If youve heard about the Sonar Festival then chances are you only know the basics. This festival is not just another Creamfields or even a Miami Winter Music Conference; it takes the festival concept to a whole new level.
Take for instance this years theme: cons. Or, as they sweetly put it, popular characters who created their own value system outside the law. The eight characters include Arthur Ferguson, an American who suckered people into buying Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the White House, and the Statue of Liberty from him and Jessie Gomez who won the 84th Boston Marathon by using public transit. What does this have to do with music? The management thinks a lot and Ill agree: why settle for the cellophane-wrapped life when its obvious that if you tweak the knobs and beef up the bass you can reclaim your life and making it a masterpiece everyone will want to enjoy and remix.
Besides bringing in some of todays best names in electronica (Chemical Brothers, Laurent Garnier, Miss Kittin, Ellen Allien) who have already enamoured us with their willingness to create music outside the normal parametres, Snar will be showcasing artists, new and old, in cinema, design, audiovisual art, and sound research. This edition of the festival will also highlight the return to the organic and physical. Though there are more than enough programs out there that emulate musical instruments and allow the producer to manipulate the sound in ways that normally would be impossible, a lot of electronic music created today (and performed at Snar) is made with instruments other than laptops and synthesizers.
At the Centre of Contemporary Cultural of Barcelona (where the coolest exhibits are habitually on display) films that highlight the increasingly frequent meeting of image and advanced music will be shown. Included youll find a program built on some of the 700 pieces by Groupe de Recherches des Images (GRI), a group within the Groupe de Recherche Musicale, made up of musicians and filmmakers from the 1960s. It researched new forms of television that would deepen the creative relation between image and sound, following the path opened by concrete music. Touch of Sound is documentary about a contemporary classical percussionist who is blind . Pimp My Bite is an anthology of digital video, 3D animation, flash and machinma works featured in the Bitfilm Festival in Hamburg. Buster Keatons The Three Ages with a soundtrack by Jeff Mills will also be on show.
This year SnarLab will be paying homage to John Peel. Having been a huge fan of SnarLab since first visiting it in 2001 and having passed away this past October it only seemed fitting to the organizers. Peel has been named the most important DJ in history as he was the man responsible for disseminating some of the most vanguard musicians (Roxy Music, The Beatles, The Velvet Underground) of our time.
Sonic Processes is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (its exhibits are interesting but no where as cool as the CCCB) and Centre Pompidou. It will have on display interdisciplinary works which combine images and electronic sounds... that have transformed the modes of production and promotion of the contemporary audiovisual at rocket speed.
Snarmaticas theme is A Walk Through 21st Century Landscaping. It will showcase figurative, built, increased, and data landscapes. The SnarDome will have musical proposals that show the development of the international electronic music scene. SnarComplex will also be held at the MACBA. Here youll find performances by sound researchers. Showcasing sound and audiovisual creations and the software necessary to produce them is Snarama. There will also be an exhibit of some of the best record covers of our time, all by the Designers Republic.
And then theres Snar at Night where some of the biggest and soon-to-be-biggest artists will be performing. SnarClub and SnarPub will have Chemical Brothers, LCD Soundsystem, Soulwax, Jeff Mills, Miss Kittin, Richie Hawtin, Ralph Lawson, and Fergie among others. SnarPark will host Riosin Murphy (Moloko's vocalist), Le Tigre, Soft Pink Truth, De la Soul and Cut Chemist.
All in all, if youre somewhere in Europe during mid-June it is in your interest to hop on a plane and get yourself to Snar. Stay tuned for reviews and interviews.
Sonar Festival Links:
http://www.sonar.es (info on artists, shows, history, tickets)
http://www.cnac-gp.fr
