The village of Santa Clara-a-Velha, in the municipality of Odemira, is one of the finalists in the contest “Maravilhas de Portugal Villages” and will compete for the victory in the category of “Riverside Villages” with Dornes (Ferreira do Zêzere).
This Sunday, July 9th, the locality of the Alentejo coast council hosted the first gala of “Aldeias Maravilhas”, broadcast by RTP, and which had Catarina Furtado and José Carlos Malato as presenters.
The Alentejo village, located very close to the Santa Clara dam, was one of the two villages most voted for by the Portuguese, and its choice was greatly celebrated by the population who watched the live television broadcast.
In this category, another five locations were also in the competition: Aldeia da Luz, Escaroupim, Furnas, Sete Cidades and Vilarinho de Negrões.
After the announcement of the choice of Santa Clara-a-Velha, José Alberto Guerreiro, mayor of Odemira, joked: «after all, playing at home has its advantages».
The mayor from Odemir also announced that he would fulfill his promise to "take several dips" in the Santa Clara dam, if the village made it to the final. "I already have the shorts waiting," he added, in good spirits.
And José Alberto Guerreiro may once again have reasons to smile, since the municipality of Odemira has another candidate village for “wonderful”, Zambujeira do Mar, which competes in the category of “Sea Villages”.
This was the first of seven eliminatory galas, dedicated to the different categories, with the villages being voted only during the course of the event, which lasts about two hours, by telephone calls. At each gala, two finalist villages are selected, which proceed to the final voting phase (from 27th August to 3rd September).
As the project's musical mentor, Producer Tavolanostra chose Tatanka, vocalist of The Black Mamba, who, throughout the galas, will provide “unique and intimate” acoustic moments with the guest artists. In Santa Clara-a-Velha, it was the fado singer Raquel Tavares who took the stage.
According to the organization of the 7 Maravilhas, «other special moments are reserved each night, with the joint interpretation of themes from traditional Portuguese music, with the presence of an artist or group from each region». These performances will be marked “by simplicity, moments of contemporary dance, they will be moments of tribute to the essence of our people and the beauty of our territory”.
After this first event dedicated to the riverside villages, the gala in Paderne (Albufeira), on 16 July, with the Rural Villages (where the village of Cachopo, Tavira is also nominated), and Azenhas do Mar (Sintra), will follow. on the 23rd, with Aldeias de Mar (where he is still applying for Ferragudo, Lagoa).
The gala of Aldeias Remotas is scheduled for the 30th, in Branda da Aveleira (Melgaço), and the one of Aldeias Autênticas takes place in Podence (Macedo de Cavaleiros), on the 6th of August. In this last category, Alte (Loulé) is the candidate Algarvian village.
Monsanto (Idanha-a-Nova) receives the Gala of Aldeias Monumento (where Estoi is nominated, Faro), on 13 August, and Porto Martins, on Terceira Island (Azores), the gala of Villages in Protected Areas (which has Bordeira, Aljezur, as a candidate), on 20 August.
On August 27th, RTP broadcasts a program dedicated to the 14 villages counted, followed by a week of voting. It is in Piódão (Arganil), on September 3rd, that the chosen ones will be known, at the final gala.
At the upcoming galas, the guest artists are Os Azeitonas, António Zambujo, Áurea, Mariza Liz, The Black Mamba, Ana Bacalhau, Lúcia Moniz and Luísa Sobral. These are performances that aim to portray, «in an abstract way, the experiences, diversity, essence, beauty and pride in our territory», showing «the village as a living place».
See (or review) here the Gala das Aldeias Ribeirinhas, in Santa a Clara-a-Velha (Odemira)
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