La Laguna will celebrate next 14th September, coinciding with the big day of the Fiestas del Cristo, La Noche del Patrimonio, the great cultural event held simultaneously by the fifteen towns that make up the Group of World Heritage Cities of Spain. The coincidence with the feast of Christ conditions this year’s programme, which will be smaller, but at the same time provides a symbolic value to the event, when La Laguna is about to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its inscription on the UNESCO List.

“The Heritage Night is an exceptional celebration that unites the 15 Cities of our Group in a common goal of opening up to visitors, enjoying a living heritage and offering an experience full of art, culture and tradition”, says the Mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, who also recalls the fact that this edition closes the programme on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Group.

Heritage Night is divided into three sections, common to all 15 cities. The Department of Heritage of La Laguna, directed by Adolfo Cordobés, has prepared a specific programme around the premiere of ‘Lagunkak’, a dance piece created for the occasion by the Basque company Kukai Dantza. It is an event that celebrates and fuses contemporary dance with the cultural roots of the Canary Islands, particularly those of La Laguna, thanks to the collaboration between the choreographer and dancer Jon Maya, winner of the National Dance Award, and the artist Rogelio Botanz from La Laguna.

The title ‘Lagunak’ corresponds to the city chosen to develop this artistic dialogue, and, in turn, its translation into Basque is ‘friend’. A title that sums up the spirit of this intercultural encounter. Tangible and intangible heritage come together in a dialogue where architecture, music, dance and the silbo of the Canary Islands and the Basque Country merge in a dialogue.

The day will begin in the square of the old convent of Santo Domingo at 17:00. A whistled message emitted from the mountain of San Roque to the bell tower of Santo Domingo will give the starting signal for a member of the Association of Bell Ringers of La Laguna to begin ringing the tajaraste with the bells. The Danza de Los Viejos de Las Mercedes and the Caballitos de Fuego will join in, inviting you to immerse yourself in a contemporary dance performance that reimagines the tajaraste with a fresh and emotional perspective.

Once inside the convent, the show will finish in the Escena Patrimonio section, with the live musical participation of Rogelio Botanz, the group Percuteras de Garaldea, the violinist Arkaitz Miner and the Basque percussionists Mairi and Xalbat Maya, and Roge Botanz from the Canary Islands. The fusion of the styles of Jon Maya and Ico Botanz promises to offer a show that will connect deeply with the audience, celebrating the meeting of two cultural identities from a contemporary perspective. At the end, the members of ‘Lagunak’ will leave the old convent in a parade that will reach the Plaza del Adelantado. This route will be enlivened by the sounds of drums, chácaras, whistles, bucios and whistles, with the special participation of shepherd’s flute players, who have come from the island of La Palma for the occasion.

Once in the Plaza del Adelantado, the participatory workshops will begin, as part of the Vive Patrimonio section. For approximately two hours, those interested will be able to approach the cultural manifestations with which the show has been created: Dancing tajaraste, with the Danza de los viejos de Las Mercedes; Playing tajaraste, with Percuteras de Garaldea (chácaras and drums); Dressing a little fire horse, by members of the Scout Aguere collective and the Asociación de Vecinos Casco Histórico; Playing the La Palma shepherd’s flute; Making Canarian percussion instruments, with the Majiñeñe workshop; Silbar gomero, by the Asociación Cultural Silbo Gomero; Saving distances, with the playing of bucios, bells, txalaparta…; and El zurrón del goomero, by members of the Asociación Cultural Silbo Gomero.and El zurrón del gofio.

These workshops are intended to be an educational space to bring the community closer to the musical traditions of Tenerife, encouraging participation and learning in a festive atmosphere, so the City Council of La Laguna invites all citizens to join in this celebration.

The opening of the city’s emblematic heritage sites, as part of the Open Heritage section, will be strongly conditioned on this occasion by the feast of Christ, although some of the city’s main architectural examples, such as the Anchieta House or the former convent of Santo Domingo, will be open to visitors.