Music. Bartolomé Sánchez leads the ‘Rap Cycle’ of the Puertas de Castilla Center in Murcia in which 16 young people participate every week
Students of different ages from the IES Miguel de Cervantes in Murcia met around the institute in the afternoon to sing and laugh for a while. One day, Language and Literature teacher Bartolomé Sánchez Estrella, coordinator of extracurricular rap activities at this center, came by. And he offered them a space and better advice so they could rap. This is how the ‘Ciclo Rap’ workshop was born – every Monday from 5 pm to 7 pm – at the Cultural Center Puertas de Castilla (Av. Miguel de Cervantes, 1, Murcia).
“It is an activity for educational purposes and, above all, with the aim of social integration,” says the teacher, better known by his stage name: Tolo Ortógrafo. The group of 16 students consists of boys and girls from different origins and cultures and in this space knowledge is shared in addition to learning about rap. “Ahmed, he is Moroccan, he has his Arab culture, he tells us about his traditions and the prayers he prays,” explains Bartolomé.
This is the third edition of the cycle. Each is divided into seven learning sessions, where the teacher learns some concepts about rap, “but taken to class”, where the young people write their songs on the topics that most concern or interest them. “One of the participants wrote a song about bullying that he experienced in class. That is also very nice, because sharing it has relieved them of that weight,” says the coordinator.
The rapper teacher tries to introduce the boys to art step by step and to encourage their involvement in current social issues. The youngest member, Antonio, aged 12, wrote a song about the environmental degradation of the Mar Menor and performed it at an event. The young people participating in this formation were also present at the Sisom Urban Fest in Mula on October 22, where they accompanied Tolo Ortógrafo in his performance.
Sánchez Estrella encourages young rappers to participate in other cultural activities such as poetry workshops. «Literature is what moves me, I teach workshops on creative writing, poetry and short stories [en los centros culturales Puertas de Castilla, Santiago y Zaraíche y El Carmen, en Murcia]”The rapper also writes his lyrics and sometimes it’s poetry,” adds IES teacher Miguel de Cervantes. With the article ‘Rap in the classroom’ he even won first prize in the Educando National Contest of the magazine Innovación Educativa. There he talks about his experience with young people, how they are sometimes belittled without appreciating the potential they have and without giving them the chance to express themselves.
On Thursday, November 17, Sánchez will attend the 1st conference on educational innovation in Spanish literature at 4:30 pm at the UMU Faculty of Arts with a presentation on the application of rap in the classroom.
Source: La Verdad
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