• Councillor Minerva Alonso visits the participating groups and highlights the value of artistic preparation in a project that will bring together more than 500 performers for Canary Islands Day

The Councillor for Economic Development, Industry, Trade and Crafts of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Minerva Alonso, visited the studios of the Araguaney group in Telde this Tuesday, where rehearsals are taking place for several of the groups that will participate in the Festival La Isla de Mi Vida, the major cultural initiative promoted by the island institution to celebrate Canary Islands Day.

During the visit, Alonso was able to see first-hand the preparation process of two of the ensembles that will form part of the large-scale musical and theatrical production Attindamana: the Araguaney group and the choir Mujeres ᗡ, as well as the joint work being carried out in this stage prior to the performance.

The meeting made it possible to appreciate the level of coordination and artistic rigour behind a project that will bring together more than 500 artists on stage on 29 May in Plaza de Santa Ana, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The production has been conceived as a contemporary tribute to the identity of the island and its 21 municipalities.

In this context, Alonso underlined the importance of the preparatory work being carried out in spaces such as this: “Behind a major show like Attindamana, there are many hours of rehearsal, coordination and collective commitment. This process is key to ensuring an artistic result that lives up to the talent Gran Canaria has to offer.”

With more than three decades of experience in Canarian popular music, the Araguaney group will take part in Attindamana as part of the show’s popular choir, contributing to the creation of a large-format choral ensemble that will accompany the different musical compositions of the project.

Its artistic proposal, which combines traditional roots with contemporary and Atlantic influences, reinforces the character of the show, where tradition and avant-garde creation come together within the same stage narrative.

For its part, Mujeres ᗡ, a recently formed group created in 2025 and made up of 19 women, joins the project in a choral format, adapting its usual proposal to become part of the collective dimension of the show.

It is one of the youngest groups on the programme, and its participation represents a boost to its trajectory and an opportunity to be part of a large-scale production alongside other groups from the island.

Attindamana, meaning The sound of a people, the heartbeat of an island, is the central axis of the Festival La Isla de Mi Vida, an initiative by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria that reinvents and expands the spirit of the Canariona contest, with the aim of celebrating the island’s cultural diversity from a contemporary perspective.

The festival will take place on 22 and 29 May, with a programme that includes activities in schools, municipal music schools and public spaces, culminating in the major performance in the capital of Gran Canaria.

The artistic proposal, directed by a creative team made up of Mario Vega, Belén Álvarez , Lajalada, Víctor Batista, Ner Suárez, Manuel Abrante, Ruth Sánchez and Javier Cerpa, seeks not only to offer a cultural event, but also to generate a new repertoire for Canarian popular music, with the creation of 21 pieces linked to the island’s municipalities.

In this sense, the visit to the rehearsals highlights the collective and participatory nature of the project, as well as the essential role played by the different groups and artists who, from their respective working spaces, are helping to shape one of the largest cultural gatherings promoted in Gran Canaria in recent years.