electronic music

Sónar ’16 ends with 115,500 visitors and announces its expansion to two new cities

June 21, 2016 04:24 PM | ACN

Sónar 2016 closed its doors on its 23rd edition with 115,500 visitors from a hundred countries. This figure is slightly lower than 2015, but maintains the last five-year average. This year, the voices of artists that had highly critical content had special relevance, noted the organisers of the festival. The co-director of the festival, Ricard Robles, said that foreign nationals who attended were mostly British, then French, German, and Italian, with an increased presence of Americans. Co-director Ventura Barba spoke positively about the sister event to the music festival that ran parallel to it, Sónar+D, which saw the participation of more than 4,500 music professionals. The novelties for Sónar 2017 have been announced, and they include two new cities added to the international route: Istanbul and Hong Kong.

Sónar 2016 kicks off in the Barcelona sunshine

June 17, 2016 09:45 PM | ACN

Sónar Festival began its 23rd edition on Thursday with its first daytime sessions, welcoming the acts The Black Madonna, Kenny Dope (formerly Masters at Work), Mad Professor, sharing the stage with The Spanish Dub Invasion, British MC Lady Leshurr, and a classical piano recital by James Rhodes to the Barcelona sun. This total of 130 eclectic acts are being hosted at the Montjuic fairgrounds, where thousands of participants attended, and will presumably attend again on Friday and Saturday, where the night-time performances will be held at the Gran Via Exhibition Centre. Additionally, Sónar+D also kicked off on Thursday, serving as the intellectual and collaborative sister event to Sónar, holding conferences and activities revolving around the “future of culture, arts and technology”, according to curator, José Luis de Vicente.

New Order, James Blake and synth pioneer Jean-Michelle Jarre’s will to perform at Barcelona’s Sónar festival

January 26, 2016 10:11 AM | ACN

One of Europe’s most well-known electronic music events, Barcelona’s Sónar Festival has announced the line up for its 23rd edition. The legendary Manchester band New Order will again be on the bill, after performing at the festival in 2012. The British musician James Blake will present his latest album ‘Radio Silence’ and the French pioneer of synthesisers, Jean-Michel Jarre, has chosen the Catalan festival to mark his comeback to the stage. Sónar “has become everything a modern festival aims to be” stated Jarre. Last year, nearly 120,000 people attended the festival, which takes place at Fira ed Montjuic during the day and Fira Gran Via by night. 

Sónar kicks off, blends artistry, technology and business in festival's 22nd year

June 18, 2015 09:43 PM | ACN

The 22nd edition of Sónar, the largest electronic music festival in Europe, roared out of the gate Thursday in Barcelona. Considered the "most ambitious" iteration of the festival in Sónar's history, this year's programme has 147 performances scheduled between the festival's two campuses – Sónar by Day at Fira Montjüic and Sónar by Night at Fira GranVia – from Thursday to Saturday. But apart from the musical acts, there is a greater presence of audiovisual and technological shows than ever before. In addition, Sónar+D is an international tech conference at the festival geared toward artists, entrepreneurs and businesses and features over 120 activities and networking opportunities, showcasing big-name companies like Kickstarter, Google and Vimeo.The festival's biggest attractions include The Chemical Brothers, Skrillex, Duran Duran, Die Antwoord, A$AP Rocky, FKA Twigs, Hot Chip, Flying Lotus, Jamie XX and Arca.

Barcelona’s Sónar music festival set to start, with eclectic line-up and ambitious tech event

June 13, 2015 04:28 PM | ACN

The 22nd edition of Barcelona’s Sónar festival – one of Europe's most well-known electronic music events – is about to kick off, taking place between the 18th and 20th of June. This year, Sónar's activities are divided into two main locations: Sónar by Day and Sónar+D (the professional event on digital creative industries) will be held in Fira de Barcelona’s Montjuic venue, with Sónar by Night taking place at the Fira GranVia L'Hospitalet venue. The festival features 147 concerts (morning, afternoon and night sessions) in addition to 120 activities related to Sónar+D, which this year makes an ambitious leap forward in comparison to previous editions. The eclectic 2015 line-up includes several internationally renowned artists. Among the most famous ones appearing on stage will be: The Chemical Brothers, Autechre, Skrillex, Hot Chip, Die Antwoord, Flying Lotus, Jamie XX, Arca and Duran Duran.