Saturday 28
After a greeting to Monviso that peeped through a clear, cloudless sky, the morning opened with a talk by Francesca Sammartino, winner of the Historic Minorities in Italy Prize, who recounted the resilience of Croatian-Molisan, Croatian-Molisean, or as they call it na-našo (literally “ in our own way”). Representing his Agostina Piccoli Foundation, a foundation that keeps alive the language that his parents Agostina Piccoli and Antonio Sammartino so strongly defended.
Francesca told us how the Croatian language developed in Molise more than five hundred years ago, following the escape from Ottoman persecution, and then remained isolated, far from Croatia, developing autonomously and being contaminated by Italian and Molisian: in Montemitro and three other municipalities in the province of Campobasso, about a thousand people today speak, sing (podcast “Čujemo se”) and make culture in na-našo (Featival MAK).
Young Prize Berta Dávilaimmediately afterwards made an important appeal to the Galician people, making a point of abandoning the so-called “polite bilingualism,” sacrificing some privileges to keep Galicia’s voice alive.
After a lunch en convivencia, space for memory and music! The director Bruno Genotti presentated official videoclip of Sans raitz pas de flors.
Right after, Kristian Braz, Special Prize‘s winner, brought touching testimonies from Britain, telling stories of activists arrested for harboring Basque militants, with a lucid look at the complexity of the language struggle in France.
A concludere il pomeriggio, il Premio Traduzione, l’irlandese Éamon Ó Ciosáin, ci ha portato nella sua magica terra, a ballare tra i púca, affascinando i presenti con un viaggio tra gaelico, bretone e francese. Uno studioso eclettico e generoso, nel parlare delle lingue e nel condividerle, sia nel suo lavoro che nel suo intervento durante il Premio Ostana.
A night filled with energy, music and reflection warmed the heart of Ostana. After sharing a good polenta all together, the audience was treated to the long-awaited Marie Olga Sohantenaina Music Award, better known as “Olga del Madagascar”. The artist took the audience on a unique sonic journey, where traditional Malagasy rhythms intertwined with the sounds of Ostana Collective, resulting in a surprising and engaging musical dialogue.
During the meeting, moderated by Flavio Giacchero, Olga did more than just sing: she told her story, made up of everyday life lived between roots and future, and shared the deep connection with Madagascar’s spiritual traditions, which still guide and direct the life of her community. But it is above all through her music that Olga delivered a clear and powerful message: the protection of Madagascar isn’t just a local issue. In the face of the severe effects of climate change and the indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources, her island represents a global symbol of the fragility of ecosystems and the urgency of collective awareness.
Photo: Fabio Ferrero and Luca Percivalle
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