MURGA IN BELGIUM
The initiative
In 2006 the organisation Fiëbre (now Murga) decided to take some action. Antwerp, the second most diverse city in the world, was suffering from a lack of intercultural dialogue and from growing frustration and negativity (majority votes for the ultra right party, racist crimes, etc.). Fiëbre used the concept of street murgas in Argentina to shift focus from the countries of origin of the Antwerp citizens towards the environment or area they live in. People living in the same neighbourhood can start a murga that can voice the identity of that neighbourhood.
Read more about the tradition and history of murga under ROOTS.
Our mission:
moreMurga vzw* wants to enhance social cohesion and cultural participation through a low threshold project with room for artsitic development.
Murga vzw uses a neutral and accessible form of street art; a murga is a contemporary collective of people who work with four basic disciplines: music, dance, word and costume.
*vzw = an organisation with no goals for financial benefits
What is a murga?
A murga is a contemporary street band that is linked with a certain street, area or environment and that uses four basic disciplines: music, dance, word and costume. Murga represents the identity of the group and employs the individual talents of all its participants. Within a murga anything goes; all styles are permitted and literally everyone can join in.
moreA first Murga Parade took place in June 2007 in the centre of Antwerp with nine murgas. Two years later the initiative grew outside the city’s limits of its own accord; nowadays active murgas can be found in the provinces of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant and East Flanders. See list of murgas for an overview.
The Belgian murgas have a very different style than those of Argentina or Uruguay, as they are free to chose their own style of costumes, music and dance, that best expresses their own identity. Every murga makes use of the same four disciplines (music, dance, word, costume) but adapt these to the style of their choice. Each murga has a first and a last name. The first name is chosen by themselves, the last name is the street, area or neighbourhood they are linked with. (e.g. Sentimento Verde of Antwerp North, Lamourgaga of Arenberg,...)
For extra artistic input, Murga offers the murgas a series of workshops and coachings by professional artists. Apart from that we focus every year on a different discipline and include artistic organisation to give input. A proces coach and an artistic coach help the murgas form their own artistic and social identity.
A murga year
Each murga year starts with an event to kick off the new year, conveniently called Murga Kick-Off. During winter and spring the murgas rehearse and get their shows ready for the grand finale on the last Saturday of June, the big Murga Parade, where all active murgas join in to show their best work to the public in the streets. A number of other events are organized throughout the year, like the annual Soup Attack, a wintry happening where murgas make soups with only four ingredients (cfr. the four disciplines) and the best one wins the Golden Ladle. There is also a yearly event marked by the topic of the year. Every year a specific topic is chosen to elaborate on (e.g. costume, word, dance, …); the topic-event centres around that year’s topic. Take a look in our calendar for this year’s events.
Throughout the year murgas will shake their feathers at various festivals, parties and community events. The murgas are in charge of their own concerts, so whoever wants to book a murga is advised to contact them directly.
MURGA INTERNATIONAL
Not only the history of murga is one of crossing borders, its future also shines with international colours!
The international murga impulses originate from the international contacts of the murgas and their participants. Murga vzw maps all these movements, offers exchange of information and expertise and monitors the correct use of the murga name. But the actual projects are executed by individuals or organisations, with whom Murga builds partnerships.
In the fall of 2009 a First International Murga Forum was held in the cities of Antwerp and Leuven (Belgium), with speakers from Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa, Spain and Italy. This forum was a First step towards the development of an international murga network. Murga vzw wil make efforts to expand this network. During the fall of 2010 a second International Murga Forum will take place in Antwerp.
An overview of the current international murga movements monitored by Murga vzw:
Africa
moreWhile in 2007 Antwerp was slowly becoming enchanted by murga, a delegation of participants Lamourgaga, of one of the Antwerp murgas, travelled to South Africa, together with world music band The Internationals and dance organisation Danspunt, in an effort to start up an exchange project with the Ipelegeng Community Centre in Soweto. The people in Soweto got a taste of murga and some of them joined Lamourgaga in the 2008 Antwerp Murga Parade in June. In the fall of 2008 another delegation of murga participants went to Soweto to really lay the foundations of a Sowetan murga. Murga Nathi was born! In June, 2009 participants of Murga Nathi travelled to Antwerp to join in the annual Parade as a proper murga. Murga Nathi now is an autonomous murga thanks to local partners in Soweto.
In December, 2009 participants of Lamourgaga, Murgalova and Murga Nathi went to Mozambique to found a murga, and soon enough Murga Xigovi was a fact.
Adama, a Malinese musician that performed on stage with Lamourgaga and Murga Nathi in the summer of 2009, took the concept of murga to his homeland Mali where Murga Khasso was created.
Since 2008, a participant of Murga Kinebaba has been working with a band in Kinshasa (Congo) towards their transformation into a murga.
