The Olot City Council will digitize the city's popular songbook that dates back to the 17th century, the only one from this period in Catalonia.
It is a piece of great heritage value since it allows us to know what songs and customs the people of Olot had between 1600 and 1700.
With digitalization, more studies can be carried out by musicologists or historians that could not now be carried out due to the delicate situation of the songbook.
All citizens interested in consulting these popular songs can do so through the Girona Provincial Council website, which is the one who finances the work, which will last about two months.
This Wednesday the safe of the Olot City Council was opened to remove a treasure from the city. The director of the library, Judit Badia, and the Councilor for Culture, Josep Quintana, have transferred the popular songbook that dates back to the 17th century and was restored a few years ago.
From the town hall they have transferred it to the Archive, where two technicians were waiting for it to begin the digitization work of a unique piece in Catalonia.
Badia points out that the existing songs and writings cannot be found in any other songbook in the country and only appear in very specific places such as the one in the national library of Madrid, another in Cambridge (United Kingdom) and in some Italian libraries.
The director explained that they do not know exactly the date of creation of the songbook, but they are clear that it dates back to the beginning of the 17th century and has pointed out that the fact that it is digitized is a "very important step" to give notoriety to "one of the jewels of the library".
In just two months it will be possible to consult the songbook and, therefore, everyone will be able to see which pieces were heard on the streets of the capital of La Garrotxa between 1600 and 1700.
The songbook will also be available to musicologists and historians who will be able to work and carry out studies to better understand the customs and tastes of the society of that time.
"We will be able to identify the music and popular songs that were identified at that time and about which there is very little information. Beyond the material value that the songbook has for being a physical piece from so many years ago, it has an important intangible value," highlighted the Councilor for Culture of the Olot City Council, Josep Quintana.
The City Council has already announced that a series of activities will be carried out to disseminate the content of the songbook, either with concerts or talks to explain "the importance of this heritage."
"We think it is very interesting that the people of Olot can know what was heard in the city more than 200 years ago," added Quintana.
The councilor highlighted that the area will do "all this dissemination work" and pointed out that the studies that may be carried out in the future can also serve to "know many more things than we imagine."
"The important thing will be that all this will be available to all the people of Olot and whoever wants it," he added.
It is expected that the digitization of the entire songbook will be ready in the next two months, since it will be used to do the same with other City Council documents.
The work is subsidized by the Provincial Council of Girona, which will be the one who will save the digitization on its website.
The songbook is a manuscript text from the 17th century and was registered with number 97 when it was transferred to the Olot library in 1912. That manuscript on paper was in very poor condition and had leather and parchment covers and could not be catalogued. That's why the specific date is not known.
