Dutch investment fund Green Assets Capital BV has bought the Santa Clara de Otura golf course in Granada province with the intention of reopening the facility which has been closed since 1 November 2022 The drought and financial problems led to the decision to close the course which was then owned by Global Golf The managers appointed in Spain by the new owner an investment fund which works with "sustainable assets" have contacted the residents of the Santa Clara Golf residential area and informed them that their intention is to reopen the facility as soon as they resolve the latest legal dispute with the former managers which is being dealt with in a court in Santa Fe which will be determined through the courts but what they did say is that they have already commissioned Catalan company Green Project with the project to reopen the 18-hole golf course which has become a wasteland since it closed The Dutch group is the second company to acquire the golf course since its closure Catalan hotel group Ona acquired it when it was put up for auction At the time the company told SUR's sister newspaper Ideal that it was acting as an advisor to promote the sale to a third party an investment fund whose name was not revealed but which did begin the process to resolve the outstanding issues "It is a company that has experience in the sector they manage several golf courses in Europe and their intention is to restart Santa Clara as soon as the courts rule," explained the president of the Entidad de Conservación Santa Clara Otura who is in contact with the two managers appointed by the company "They are business people and local residents and they will decide on the future work," Alcarón said The president of the Entidad de Conservación Santa Clara Otura explained that in February they plan to put out to tender a contract for the construction of playgrounds new street lights and a new central street in the residential area "If all goes well the work will be finished in September this year With the project finalised and if the golf course resurfaces the value that will be given to the homes will be very important," he added Comentar es una ventaja exclusiva para registrados Otura Mun leads the Afro-Caribbean group ÌFÉ Otura Mun started out in the world as Mark Underwood native whose parents were Mennonites and who managed to snag a coveted spot on the University of North Texas' drumline But that was before a flight mixup landed the percussionist DJ and producer with a free trip to Puerto Rico became a Yoruban high priest and began creating electronic music that channeled the African diaspora These days, Otura Mun leads the Afro-Caribbean ensemble ÌFÉ whose debut album is called IIII + IIII (pronounced "Edgy-Og-Beh") He spoke with Weekend Edition Sunday guest host A Martínez about his remarkable story the way his spirituality and music intersect and his myriad influences — from drumline to video games On how playing with the UNT drumline shapes his music today The University of North Texas had this monster drumline led by an instructor named Paul Rennick Everybody who played in these private groups from all over the country would go to the University of North Texas and sort of beat up on other university drumlines it was one slot open and 250 people trying out for that one slot I was able to drum and win a national championship with the University of North Texas what you see is a bit of the same concept .. You're playing and trying to synchronize with the drummers that are around you playing together to be able to make a higher expression There's room for improvisation and there's room to express yourself But it's a group experience that's making something higher happen At the time I was studying at the University of North Texas I would travel back and forth from there to Indiana and in '97 Delta kind of bust one of my flights and they gave me a voucher the idea of travel on my own dime just didn't really occur to me And so all of a sudden I had this plane ticket that was good for anywhere in the U.S. At the time I was really getting into Jamaican dancehall I wanna go to Jamaica." They sort of batted that one away and said the only places they went in the Caribbean were St I wanted to see what the Caribbean was about And I just really enjoyed the experience that I had there being from Indiana and being African American The things that I assumed about my relationships with other people even before having a conversation — were sort of deconstructed in Puerto Rico to a certain extent Because the folks there don't necessarily build their identity on race first I think I took the way that I moved through the world with me to Puerto Rico and sort of had to find another way to move On the connection he felt with the Yoruba religion In '99 I was booked to DJ a sort of millennial party in St And one of the groups that was also booked was a rumba group and most of the rumberos that were there were santeros or practicantes of the Yoruba religion And then there was also a Nigerian drummer and dancer that was booked at the same party And the Puerto Rican rumba group and the Nigerian got along really well because the Puerto Ricans were singing in Yoruba and the Nigerian spoke Yoruba and he could understand them completely you guys have an accent that sounds like my great-great-grandfather." And as an African American seeing these guys from Puerto Rico being able to communicate directly on a spiritual level with someone from the continent in such a profound way I think that's kinda what people are feeling when they listen to the ÌFÉ record — there's that deep sense of spirituality imbued into the music in a way that whether you understand English you're