• More than 650 students from 16 schools are rehearsing ahead of their participation in the major gathering on 22 May in Vecindario
• The President of the Cabildo, Antonio Morales, visited students and teachers today at IES Pérez Galdós and CEIP La Viñuela

“Come on everyone, we still have time for one more song before heading back to class.” This morning, the sounds of parranda group El Palmeral, made up of students from IES Pérez Galdós, filled the school assembly hall during rehearsals for their participation in La Isla de Mi Vida Escolar, a project that will bring together more than 650 students from 16 schools across the island in Plaza de San Rafael, Vecindario, on 22 May as part of the La Isla de Mi Vida Festival.

The President of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, together with the Councillor for Economic Development, Minerva Alonso, visited both IES Pérez Galdós and CEIP La Viñuela in Agüimes today to attend the rehearsal sessions and thank both teachers and students for their work.

“I was moved to see their enthusiasm, the time they dedicate to preparing, and to witness that, despite stereotypes, the young people of Gran Canaria are engaging with popular culture and embracing the spirit through which the Canariona Festival has been reinvented as the La Isla de Mi Vida Festival,” said Morales.

Alma Cerpa, a second-year student at IES Pérez Galdós, leads El Palmeral, one of the groups taking part in the 22 May event. They make time to rehearse whenever they can, driven by the enjoyment that comes from bringing together art, friendship, fun and education. When the rehearsal ends, the guitar, bass and drum fall silent. One student wheels away the loudspeaker on a trolley. Hanging in the air is the shared echo of tradition, the present and the future.

“La Isla de Mi Vida Escolar y Familiar was born as a natural extension of the celebration of our identity, with the firm intention of placing traditional music at the heart of everyday learning,” Antonio Morales also explained.

“This initiative,” he added, “joins the programme of the 2026 La Isla de Mi Vida Festival not only to highlight the Canary Islands content taught in schools, but also to turn that knowledge into a shared experience. By taking music out of the schools and into the public square, we turn folklore into a tool for social cohesion and generational pride.”

La Isla de Mi Vida Escolar will take place on 22 May from 9:00 to 13:00 in Vecindario, with free admission. In the afternoon, from 16:30 to 18:30, and also with free entry, La Isla de Mi Vida Familiar will be held, featuring performances by four municipal music bands. From 10:00 to 20:00, workshops and craft displays will take place along Avenida de Canarias in Vecindario.

The festival’s second main event will take place on 29 May in Plaza de Santa Ana in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, also with free admission. After the parade sets off at 19:30 from Parque de San Telmo, accompanied by the Banda de Firgas and the Papahuevos, the headline event of the programme will begin at 20:30: the large-scale musical and theatrical production Attindamana (“The sound of a people, the heartbeat of an island”).

Attindamana is a large-format production involving more than 500 artists, conceived as a profound and contemporary tribute to the identity of the island’s 21 municipalities. Under the direction of a collective creative team that weaves connections between different artists, the core team includes Mario Vega, Belén Álvarez LAJALADA, Víctor Batista, Ner Suárez, Manuel Abrante, Ruth Sánchez and Javier Cerpa.

“Attindamana is an ambitious and determined commitment to achieving a fundamental goal: building a new and lasting repertoire for Canarian popular music,” Antonio Morales stressed. “Beyond being a one-off event, it is an investment in future heritage: the creation of a legacy of 21 songs to become part of the songbook of our land, adding to the foundations of our popular music so they may endure over time.”