BAM and Mercè Música will fill the city with music during the Festa Major

BAM, Barcelona Acció Musical, and Mercè Música, which will be held from 18 to 24 September at various venues in the city, have released this year's programme.

BAM will bring along emerging talents in pop, rock and electronic music on the international scene, and on 24 September it will open the Family BAM, a day when the very youngest can enjoy a music programme made just for them. For its part, Mercè Música, with acts on the Barcelona, Catalan and international music scene, will make Barcelona dance with music aimed at all types of audiences.

The two festivals will feature venues at various points in the city: Plaça dels Àngels, Plaça de Joan Coromines, Moll de la Fusta, the Antiga Fàbrica Damm, Plaça de Sant Jaume, Avinguda de la Catedral, Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, Parc del Fòrum and Platja del Bogatell beach.

The Mercè Música programme will be centred on the Avinguda de la Catedral and Plaça de Sant Jaume venues and will share the stage with BAM at the Parc del Fòrum venue. In addition, the Platja del Bogatell beach will host the Mediterràniament stage, which comes to life on the evening of Wednesday 23 September with the concerts by Els Amics de les Arts, Els Catarres and Oques Grasses. The same venue will also be featuring the trailer of the film Barcelona nit d'hivern while Joan Dausà, composer of the soundtrack, will be performing three songs on the piano live.

Plaça de Sant Jaume will be staging the more traditional events of folk culture. It will feature Els Moussakis, with their sounds from Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, while Saturday night will see the Primera Milonga de la Mercè, in a year in which Buenos Aires is the guest city. Audiences will also be able to hear the rumba of La Màlaga, and on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22, the venue will be devoted to the city's schools of music. Wednesday 23 will offer a very special project: Mare Uut by Kaulakau and Cobla Ciutat de Barcelona.

The Avinguda de la Catedral stage will host Free Spirits Big Band & El Petit de Cal Eril, Sisa, Portet and Oliver with the Col·lectiu Eternity project, the concerts by Coetus + Juan Quintero and Luna Monti, Maria del Mar Bonet and the jazz of the Sant Andreu Jazz Band under the leadership of Joan Chamorro and with the participation of Luigi Grasso and Ignasi Terraza, Esteve Pi and Josep Traver and works by the Taller de Músics. We will also be able to see the tribute that pianist Jordi Sabatés has prepared for Cuban singer, composer and pianist Ignacio Villa Bola de Nieve. Finally, the last concert on the stage will be by Raúl Rodríguez, who will be performing Razón de Son. Elsewhere, the iconic Plaça de Catalunya stage, which will this year be marking 20 years of the Associations Show, will be calling for public participation with its own programme.

The Fòrum will host a joint programme between Mercè Música and BAM on 18 and 19 September. Friday 18 will see Achilifunk, La Gossa Sorda, Aspencat, The Gramophone Allstars Big Band and Batida. Saturday will be the turn of Mishima and Delorean, the post-punk of the Shopping, Tony Allen, regarded one of the fathers of afrobeat, The Suicide of Western Culture, DJ Pau Roca b2b Sau Poler, Jupiter Lion, Nueva Vulcano and Los Punsetes.

As for BAM, there will be 29 groups from 13 countries, and 11 of these groups will be performing for the first time in Spain. This year, the BAM programme will be centred on six venues: two in the Raval (Plaça de Joan Coromines and Plaça dels Àngels), the Moll de la Fusta stage, two stages at the Fòrum while the Antiga Fàbrica Damm will host the Crystal Fighters, Senior i el Cor Brutal and Ocellot.

The Moll de la Fusta stage will host the concerts by STA, Brushy One String, Gabriel Garzón-Montano, Ebo Taylor, Dengue Fever and Mdou Moctar.

The Plaça dels Àngels stage will be one of the most international, with groups such as Da Bang, Georgia, Jane Weaver, LoneLady, Solids, Saun & Starr and Vaudou Game. The programme will be completed by Canadian band METZ, British band Loop, singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan, Ryley Walker, Vetiver, Brandt Brauer Frick, Michael Rother, Bombino, Wand and the psychedelia of Miquel Serra, which will fill six intensive days of music.

For its part, the Plaça de Joan Coromines stage will host Mallorcan band Beach Beach, Mourn, Jambinai, I am Dive, Núria Graham, Lady Lamb, the hip-hop of Erik Urano & Zar1, the electronic pop of Le Parody, Blank Realm, Juan Wauters and the voice of Lady Lamb. This stage will also feature the semi-final of Sona9 and the Barcelona bands selected by the Cabal Musical social project.

The Cadena 100, Europa FM and La Ser radio stations will also fill the city with music, while Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina will host the concerts by Deco Pilot, Radio Picnic, Miquel Abras, Macaco, Enric Verdaguer, Projecte Mut, Els Pets, Gertrudis, Dj Ràdio, Efecto Pasillo and Maldita Nerea.

BAM and Mercè Música
Date: from 18 to 24 September
Venue: various
For more information, click here