Councillor for Culture Sara Fernández has defended the idea that the songs accompanying the proclamation reflect popular will and the event’s own evolution. She also recalled that the repertoire is adapted each year to its performers and highlighted the reception given to Mar Giménez’s performance, which opened the latest proclamation with an interpretation of "El olor de Zaragoza": "It was very well received, and it was very moving and beautiful," she said.
Fernández distinguished between the two compositions that have become established parts of the event. Regarding José Antonio Labordeta’s "Canto a la Libertad," she explained that the audience began singing it spontaneously during the 2009 proclamation, when the singer-songwriter himself was responsible for reading it. After it was repeated the following year, it became an official tradition in 2011. The councillor stressed that it is a matter of identity and recalled that there was even a movement advocating for it to become Aragon’s official anthem.
VOX PROPOSES A POLL WITH SEVERAL JOTAS TO CHOOSE THE REPERTOIRE
The debate, however, set Labordeta aside and focused on "S'ha feito de nuey," a song by Pepe Lera that was added to the proclamation in 2022, when the world of jota was chosen to lead the event. Fernández explained that the decision was then made to include a piece linked to the genre and that a subsequent public poll supported continuing to perform it. Flores, however, pointed out that the consultation asked whether it should be included, but did not allow voters to choose between different compositions.
"I believe there are many jotas, and repeating the same one every year impoverishes jota itself," said the Vox councillor, who called for a poll with several options so that Zaragoza residents could express their preference over which piece should be performed during the proclamation. In his view, the tradition has a much broader and more varied repertoire than the one represented by maintaining a single piece.
Among the alternatives, Flores mentioned the jota of the Sites of Zaragoza, which, in his opinion, could also represent the city. The councillor also questioned whether the chosen composition should be in Fabla and summed up his position in one phrase: "Whether it is in Fabla or not, that also has its significance. As far as I know, nobody in Zaragoza speaks Fabla." In response to this call for renewal, Fernández defended the continuation of "S'ha feito de nuey," saying it is backed by the will expressed by the public.
