PRESENTATION OF ETNOSUR 2002
The Brazilian group Mawaca, made up of seven singers who perform in different languages, perform for the first time in Spain as part of the Ethnic meet in the Sierra del Sur, Etnosur, which is held in the Jaén town of Alcalá la Real between July 19-21. This Brazilian group which researches and recreates the most diverse ethnic music of the world will be in Alcalá la Real on July 21. Some 15 musical groups will take part in this 6th edition of Etnosur, with 120 artists including musician, story tellers, narrators or craftspeople from 20 different countries. More than 35,000 people are expected to attend Etnosur, a festival which offers all its events with free entry. For the first time this year, Etnosuir has its own theme tune and a webpage with information about the festival at www.etnosur.com

THEATRE PERFORMANCES ALBAICIN
The Arab world left a lasting mark in Granada which we can contemplate in the buildings and monuments of the city, especially those located in one of the most picturesque and typical districts as is the Albaicín. What better stage to recreate the day to day life of the district in Muslim times. The Intépretes del Patrimonio association will carry out some street theatre along routes which will cover places such as the Daralhorra palace of the Plaza Larga where markets of the Arab time will be set up, right in the heart of the Albaicín. Here we can relive scenes such as the conflict between Mulei Acén and his son Babdil and his later coronation as king. Another of these scenes remembers the Christian Albaicín where, according to legend, there is a magic fig tree. Beautiful places in Granada from where we can learn something more of its history, every Saturday afternoon until the end of July.

CARLOS V COLUMN, LA ALHAMBRA
The hundreds of tourists who go to the Alhambra in Granada each day, can now contemplate the completely restored Carlos V column, built in the 16th century, for the emperor's cavalry and considered since then, as a masterpiece work inside the Nazarene site. A few days ago, the regional councillor for culture, Carmen Calvo, visited the restoration of this column to be found next to the Justice gate, one of the accesses into the Alhambra. The Carlos V column has a symbolic significance, as it shows the grandness of the emperor. This is one of the events carried out with the objective of giving a better image to the tourists who make the Alhambra the most visited monumental site in Europe.

HORNACHUELOS NATURE PARK
The Nature Parks in Andalucía are more beautiful than ever at this time of the year. A good time, therefore, to make an escape to one of these beautiful landscapes. One of these could be the Hornachuelos Nature Park, in Córdoba, which the regional culture councillor is going to propose be catalogued as a Biosphere reserve, as part of the UNESCO programme 'Man and Biosphere'. The Junta de Andalucía intends this zone, together with the Aracena Nature Park in Huelva and the Sierra Norte in Seville, to make up the 'Dehesas or pastures of the Sierra Morena' These three parks cover an area of 400,000 hectares, contain 43 villages and have a population of more than 100,000. The Junta de Andalucía thinks this is the best way to conserve the natural space and sustainable development on the part of the locals. The status of Biosphere reserve is currently in force in 100 countries, in which more than 300 areas are catalogued. Of these seven are already in Andalucía.

MOORS AND CHRISTIANS MOJÁCAR 2002
The village of Mojácar, on the Almería coastline, has for another year lived its traditional Moors and Christians fiesta which brought together hundreds of visitors keen to contemplate one of the most picturesque celebrations in Andalucía. Here there are no battles, because what is being celebrated is the peaceful co-existence between the two cultures. The then mayor of Mojácar decided not to surrender to the Catholic Kings during the re-conquest of the 15th century, not considering them either foreigner or foe. Musical bands, salvos of gunfire, parades of people dressed up on the costumes of the Moorish or Christian side and the firing of shots from the sea and land, are some of the main attractions of these colourful and unique fiestas which add even more beauty to this village of Almería province.

TOURISM MUNICIPALITIES DECREE
Towns and villages with a population of less than 100,000 inhabitants where tourism is main activity can get preferential treatment and attention with the idea of increasing quality tourism and its respect for the environment. This is the idea of the Tourism Municipalities Decree approved by the governing council of the Junta de Andalucía, which plans to meet the demands of many Andalucian towns who want to offer quality and therefore obtain help for those town halls with less than 100,000 inhabitants who meet the requirements. Once the decree is in force these municipalities will be invited to send in their applications to be declared tourism municipalities. In the awarding the Tourism Council will take into account whether the local councils have a quality tourism plan, the existence of green areas, and what effort has been made in the area of public safety.

MINISTRY AWARDS ANDALUCIAN OLIVE OILS
Andalucian olive oil is recognised worldwide for its high quality. The Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Foodstuffs has awarded the oils from three provinces of Andalucía, Seville, Córdoba and Huelva, as having the best Virgin olive oil in Spain for the 2001/2002 harvest. The ministry has underlines the extraordinary high quality of the oils presented to the competition this year, saying it is a mark of the efforts carried out by the producers to place themselves at the demanding heights of the consumers. The quality of these oils adds to those already in existence in provinces such as Jaén, the largest producer of olive oil in the world, and to areas such as Antequera in Málaga provice where the oil has already been given permission from the regional government to be sold as from the 'Comarca de Antequera' official area. This has the peculiarity that the oil comes from the 'hojiblanca' variety of olive.