going to get a sense of what we're trying to get across because the meaning and intent behind the words and the chants are so powerful On what he brings to traditional Yoruba devotional singing Many of the songs and chants that are on ÌFÉ's record came through meditations about the particular orishas [divinities that interface between humans and the supreme being] themselves And I was lucky enough in the writing process to be befriended by a gentleman named Emilio Barreto who's probably the most famous singer in santería ceremonies in New York in the last 30 years He just sort of walked into my studio randomly as I was writing the record And so Emilio immediately sort of got what I was trying to do with triggering these drums and reflecting on the energies of each orisha "Bangah" is a good example because I had sampled a knife sound or a sword strike from the video game Assassin's Creed Ogún is understood as the god of war in the Yoruba pantheon and his main tools are the machete and the anvil I wanted young kids to be able to identify or hear themselves in the sounds on the record So I took that sword strike — "Sha-keeng" — and hopefully kids are gonna get it and he heard it as the sound of Ogún's sword which is "Bangah!" and that's part of a song for Ogún And so he was able to help me get the song I needed On debates surrounding cultural appropriation and the Yoruba faith White Europeans are the winners in that game And so I'm trying to shed those layers as much as possible with all respect to the struggle that I'm a part of This is a practice that was waiting for me because of the trans-Atlantic slave trade but it's a practice that anyone can gain from who ended up being a crack addict — [who] was a white kid — was able to find peace and guidance inside of this religion I'm never gonna try and hold anybody back from evolving as a person Become an NPR sponsor This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Try a different filter or a new search keyword The ensemble and the music they make are also connected to Mun’s desire to study the Cuban rumba—which led to his initiation as a babalawo The perspective now orients both his musical and his personal life As Otura Mun explains it, he chose the title IIII+IIII for ÌFÉ’s debut because it marks “the beginning of a new era a spiritual awakening,” a path an individual can take on their divine destiny To talk with Otura Mun is to become caught up in a heady whirlwind of ideas about music that’s constructed with layers upon layers of aligned signs and evoked meanings We caught up with the San Juan-based Otura Mun via Skype to get a glimpse of the wondrous spirit-filled world that informs his music What’s still with you today from those early years in Indiana I suppose what I bring with me to Puerto Rico is that Black American experience that’s just sort of ingrained in me I didn’t have the best experience in Goshen I guess it’s a part of just growing up black in America I took the idea of the cruelness of racism and the racial caste system that we [have] in the United States and I was able to empower myself to a certain extent by moving to Texas and linking with a like-minded group of black individuals that were able to help me along my artistic expression to be able to find myself as a person I’ve been able to create a cultural bridge I was able to begin to understand a little bit more about what Latino culture was all about Are there any musical influences from Indiana that turn up on ÌFÉ’s new album I did a listening party for the video for the song ‘House of Love’ when it came out I was talking about my influences for the project and I always say that my influences mainly are Jamaican dancehall and Cuban rumba and the music of the Orishas one of the gentlemen that was in the audience said because D’Angelo is a huge influence of mine but I never thought to name that in the music that I was making ‘I suppose there’s definitely a very large R&B element there because that’s the music that I grew up listening to and playing and love.’ I would never be able to sing like a rumba singer per se because I didn’t grow up singing that music So my way of approaching singing inside of ÌFÉ is more from an R&B corner And I cut my teeth as a musician playing funk drumming in this project I’m consciously walking away from American music and towards a more African expression and so I’m taking away things that we as Americans typically grasp onto like the idea of putting a snare on two and four And I’m taking those elements and I’m stripping it away a little bit because I’m walking in a different direction and there’s just things that I’m going to do that I can’t change about myself In ‘Higher Love,’ the R&B influences seem really explicit But the way you transition so seamlessly out of R&B-ish grooves into Afro-Cuban grooves—how did that musical idea develop I can tell you exactly when I got that idea ‘Higher Love’ was a song that I started playing when I started playing drums in the fifth grade and my father was a meter reader for the gas company in our little town in Indiana so he was always walking through the streets one of the first songs that I played to on the drum set at my teacher’s house was a Steve Winwood song My father heard me playing the Steve Winwood song and one of the first tapes he gave me was Steve Winwood’s Back in the High Life And then I heard it [the song] again maybe two years ago but I had already initiated in the religion and knew more about the Orishas [spirits that reflect aspects of the Supreme Divinity I was thinking a lot about the idea of divine love in my life and the name of the group and the concept that I was trying to develop the word itself means ‘love.’ But it can also mean ‘expansion.’ I developed the sound of the group around the word—I had the word first and then tried to figure out what love and expansion would sound like So after already having worked through those ideas It immediately spoke Ochún [one of the most popular and venerated Orishas—ed.] to me because I’m a son of Ochún in the religion ‘I can definitely tape this song and it has a totally new meaning to me And it would be cool to rework it with that meaning in mind There are nuances in other songs that seem to born in the Americas workers developed rhythmic chants to avoid accidents cutting the cane in the sugar fields Certain qualities of the song ‘Bangah (Pico y Palo),’ seems to almost have an association with sugar field work chants… ‘Bangah’ is a reflection on the Orisha named Ogún His main tool is the machete; when he dances There’s a cutting and slashing sort of aspect to the dance When I first heard the beat—before I had the lyrics—I knew it was going to be a war song I don’t believe in war as a way to solve conflicts So when I began to think about how to write a song about war I immediately began reflecting on Ogún [another Orisha—ed.] who is the owner of war The machete also has a political connotation in Puerto Rico because there was a group of freedom fighters called the Macheteros They were a freedom-fighting force in Puerto Rico and so the machete is a symbol of liberation in Puerto Rico So I started thinking about Ogún as sort of the divine Machetero I don’t believe in the nation-state as a way to organize ourselves—I feel that it’s a way more to get poor people to fight for the interests of rich people than anything else But Puerto Rico is in a really vicious colonial system that we have been in for 500 years I do feel that the effects of colonialism itself have been nothing but bad for the people with whom I live regardless of whether I believe in a nation-state or not and freedom is what we need to be working for both on an individual level and then on up And I began thinking about how we work for freedom and the level of dedication required to achieve it Ogún in the religion lives with another Orisha named Ochosi who is the hunter and hunts with a bow and arrow because Ochosi can point and target something and then Ogún with the machete clears the way to that prey It’s like the idea of naming a goal and then working towards it with the sort of conviction that ‘This is what I want I’m going to work for and you’re going to have to kill me to stop me from attaining my goal.’ And it’s that kind of determination that is required to free oneself in a circumstance And that’s the sense of the work chants that seems to be a part of ‘Pico y Palo’ The work chants are ways to get a team to sort of work together It’s the same idea when you’re talking about liberation You’re going to work yourself into this state where you’re going to move in in a way that is unstoppable to get to your goal tirelessly Sun Ra kind of vibe to the album—particularly in a song like ‘Umbo (Come Down),’ with the line ‘This ship can be flown.’ It has the sense of a music that is both ancestral and forward-thinking and also the hopes of traveling to a place where you can be free I’m making reference to a world that that we can sense and the idea of where that invisible world is In science fiction we think about space travel in the ship but a ship can also be our bodies and our minds ‘the ship can be flown,’ I’m thinking about all of those connotations It’s a reoccurring element in the record itself—the idea that we can change I had to work through a lot of sadness and loss in my life and I’ve actually actively been working to change the person that I am—what I have been in the past—to become a better person and that’s definitely one of the things I’m trying to communicate in the record as well: we can change Break out of any box anyone tries to put you in but the journey was also through the Caribbean And we have brothers and sisters that are in the Caribbean in Mexico and Colombia and Venezuela and  Brazil and that’s all part of our family as well we cannot forget about the Caribbean and Latin America because that’s part of our journey as well And the walls that people put between our communities can be broken down.The idea of you picking up and going to Brazil or going to Mexico or going to Venezuela is just as real as you going to Indianapolis or going to New York or any of those places and it’s open for us and we can explore it.’ I just decided to take a risk and anyone can do it The language is just another barrier to be broken My favorite picture of Malcolm X is the one where he’s standing in front of the pyramids and he’s in a suit and tie. And to imagine an African American just picking up and going to Egypt to see the pyramids! That was crazy talk to me as a kid! But it’s real. This is our world and it’s here for us too. 01/01/2024 - 7:05am (GMT-5) | 10 the Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba published the Letter of the Year for 2024 featuring the predictions of Ifá for the island and the world The ruling divinity will be Elebara accompanied by Oyá the mistress of the cemeteries and the fierce winds The sign that will define 2024 is "Irete Otura (Irete Suka)." It emphasizes the importance of maintaining protection against false testimonies and harnessing everyone's potential to do good CiberCuba now shares the Letter of the Year for 2024 published by the Yoruba Association of Cuba I will acquire a seat through the Orisa Asojano AWAN ASOJANO is sacrificed to an ETU (Guinea) a stone from the four corners of the house who is the mistress of the cemeteries and the fierce winds Among the Ifá