Jazz funeral in Gran Canaria protests urban change

The streets of Guanarteme, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, will host an unusual and deeply symbolic event this Sunday, 11 May: a funeral. Under the name Funeral Jazz, local residents and community groups have organised a procession that will set off at midday from the former Cine Guanarteme at 163 Fernando Guanarteme Street, and make its way to Plaza del Pilar, where it will conclude with a symbolic farewell ceremony.

A neighbourhood under pressure

The initiative, led by the groups Guanarteme Se Mueve and Derecho al Techo, aims to denounce what they describe as a sustained process of urban transformation that is irreversibly altering the social fabric of the neighbourhood. “For decades, it has suffered from processes of displacement, speculation and loss of community identity,” they state in a joint statement from both organisations.

Music and explanatory stops along the route

Jazz music, a genre born from grief and resistance, will accompany participants along the itinerary, which will include explanatory stops at various points around the neighbourhood. At each stop, specific issues will be addressed, including: pressure on the housing market, the spread of tourism, the impact of the current General Urban Development Plan (PGOU), and the loss of community spaces.

The organisers are encouraging attendees to dress in black or mourning attire, and to bring banners, flowers or farewell messages. The event will also be recorded as part of a collective audiovisual project seeking to document local memory and the forms of resistance that exist today in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and specifically in the Guanarteme neighbourhood.

Community gathering after the procession

After the main event, a communal gathering will be held at Plaza del Pilar, in the Huerto La Ventana community garden on Lepanto Street, as a way to close the day “from a perspective of life and community, not just grief.”

More than a symbolic act

Derecho al Techo insists that what is happening in Guanarteme is not an isolated phenomenon, but rather a reflection of a trend affecting numerous neighbourhoods across Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. “This action is not just a symbolic act of mourning, but also a collective way of asserting the right to remain in our neighbourhoods and to defend a city designed for those who live in it,” the organisers stress.

In a context where access to housing has become one of the most pressing social problems across the Canary Islands, the Funeral Jazz aims to be more than just a protest: an exercise in memory, community and resistance against what residents are experiencing as a collective bereavement, they conclude.

Source

Jazz funeral in Gran Canaria protests urban change