With Os Andares, a group of theater, documentary film, poetry, and music artists produced six sound walks in some of the most magical spaces of the Ancares Mountains of Lugo, in Spain.

This collection of six sound walks is one of the shortlisted pieces for the Sound Walk September Awards 2024.
Below, the three directors, Iria Acevedo and Jose Díaz, from Fósforo Arte & Cultura, and Marcos PTT, from Galiza Emocional, talk about the project.

Sound journeys, is the name we give to what is commonly known as Sound Walks for this project. We like to say that they are like a film in which we provide the sound and route, and your eyes become the camera.

If you have a moment, we invite you to watch this video presentation, which may explain more than we could tell you. We also have it in Galician.

The Ancares of Lugo, declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2006, are one of the most significant mountainous areas in northwestern Spain. Located in the province of Lugo, Galicia, they are renowned for their valuable natural and cultural heritage.

The designation of this area as part of the Natura 2000 Network has helped protect its biodiversity and natural environment, but it has also introduced certain limitations on economic development.
The local economy is mainly based on agriculture, livestock, and craftsmanship, but climate change has impacted these activities and biodiversity, underscoring the need for sustainable conservation efforts.

Since the 1960s, the Ancares have experienced major demographic shifts, especially due to a mass migration of young people to cities and industrial areas in search of better opportunities. This exodus, particularly pronounced in the 1960s and 70s, has resulted in severe depopulation.

In the last two decades, a more sustainable rural development model has been promoted, focusing on ecotourism, organic food production, and revitalizing local traditions. However, the average age in rural villages, which ranges from 55 to 60, is even higher in more isolated areas where much of the population is over 65.
This demographic aging poses serious challenges, including difficulties in providing basic services, healthcare, and maintaining community vitality.

The population of the Ancares has declined by more than 70%, from 35,000 inhabitants to fewer than 7,000, with projections to reach 3,000 by mid-century. Depopulation and the lack of sustainable economic opportunities remain critical issues for the region.

The figures above highlight a central theme: Progress and Extinction. This duality, expressed in various ways by many of the people we interviewed, serves as a unifying element in the series. The roads built to bring progress to these villages ultimately contributed to the departure of their inhabitants.

Through these journeys, we aim to offer travelers a new perspective on how to experience this space. By getting to know the environment more intimately, we gain a deeper appreciation of its value. The immersive experience we propose leaves an emotional impact on the traveler, and the sound format, which is invisible like augmented reality, allows the audience of The Andares to pass through the territory without altering or harming it.

Understanding the past is essential to building a conscious present and ensuring a sustainable future. This link between emotion and knowledge is crucial; without memory, we have no history, and as humans, we are made of stories

Our philosophy

This project stems from an artistic vision. All three directors are artists with backgrounds in teaching, cultural management, and various forms of activism, but our primary experience is in creating and producing contemporary theater.

We view art as a tool for social transformation—whether through reflection, advocacy, or action—and, as artists, we understand that te art industry often obstructs this transformative potential.

This realization inspired us to create Fósforo as a platform for designing and producing artistic projects outside the traditional art industry. Our aim is to channel talent and creative processes toward educational, social, and sustainability projects.

Our work closely involves handling experimentation, risk, limited resources, and a strong sense of purpose (both in the internal motivation of our team and in how we communicate our work). These values are essential for our approach to projects, yet they are often difficult to manage within more conventional public or private structures, even those with greater resources for social transformation.

Since we are not archaeologists, anthropologists, economists, or biologists, our research may lack in-depth specialization in these fields. However, our goal is not to dig deeply into any one field but to connect them all, providing a holistic view of the Lucense Ancares mountains and linking this knowledge to the emotional heritage of the people in this region.

We believe that people only take care of what they love, and they only love what they know. Therefore, The Andares aims to create an emotional connection between the traveler and the space they inhabit or visit. To convey emotions, nothing is more effective than art. Using the narrative tools of cinema, theater, poetry, and music, in which we specialize, we reflect on and share the many layers of heritage (past, present, and future) of a region that urgently needs care from all, not just those who live there.