predictions for Cuba in 2024 there is a notable emphasis on the need to maintain protection against false testimonies and to harness everyone's potential to do good The Letter of the Year predicts an increase in lower abdominal diseases Ifá recommends increasing preventive efforts regarding the consumption of alcohol and drugs and advises discretion in revealing secrets It also suggests taking precautions with personal belongings during domestic travel “Gun violence is so rampant and mass shootings so common that the reaction to each new shooting seems somehow more bizarre and absurd than the last,” Mun said in a statement “The solution to the problem is obvious—yet nothing will change because the political discourse is devoid of any real honesty or sense of personal responsibility for the horrors we have created past and present.” Ìfé are scheduled to celebrate the album’s release with a performance at Elsewhere in Brooklyn Robby the Lord]04 Tu Sabes K Si05 Wednesday’s Child [ft Saint Ezekiel]06 The Tearer (Bembe)07 Prayer for Shangó08 Voodoo Economics (WolfMan)09 Heart Full of Love10 Mr Otura Mun has been a central figure in the Puerto Rican independent music scene for over two decades He was the DJ for the hit reggae band Cultura Profética and worked as a producer and songwriter for many of the most important underground artists on the island indie songwriter Mima and dancehall artist Young Ragga They’re called ÌFÉ and they mix electronics with Cuban rumba and themes from the Afro-Caribbean Yoruba religion But Otura Mun didn’t start out in Puerto Rico in an African-American Mennonite family in Indiana After an accident of fate brought him to Puerto Rico as a young man he became fascinated by a culture that transformed the way he thought about race You Never Know Until You’re Pregnant: Abortion in Cleveland You Have to Be in the Game to Change the Game When Park Rangers Become Immigration Enforcers ÌFÉ: How An African-American DJ Finds a Spiritual and Musical Home in Puerto Rico and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed Born Mark Underwood in Goshen, Ind., Otura Mun has lived on the island since 1999. He transforms his roots in R&B and jazz drumming into an intoxicating brew of electronics, percussion and vocals that builds upon the complex spiritual worlds of the African diaspora throughout the Americas and the Caribbean Passed on and transformed by enslaved persons from Nigeria the practices continued to evolve in ceremonies; singing drumming and dancing were an integral and necessary part of praise and prayer spirits who interface between humans and the supreme being whom they reflect in different ways a priest of Ifá — a belief system and divination practice with roots in the Yoruba people of West Africa Babalawos are thought to be direct descendants of Orunmila the Orisha of divination who knows how our fate will unfold The name of the ensemble, ÌFÉ, means "love" as well as "expansion" in the Yoruba language. Mun seeks to express with the ensemble what love and expansion might sound like, as well as the expansion of a creative expression that incorporates "Indiana funk Cuban rumba and the sacred music of the Orishas." Iboya and Ibosheshé" — which is a greeting between babalawos or between initiates inside the religion and babalawos "Bangah," focuses on a reflection of the Orisha Ogún Even ÌFÉ's version of "Higher Love" finds a connection between Steve Winwood's anthem and the much-beloved Ochún Otura Mun's compositions speak to the transformative force of music that led him from Goshen to San Juan the Orisha that gave him the power as babalawo to divine It's music that sees a destiny for us that includes the possibility of change for the better Here's a playlist of songs that reference Orisha 19-year-old surprises as crash disrupts final kilometres The 19-year-old American surged clear of a leading group on an uphill rise in Otura forcing a small gap and holding his advantage to the line Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) led the sprint behind from a small leading group for second while Stan Dewulf (AG2R Citroën Team) finished third Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) kept his overall leader's jersey by eight seconds but was given a scare when Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) attacked on an unclassified climb taking a group of seven riders clear with a fast last 30 kilometres into Otura the leaders were pulled back by the chasers led by Movistar The attack did split the peloton with the leading group of around 40 riders approaching the finish together while a larger peloton chased behind A crash inside the last three kilometre saw Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) hit the ground ending his sprint hopes but team-mate Sheffield timed his attack perfectly to take the stage win After winning the previous day on the steep finish up to Alcalá la Real it was Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) who led the race overall going into the third stage by five seconds Covi had shown his form last weekend winning the 1.1 classification race Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia Costa Calida beating a good field The Italian also led the points classification after two stages while Jon Barrenetxea (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) had the King of the Mountains lead A lumpy third stage saw riders compete over 153.2 kilometres including four categorised climbs but a host of other ramps before descending into the final rise to Otura Not taking the start was both the American Human Powered Health team and Gazprom-RusVelo squads with both forced to withdraw after returning positive Covid-19 