mueca festival puerto de la cruz may 2026

Mueca: art surprises on every corner in Puerto de la Cruz

Art takes over the streets

Puerto de la Cruz can claim to be one of the cities with the highest density of artists per square metre until this Sunday, thanks to the International Street Art Festival. Just before midday on Saturday, José María Garrido and his wife Loly Gortázar, from La Rioja, approached the information point set up next to the Casa de la Aduana. There, Oswaldo Castillo, the information officer and cultural manager, was busy sharing details with the couple. “We got married and came to Puerto de la Cruz on our honeymoon. When we celebrated our thirtieth wedding anniversary we returned and discovered Mueca. We’ve been coming for four editions in a row now,” they explained.

From bongos to beats: a musical journey

Among the more than fifty activities on offer at around twenty locations in the heart of Puerto de la Cruz — stretching from the port esplanade to Lago Martiánez, the furthest points from each other — Oswaldo Castillo, the organiser manning the information stand, offered some recommendations. These included performances by the Puerto de la Cruz Municipal School of Music, a group directed since the 1998/99 academic year by Jesús Izquierdo of the Lasallian order. The school currently has seven teachers and three hundred students, offering classes in singing, percussion, piano, saxophone and guitar. Although the musicians had an early start to prepare at half past six in the morning, they performed at three portside locations: La Hoya, Esquivel and Quintana streets.

Among the students was Alberto Carrera, born in 1949 but a Tenerife resident for over forty years, ever since he settled in Puerto de la Cruz as a dentist. Two years ago, he swapped his pliers and other dental instruments for percussion instruments such as the bongos and tumbadora, which he has been learning to play for eight years — and he still flashes a perfect smile.

While strolling through the port’s Mueca festival, visitors are surprised by the musical project Flüa, born in Zurich but with a Canarian heart. Their music is immersive, blending chácaras (wooden clappers), lapas (shell percussion instruments), Silbo Gomero (the whistled language of La Gomera) and field recordings, all seasoned with electronic beats, tropical nuances and a sustainability message from the Music Street Art company.

Surprises at every crossing

Paraphrasing the saying that a rabbit can jump out of any bush, in Puerto de la Cruz during the International Street Art Festival, art surprises passers-by at every junction. Such is the case of the recital by the band Alizulh, formed in the summer of 2022 in Las Palmas, performing at the intersection of La Quinta and Carrillo streets. Héctor and Santi say it is their first Mueca. It all began with a friendship that led to compositions, including ‘Arrorró’, the track that opens their first LP and encapsulates their style of experimental, ambient and introspective electronic music. “We play all genres,” they say.

After the lunchtime lull, from two to four in the afternoon, when peace seems to settle in for recharging batteries, comes the appointment with Stefan Gög from La Máquina de la Música — a one-man band and instrument-making craftsman who, under a parasol, brings musical worlds to life on the move, this time on a side street of Agustín de Betancourt.

A festival for all ages

With Bloko’s percussion making the already worn-down port cobblestones tremble, the action moved to the dock area, where a wood magician seemed to hypnotise the crowd with his juggling. He is Federico Menini, with his show Llar, which gathered among the thousand-strong audience two former mayors of Puerto de la Cruz: the previous one, Marco González, and the current one, Leopoldo Afonso. And from seven in the evening onwards, Abubukkaka and the company of award-winning choreographer Daniel Abreu, with Selva, wrote art in capital letters — just like the sign at kilometre 32 of the motorway which on Saturday read: “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

This Sunday marks the last chance to enjoy this edition of Mueca, with one final date with the spectacle.

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