Barcelona’s Sónar Festival has announced two new special events for autumn 2021, and pushed its regular June festival back to 2022.
The first new event set for this year is an AI and Music Festival, organised by Sónar and the Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya (UPC) in association with the S+T+ARTS initiative.
Taking place on October 27-28, the festival promises discussions around the “application of and challenges surrounding the use of Artificial Intelligence in musical creation”.
The second 2021 festival, SónarCCCB (Barcelona Center for Contemporary Culture), is taking place on the next two days (October 29-30). The pair of events “will feature over 60 activities” and are set to be “presented in hybrid format, mainly live and in-situ, but with an important digital and online component.”
Sónar returns with two new festivals in Barcelona in Autumn 2021, and will be active year round, digitally and physically around the world. The new dates for our June edition are 15.16.17.18 June 2022, and its shaping up to be historic! More news very soon #ThisIsSonar pic.twitter.com/3bSMC2BY36
— Sónar Festival (@SonarFestival) March 25, 2021
In a statement posted to Twitter, Sónar also revealed that their regular June festival is set to now take place in summer 2022 from June 15-18.
“The case numbers, mobility restrictions, and the lack of applicable legislation for the organisation of large events has made the celebration of the festival in the conditions required unviable,” the statement read. “First details of the line-up will be announced soon.”
A number of European festival bosses have spoken to NME recently about their hopes of staging their events as planned this summer, as COVID-19 continues to disrupt the live music industry.
While Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Festival and Belgium’s Rock Werchter both recently cancelled their 2021 dates alongside Sónar, Madrid’s acclaimed Mad Cool Festival is still set for July. Organisers have said that they were “excited about the festival and currently waiting for the authorities to give an update regarding the next few months,” but were “definitely in a better mood than last year”.
“Our announced line-up, which is still missing two headliners and 11 more bands, for us is one of the most interesting ones since we started the festival,” Mad Cool booker Cindy Castillo told NME. “We are craving it! Also, the UK government’s decision gives us hope for the rest of the countries and festivals.”
The post Barcelona’s Sónar announce two new festivals for later this year appeared first on NME.