tests before the stage start The American Human Powered Health team consisted of Ben King the Gazprom-RusVelo riders in the race were Nikolay Cherkasov The day's breakaway was established after 14 kilometres of racing and included four Spanish riders Euskaltel – Euskadi team-mates Ibai Azurmendi and Xabier Isasa were joined in the break by King of the Mountains leader Jon Barrenetxea (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) as well as Juan Antonio López-Cózar (Burgos-BH) With 31 points available in the King of the Mountains competition on the day Barrenetxea had a three-point advantage over Isasa coming into the stage At the top of the third category Alto del El Higueral coming after 29 kilometres of racing it was Barrenetxea who took the maximum three points gaining a further point over Isasa The pair would resume their battle on the third category Puerto del Morrón coming after 49.4 kilometres of racing with Barrenetxea again getting the better of Isasa as the four-man breakaway had a lead of over two minutes on the peloton With 85 kilometres remaining the leading quartet topped the second category Puerto de Tocón with Barrenetxea taking maximum King of the Mountains points once again from Isasa and the leaders having an advantage of around 2:40 With Euskaltel-Euskadi teammates Isasa and Azurmendi sitting just 20 and 25 seconds back respectively on general classification UAE Team Emirates were forced to work on the front to kee the breakaway at two minutes On the final classified climb of the day Alto de Cacín the breakaway were pushing the pace and López-Cózar was dropped leaving a leading trio with 42 kilometres remaining it was again Barrenetxea who took the King of the Mountains points to increase his advantage to nine points over Isasa After having a successful day in the breakaway Barrenetxea was next to be dropped leaving the two Euskaltel-Euskadi riders 1-45 clear of the bunch with 35 kilometres remaining An attack by Lennard Kämna (BORA – Hansgrohe) sparked the bunch into action and meant the end of the breakaway with 32 kilometres remaining As the race fractured Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange – Jayco) counter-attacked and was joined by a small group of favourites including Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) Eddie Dunbar (Ineos Grenadiers) and Miguel Ángel López (Astana Qazaqstan Team) On the last 30 kilometres to the finish at Otura the leading group were joined by Mauri Vansevenant (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl Team) Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën Team) and Cristián Rodríguez (TotalEnergies) to form a leading group of seven UAE Team Emirates had been chasing the breakaway most of the day and race leader Covi was left isolated in a chasing group 13 seconds back Led by Movistar the chasing group used the fast downhill roads to the finish to their advantage pulling back the breakaway group back with 22 kilometres remaining Bahrain Victorious were pulling the leading group of around 40 riders towards the finish while a large peloton led by Equipo Kern Pharma were chasing 15 seconds back A crash on a right-hand bend with 2.5 kilometres remaining split the leading group with Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) one of those that came off Approaching the final kilometre Kämna saw his attack countered by Sheffield who forced a slender advantage which he held to take the victory.  Ben raced as an amateur cyclist in the UK from a young age into the senior ranks on the road and has spent over 10 years as a news and sports journalist Ben has been covering cyclocross for media outlets since 2021 and has been on the ground reporting at World Championships in Zolder Away from cycling as a freelance sports journalist Ben regularly reports on a range of sports including football he is happiest whilst reporting on-site at cyclocross races in Belgium and the Netherlands From Today, our New Orleans Correspondent, Gwen Thompkins, hosts a session with ÌFÉ ÌFÉ has explored the distance between the seen and the unseen worlds ÌFÉ's creative center is the drummer and songwriting producer Otura Mun He's shaped ÌFÉ's sound based on his travels from Indiana to Puerto Rico Otura Mun has also been inspired by his own religious faith As his connections to Afro-Cuban rhythms have deepened so has his commitment to Afro-Cuban spiritual traditions ÌFÉ's new album is called 0000+0000 (pronounced Yay-koon May-yee) — a term from the Yoruban tradition in West Africa that means "birth of night and a fearless embrace of death." we'll hear Gwen's conversation with Otura Mun and a live performance of songs from the album starting with "Fireflies." Listen in the player above and watch the full performance via NPR Live Sessions Liv AlUla Jayco continue to dominate Spanish stage race with second consecutive victory ending an 11-month drought for the reigning Spanish National Champion On a second straight day of outright domination by the Liv AIUIAa  Jayco squad, stage 1 winner Silke Smulders placed second a few seconds behind with Mie Bjørndal Ottestad  (Uno-X Mobility) in third The three riders escaped from a key 14-strong move that formed halfway through the rugged 148.8 kilometre stage from Arjona to Otura close to Grenada As temperatures soared to the mid-30s on a day of intense heat in southern Spain Garcíá took off a kilometre from the line for her first win since claiming her fifth National Championships road title last June Even for me!"  