This 31st edition will consolidate the Barcelona Festival of Music, Creativity and Technology as a radar and promoter of the sounds to come, discovering emerging talents from all over the world and firmly committed to radical and disruptive aesthetics.
The programme preview reveals the first shows and activities, with current dance music icons and big names such as Kaytranada, Jessie Ware, Ben Böhmer, Floating Points, Charlotte de Witte presenting ‘Overdrive’, Vince Staples and Folamour, among others.
The Sónar+D digital culture meeting will serve to showcase the relationship between technology and nature, as well as the most innovative practical uses of artificial intelligence in sound, gaming and alternative realities, scenography, film, music and the arts in general. Among the guests will be great personalities of the arts such as Tomás Saraceno and Nicole L’Huillier.
Sónar 2024: a visionary programme focused on dance and discovery
On 13, 14 and 15 June, the 31st Barcelona International Festival of Music, Creativity and Technology will consolidate its role as a radar and promoter in order to bring emerging talent from multiple micro-scenes around the world to large audiences and connect the city with the biggest names in dance music of our time. As usual, Sónar by Day will once again be held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Fira Montjuïc, while Sónar by Night will take place at Fira Gran Via on Friday and Saturday.
The 12th edition of Sónar+D, the unmissable annual event for professionals from the creative industries, art, research and technology, will be held at the heart of Sónar by Day and will feature audiovisual conferences on the coexistence of technology with nature and creativity. There will also be masterclasses, discussion forums, professional meetings and more activities to delve into AI and its impact on artistic disciplines such as music, sound, film, gaming and alternative realities.
The event will once again offer two exclusive morning sessions on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 June. From early afternoon, it will be open, almost in its entirety, to the entire Sónar by Day audience.
A disruptive lineup for dancing…
Sónar is consolidating its position in 2024 as a space to raise the creative expression of artists and audiences to another level, with a first preview of a disruptive line-up focused on dancing. Kaytranada’s unique fusion of hip-hop, r&b, funk and soul will accompany a Jessie Ware ready to conquer Barcelona with the soul, disco and r&b of her sensual fifth album, while the natural force of Californian rapper Vince Staples will bring classic 90s rap into the 21st century with soulful lyrics.
Belgian DJ and producer Charlotte de Witte will take her fusion of techno and trance to another level with her ‘Overdrive’ show, while France’s Folamour, the new icon of global disco and house music, will present his acclaimed audiovisual show. The melodic and precious electronica of German producer Ben Böhmer, the eclecticism of the always unpredictable Floating Points and the acid and accelerated techno of Reinier Zonneveld complete a first line-up of friendly names for different audiences and designed to revolutionise the dancefloor.
…and to discover what’s to come.
Vince Staples’ rhymes will not be alone. There will be space for both funk and flamenco-influenced pop from the precocious and promising Judeline, as well as the synth-pop-tinged rap of CASISDEAD, the introspection and reflection of rapper and thinker KAMAUU, the avant-garde electronica with spoken-word elements of Marie Davidson and the ultra-processed and distorted pop of LaFrancesssa.
The depth and delicacy of Ana Roxanne accompanied by DJ Python making up Natural Wonder Beauty Concept (and presenting her eponymous downtempo album), the recent fusion of African percussion and electronic sounds in r&b and neo-soul key of Bikôkô, the afro-rave rap aesthetics of Toya Delazy, the sentimentality of pablopablo, the collision of influences of Dyce, the baroque shadows of Adelaida, the nostalgia of AMORE and the producers and vocalists Ela Minus and yunè pinku will also have a lot to say, literally.
The more contemplative and exploratory audience will find allies in the rough textures of the duo EMPTYSET, the intimate yet complex rhythms of Loraine James and the prepared piano of Kelly Moran. At the other end of the spectrum is Olof Dreijer, best known as one half of the duo The Knife, and, alongside him, other experimental and daring artists such as the unpredictable Japanese selector ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U, rising bass music star Surusinghe and Galician sound researcher Akazie. Rounding out the line-up is a diverse selection of artists bringing new shapes and styles to club music: Slim Soledad, DJ Gigola, DJ Fucci, Taahliah, Coco Em, moktar, SHYBOI and TNTC.
Breakthrough multidisciplinary proposals and dance on the stages
Dance will be more present than ever, not only on the dance floor, but also on the festival stages. Blackhaine will showcase his demanding dance routines (which have led him to work with the likes of Kanye West) in another provocative performance, mixing rap, spoken-word and intense choreography inspired in equal parts by Japanese butoh theatre and his time growing up in the north of England. British avant-garde producer Lee Gamble will bring his poignant new album Models to life with a show – co-produced by the Unsound festival – unlike anything he has done before and with dancers on stage performing the choreography designed by Cadiz-born Candela Capitán. And Gabber Eleganza will unleash the full potential of ‘The Hakke Show’, with extremely precise and demanding dances at over 180 bpm.
Radical new terrain in the art of live performance will also be explored. The provocative brothers and digital artists Team Rolfes, famous for their sarcasm and sense of humour, will perform live their vibrant virtual reality opera ‘321Rule’, starring viral rapper Lil Mariko.
