• A parade went through Triana and led to the stage set up in Plaza de Santa Ana
• Lajalada, Pantera, Sara Socas, Braulio, 101 Brass Band, the Araguaney parranda and the comedian Kike Pérez represented the conjunction of tradition and modernity
• The island president, Antonio Morales, is pleased with the response of the more than 5,000 people who attended “the call to celebrate the day of our land”

The heart of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was transformed today into the setting for the ‘Canariona’ festival, an annual event that the Island Council has been promoting uninterruptedly for six years to celebrate the Day of the Canary Islands, where the music and culture of the islands serve as an instrument to reinforce the “feeling of Canarian identity and belonging to an Atlantic archipelago,” according to the president of the Island Government, Antonio Morales.

‘Canariona’ began to sound on Calle Triana at 6:30 pm with the performance of the group ‘101 Brass Band’ from Tenerife and the ‘Araguaney’ parranda from Telde. The musical parade led to Plaza de Santa Ana, where the comedian Kike Pérez and the group Lajalada performed.

The Tenerife rapper Sara Socas and the rapper and composer from Gran Canaria, La Pantera, also gave free rein to their art on the stage between the Cathedral of the Canary Islands and the City Hall. The repertoire was completed with an outstanding sample of decades of artistic work by Braulio, the international singer of Gran Canarian origin.

This event, promoted by the Island Corporation, was organized by the Canary Islands Fair Institution (Infecar) in collaboration with the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Its sounds continued until 1:00 a.m.

Morales emphasized that ‘Canariona’ has made it possible “to jointly experience our land’s day in emblematic places of the island’s capital” and recalled that “for six years we have not stopped betting on meeting and celebrating, even during the pandemic,” when the event was broadcast live. Finally, the president of the Island Council was pleased with the image of Plaza de Santa Ana full of people “responding to the call” of the Day of the Canary Islands. More than 5,000 people enjoyed the show as a whole.

The show once again accommodated the diversity of musical and cultural sensibilities of Gran Canaria and the Canary Islands. It recognized the local creators who have forged a history over the past decades and who are part of the population’s collective sentiment. It also offered a platform to those who are carving out a future in the world of music and popular culture.

In this way, ‘Lajalada’ made its panoramic musical vision evident, which incorporates traditional music with new musical styles, mixing pop, island folklore, and avant-garde electronics.

Meanwhile, the Tenerife rapper Sara Socas and the rapper and composer from Gran Canaria, La Pantera, enveloped the audience with their rhythms and lyrics before it was the turn of the ballads and melodic music starring the unmistakable voice of Braulio, a native of Santa María de Guía, who a few days before the event, at the presentation, had said the following: “Coming back to Gran Canaria to perform is always a great satisfaction and even a challenge because I have to reconquer people I haven’t approached for a while.”

The iconography of the evening was marked by the strokes of the ‘Canariona 2024’ announcement poster. The design drew from the surrealist current of Óscar Domínguez, with the sinuous yet firm and mocking presence of the camels by Néstor Martín Fernández de la Torre, thus combining elements of the island’s culture and idiosyncrasy, present in the island’s imaginary.

In this way, image and sound embraced in Plaza de Santa Ana to project into the skies of the day, the sunset, and finally the night, the profile and echo of a Gran Canaria that is both local and universal, always different, with its gaze set on the past and the future.