• A Spotify playlist: creatively explosive music in minority languages

• Video: the last talk I gave about the Occitan digital space (in Occitan)

• I interview a rock singer about the Sardinian language and culture

• The Ostana Prize 2024: the most magic language festival is back this weekend

• 4 calls and events: 

     - The Occitan Summer School reaches its 50th edition

     - The "Eurovision of minority languages" is looking for candidates! (deadline 1st July)

     - A theater performance about the extinction of languages needs help

     - The HIGA Alumni Conference: promising young language activists

I've been wanting to write for months. And I didn't know how. After the turbulence and the psychic earthquake that this 2024 is presenting me, I haven't found a moment of peace to make my newsletter, which for me is a precious space of communication with my community (ah, the guilt... hello again, friend ).

 

The challenges at work have demanded a lot of energy, and almost without realising it, very little by little, the stress was catching up with me, the tension was rising on my shoulders, and the ghosts of the past were reactivated with the muscle memory of old tensions and old wounds.

 

In the last few months I have not been able to take care of myself enough and my efforts to prioritise myself have not saved me from a great unbalance in my being. In January I had found a space of balance that I hadn't achieved in years, but ah, how ephemeral and fragile. The frustration towards "the outside" and towards everything that I blame in the system (work, social, capitalist, urban system) and in my family (also "outside") did not let me see the tools that I have inside of me and which I could have activiated (actually the only thing that is in my hands) to give myself an easier ride.

It's really hard to see, because the suffering is real.

 

What I was most afraid of was what I needed most: to let go. Releasing projects. "What what?" WTF WTF WTFFFF. "But my language projects are the closest thing to my soul!". "If I leave things that matter to me, I lose my only chance to change the world and contribute by planting my seed!". "If I leave projects, my frustration with the world that just doesn't allow me to have time to do my projects will grow!".

The head's voice did not shut up. The monkey is always there. No no no no nononono neinnnnn.

 

And finally I let go:

 

Relief - projects off, and a big burden off [but welcome fear of the void, FOMO, regret, doubt whether it was the right decision]. I want to remind myself that one thing does not take away the other: yes, I have responsibility for my life - I value myself, I listen to myself, I validate that I am doing everything I can, I do everything I know -, and at the same time the society and the current system is the cause of many things that hurt me and that make us sick. What is happening around the world is horrible and it makes me very sad. We talked about it at the Sacred Activism Gathering held in Montenegro in May with activists from all over Europe and from Palestine (some fight for peace, others to protect rivers and nature, others for LGTBI rights and for the indigenous right to land).

 

I want to share a phrase that has been on my mind lately. It's by James Baldwin, and it's slightly modified: in the original context it talks about being black in the United States (I don't want to reduce its symbolic weight), but here I use it to extrapolate it to the psychological challenge of living in this era - "to be relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage almost all the time".

 

Now I am still in crisis, and at the same time I am at peace. I feel like a butterfly and extroverted, and I need a tank of personal space. I am extremely selective about who I spend my time with, alert, and I am also available. I am tired, and resting. Bitter and discouraged, but with strength to keep fighting. This newsletter is not a finished state: it is a p r o c e s s. A process of holding dychotomy because both opposites are true at the same time. And since the now has to do with personal rhythms, and I'm researching about the energetic processes of my body and discovering things, I feel like calling the newsletter CIRCADIANA (femenine gender of the noun ‘Circadian’ in Catalan & Occitan).

You can subscribe if you haven't yet, or send this to someone who wants to subscribe. 

Opt in to the Catalan and Occitan versions of the newsletter here

JUNE 2024 · MY CONTENT FOR YOU

Inspired by the creative explosion of musical collabs like Björk's (in the cover) with Rosalia, and by the light that Jamila Al-Yousef radiated - she's a German-Palestinian artist that came to Montenegro's gathering (she was born on the day the Berlin wall came down). As always, songs in many languages (endangered and majority languages as well)

I INTERVIEWED A ROCK SINGER

Emanuele just released a new album and it is called TERRA!

THE MOST MAGICAL LANGUAGE FESTIVAL IS BACK

📍 Ostana (Po Valley - Occitan Valleys, Piedmont, Italy)

MY LAST TALK (not available in English)

LANGUAGE CALLS AND EVENTS

l'Escòla Occitana d'Estiu (Occitan Summer School)

A summer camp for adults and youth COMPLETELY in Occitan. This oasis of “normality” for the Occitan language and culture has been celebrated for 49 summers in a row and reachers its 50th edition this year. 

With Chambra d'Òc we'll be teaching a course “History, culture and civilization of the Occitan Valleys of Italy” (“Istòria, cultura e civilizacion de las Valadas occitanas d'Italia”). Yay!

 

HIGA ALUMNI is a conference for young speakers of minority languages to share ideas and experience about language revitalization (created after HIGA Gasteiz, the Young Summit of Minority Language Speakers celebrated in the Basque Country every 2 years).

 

Some presentations will be done in an indigenous language, and all of them will be available in English or Spanish.

Liet International has been held every 2 years since 2002. The previous edition was held in TØnder in 2022, German minority area of ​​Denmark. I attended and it was a blast (full gala here). A true Eurovision-style competition, with minorities from all over Europe; a humble, simple, but effective organisation. And so much drama and emotion during the scoring!

The gala is open to the general public!

Rebekka Bangerter is a Swiss theater creator who organises a residency to create a performance to reflect on the loss of languages. The research residency will take place in September/October at Gessnerallee Zurich. She already has enough people for the residency but she is still looking for the experience of people who want to tell him about their personal experience.