Berlin School of Economics and Law
Still from movie
RIANXEIRA
La Solfónica is a choir based in Madrid, which grew out of the protests
at Puerta del Sol on May 15, 2011, the day after which the “15-M”
movement is named. Formed in the run-up to regional elections, its
members, inspired by the Arab Spring, demanded change in a system
dominated by the conservative People’s Party and the center-left
Socialist Workers’ Party, which was in power at the time. Performing
classical music at demonstrations, the choir follows the tradition of
composers like Giuseppe Verdi, who in the opera Nabucco propagated the
liberation of northern Italy from Austria. This opera was written in
1841 and became closely linked with the Italian unification movement.
David Alegre, conductor of La Solfónica, says the same message still
resonates today in Spain, more than 170 years later. At that time he
says, “it was a political military occupation but today the occupations
are economic and ideological. We apparently have a democracy in Spain
but they repress democratic features that allow citizens to participate
and really change things”. Rianxeira is a film about collective
resonance and dissonance as dissidence.
Screening and panel discussion Wednesday September 13
Rianxeira 25 min
The Generation of the Peacocks 5.17 min
Presented as part of the IIPPE conference “The Political Economy
of Inequalities and Instabilities in the 21st Century”
Berlin School of Economics and Law September 13 - 15, 2017
