El Sónar is once again the largest dance floor in the world

Ricard Robles, one of the directors of Sónar de Barcelona, ​​said a few hours ago, by way of summary before the imminent new edition, that they have not stood by with their arms crossed because of the pandemic: "It has been more than a thousand days since we a big festival, but we've done six festivals in those thousand days, including two editions in Istanbul and one a few weeks ago in Lisbon".

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
18 May 2022 Wednesday 12:27
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El Sónar is once again the largest dance floor in the world

Ricard Robles, one of the directors of Sónar de Barcelona, ​​said a few hours ago, by way of summary before the imminent new edition, that they have not stood by with their arms crossed because of the pandemic: "It has been more than a thousand days since we a big festival, but we've done six festivals in those thousand days, including two editions in Istanbul and one a few weeks ago in Lisbon".

Despite this, the co-director of the music, technology and creativity festival acknowledged that they had an enormous desire to return to pre-pandemic normality, to that festival model that has placed them as a world reference.

In the presentation that took place this morning at the Antigua Fábrica Estrella Damm in the Catalan capital, Robles was accompanied by fellow co-director Enric Palau, and Sónar D commissioners Antònia Folguera and José Luis de Vicente.

And what was already announced was confirmed, that is, that the festival will be held between June 16 and 18, which returns to its usual format This year it returns to its usual format after the pandemic, with 117 performances spread over 12 stages in day and night programming. To this we must add more than 60 activities in new spaces and formats of Sónar D.

It also specified which are the two conceptual backbones of this 29th edition. On the one hand, cultural diversity (with the participation of 200 artists from 32 countries), which "is a picture of how current popular culture is being transformed, and we must serve as an escape from it." And the other is the environmental challenges, "and in this sense we want to do an awareness task".

Robles also highlighted that another of the signs of identity of this edition of a return to normality, and that it made direct reference to Sónar D, saying that "one of the objectives of this edition is to dilute the border between festival and congress". In this sense, he explained that "we want to bring the contents to the normal public and not only to professionals."

Along these lines, José Luis de Vicente, one of the curators of Sónar D, recalled that this proposal has been around for ten years and that they had thought for a long time that it would be convenient to dilute the borders between Sónar and Sónar D. To do this, in this In this edition, new spaces will be released in the Palau de Congressos and the SonarÀgora debate area will be inaugurated, where questions will be dealt with that will revolve around Artificial Intelligence, Acoustic Ecology and Web3. Along with this, the creation of the new Stage D stage, focused on hosting debates and talks with a high audiovisual component, and hybrid presentations between conference and show.

Precisely in relation to this section of the conferences, the also curator of Sónar D, Antònia Folguera, insisted that the conferences are also an entertainment format because we like to learn and that people who know explain fascinating and interesting things to us. So if we can help make it even more fascinating and interesting, all the better."

The list of scientific and artistic people in charge of filling this logistical and conceptual effort with content is long and brilliant, with names like Liam Young, Davide Quayola, Trevor Paglen

And in the chapter of the opening of the festival to other scenarios and areas, the geographical one was also touched upon. The highlight in this area is SónarExtra, which has designed a tour through three sound interventions in as many locations in the city during the festival week.

One of them will be the one that takes place in the Palau Güell where a hyperorgan will be heard for the first time in Spain thanks to the Hyperorgan project, where the Berlin musicians gamut inc, Santi Mides and the organ builder Albert Blancafort take part. Another will be the one that will take place at the Hotel ME Barcelona, ​​where you can visit the immersive audiovisual installation Transient, by the Italian artistic duo Quayola/Seta. And the third proposal will be the Fundació Antoni Tàpies, which will have the Sondear sound installation, created in 2001 by Mika Vainio to record the urban environment in real time through the vibrations of the sculpture Núvol i cadira, which presides over the façade of the building.

In the musical section, finally, and although the names of the participating artists and bands were already known in advance, the co-director Enric Palau made a reminder of some of the most outstanding and/or interesting names. The brilliant simile sounded that with this program it will be understood why Sónar "is the biggest dance floor in the world", and he mentioned the presence of stars such as The Chemical Brothers, Moderat, Bonobo, The Blaze or Arca, a fixture in festival posters. He also recalled, with a mixture of joy and justified pride, the presence of two old acquaintances of the festival such as C. Tangana and Nathy Peluso. It is unknown exactly what format the former will come in, but it will be inextricably linked to her acclaimed project El madrileño, while the Argentine singer will return with her abrasive Calambre, to show why she continues to reign with authority in the field of Latin and urban sounds.

In that national and Hispanic sphere, unpublished works created especially for the festival will also have their absolute premiere in this edition. Thus, the fan will be able to enjoy Niño de Elche Ylia Banda La Valenciana, who will offer a Festive Music Concert with 50 musicians who will combine rave music, bakalao and flamenco tradition. Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagés present Hiperutopia, accompanied by the 36 voices of the Cor de Noies de l'Orfeó Català. Samantha Hudson will debut at the festival to premiere Total Liquidation by Closing; Uncompressed, presented by Patreon, will bring together musicians, creators and synthesizer experts Hainbach, Look Mum No Computer and Cuckoo. Finally, the Tarta Relena duo will collaborate on stage with a choir made up of 16 voices.

In less artistic matters, Robles explained that despite the expansion of spaces and stages, the capacity remains unchanged, that is, 17,000 people at the festival during the day and 32,000 at night. "We could go further, but we stop here so that people have the kind of experience that we want and move comfortably around the venue," he explained.

Asked about the permanence of Sónar in Barcelona - alluding to what was done by his colleagues from Primavera Sound -, the co-director assured that "the future of the festival continues to pass through Barcelona. It's 29 years of history and it's a festival absolutely rooted in this city ". And he added that they are very pleased "to go to Lisbon and Istanbul as ambassadors of a way of doing things coined in this city", to conclude that "happy to export, but to always come back here".

Before, the organizers also explained that, like the capacity, the budget for this edition back to normality is very similar to that of 2019, that is, around 9,450 million euros, of which 76 percent percent comes from own resources and 5.87 from administrations. oh! And that the pace of ticket sales and subscriptions suggests that it will be one of the best editions in terms of attendance.


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