International trap-pop star Bad Bunny, Rap upstart Lil Uzi Vert, The Matthew Herbert Brexit Big Band, and New York house music greats Louie Vega & Honey Dijon join the line up for Sónar Barcelona 2019

The lineup for Sónar 2019 continues to grow, with the addition of some of the biggest artists in the world right now, along with those musicians continuing to push things forward. Puerto Rican sensation Bad Bunny will take to the stage at SonarClub, while digital art maven Daito Manabe brings a new techn show, the return of the legendary Japanese producer DJ Krush, a new live show by the Parisian duo Acid Arab and next-gen techno and electronic shows from Neon Chambers (Kangding Ray + Sigha), Quiet Ensemble, Hamill Industries & Shelly, Los Voluble or SebastiAn.

Also appearing will be the most outstanding artists of the national scene of the moment, such as Territoire, Berlinist, Diego Navarro, Lil Moss, Tutu, Fake Guido or the legendary Macromassa, and continues betting on new urban music and the most radical proposals on the SonarXS stage, such as Shiva Feshareki, Afrodeutsche, Bill Kouligas or Virgen Maria.

Latin American connection

One of the most significant moments of Sónar 2019 will arrive with the show by Bad Bunny at SonarClub. The Puerto Rican singer and producer with millions of fans around the world has risen to the top of the global charts thanks to his indiscutable charm and charisma, and a number of hits that have propelled him to be the third most visited artist on Youtube in 2018. His fusion of trap, pop and reggaeton, as well as open-minded and inclusive outlook, has also helped to knock down the barriers between Latinx culture and the US mainstream.

His performance at Sónar builds on the festival’s historic interest in urban music from Latin America. This history can be traced back to DJ Marlboro’s set in 2004, and Diplo’s dropping of the then brand new “Gasolina” by Daddy Yankee in his 2005 set at the festival. Since then Sónar has hosted trailblazing bands such as Calle 13, Bomba Estéreo or Dengue Dengue Dengue, reaffirming its support in recent years with artists such as DJ Florentino, Rosa Pistola, Dinamarca, and Bad Gyal at the SonarXS stage, as well as this years’ set by La Diabla at SonarVillage, continuing the tradition for 2019

Rap, groove & global rhythms in Sónar by Night

Sónar 2019 will the first ever concert in Spain by Lil Uzi Vert, one of the most relevant and popular figures in trap and contemporary American rap, who’s follow up to Luv is Rage 2 is rumored to be dropping soon. Since his guest spot on “the best song in the world ever” in Migo’s Bad and Bujee.
Hip hop, funk, grime and groove are the building blocks of Jarreau Vandal’s irresistible sound, as the member of California’s Soulection collective returns for a hotly anticipated set

Infectious Arabic and middle-eastern rhythms of the Parisian duo Acid Arab, who will perform live with a high octane light display

Living legends of Electronic Music

Matthew Herbert, the English genius musician, producer and electronic figure of the last two decades, with a long relationship with Sónar, returns to the festival as the star of this year’s Closing Concert, on Sunday 21st July at the Teatre Grec, with his brilliant project, The The Matthew Herbert Brexit Big Band. The new orchestra, formed in response to the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, will feature more than 20 musicians on stage. In addition, and only that night, the show will feature the Cor Pilot de ESMUC, a 50 person choir. A concert with an openly critical, politically charged message, very much in line with the artist’s most celebrated and popular works.

Another great to play Sónar this year is DJ Krush. The highly respected Japanese beatmaker, creator of a universe of his own that influenced hip hop in the late 90s, returns to Sónar to offer a performance that promises to stop time with its deep, hypnotic beats.

The future is SonarXS
 
SonarXS is once again the setting at the festival for the most radical propositions emerging from the contemporary urban underground. Among the highlights will be Shiva Feshareki (an amazing creator of atmospheres using record players as instruments), the Anglo-Ghanaian producer Afrodeutsche, the head of the prestigious experimental label PAN Bill Kouligas, the futuristic and extreme discourse of the new internet diva Virgen Maria, and the trap, hip hop and pop fusion of Lil Moss (accompanied by several friends and key names from the national scene), the emerging r&b diva Aleesha and Argentine multi-instrumentalist Ca7riel.

Neurology and music

The festival’s programme this year includes two unusual propositions of great scientific importance that investigate the relationship between art and neurology.

The prestigious Japanese artist Daito Manabe will present, in collaboration with Yukiyasu Kamitani - doctor in neuroscience from the University of Kyoto - the project “dissonant imaginary”, a show that will allow us to visualize the emotions and thoughts that are produced when we listen to certain sounds, and that will mark a point of inflection in how we think of the connection between music and our brain.

Istanbul based creative studio Ouchhh and the extraordinary Barcelona duo Za! join forces to give shape to a show of similar content, called “Superstrings” in reference to super-string theory, which will visualize the brain waves produced by the two musicians while they are playing in real time.

Videoremixers, the avant-garde and new techno

Technology also plays an essential role in other shows presented this year at the festival, such as “Back Symphony”, by the Italian duo Quiet Ensemble (a live rehearsal of a light and noise orchestra); “Audible Spectrums”, by the tandem formed by the creative studio Hamill Industries & Shelly (analogue visualisation of the retrofuturist aesthetic sound); or “GRIS”, the live translation of the music that Berlinist has created for the video game of the same title.

In addition, Sónar will feature the techno of the future by Neon Chambers (a show bringing together the renowned Kangding Ray and Sigha), the sonic earthquake o Territoire (a project by Olivier Arson, who was recently awarded a Goya for the soundtrack of “El Reino”), the immersive and danceable live show by French artist  SebastiAn in SonarHall and the new audivisual show by Los Voluble, regular collaborators of  Niño de Elche, called “Flamenco Is Not A Crime”.

An undoubtable highlight will also be the return of Macromassa, a duo formed by Víctor Nubla and Juan Crek and a fundamental project of the underground and avant-garde in Spain over the last 40 years, which will offer a very special concert at SonarXS, Sonar’s youngest stage.

The best selectors in the world

The festival has chosen several of the best national djs and selectors, each with their own sonic fingerprint, reflecting the stylistic breadth and talent that has defined the scene for a few years now.

Sónar by Night hosts up and coming DJ Tutu, who this year has played at Berlin’s Tresor and is increasingly recognized and established on the European circuit, plus three of the most important figures of hip hop and instrumental trap in the country, with sets prior to three of the most important live shows of the festival: Enry-K, opening for A$AP Rocky, Fake Guido, prior to the performance of Bad Bunny, and $kyhook, setting the scene for Lil Uzi Vert.

Meanwhile, at Sónar by Day we will enjoy the ambient and kaleidoscopic sounds of Cosmic D’Alessandro and Karcelen, the dystopian atmospheres of Diego Navarro and the pop and urban dance music of Titi Calor, Alvva and Cascales.
 
Check out all the announced artists to date here.