This is what Mario Cornago, the creator of this urban music event, explained to EFE, although in reality it hosts an infinite number of styles over four days, and he rubs his eyes every day at what he has achieved in just a few years.
“Calahorra has 25,000 inhabitants and we have welcomed 80,000 people at Holika,” stresses this young businessman, who feels “completely thrilled” by the result of an initiative that had a more modest beginning but which this year has brought together several of the world stars of urban music, from Myke Towers to Jayco, among others.
However, what satisfies him most, he explains, is not only the volume of public reached, but also that “Holika has already settled in and is completely accepted by Calahorra, by its citizens and its people” and also “we have created a great community, that of the ‘holikers’”.
“At first, it seemed strange to the artists to go and perform in a town in La Rioja, something that seemed very far from the music circuits,” he explains, “but I think we have played well with several factors” such as “the fact that La Rioja is associated with good things, such as its gastronomy or its wine and also that we offer a unique environment” in Calahorra.
To increase this commitment to uniqueness, those responsible for Holika turned to Calahorra’s Roman past and created, with two Fallas artists, a stage in the form of a pantheon “not only to make a reference to the city’s past, but also so that the artists would feel that they were in a different place, and that is what has happened.”
Holika not only embarked on the creation of two large Roman stages, in which they invested half a million euros, “but they had to make a large investment in two warehouses to store it all year round” so that “the infrastructure in Calahorra and the area is growing.”
Jumping the Atlantic and continuing in Calahorra
Despite closing Holika, its managers do not have much time to rest and are working on short and medium-term projects, Cornago explained.
The most immediate thing is to jump the Atlantic, since Holika will celebrate its first edition outside Spain, in Miami, on March 8 and 9.
In reality, it is not a “unique” project since after creating the Gran Reserva festival, which has also been held in Calahorra previously, “to accommodate another type of public”, they will jump to Florida also with that proposal the previous weekend, on March 1 and 2, 2025.
But with the work for these festivals already underway “in the medium term we have to talk to the Calahorra City Council” because “we want to prolong this project in La Rioja and in this city” and “for that we would like to reach an agreement for several years”.
Because, Cornago admits, there is no shortage of offers to move this festival to other cities “but it is something that I am not considering at the moment, we are from here and we are very comfortable here”, admits Cornago, born in Navarre although linked to La Rioja Baja “forever”.
“Our idea for growth is internationalisation, but we would like Holika’s base to remain in Calahorra, we are delighted and continuing at the level we have reached would already be a success”, he repeats.
More than 15 million euros of impact in the area
The data, by themselves, make it clear that Holika and Gran Reserva are two interesting proposals for La Rioja and Calahorra: 100,000 attendees between the two four days; a thousand jobs for the festivals; a whole month of media coverage “and an impact in the area that we estimate at 15.2 million euros”, he says.
Because these festivals “are not just about music” as “they are accompanied by many cultural activities” and to this is added “the pairing with gastronomy and wine”.
The large figures are also unparalleled in terms of the “cache” of the artists, who earn between the two festivals some eight million euros “because now it is rare for an artist to earn less than 300,000 euros, when a few years ago we were talking about 80,000” concludes this young businessman, who feels “proud” of having consolidated an initiative “in which not so many people believed at the beginning”, he concluded.