Notes on the Process

The process presented several constraints that our directing team had to consider, with time being the main one.

Although Fósforo and Galiza Emocional embrace a process-oriented approach, the funding we received was tied to the logic of the (misnamed) Cultural Industries, which are focused on achieving a “product” within a six-month reporting period.

Nonetheless, we recognize that the budget was generous by theater standards, and the team’s commitment was unwavering.

But the reality was that we barely knew the area, and we had only three and a half months to carry out fieldwork, creating six pieces and identifying six itineraries across a large territory.

We used an ethnographic method, applied intuitively and informally. After all, we were not bound by scientific rigor, as our goal was to evoke emotion, provide information, and ask questions rather than answer them outright. (Important questions often carry their own answers, but that’s another matter.)

Our strategy for connecting with the area was to seek out respected and well-loved figures who would serve as community ambassadors, with two main goals:

1. To introduce us to people worth interviewing for their life stories, knowledge of the area, wisdom, or age. We sought scientists, entrepreneurs, and lesser-known figures (women and caretakers frequently emerge in these cases), “anonymous” individuals who may not be outspoken or hold formal positions of influence. We aimed to meet them in a relaxed way, avoiding the impression of “arriving with a recorder in hand.”
2. To identify areas of geographic, scientific, or historical significance that would be suitable for one of our routes, while avoiding content overlap. Some towns are already culturally vibrant, so we preferred to strengthen places with less activity and, above all, to ensure that our work served the community. We aimed to avoid any sense of “urban outsiders imposing on local life” and instead sought to integrate with and support existing community initiatives.

Apart from these considerations, there were practical aspects: the routes shouldn’t be too physically demanding, should be reasonably accessible, and should take place in locations where the arrival of a group of visitors wouldn’t be disruptive.

Our project seeks quality over quantity in visitors. We are not aiming for mass attendance but rather a lasting impact by attracting small groups and individuals who appreciate the area’s tranquility.

The Artistic Process

All these aspects required careful planning and design in the initial stages of the project at the technical, ethical, and content levels. But as artists, we couldn’t overlook the creative process.

Once the potential routes were identified and the first phase of meetings and interviews completed, we invited the other playwrights to join us in a residency to collaborate on writing and creating the sound journeys.

At our central base—a beautiful house in the center of A Proba de Navia—Avelina Pérez, Clara Gayo, and María Lado joined us to spend a few days learning the routes, conducting their own interviews, and reviewing materials collected by the directing team in the preceding weeks.

We are proud of the outcome, despite a few errors caused by time constraints (or the vastness and complexity of the territory and realities we set out to cover).

For example, in one of the routes, after completing the process, we encountered a local farmer who uses the route daily and was entirely opposed to its existence. Unfortunately, we believe that if we had met him earlier, he might have embraced the initiative.

Alternatively, we could have avoided that route to prevent conflicts, as ensuring harmony with the local community is crucial to us.

The main reason for his opposition was the frustration that field workers in the area feel due to the continuous lack of respect shown by many pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. This route has become heavily commercialized and overcrowded, with many pilgrims acting inconsiderately, often ignoring their surroundings as they focus on completing stages in a marathon-like manner. His grievances are entirely valid.

We tried to mediate, explaining that our route would not be intrusive or attract mass crowds, but so far, we have not reached a mutual understanding. As a result, that particular journey remains available but is promoted less actively, functioning as a sort of “Easter egg” for those who discover it.

In any case, we still have some work to do in this area and continue to search for solutions, even outside the original budget, to ensure the project’s continued integration. Our time in the Ancares brought us close to people who have since become our friends, and friends deserve care and respect.

The winner and honourable mention of the SWS Awards 2024 will be announced around the start of 2025.