in Palma, Majorca) is a Spanish singer from the island of Majorca. Early life and career Bonet studied ceramics in the school of arts, but eventually decided to dedicate herself to ...

and Ovidi Montllor, who was the only one that performed there in every edition.

Raimon Ramon Pelegero Sanchis, who takes the stage name of Raimon (), is a Spanish singer. He performs in the musical style of Nova Cançó, and in the Catalan language. Biography Youth Raimon was born in Xàtiva in the province of Valencia, Spain o ...

only performed in 1976.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sis Hores de Canco 1971 establishments in Spain Music festivals in Catalonia