Garcíá said "Yesterday was the day for Silke and today it was for me I attacked 10km to go and she came with me It was easier for us with two and I attacked again when we were 3km from the finish Silke let the other girl work until she attacked at the end and was able to get second place A breakaway of 11 riders formed in the early kilometres of the hilly stage but with none of them close threats on GC Liv AIUIa Jayco were content to let the move go The 11 crowned the one classified climb of the day the Cat 3 Puerto del Castillo (km 62) with an advantage of around 90 seconds The earliest bid for stage glory came from Italy’s Giorgia Vetorello (Roland) who attacked from the breakaway with 65 kilometres remaining to race Once that move was snuffed out the 14 stayed together until much closer to the rugged finale in Otura This was partly thanks to the bunch finally beginning to close the gap to under a minute forcing the breakaways to maintain their collaboration on the draggy series of climbs up to the town overlooking Granada The late and decisive attack came from Garcíá Smulders and Ottestad with 10 kilometres to go Their gap was a perilously narrow one but it proved sufficient to allow the trio to enter Otura just ahead of the 11 chasers García opened up the throttle on the very technical run-in with Smulders happy to keep Ottestad under control 24 hours after she let Smulders have the day’s glory Garcíá stayed away to win the stage and move into the overall lead Results powered by FirstCycling Alasdair FotheringhamSocial Links NavigationAlasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991 He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain he has also written for The Independent,  The Guardian,  ProCycling Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Deceuninck) put in the ride of the day going solo from the breakaway The peloton out on the road during the final stage Omar Fraile beats Alessandro Covi on final stage uphill finish his first stage race victory of the 2023 season and the 12th of his career who won three stages of the five-stage race finished securely in the peloton on the final stage to Alhaurín de la Torre to confirm his win 1:23 ahead of Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) and 1:28 up on Landa's teammate Santiago Buitrago An unusual sight in the final kilometre saw race leader Pogačar working on the front as his UAE Team Emirates squad led out Alessandro Covi seeking to make it five wins for the team in five stages at the race The team had taken control in the final 3km after Movistar had reeled in breakaway survivor Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Deceuninck) just inside the final 10km despite a sterling lead out up the hill it wasn't to be for Covi Omar Fraile (Ineos Grenadiers) was on hand to spoil the party at the finish Alhaurín de la Torre blasting to the front on the uphill run to the final corner In prime position to finish off the late move he accelerated down the finish straight to put some distance between himself and Covi to claim the victory The win is Fraile's first since taking the Spanish national title in 2021 and the eighth of his career I'm super happy with my shape and with the shape of the team," Pogačar said after the stage and I hope I can feel as strong in the next races "Just to continue the season [as it has been] until now," he concluded when asked about his season goals Away from the battle for the stage and the overall Pogačar also took home the points jersey while Ineos Grenadiers were crowned top team and Euskaltel-Euskadi rider Gotzon Martín walked away with a well-earned king of the mountains prize The final stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía would see the riders take on another hilly challenge with four classified climbs on the menu including the final first-category climb of Puerto del Sol (17.3km at 4.9%) midway through The 184km stage would conclude with another hilltop finish at Alhaurín de la Torre though less challenging than previous finishes with a gentler gradient While the battle for the break on stage 4 lasted over half the stage in contrast it was wrapped up very swiftly on Sunday and Vincent Van Hemelen (Flanders-Baloise) getting away almost as soon as the stage began The trio would swiftly be joined in the move by Kevin Colleoni (Jayco-AlUla) Erik Fetter (Eolo-Kometa) and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny) while José Manuel Díaz (Burgos-BH) would fail in an attempt to bridge alone As Movistar and Intermarché-Circus-Wanty took up the pace making at the head of the peloton where they would remain for much of the day That would be a stable lead for most of the stage with the peloton keen to give the break little leeway The early climbs of the Alto el Cerrajón and Alto del Navazo came and went without much drama as the break collected the minor KOM points at the top and the peloton rolled along and certainly no long-range attacks at over 80km from the line there wouldn't be much action until the final classified climb of the day – and of the race – the third-category Alto de Los Nunez it was Dries De Bondt who turned on the power to blow up the breakaway as the peloton closed in to under a minute until it was just the Belgian left in the lead hanging a few seconds ahead of the peloton as he crested the climb The 31-year-old would put in a spirited effort on the descent and the flat run towards Alhaurín de la Torre as he sought he triumphed from the breakaway on stage 18 at the Giro d'Italia but De Bondt was fighting a losing battle as Movistar and Intermarché-Circus-Wanty controlled the pace behind him manage to drag out a gap of 20 seconds on the flat but despite a heroic effort to stay away for as long as possible his day came to an end when he was finally caught 9km from the line Movistar continued to lead the way towards the finish until