Festa de la Poesia XXIII Festival de Poesia de la Mediterrània

23 years of the Mediterranean Poetry Festival (Festival de Poesia de la Mediterrània) have already gone by. The 22nd edition used audiovisual capsules because of the pandemic but with a logo: “Poetry is music”. This year armed us with a new impulse and we will not stop shouting to the four winds “Poetry is health”. By doing this both concepts are made one and we solemnly declare that poetry is the music of health. Thanks to the research of neuroscientists we have come to know that the poetic word can become therapeutic, healing and soothing due to its harmonious powers. Quoting master Paul Verlaine we have privileged orality, it will serve as a litmus test for the real craft of the poet: "De la musique avant toute chose" (Music comes first).

We are a sound festival where the music of the verse stands as the main character. The “how” of the phonetic textures creates a festive polyphonic space placed on top of the “what” of the chant that explains the facts. The wound is open and full of the matter of the body -love, the passing of time, disease, pain, fear of death, courage, fervour, hatred, despair, etc.-. The verses, full of flying words, are able to weave all of it. Fourteen poets in ten different languages will award us with their personal and untransferable rhythms. We enthusiastically celebrate the Occitan and the Welsh languages that will be in our festival for the very first time. Composer and musician Mauricio Villavecchia, will accompany the musical voices of poetry with his accordion, soaked with passion and creativity.