New paradigms will be opened in the field of musical performance within a festival thanks to live performances with radical scenographic proposals such as that of VMO a.k.a. Violent Magic Orchestra – who mix black-metal and punishing noise with gabber and hard-trance – and the radical collective ASIANDOPEBOYS presenting ‘PHYSIS’. Violent Magic Orchestra – mixing black-metal and piercing noise with gabber and hard-trance – and the radical collective ASIANDOPEBOYS presenting ‘PHYSIS’, a six-hour multidisciplinary show with breathtaking visual effects and lighting, avant-garde choreography and a rotating cast of performers including musiciansDis Fig and Gabber Modus Operandi, as well as dancers and performers Siko Setyanto, Yvan Falk and Ndoho Ange.
The performative potential of club music knows no limits in 2024. Good examples of this are artists who are not afraid to mix genres, ideas and disciplines, such as TOMMY CASH, horsegiirL, Hadren or the collectives TORO (with softchaos, engalanan and wicboyx) and Club Cringe (with Frost Children, Mother Cell, Angel Money, DJ Wallh4x, DJ Trick and guests as special as they are absolutely unpredictable).
Club music, always present
Once again, the audience will dance to the rhythm of both classic and up-and-coming names on the club scene: Surgeon & Speedy J will present their live set ‘MULTIPLES’; Kerri Chandler will once again show why she is one of the great masters of house music; and The Martinez Brothers will bring their freshness made in NYC.
There will be special collaborations in the booth. Hector Oaks b2b Partiboi69 will offer high doses of debauchery. Eliza Rose b2b Dan Shake b2b Sally C, three of today’s hottest DJs, will sign a previously unreleased b2b2b. And Stacey Hotwaxx Hale b2b DJ Paulette will show what it’s like to dance when a Detroit legend meets a Manchester legend. KI/KI, the new big trance sensation, will present their only live date in Spain in 2024. Skin On Skin will firmly mix techno and house with drill and rap. You will travel back to the era of trance and eurodance with Marlon Hoffstadt aka DJ Daddy Trance. Close your eyes with Cinthie live’s modern, raw and energetic take on house classics. Hands will be raised to the sky with the most Italian Berlin of Kapote & Sam Ruffillo in the first large-scale Toy Tonics Jam in our country. And the euphoria will be unleashed with the DJ dynamism of Jehia and local selector and agitators LANAV and Spacer.
The relationship between nature-technology and AI, protagonists of this Sónar+D preview
The relationship between nature and technology will be one of the main focuses of the audiovisual conferences that will take place at Sónar+D 2024.
The prestigious contemporary artist and architect Tomás Saraceno, known for directing projects such as ‘Aerocene’ and for his explorations into new sustainable ways of inhabiting and perceiving the environment, will explore the links between art, life sciences and social sciences. His work in these fields has led him to create sculptures even with spider webs and to present large-scale site-specific installations, always with sensorial solidarity with the planet as a banner through an ecological social, mental and environmental practice.
David Gruber, founder and director of the CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) project and featured in The New Yorker this year, will reveal how he is managing to translate the language of sperm whales on the Caribbean island of Dominica using Artificial Intelligence and machine-learning.
The other major focus will be on the use of Artificial Intelligence from a playful, practical and tangible perspective: Nicole L’Huillier, a Chilean transdisciplinary artist with a PhD in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT, and Marta Verde, a technologist, visual artist and professor at Berklee College of Music in Valencia. Both will present masterclasses to showcase their work.
And the AI & Blockchain Creative Summit, a space for inspiration, debate and presentation of start-ups, spin-offs and applied and artistic research projects, consisting of two sessions on the nature of film and expanded media in AI and Web3.
The great week of electronic culture on an international level.
The activity of Sónar 2024 will begin on Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 June with the 2nd edition of the +RAIN Film Festival, the international film festival made exclusively with AI in collaboration with UPF, which explores how this technology coexists with the filmic narrative of our time.
After the first two days of the event at the UPF Poblenou Campus, the festival will culminate from 13 to 15 June at Sónar by Day, with the screening of the winning films in different spaces of Sónar+D and the celebration of different activities. The call for submissions for films created with AI opens on Monday 4 December.
And from cinema to dance music. From Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 June, the most acclaimed electronic music parties of the moment will gather at Poble Espanyol thanks to OFFSónar. The parties that will be present and the top artists that will make up the lineups of each of them will be announced very soon.
Sónar returns to Lisbon and Istanbul in 2024
The international route of Sónar in 2024 will be premiered in the heart of the Portuguese capital. The 3rd edition of Sónar Lisbon will be held in Parque Eduardo VII on 22, 23 and 24 March.
The first preview of the programme features a brand new set by Belgian duo 2manydjs with special guests Éclair Fifi and Erol Alkan. There will also be DJ sets by major international artists such as Bonobo, Eliza Rose and CC:DISCO! as well as live performances by Sevdaliza, Oneohtrix Point Never, TOMMY CASH, Shygirl presents ‘Club Shy’, Tiga & Hudson Mohawke present ‘Love Minus Zero’ and Wata Igarashi, among others. Sónar’s commitment to local scenes will also be reflected by a host of Portuguese artists, including Chima Isaaro, Moullinex △ GPU Panic, Supa b2b Ghetthoven and XEXA. The full programme will be unveiled very soon.
One month later, on 26, 27 and 28 April, Sónar Istanbul will return to the Zorlu Performing Arts Center for the eighth consecutive year.
Tickets are still on sale at sonar.es. SonarPass (access to all of Sónar by Day and Sónar by Night) and SonarPass+D (access to all of Sónar by Day, Sónar by Night and the full Sónar+D programme), both standard and VIP, are on sale. All of them can be purchased through DICE here.
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