Sonar 2011. What's in Store?

This year one of the most celebrated festivals in the field of electronic music - the Spanish Sonar - will take place on June 16, 17 and 18 in Barcelona, as well as on June 17 and 18 in Coruña.

Today the famous forum spans five continents, shaping the current face of the electronic scene, from abstract techno, stadium bass music and topical minimalism to so-called new rap. Every year the festival comprehensively embraces the world's creative potential in the field of electronic music, reflecting new trends and genres, emerging labels and formations, the outstanding works of acknowledged luminaries and of rising young talents who show great promise.
Staying true to its philosophy, in its three-day marathon the festival once again sets itself the task of depicting, showing and revealing all the facets of contemporary progressive music. Today, to the 103 shows in Barcelona have been added another 22 in the town of Coruña (La Coruña), located in the North of Spain in the province of Galicia.

Among the main thematic projects of Sonar-2011: a vivid cross-section of American artists of the most varied directions and styles (Steve Reich, Janelle Monáe, Atmosphere, members of the Tri Angle label, The Gaslamp Killer, Tyondai Braxton and others); a wealth of abstractionist approaches to techno (Scuba, Silent Servant, Shackleton, Raime, Actress, Surgeon); as well as the evolution of British electronic music on its way to reaching the broad masses (Magnetic Man, Pearson Sound, Katy B, Africa Hitech, the Night Slugs label).

In Barcelona, Sónar-2011 will present more than twenty artists from the United States of America. Abstracted from any uniform musical concept, the festival selects the most outstanding musicians, producers and DJs in terms of the artistic individuality of their ideas across an extremely attractive range of styles.

This is: the new "black" pop music with elements of funk, soul and hip-hop in the person of the amazing star Janelle Monáe; and the enchanting, elegant electronica of the New York nugget, one of the most prominent figures of the young electronic scene, Nicolas Jaar; the bright and slightly psychedelic disco-pop-funk of Toro Y Moi; the compelling hip-hop of Atmosphere; the beguiling otherworldly music of How To Dress Well; the ferocity and versatility of such masters of the dancefloor as A-Trak, The Gaslamp Killer, Silent Servant and Steve Aoki. Also here: the young rapper from Tampa (Florida) Dominique Young Unique, the Brooklyn soul-rock trio No Surrender, and two beatmakers from the West Coast who have only just announced themselves, Teebs and B.Bravo, whose performances will take place as part of the Red Bull Music Academy.

And above all of them - the legendary minimalist composer Steve Reich (Stephen Reich) - one of the most important figures of the newest American music, under whose influence a whole galaxy of contemporary artists has grown up. Steve Reich's performance, accompanied by the instrumental ensemble bcn216 and the vocal ensemble Synergy Vocals, will take place at the Barcelona music complex L'Auditori as part of the festival's opening.

For several years now Sónar has been closely watching the developments of the British electronic scene. And it must be said that this year has become quite an important one in that respect, because this very scene has, at last, made a qualitative leap toward a broad audience. And how can one not acknowledge it, recalling the success of Magnetic Man, the first decisive attempts to push dubstep into the charts and, of course, the much-anticipated album of the new star of London bass music, Katy B, following the stunning success of her first single "Katy On A Mission".

That same year 2011 was marked by the rise of labels, collectives and producers who have opened up new paths on the dubstep platform. Among them: Numbers and Night Slugs - the most prominent and engaged labels, which will visit Sónar with two show-programmes; Africa Hitech - the brainchild of Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek, in which soul, dancing and African tradition come together; and the hyperactive lovers of boogie-woogie, house and abstract beats, Floating Points.

A key role in this whole process of the sharp rise of British music on the world stage was played by the "queen of dubstep" Mary Anne Hobbs, whose popular show on BBC Radio 1 revealed to the public many young talents of the dubstep scene, including Pearson Sound (previously known as Ramadanman), Katy B and Redlight. At Sónar-2011 Mary Anne Hobbs will perform a special solo set.

It's hard to disagree that techno is a constantly changing and extraordinarily prolific genre. Drawing an analogy, one could say that 2011 turned out to be an especially bountiful year for techno in its original conceptions (gloom, depth and a glimmer of the coming future). Here are those who faithfully follow the genre, and those who try in every way to break its forms (Aphex Twin, Global Communication, Surgeon, James Holden); those who have tried to seek new ways of synthesizing techno with other music (Shackleton, Scuba and Actress); and those who are only just approaching it (Silent Servant and Raime).

