Cantabria’s Celtic Soul — Music, Land and Identity with Pablo from Cahornega
Cantabria’s Celtic Soul
Music, land and identity with Pablo from Cahornega.
When people imagine Spain, they often picture flamenco, dry landscapes, and sun-baked villages. Cantabria tells a very different story.
In this episode of The Move to Cantabria Podcast, I sit down with my friend Pablo — surfer, longboard instructor, father, and musician with the Cantabrian folk group Cahornega — to explore the deeper cultural roots of this region. Through music, landscape, and lived experience, we uncover Cantabria’s Celtic soul.
This is a conversation about belonging, identity, and the powerful connection between people and place.
A land that shapes its people
Pablo grew up in Santander, immersed in the Cantabrian Sea and the surrounding mountains. Anyone who has spent time here will recognise the feeling he describes — that the landscape is alive, and that people move with it rather than against it.
Just days before recording this episode, Pablo led a small group of us on one of his favourite river walks near Los Llares. Watching him guide others through the valley, it felt as though he and the land were in quiet dialogue — an ease that comes from deep familiarity and respect.
For many newcomers, this is one of the first things they notice about Cantabria: the intensity of the greens, the dramatic mountain valleys, the ever-changing ocean. It’s a place where mythology feels close to the surface — and where music seems a natural response to the landscape itself.
What do we mean by Cantabria’s “Celtic roots”?
Cantabria’s Celtic heritage is often overlooked, yet it runs deep. Long before modern borders existed, Celtic tribes inhabited much of northern Spain, leaving behind cultural traces that still echo today.
In this episode, Pablo explains how these influences show up not only in history books, but in everyday life — in festivals, rural traditions, music, and even in the temperament of the people.
There is a strong sense that Cantabria shares more in common with other Atlantic regions — Ireland, Scotland, Brittany — than with southern Spain. The climate, the rhythms of daily life, and the cultural relationship with nature all reflect this shared heritage.
Music as living memory
Pablo is a member of Cahornega, a Cantabrian folk group celebrating 25 years of keeping traditional music alive. Their sound often surprises newcomers: flutes, drums, and melodies that feel instantly familiar to those from other Celtic regions.
In our conversation, Pablo talks about:
The traditional instruments of Cantabrian folk music
The stories these songs tell — of the sea, the mountains, work, love, and loss
How Cahornega brings ancient traditions into the present without losing their soul
Music, for Pablo, is not nostalgia. It is a living language — one that connects generations and keeps cultural memory alive.
Nature, identity, and the next generation
A recurring theme in this episode is whether this deep connection to land and culture is being preserved — or slowly forgotten.
Pablo shares his reflections on teaching surfing and hiking, and how younger generations are rediscovering pride in their environment and traditions. For many, reconnecting with folk music and nature is also a way of reconnecting with identity.
This is something we see often through our work at Move to Cantabria: integration doesn’t begin with paperwork. It begins with understanding the rhythms, values, and cultural roots of the place you are moving to.
What Cantabria means
As the episode draws to a close, I ask Pablo a simple question: What does Cantabria mean to you?
His answer is thoughtful, grounded, and deeply moving — a reminder that Cantabria is not just a location, but a way of being in the world.
🎧 Listen to the full episode: Cantabria’s Celtic Soul — with Pablo from Cahornega
🎶 Pablo and Cahornega’s music is linked above
