Azabache de Asturias

Lise nos envía una invitación para un documental sobre el Azabache que se celebrará el próximo dia 28 de Enero del 2010 -”Cuadernos de Asturias”- en el Centro Integrado de FP de Imagen y Sonido de Langreo a las 19:00 h.

Invitación documental del Azabache

Last miner, last jet

When complaints become mantra. This is the situation: Some black jet craftsmen have been complaining, warning, demanding; finally contributing. That is what any civilized society should expect from its citizens. We have been complaining that we have little jet. We warned that Thomas Noval, the last miner, was also getting old. We have complained and warned about the entry of “jet” and lignites from elsewhere. Complaints and warnings: “The wolf is coming with death in its back, with saddlebags full of black jet from other places.” And there was no administrative mastiff to prevent its passage.

The figure of Thomas Noval was sold as “the last miner” for over thirty years. We are part of a community ruled by politicians and officials, who touted for over thirty years something as poetic as this, and did not take any action. In the early days of democracy, we had a meeting with Mari Paz Fernández Felgueroso, then counselor of Industry, in which the gravity and urgency of the issue was raised . Now we are without Thomas Noval and without black jet.

Not for the first time in history the “Azabachería” (crafts and industries around black jet) and black jet trading stumble, but never like in the present moment, when there is neither miner nor mine, and yes, a huge market (another resource), from which, with water as riots, poachers who sell Turkish, Caucasian, Chinese, Polish, Teruel,… “jet” are making money, saying that it is Asturian Black Jet. Because of this serious situation, that is, the lack of Asturian black jet, some black jet “craftsmen”, without any respect for Asturian culture and identity, have chosen to work this fake (poor-quality) jet from elsewhere. They buy cheap, raw and manufactured “jet from elsewhere” and, as magicians or demiurgs , turn it into precious Asturian jet, at the price of the Asturian one of course. Round Business. Jewelries and workshops full of “Asturian jet”. Fraud. Fraud.

In response to this situation, the client should demand the seller to guarantee in writing that what it’s being sold is actually Asturian jet. The vendor should submit his/her tax information and identification. It is possible, through analysis, to differentiate Asturian jet from the rest and people who commit fraud should pay for it.

But, in theory, everything is fine. We are in the process of opening a mine, possibly within a year, as if some living creature could be a year without feeding. Prior to this new process all the research work has been done, always required before the opening of a mine. In practice, we knew there was jet, but law obliges. Then, we could have taken advantage of the research work done to get black jet, An emergency measure that could have prevented this catastrophic situation. But when the time came, this was not done, and only the research regulations were accomplished. Legal proceedings covered. everything legal.

Now we are also beginning the process of creating a Mark of Origin for the Asturian Black Jet. It will be ready within three years. How lightly can some human beings speak about the pass of time! Now what about “Asturian Jet” or better “Villaviciosa Jurassic Jet” or even better “Asturian Jurassic Jet”,….,one thing, the other. We are in a situation that some politicians are so fond of, or in that tree playing with a swing and beating about the bush. The solution is simple: The extraction of jet, and after so many years it has not been done yet! This leads us to think that selling the image of the last miner, the shortage of jet, jet crafts in danger of extinction might fit more in the “philosophy” of great public works, with large movements of money, people, macro projects enhanced with periods of exhibition, allegations, and all the paraphernalia that always gives sense to the ruling powers, for when this stage is exhausted, it will move on to the new one of Mark of Origin, Opening of the mine, etc, etc. Issues that only feed the superficial points of view. The feeling that something important is going on, drawing the attention away from the real problem: we do not have Asturian Black Jet.

These next few years will pass into the history of jet as those in which: the University of Oviedo, the Government of the Principality of Asturias, Villaviciosa Local, Garaysam mining company, gained the Mark of Origin for Black Asturian Jet, or Jurassic Asturian Black Jet or from Villaviciosa or whatever; they got the mine opening, the Museum of Black Jet, the School of Black Jet Works, etcetera. What history is not going to tell is that the real protagonists of it, the real black jet Craftsmen and Craftswomen fell into this absurd battle, without having the opportunity to teach our knowledge to future ones.

The potential of Black Jet Works is unimaginable. Those who live from this know what we talk about. Working and selling black jet is a decent way of making a living. At the same time the first pieces of black jet are extracted from the mine, there will be the possibility of teaching the trade, in its different aspects, to people who are eagerly waiting to learn and set up their own workshops. Real job creation. We have spent years doing the same thing. From now on we will be late. When complaints become mantra.

Government of the Principality of Asturias! React to this situation. Find the way to get black jet now. Fulfill Your Obligations. We have not black jet from here. Within a year, some will be no longer in this business. Common sense is demanded.

Eliseo Nicolás Alonso (Lise)

President of Acebache

Asturian Black Jet show held in Villaviciosa, Asturias at the end of August. As you see in the video, black jet is used to make objects of subtle beauty. I hope you like it.

Francisco Garzón

Arkemia

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=83F08D206EA8F96DClarifying lecture by professor Tomás Emilio Díaz about Azabache Plant Origin. He and his team in the group “Fossil Log” at the University of Oviedo have determined that the Asturian Black Jet is log (wood, not leaves, roots or seeds) from fossilized trees that lived in the Jurassic sharing space with the Great Dinosaurs . It seems that also most of this wonderful resource comes from a species, now extinct, not yet classified and we now know about its existence thanks to the studies done on the Asturian jet. Therefore, Thomas and his group propose the name for this material to be “Asturian Jurassic Black Jet”. Hope you like it, thanks. Quetzalito.