I went to Sa Pobla yesterday and I had a good time there. There was plenty of music in Sa Pobla, good, vibrant, rhythmic, traditional music. I love music, and I do like Mallorcan traditional folk music very much.

The pueblo of Sa Pobla, bang in the middle of the island, was the meeting place this weekend just gone for Mallorca’s Collas de Xeremiers, the small groups of musicians playing traditional instrumental Mallorcan music. A good number of musicians play the Xeremía instrument here on the island, a bagpipe not all that dissimilar to the Scottish Highland version but still, quite distinct. A Colla is normally a duet composed of the Mallorcan bagpipe with a second musician playing both, the Flabiol (tabor pipe) and a small Tamborí (drum). The Trobada de Xeremiers is an annual event. I don’t know where they might have met last year, but, in 2009, the meeting was held in Mancor de la Vall. Yesterday’s meet was the 17th such event.

Sa Pobla held its annual Fira de Tardor yesterday, and the Xeremiers meeting was an added bonus event. There was also a Fira de Luthiers, a trade fair where the instrument makers could show off their handmade bagpipes, drums, pipes, flutes, Ocarinas, Ximbombas and Xerracs. The music played on these instruments is believed to originally have come from the Occitania area of France and is said to have been brought to Mallorca with the Catalan conquest in 1229. Initially, this music was played by minstrels, to accompany bards and to be listened to by the nobility, but since, has become a widely spread popular tradition. In Spain, this type of music is only played in the Illes Balears, in Catalunya and in the Valencia region.

The photos were taken in Sa Pobla, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: November 27th, 2011. The time was 14:21:33, 13:50:46 and 13:52:09.