Once again Sonar becomes a unique platform for the international exchange of professional and cultural experience, presenting a whole series of special concert events on the best stages of Barcelona.

As already noted, as part of the festival's opening, the titled American composer Steve Reich (Stephen Reich) will perform an exclusive concert programme. A key musician for many generations, a pioneer of minimalism, "the greatest living American composer" according to the New York Times, Steve Reich has had an enormous influence on the music of the last 50 years, opening up to the world new ways of using rhythm and melody. Constantly experimenting with various formats, it was he who introduced into his work the technique of looped repetition in music as a means of expressing emotion of the highest order.

On the stage of the Barcelona music complex L'Auditori the celebrated American musician will perform with the participation of the instrumental ensemble bcn216 and the British vocal ensemble Synergy Vocals, who will perform the master's best-known works "Double Sextet" and "Music for 18 Musicians".

The festival's closing will be marked by an equally curious performance by two of the most important musical explorers of our time: the German artist and musician Alva Noto (real name Carsten Nicolai) and the outstanding Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, winner of an "Oscar" for the soundtrack to the film "The Last Emperor". Not long ago both musicians finished work on a joint album, "summvs", which will be released on Carsten Nicolai's experimental label raster-noton in May of this year. The performance of the two artists on the open-air stage of the picturesque GREC theatre as part of the Sónar festival promises to become the next step on the path of interaction between electronic and acoustic music. In a single simultaneous process there will merge the digital processing of image and sound by Carsten Nicolai and the live piano playing of Ryuichi Sakamoto...

And as part of a special joint project of the Sónar festival and the science museum Cosmocaixa, a whole series of events will take place under the general title "Music and birds". A distinctive attempt to explore the interconnections between human abilities, multimedia art and birdsong through acoustic and audiovisual installations, live performances, concerts and discussions. Taking part in the programme will be: the German abstract electronic artist Jan Jelinek, the Japanese multimedia artist Sawako (Japanese minimalism) and the Spanish duo Roc Jiménez de Cisneros and Anna Ramos.

Incidentally, the home Catalan scene at this year's festival is represented by five names: besides the above-mentioned Roc Jiménez de Cisneros and Anna Ramos (EVOL), there are also Astrud & The Col · lectiu Brossa, Facto and Los Amigos del Norte, Downliners Sekt and C156.

Among other things, in 2011 Sónar presents a joint project with the digital art festival OFFF - a unique 10-day exhibition of interactive works based on the concept of the portrait - OFFMàtica (June 9-19). With the help of the latest technologies, everyone here will be able to see themselves in an entirely new virtual guise. By designing your own subjective portrait, you'll be able to look at yourself from the standpoint of your desires or through the eyes of the person you'd really like to be. But what will happen when the balance is disturbed and the model altered? How will technology see us? And what will it take for that - our appearance, our expressions or our character? But most importantly, will we like it?..

And, finally, SonarPro - a specialized forum, organized annually by the festival for holding professional meetings, conferences and master classes, for the mutual exchange of information, demonstrations of new products and technologies, and also for establishing business cooperation among various representatives in the field of electronic music and the related industry. Thanks to regular transformations, the establishment of new business contacts and interesting business partnerships, the international professional prestige of not only the festival but of the whole city of Barcelona grows stronger year by year, making SonarPro an event that no self-respecting expert in the field of music technology and industry can afford to miss.

The special programme SonarKids (June 19), addressed to children and their parents, will this year present numerous workshops, ateliers, live performances and sets by well-known DJs.
As part of Sónar's annual world tour, the 4th SonarSound Tokyo will take place in Japan (April 2 and 3) with the participation of artists such as Kode9, Flying Lotus, Ryoji Ikeda, Modeselektor, Battles and DJ Krush; as well as the 7th A Taste of Sonar in London (March 19), where, among others, you'll be able to catch performances by Buraka Som Sistema, The Gaslamp Killer and MJ Cole.

It only remains to add that the Russian scene (Russian Beats) at Sonar-2011 will be represented by: perhaps the most inspired musician of homegrown electronica, who has recently delivered a new album, Mujuice (aka Roman Litvinov), and a Moscow artist originally from Vladivostok, a hip-hop DJ and master of scratching, one of the founders of the creative association "How2make", Alexander DZA.

And the most detailed and up-to-date information about the festival you can always find on the official site www.sonar.es