On Friday 11 September, the Cabildo de Lanzarote y La Graciosa will hold a new edition of the Festival Nanino Díaz Cutillas, one of the highlights of the Fiestas de Los Dolores in Mancha Blanca. Now in its 36th edition, the event brings together groups and soloists from all eight islands in a journey through the diversity of the Canary Islands' musical and folk heritage.
Organised and sponsored by the Cabildo's Culture Department, the festival will take place on the open ground beside the Ermita de Nuestra Señora de Los Dolores, with free admission and a running time of approximately 120 minutes. This year's edition also introduces a revamped narrative and visual approach, under the artistic direction of Benito Cabrera and with executive production by Multitrack, while broadcaster Alexis Hernández will voice the thread running through the show. The event will also be recorded and broadcast by Televisión Canaria.
A tribute to Nanino with a new staging
The festival pays tribute to journalist, broadcaster and populariser Fernando Díaz Cutillas ‘Nanino’, creator of the long-running programme Tenderete on Televisión Española en Canarias. Nanino devoted much of his career to recovering, documenting and spreading the cultural heritage of the islands through radio, the press and television, becoming a key figure in the knowledge and dissemination of Canarian folklore.
More than three decades after the festival was founded, the event still takes his legacy as its starting point to connect generations and bring the different musical expressions of the archipelago closer to audiences.
For the 2026 edition, Benito Cabrera's artistic direction has designed a staging aimed at strengthening the show's narrative cohesion and flow. The stage will be organised in rotation across three independent, interconnected sets, so that the next acts can prepare while each performance is under way, avoiding visible pauses between artists.
The introductions to each island will be delivered through audiovisual pieces with a voice-over by Alexis Hernández, a broadcaster and presenter with more than three decades of professional experience and a long record hosting institutional events and popular celebrations.
A musical journey through the eight islands
Lanzarote opens the journey with the Asociación Folclórica Guanapay, a Teguise group whose origins date back to 1924 and which has done extensive work to preserve Lanzarote's folklore.
La Gomera will be represented by Arón Morales, a soloist devoted to spreading Gomeran folklore and traditional Canarian poetry, who will bring the characteristic sounds of his island to Mancha Blanca, accompanied by chácaras and drum.
From La Palma comes the Asociación Agrupación Folclórica Aduares, founded in Breña Alta in 1997 and named after a natural spring in the municipality. Its performance will draw on La Palma's popular songbook, with genres such as sirinoques and choperas accompanied by traditional instruments.
La Graciosa will be represented by Dúo Guardilama, made up of Norberto Arrocha and Sofía Pérez, together with guest artist María Félix. The project, which emerged in Lanzarote in 2025, combines guitar and timple in a format that connects popular roots with contemporary sounds.
Representing Fuerteventura is the Agrupación Folclórica La Oliva, a group with more than 55 years devoted to preserving Majorero heritage. Its repertoire will include traditional forms such as berlinas, polcas, isas and malagueñas.
Tenerife's representative is Chago Melián, a seasoned artist from Punta del Hidalgo whose lyrical, popular voice has been heard on numerous stages and in a range of multidisciplinary projects.
From El Hierro comes the Grupo Folclórico Sabinosa, an emblematic group founded in 1931 and recognised, among other honours, with the Garoé de Oro for more than nine decades of work preserving the music and dance of El Hierro.
The journey through the archipelago concludes with the Agrupación Folclórica Los Cebolleros, from Gáldar, representing Gran Canaria. The group will perform popular genres from across the archipelago, with particular attention to folk-rooted compositions by named songwriters and to the tunes typical of north-west Gran Canaria.
The 36th Festival Nanino Díaz Cutillas takes place on Friday 11 September on the open ground beside the Ermita de Nuestra Señora de Los Dolores in Mancha Blanca, with free admission. Its recording and subsequent broadcast on Televisión Canaria will carry the event to the whole archipelago and preserve an audiovisual record of this new edition.