Ineos Grenadiers and Jayco-AlUla joined in the fun at 4km to go taking control in the final 3km as they sought to complete a clean sweep of stage wins at the race Race leader Pogačar was an unexpected face at the front of the peloton the Slovenian unselfishly working for his teammates as he put in a big turn to keep the pace high as the road tilted upwards Tim Wellens did the final turn before Alessandro Covi launched for the line Omar Fraile was coming up on the right-hand side with speed The Basque rider was in the lead around the tight final bend and pushed on in the closing metres to cross the line a couple of bike lengths up on Covi Dani has reported from the world's top races She has interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars and her favourite races are the Giro d'Italia KQED Live EventsPRX Podcast Garage EventsEvents Around the Bay AreaMember Benefits with KQED LiveVideos from KQED LiveWatch recordings of recent KQED Live events FeaturedThat's My WordAn ongoing exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history See Senior Director of TV Programming Meredith Speight’s recommendations from this month’s KQED 9 Watch recordings of recent KQED Live events Support KQED by using your donor-advised fund to make a charitable gift When Hurricane María hit Puerto Rico in late September Eduardo Alegría was in his San Juan apartment with his roommate “The expectation was one of the worst things,” recalls Alegría, who fronts the experimental pop outfit Alegría Rampante He’d remembered living through the destruction of Hurricane Georges This was sort of like a monster hurricane,” he says recalling how the storm’s destructive forces stripped away Puerto Rico’s lush foliage “It looked like the island had been burned to a crisp.” Alegría’s building was spared but the fear he felt that day stays with him “It’s still a nightmare,” Alegría admits but there’s another word for storm that locals use to describe María: tormenta For Alegría and other underground artists in Puerto Rico, recession and a contracting economy were already making things more difficult by the time Hurricane María hit and none of the indie artists he knows could afford to have managers anymore Six months after the hurricane, Puerto Rico faces a staggering list of challenges: governmental debt, austerity measures, and what many call inadequate support from the Trump administration both on the island and in the mainland U.S. though they face their own economic challenges Puerto Rican artists like Alegría are working to build a brighter When Oakland musician María José Montijo returned to San Juan in January she was shocked at how Hurricane María had changed her hometown “There’s a lot of pockets — even in the metropolitan area where things are a little bit more normalized — that don’t have electricity,” she recalls Most of the traffic lights were still dead “Driving is super insane and scary,” she adds which runs street clinics for community members and Montijo was encouraged by the grassroots recovery efforts on the island “I felt very inspired by people coming together since day one to help each other out because the help never came from the government.” which offers $500 emergency micro-grants to independent artists on the island In the storm’s immediate aftermath came a stressful two-week period when communication between the island and the mainland U.S we were not in touch with our families in a major way for the first time ever,” she says Once she regained contact, Cordero reached out to her friend Alfredo Richner, editor-in-chief for the arts and culture blog Puerto Rico Indie Richner told her that independent artists were struggling to make ends meet “Within three weeks of the hurricane people were packing their bags because all the gigs were cancelled there was no income coming in,” she says Cordero says she and her cofounder Raquel Berrios don’t intend them to be a cure-all — but they have been a boon for independent artists who were already struggling before the storm “Five hundred dollars is not going to permanently change somebody’s life or groceries for a lot of people,” she says the true value of the PRIMA Fund lies in the encouragement it provides to the creative community “That’s been the biggest gift of the fund that somebody cares about the work that [these artists] are doing and values it and wants to support it,” she explains adding that she hopes the fund will set the foundation for a more durable network for artists and their supporters “The diaspora has really risen up to the call of action and to support the self-organizing movement that’s happening in Puerto Rico,” says Montijo Otura Mun takes a break from reassembling his home studio on a narrow street in San Juan to meet with KQED Arts the spirits who make up the Yoruba pantheon of deities people spill out of an open-air bar blasting the latest reggaetón hits interrupting the eerie quiet that still haunts many parts of the city Mun, who was born in Indiana but moved to Puerto Rico nineteen years ago, leads the Afro-Caribbean futurist ensemble ÌFÉ In addition to being a DJ and percussionist the Nigerian religion that combined with Catholicism and indigenous spiritual practices to create santería a tradition still widely practiced on the island He was away from Puerto Rico when Hurricane María hit raising money and booking international tour dates he got to work rebuilding his studio so that he and his bandmates could start rehearsing again influential indie artists like Eduardo Alegría regularly get passed over for opportunities for mainstream acts And while Mun has busily promoted ÌFÉ to the wider world his bandmates on the island have seen their lives and