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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Ignacio Amigo

Hits from the bong: music obsessives rescue the sound of Spain’s ancient bells

‘It was highly addictive’ … musician and multimedia artist Silberius de Ula.
‘It was highly addictive’ … musician and multimedia artist Silberius de Ula Photograph: PR

In 2002, Silberius de Ura was visiting Santillán del Agua, a village in the region of Burgos, in northern Spain. He was chatting to one of the neighbours next to the town church when the man raised his hand and pointed to one of the bells, calling it the tentenublo bell.

“He told me that, when played in the right way, the bell had the power to protect against hail storms, either by pushing the storm away or by turning the hail into water,” recalls Silberius. “Until then, I thought that bells were only used to call people to mass or to announce that someone had passed away, but this was different, it was sort of magical.”

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