A bit of history

Blanca Altable and Javier Ortega crossed paths in Madrid in the summer of 2007. That year, Blanca was attending the fiddle camp that Alasdair Fraser regularly held on the Isle of Skye (Scotland). Javier had come to know Alasdair through the legendary concert he gave with his group Skyedance in Burgos, years earlier. While sharing thoughts on culture and life, the happy idea emerged of inviting him to run a camp in Spain — extending the tradition he had started in his homeland of Scotland and carried on in California, his adopted home.

On her return from Scotland, Blanca brought exciting news: Alasdair had liked the idea, and it was time to get to work. The members of the first Crisol Team set out to find a location for this singular adventure — a peaceful place where nature and water would play a central role, and which could host a large group of people eager to learn and play music together for a week. They found the Foratata hostel in Sallent de Gállego (Huesca), which hosted the very first Crisol de Cuerda Tradicional from 13 to 18 July 2008. And so, under the joint direction of Alasdair and cellist Natalie Haas, his longtime stage partner, an experience with no real precedent on the Iberian Peninsula was born.

In subsequent editions we held our camp at the Albergue de Arija (Burgos, 2009 and 2010), and finally at the Granja Escuela de Arlanzón, which since 2011 has been our home and has welcomed hundreds of musicians from every corner of the world. Here we have had the privilege of learning from some of the most brilliant musicians on the national and international folk scene, including Tony McManus (Scotland), Lena Jonsson (Sweden), Jean-Michel Veillon (Brittany), Zoë Conway and John McIntyre (Ireland), Tatiana Hargreaves and Casey Driessen (USA), Arkaitz Miner and Juan Arriola (Basque Country), Lisardo Prieto and Luis Nicolás (Asturias), Begoña Riobó and Xosé Liz (Galicia), Chuchi Cuadrado and Blanca Altable (Castile), and Marta Roma (Catalonia), among many, many others.

Throughout all this time, Crisol has continued to evolve, expanding its spirit and reaching ever more musicians hungry to play and share. In 2025, Alasdair passed the baton to his son Galen, who took the reins of the project with renewed enthusiasm and energy. Some students have gone on to become teachers. Others who first came as children have since recorded their own albums and won Grammy Awards. Bands have been forged and projects have emerged that have crossed oceans and transcended borders. But above all, Crisol has left its mark on a great many people. For that reason, the current members of the organisation cannot be more grateful to all those who built this community and helped it flourish over the years.