The Gran Teatre del Liceu is the setting chosen by the Castellers de Vilafranca to celebrate, tomorrow, their 75th anniversary. They didn’t want the act to be just “self-indulgent or institutional” (both the president of the Generalitat and the president of the Parliament are expected to attend). The gala, hosted by Elisabet Carnicé and David Bagés, is a show directed by Joan Font, from Comediants, and written by Piti Español. The production is by Toni Albaladejo, from Anexa.
The leader of the group, Sisco Benet, states that “we have always had an innovative nature”. And its president, Carles Mata, recalls that they have already performed in such emblematic places as the Sagrada Família, the Camp Nou, the Palau de la Música or in front of the Statue of Liberty in New York. “Now, for us, performing at the Liceu is another great opportunity”, adds Mata. They have already been publicly congratulated by the chefs Ferran Adrià and Fermí Puig, the musical group Els Catarres, the singer and actress Elena Gadel or the journalist Antoni Bassas, who is born in a village in France.
The gang leader assures that “if we look back, we don’t do it with nostalgia”. He adds that “everyone looks with satisfaction at our trajectory, which has been marked by our stubbornness, struggle, innovation and by being constant”. For the current president, it is a “proud” to celebrate the 75th birthday. He says that it is celebrated in a very sweet moment, “both castle and social”. In fact, more than a hundred new castellers have been added this year, many of them young. They already have around 800 shirtless members and close to a thousand members. Who was president in the periods from 2002 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2016, Josep Cabré, known as Jou, highlights the strength and successes demonstrated by the castellan world after the pandemic.
His figures these 75 years are absolutely spectacular. They have already completed 659 nine-storey constructions (plus 42 of only crowned) and 325 of extra range (plus 94 of only crowned). They were founded in September 1948, under the guidance of the cavista Oriol Rosell, who was their first gang leader. They started with modest builds dressed in pink shirts, and later red. In 1956 they remained almost inactive due to internal disagreements. In 1957 they reorganized and adopted the current green color. That is why they are known as the greens.
From 1969 to 1974 the Castellers de Vilafranca made a very important qualitative leap and achieved the first eight-story castles. And in 1972 they won the Tarragona Castles Competition for the first time. In 1975 the gang made an important change in its structure: it went from an almost exclusive management of the gang boss to being governed by a collegiate technical team. In 1982 they experienced a split, when the Xicots de Vilafranca were created. 1983 and 1984 were years of recovery and consolidation of the basic eight-story buildings. In 1983 they acquired their current headquarters, Casa Via Raventós, known as Cal Figarot.
The final turning point for the greens came in 1985, when the first five-of-eight was completed. In 1987, the first nine-storey buildings were completed. From 1995, the group entered a spiral of success that has not stopped. They were the first to reach the tenth floor. In November they will close their 75th anniversary by erecting castles in front of the Teotihuacán pyramids or in Mexico City’s Constitution Square (Zócalo).
