amics de les arts

A curated list of the best of Catalonia’s indie stars

Sportspeople and artists are also confined to home, and are finding interesting ways to keep entertained

Starting in Paris on Thursday, popular folk-pop band to play five destinations before end of June

One of its inaugural concerts was an intimate performance in a yurt by Marc Parrot

The Suite Festival has eight performances, over the span of six months, including artists like Norah Jones and Els Amics de les Arts

Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz ended the successful Costa Brava festival that achieved full audiences in 15 of 20 concerts scheduled and an attendance of 41,000 people. This year's festival was the first organised by Catalan music publisher Clipper’s and included performances by Bob Dylan, Ben Harper, Simple Minds, James Morrison, Miguel Bosé and Manolo García, among others. The festival has had a positive effect on the local economy providing a boost of €20 million.

Catalan-singing band Antònia Font is preparing a new album. According to band sources, the group has all the material ready and is aiming to record it before the end of 2012. Antònia Font is continuing to tour with their last album, Lamparetes, but they are currently combining stage-shows with the task of creating another outstanding album.

This weekend, 14,500 people rocked at the Palau Sant Jordi, in Montjuïc, in a charity concert that brought together the most famous Catalan singers and bands. Singer songwriter Lluís Llach interpreted a poem with former F.C. Barcelona Manager, Pep Guardiola, who finished with the verse: “Everything is to be done, and everything is possible”. 20 more artists participated in the concert, which turned into a cry against AIDS and for the independence of Catalonia.

“In a pop group there must be a balance between artistic creation and proximity to fans”, state ‘Els Amics de les Arts’, in an interview with ACN. They are one of the most successful Catalan music band at the moment. They have released a new album ‘Espècies per catalogar’ (it translates as ‘Species to be catalogued’) and they are returning on stage to present it.

The City Hall and The Coliseum Theatre are the new locations of the Guitar Festival, which will play host to popular bands such as Els Amics de les Arts, Jorge Drexler and the Waterboys. The Festival is taking place from March 10th to May 26th and is including all kind of guitar focused proposals. This Guitar Festival is considered to be one of the most important consolidated music events in Barcelona, with around 25.000 spectators per year. The budget for this 2012 has increased by 3.5% and will include new improvements and musical offers.