Europe
moreIn 2003, a group of Argentinian immigrants in Italy created La Mala Murga, inspired by the murgas from Buenos Aires. This led to the later creation of new groups called La Murga Sin Permiso, Los Adoquines de Spartaco, Murga Patas Arriba and Ladymurga. All of them stay true to the Argentinian style and try to voice the reality of current Italy through their lyrics and music. Murga Patas Arriba has visited Antwerp twice in 2009, where they participated in the Murga Parade and the Murga Kick-Off.
In Madrid, a street theatre company named La Llave Inglesa created a murga for the occasion of the Murga Kick-Off in 2008, to which they had been invited by Murga vzw.
Murga is also in touch with an Argentinian-style murga in Valencia by the name of Murga Lunatika.
Interest in the murga project arised in Rotterdam in 2009 in view of the International Community Arts Festival in 2011. At the beginning of 2010 a project was launched for the creation of one or more neighbourhood-related murgas in Rotterdam.
South America
moreHundreds of murgas exist in Argentina, there is a strong murga tradition that, even though mitigated by dictatorial regimes in the seventies and eighties, goes back for more than a century (see roots). Murga vzw got in touch with a number of these murgas through an exchange project called ‘Ceci n’est pas una murga’. The project was led by Andrés Lübbert, filmmaker, and Enrique Noviello, an Argentian immigrant in Belgium that participated in a murga in Buenos Aires before his migration. Enrique and Andrés travelled to Buenos Aires with eight Belgian murgueros (murga participants) in search for the real roots of murga. Together with local murgas (La Matraca, Los Quitapenas, Agáratte Catalina, Los Bohemios de Lugano, Los Atrevidos por Costumbre) in Buenos Aires they performed during the carnival and followed workshops in the four murga disciplines. The name 'Ceci n'est pas una murga', derived from the famous painting by Magritte, represents the surrealism of Belgian murgas compared to the Argentinian tradition. Belgian murgas are after all influenced by different styles, while the murgas in Argentina are characterised by their percussion, shining outfits and acrobatic dance steps. The documentary made by Andrés Lübbert offers an insight in the confrontation and exchange between two very different traditions, though belonging to the same family.
ROOTS
moreMurga has been a tradition in South America since the late nineteenth century, where many influences from different continents came together. Spain, Cuba and Africa all take up a large part in the history of murga..
Spain
Although few sources mention it, Spain is a key element in the history of murga. Cádiz, a place in the west of Spain, has a very long-known tradition of ‘chirigotas’, carnivalesque music formations that make use of a choir, chanting humoristic lyrics and holding 7 to 15 people, and that perform in the streets of the city. Once a year, during carnival, a big competition is held between the different chirigotas. They play on dozens of open stages throughout the city. Migration waves also took chirigota abroad; in South America chirigota ended up being assimilated into the local carnival traditions.
Africa
The African influence on murga has two sides. On the one hand there where many black Cuban immigrants in Cádiz who indirectly influenced the evolution of chirigota. On the other hand there was a large black slave population in South America, whose rhythms made their way into the local carnival traditions. Also the word ‘murga’ presumably stems from an African word, but this has not been confirmed sofar.
Uruguay
Carnival traditions in Uruguay were influenced by the chirigota and the rhythms of candombe, the preeminent example of African rhythms that makes use of a set of three different drums. Murgas in Uruguay have 17 members, of which 13 singers (chirigota choir), 3 percussionists (canombe) and a director. A show lasts 45 minutes and focuses on vocals, theatre and lyrics. During the 40 days of carnival murgas perform all around the cities on open air stages and a lot of them participate in the official contest, a concept that was copied directly from the Cádiz model.
Argentina
Murgas in Argentina are a part of national folklore since the end of the 19th century. Until 1966 thousands of murgas thrived all over the country. They consisted exclusively of men and performed mostly in the streets, where they danced and chanted critical, funny and even vulgar lyrics. Murga was a place of freedom and creation and offered participants the opportunity to ‘travel’ to other neighbourhoods where they performed with local murgas.
From 1966 onwards, murga was suppressed by the consequent dictatorships, who put pressure on all forms of public freedom. Eventually carnival was completely banished and the official holidays were eliminated from the national calendar, a fact that has remained unchanged ever since.
With the arrival of democracy in the eighties some people, among which Coco Romero, started working on a revival of murga. Between 1988 and 1996 the number of murgas rose from 8 to 100. This revival was partially possible because of a renewed interpretation of murga that was more liberal (women were admitted) and less rigid.
Murgas in Argentina have a very particular style. Their rhythm is marked by a bombo con platillo (bass drum with cimbal), their steps are acrobatic jumps and their costumes are shine long overcoats, white gloves and top hats. Currently some 250 murgas exist all over Argentina and carnival is again celebrated every year with lots of colour and enthousiasm. To get a good idea of Argentinian murga, watch this video.
Chile
In Chile there are several murgas, most of which are street murgas like in Argentina. Nevertheless, since the creation of murga La Urdemales in 2006 by the Uruguayan Edu ‘Pitufo’ Lombarda, a new trend was born, inspired by the murgas in Uruguay.
Colombia
Even in Colombia several murgas are active. They all follow the Argentinian model but transform it with their own dance movements, music and folklore.