income interrupted by the storms “I don’t know what I can do personally other than make sure the people that have chosen to work with this project have a future,” he says “We have our work cut out for us.” Independent artists in Puerto Rico often internalize the lopsided relationship between the island and the mainland assuming they have to move to New York or Los Angeles if they want to build a successful career “Artistic or brain drain was a problem in Puerto Rico before the hurricane,” he says. Now that musicians have lost several months of income to cancelled shows and recording delays the pressure to leave is greater than ever She says there’s a troubling imbalance in mainstream appetites for Puerto Rican artists like Luis Fonsi showing most mainland residents’ poor understanding of the island “The way the world consumes reggaetón and pop exports like ‘Despacito,’ for example is to a degree that is totally incongruent with the dividends people back home get for their cultural labor,” she writes in an email to KQED Arts But Córdova also celebrates the success of “Despacito,” which dominated international charts even while the island struggled “Encountering this song in its ubiquity post-hurricane has felt so different,” she admits “Its fatuous lyrics and reductive production melted into something new and sparkly and the diaspora in ways that are ineffable and like tenuous recovery efforts and general ignorance of the problems afflicting Puerto Rico stem from the colonial relationship between the island and the mainland U.S “Americans do not want to reckon with their daily lives being built on colony just like they don’t want to reckon with their daily lives being built on slavery,” she says criticizing the federal government’s delayed response to the crisis “We’re being treated terribly as a colonized people,” she says But while Hurricanes Irma and María have brought significant challenges to Puerto Rico some artists are optimistic that international attention to the crisis has created an opportunity for recognition “There’s a light on Puerto Rico right now because people are out here and the storm was brutal,” Otura Mun says “The storm gives us some exposure that I think we didn’t have before and the opportunity to realize that our voices are important and people do care what’s going on out here.” “It was really evident for a lot of us that we were gonna be hit with a lot of hardcore and that’s how it’s been.” María José Montijo believes there’s an opportunity for the people of Puerto Rico to rebuild their own communities in ways they see fit have a crucial role to play in this transformation “I really appreciate artists that have more visibility that are using their platforms to convey the messages that are going to make changes in people,” she says “Changes that will affect us in creating a better and more just future.” The 19-year-old secured his first pro win in just his ninth start for Ineos Grenadiers Magnus Sheffield won his first professional race on stage three of the Ruta del Sol bombing ahead of the rest of the pack during the final sprint to open up a three second gap who joined Ineos Grenadiers at the start of 2022 broke away from the bunch with just half a kilometre left in the race and managed to hang on as he powered his way to a commanding victory.  containing riders such as Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) were unable to keep pace with Sheffield during his aggressive attack for the finish line in Otura.  Covi holds onto the leader's jersey after the conclusion of stage three though leading Miguel Ángel López (Astana) by just eight seconds as both finished in the top-10 of stage three Two more stages remain in the Ruta del Sol.  Maintaining the lowest profile score of the five stages in the Ruta del Sol stage three presented an undulating course with the sprinters expected to take centre stage A 153.2km route heading southeast from Lucena to Otura riders had to contend with four mountain passes three of which reach gradients in excess of five per cent the sprinters inevitably took over as they converged on the finish line Otura.  Before the beginning of the third stage of the Ruta del Sol Gazprom-RusVelo and Human Powered Health both withdrew after multiple team members returned positive Covid-19 tests.  entered the third stage as the favourite to take the win.  four riders broke free from the peloton to build up a gap of at least two minutes The breakaway group included Jon Barrenetxea (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA) Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel–Euskadi) and Juan Antonio López-Cózar (Burgos BH) but López-Cózar failed to hang on and was dropped with 45km left followed by Barrenetxea shortly after.  Barrenetxea did manage to maintain his lead in the KOM classification though picking up 15 points across the course of the stage.  In the final kilometres of the race, on the approach to Otura, Mikel Landa and Damiano Caruso, both of Bahrain-Victorious, were dropped from the peloton. Ineos Grenadiers riders Jhonatan Narváez and Carlos Rodríguez also suffered a crash with just 2.5km left too, ending their races prematurely.  Kämna attempted an attack, before 19-year-old Magnus Sheffield stole the victory by bombing away from the sprinters in a display of complete class. His first professional victory, the 19-year-old secured this on just his ninth race day for Ineos Grenadiers, who he joined at the beginning of 2022. Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1 *Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1 Staff WriterRyan is a staff writer for Cycling Weekly After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer.