La Mercè music festival presents an extensive and eclectic programme
From the 19th to the 23rd of September the festival will incorporate artists from the BAM programme and will include top Catalan bands, new names in Swedish pop, trademark bands such as Orquestra Plateria and a wide selection of recent international independent artists
The complete programme for the Festes de la Mercè was revealed. The festival will take place from the 19th to the 23rd of September in a variety of venues throughout the city and this year’s soundtrack includes a combination of local, international, upcoming and established artists in a wide variety of genres and designed to appeal to all audiences.
The Mercè Música performances will take place in the Plaça Catalunya, on the Avinguda de la Catedral and on the new Mediterràniament stage on Bogatell beach, where concerts will continue until 3 am. Similarly, performances that are part of the BAM (Barcelona Acció Musical) festival will take place in the Plaça dels Àngels, the Plaça Joan Coromines, the Moll del la Fusta and the Antiga Fàbrica Damm. The two programmes are entirely complementary and will, in fact, share venues in the three stage of the Fòrum – the Fòrum Amfiteatro, Fòrum Explanada and Fòrum Plataforma Marina, where concerts will finish up around midnight.
Mercè Música, under the artistic direction of Jordi Turtós, is designed as an eclectic and festive meeting point for all audiences and will include well-known Catalan bands such as Txarango, Manuel, La Pegatina, Delafé y las Flores Azules and La Iaia XXL as well as other genres including afrobeat, with the Alma Afrobeat Ensemble, salsa, with La 33, flamenco-jazz fusion, with Raynald Colom and Carles Benavent, roots music, with Pep Gimeno, alias “Botifarra”, and Isaac Ulam & José Domingo, Cuban rhythms, with NG la Banda and the first concert of the farewell tour of a local institution, Orquestra Plateria, on the 23rd.
Barcelona Acció Musical, once again directed by Carles Conesa, will bring together upcoming local and international names from genres that include rock, rap, electronic, soul, pop as well as unorthodox fusions of Caribbean sounds set to digital rhythms.
On the evening of the 23rd, six proposals will combine to offer a generous sample of the latest sounds to come out of Sweden in celebration of Stockholm’s selection as guest city for this year’s festival. These will include Mariam the Believer, Postiljon, Seinabo Sey, NONONO, Frida Sundemo and Zhala, new names that are destined to be the subject of conversation over the coming months.
The two programmes combined, however, include scores more artists, some of which have already been acclaimed by the specialist press, such as is the case of Protomartyrt, Javiera Mena, Blouse, Young Fathers, Islet and Lust for Youth, not to mention the Barcelona debut of veteran cult soulman, Sonny Knight, who will top the bill on an evening dedicated to soul on the 19th in the Moll de la Fusta, accompanied by Flamingo Tours, Lisa and the Lips and Ibibio Sound Machine.
Neither is local representation to be undone in terms of artistic curiosity and stylistic variety, with formations such as Seward, Desierto, Filastine, Extraperlo and SR. WILSON & The Blackstarliners. On the evening of the 20th, the traditional BAM programme in the former Damm factory on Carrer Rosselló has announced performances by British band, Klaxons, Barcelona’s Mishima and the recently-formed-but-already-making-waves, Coriolà.
Radio stations have also organised concerts in celebration of La Mercè, on this occasion in the Avinguda Maria Cristina, where Cadena 100, Europa FM and 40 Principales will present artists such as Antonio Orozco, Buhos, Gerard Quintana, Amelie, Dani Martín and Lax ‘n’ Busto.