Next Sónar Music Festival to draw “a world map of electronic” music

Barcelona (ACN).- The programme of the 18th Edition of the Festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Sónar, the main festival of its kind in Europe, was issued today in Barcelona. This year’s edition wants to draw a “world map of electronic” music and to do so will present proposals from the five continents. The thematic axes range from emerging artists in the United States to urban rhythms in the United Kingdom, passing through South-African beats. The festival will kick off on Thursday 16th June with Steve Reich’s performance in Barcelona’s L’Auditori concert hall. The festival will end, for the second year in a row, with a concert at Barcelona’s open air Greek Theatre by Japanese Ryuichi Sakamoto, with the presence of German Alva Noti.

Enric Palau, one of the festival’s directors, stressed the will to bring new proposals from all over the world. For the first time, two bands from South-Africa will be present. The first one is Die Antwoord, from Cape Town, which became popular for its use of the Internet and, according to Palau, represents “the white South-Africa” and “futurist”. The other ban is Shangaan Electro, which has a completely different style: ethnic electronics, with African beats and loud decibels.

From the United States, Janelle Monáe will be back in Barcelona. She is the new sensation of the soul music. Other North-American artists will be Atmosphere, Dominique Young Unique, Tyondai Braxton, and A-Trak. The latter forms, together with DJ Armand Van Helden, Duck Sauce, which created the dance hit ‘Barbara Streisand’.

Regarding the United Kingdom, consolidated musicians will share space with new talents. Human League (creators of the 1980s hit ‘Don’t you want me’) and the eclectic M.I.A. will play in Barcelona. The duet Underworld, which performed Trainspotting’s main theme, is also one of the popular artists present.

Many of the top names in Barcelona will also be present in A Coruña, in the Sónar Festival showcase in Galicia. Last year was the first edition that the Festival created a parallel mini festival in Galicia, and it will repeat the experience this year. However, it will last 1 day less, from the 17th to the 18th of June. About 30 artists will be present in the Galician edition, which will also have local artists.

Barcelona’s 2011 Sónar will take place from the 16th of June to the 18th of June. The festival will have a children's edition the week before, called SónarKids. The Sónar will also have a special emphasis on music professionals with the Sonar Pro. Last year 1,500 professionals registered, coming from 38 different countries.

SónarSound Tokyo goes on

Considering Japan’s earthquake, Palau wanted to stress that the festival’s showcase in Japan will go on. It is called SónarSound Tokyo and it is scheduled from the 2nd to the 3rd of April. “We have talked with our Japanese colleagues and they told us there is no need to change the dates”, he explained.