“Un Destello de Color Sonoro” by MURFY in Murcia, Spain

Spanish street artist MURFY sent us a few images of his last piece titled “Un Destello de Color Sonoro”, painted in Murcia, Spain with the support of the city council.

The mural shows the image of a little girl wearing a traditional harlequin jester custom from the region, representative of a popular festival called “Mayos” that takes place in Alhama each year on the first weekend of May.

The May celebrations of Alhama de Murcia were declared of national tourism interest partly because of the nature of the festival. Los Mayos is a festival that takes place on the first Sunday in May in Alhama de Murcia. Although its origin is unknown and much earlier on, the first written references to it date from the 1920s. Among other things, the festival consists of placing life-sized dolls dressed in old clothes with human features painted on their faces on doorsteps of houses in order to create a scene. They are normally dressed in clothes from old professions, representing everyday situations, or satirising certain modern-day problems. There is also something called “corremayos” who dress in harlequin jester costumes and roam in large groups visiting the Mayos and marching in the streets accompanied of musicians.

As explained by the artist, the little girl dressed in the harlequin jester costume, whose name is Candela, is there to remind the people of Alhama that there are enough reasons to dress the life of music and colour, to go out in the streets and dance and enjoy life in the same way as when they listen to the sound of rattles every first weekend of May.