Asturian music, dance and outfit

Since we moved here I have been trying to catch some of the folklore of Asturias. I find it very interesting as it is so different to everything I´ve seen outside of Spain and even inside as the autonomous communities are so different from each other.

The origin of folklore in Asturias is Celtic and the traditional musical instrument is the bagpipe, ‘la gaita’. If you´re interested you can read tons about the music, dance and costumes of Asturias, I only want to show you a little taster.

My first exposure to Asturian folklore was when I visited Gijon, the other big Asturian town at the sea with two friends and surprise surprise, there was a festival going on. When we walked into the main square we realised that it´s a folk music competition. 

We sat down to watch them. When we arrived this girl was on the stage drumming.

After her this boy came with some bagpipes.

Then two brothers, one playing the bagpipes and the other the drum. I recorded some of them playing as well.

Later in August during the big Spanish festival, the Semana Grande I spotted these people on a square all dressed up. Not sure what was the reason but there were lots of adults and even children wearing traditional outfits and I found that very cute. I think I spotted a whole family amongst them all dressed up.

They even had a dance practice that I dutifully recorded.

Then they all lined up and strolled through the town playing music. I quickly recorded them so you can have a look at the traditional outfits of the different ages.

I followed them in case they did something interesting but when they got to the town hall (which is called ‘ayuntamiento’ in Spanish, this is Paul’s sister, Lucy’s favourite Spanish word) they all sat down to have a drink. I think I might have missed the main attraction. Oh, well, I got what I wanted.