Guieldu at the Bonfire Night in Asturias

Trasona, Corvera

Bringing the Celtic spirit back to the Foguera de San Xuan

There are con­certs you pre­pare for over the course of weeks, and then there are those that some­how feel as though they have been wait­ing for you for years. Our con­cert at the Foguera de San Xuan in Corvera on 23 June 2026 was one of the latter.

We come from this part of Asturias, so we know what this cel­e­bra­tion means to the local com­mu­ni­ty. Every year, thou­sands of peo­ple gath­er around the reser­voir at Tres­ona to cel­e­brate San Xuan, the Asturi­an mid­sum­mer fes­ti­val, with music, danc­ing and the light­ing of a great bonfire.

The tra­di­tion goes back much fur­ther than the Chris­t­ian feast of Saint John. Like many mid­sum­mer cel­e­bra­tions across Europe, it has its roots in ancient cus­toms linked to the sum­mer sol­stice, when fire, gath­er­ing and rit­u­al marked the turn­ing point of the year. With the arrival of Chris­tian­i­ty, these tra­di­tions became asso­ci­at­ed with Saint John, but the fire remained at the cen­tre of the celebration.

In Asturias, San Xuan is still very much a liv­ing tra­di­tion. The bon­fires are not sim­ply a spec­ta­cle: they are places where com­mu­ni­ties come togeth­er to cel­e­brate, dance, meet friends and wel­come the sum­mer. This is the spir­it behind what we know as the Foguera de San Xuan — the Bon­fire Night of Asturias.

And in Tres­ona, Celtic music has been part of that sto­ry for decades.

For many years, the Foguera became one of the meet­ing points for Celtic music in Asturias. Some of the great names in Asturi­an folk played here, along­side lead­ing bands from Ire­land, Scot­land and oth­er parts of the wider Celtic world. Over time, those con­certs helped cre­ate a musi­cal iden­ti­ty that became insep­a­ra­ble from the cel­e­bra­tion itself.

The pro­gramme even­tu­al­ly evolved, embrac­ing dif­fer­ent for­mats and musi­cal tastes while con­tin­u­ing to draw large crowds. That is why we were so delight­ed when Corvera Coun­cil decid­ed to bring back the Nueche Celta — the Celtic Night — this year and invit­ed Guiel­du to be part of it.

For us, this was about much more than play­ing anoth­er con­cert. It was a chance to recon­nect, if only for one night, with a part of the Celtic spir­it of Tres­ona that many peo­ple remem­ber fond­ly and have missed. We arrived with the feel­ing that we were not sim­ply com­ing to play, but help­ing to bring an impor­tant part of the night back to life.

The Ban­da Gaites of Corvera, led by Bras Rodri­go, set the evening in motion with a parade towards the pradón as dark­ness began to fall. Lit­tle by lit­tle, fam­i­lies, groups of friends, folk and rock fans, Guiel­du fol­low­ers and plen­ty of peo­ple hear­ing us for the first time gath­ered in front of the stage.

As the con­cert went on, the audi­ence became part of the music. Some fol­lowed every tune with enthu­si­asm, oth­ers danced along to the tra­di­tion­al steps and turns — includ­ing our friends from Ximiel­ga la Saya — while many sim­ply let the music car­ry them.

That is some­thing spe­cial about nights like San Xuan: Celtic music does not feel like some­thing sep­a­rate from the cel­e­bra­tion. It becomes part of it.

One of the most mov­ing moments came with Per­dayuri, our song inspired by the poem Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep. We ded­i­cat­ed it to Ígor Medio and Car­los Redon­do of Felpeyu, who died exact­ly twen­ty years ear­li­er in a road acci­dent, short­ly after per­form­ing at this very venue.

In that set­ting, Per­dayuri took on an even deep­er mean­ing, and the words of the song res­onat­ed dif­fer­ent­ly that night.

The ener­gy rose again with songs such as Asturies Dan­za na Cel­tia and Irish Fleadh, before the con­cert gave way to one of the defin­ing moments of the night: the light­ing of the great bon­fire. It was pre­ced­ed by a won­der­ful per­for­mance from the the­atre group Nun Tris and our friends from Caparines.

We will remem­ber it as a very spe­cial night, in an impres­sive set­ting, and we are also grate­ful to the orches­tra Tek­i­la, whose gen­er­ous sup­port allowed the cel­e­bra­tions to con­tin­ue late into the night.

Hope­ful­ly, the return of Celtic music to the Foguera de San Xuan will prove to be more than a return to the past. Per­haps it can mark the begin­ning of a new chap­ter. Because some music belongs to a place, a cel­e­bra­tion and a shared mem­o­ry. And when it is brought back to life, the flame is nev­er quite extinguished.

Video and photos from the concert

© Fho­tos: Nacho G.S.