Dénia yesterday held an act of recognition for the first four women to join the Manuel Lattur School of Music, in 1978, and later, in 1981, at the Denia Musical Artistic Association. An act framed in the celebration of International Women's Day, in which each year a woman or group of women from Dianense society who have been pioneers in opening paths towards equality are distinguished.
Isabel Conejero, Alicia García, Julia Molinillo and Pilar Gilabert are those first women, girls in those years, who, as the mayor pointed out, Vicent Grimalt, “they were, without expecting it, with no more pretensions than to fulfill a dream or develop a hobby, one of those pioneering women who have shown many others, and the whole of society, that prejudices only serve to dismantle them”.
As indicated by the Councilor for Equality and Diversity, Javier Scotto, “with the presence of the woman, the Dénia band changed both in the environment and in the language; highlighting two important features: the humanization of the group took place and it was a great achievement for the participation of women in the cultural and social life of Denia”.
With this recognition that is granted every year, the Dénia City Council wants, in the words of Scotto, "to emphasize that there is a fundamental link between gender and progress in all areas". The councilor stressed that the inequalities that exist today between men and women in the music industry "are abysmal, especially in the field of classical music: discrimination, unfair salaries, lack of visibility and recognition... and it is time that women artists and composers come out of the shadow in which they have been”.
“They have taught me –he concluded- that music is freedom; therefore, that music promotes equal opportunities between men and women”.
But yesterday's act took the emotion even further, since the recognition of these four pioneers became, by a unanimous feeling shared by the participants and the public, in a tribute to Josep Cendra i Piera, director of the band of 1978 to 1996 and true promoter of the entrance of women in an exclusive world of men. The four honorees, without exception, thanked Pep Cendra for his help, the fact that he instilled in them a love for music, what he taught them... Also the mayor, Vicent Grimalt, a member of the Dénia Musical Artistic Association since he was young , affirmed that the other fundamental actor in this story is Pep Cendra, the architect of the group's opening to women, among other initiatives that endowed it with the human and social component that has accompanied its evolution ever since."
“The naturalness with which she starred in and led such a transcendental moment as the entry of women into the Denia Band makes her role even more praiseworthy, if possible. Surprised that there were no musicians, he was clear from the first moment that the doors of the Musical Artistic Association should be opened to women. For Pep it was a logical decision, which could not be postponed in a democracy, totally normal in a society that already breathed an air of freedom and equality”.
For all this, Grimalt concluded, "we will be eternally grateful to Pep Cendra, since his arrival marked a before and after in the history of the band".
When the applause with which the public received his presence on stage ended, Josep Cendra addressed the four honored women to affirm "that they have been a benchmark, because the band at that time needed their warmth and their humanity to do the music we wanted to make.” The one who was director of the band for almost twenty years recalled some anecdotes of this trajectory and said goodbye expressing the "pride" that he feels for the Dianense formation, which was and continues to be his home.
At the end of the recognition act, the Musical Artistic Group of Dénia performed its Spring Concert, framed in the XXVII "Music in the villages" campaign.
