Sónar beats record with 123,000 attendees

The International Festival of Advanced Music and New Media Art, Sónar, received the greatest gift in advance for its 25 anniversary to be celebrated next year. The 2017 edition, celebrated in Barcelona this weekend, registered a record high number of attendees; more than 123,000 people visited the festival during the threedays or they participated in some of the other activities programmed at the two fairs of Montjuïc or Gran Via in Barcelona. 52% of the audience is foreigner and the rest come from Catalonia and Spain. The organizers positively value the participation in the parallel activities celebrated at the Center for Contemporary Culture in Barcelona CCCB or at the Design Hub, and also the incorporation of the Sónar XS stage hosting 500 spectators, which helped diversifying the audience, arriving to the youngest ones with wild and emerging proposals. “It is a natural work, which satisfies us, connecting with an audience, who were not even born when the festival started”, said Sónar’s co-director, Enric Palau.

At the closing of this year’s edition, the festival’s management did not want to advance anything from next year’s 25-anniversary edition. “We have not even planned anything yet”, said Sónar co-director, Ricard Robles, in a press conference. The dates are already set, though, for June, 13, 14, 15 and 16. The 2018 edition will begin with an inaugural session as the one Islandic Björk did for the first time this year.

“This year we met an audience, who, more than ever, was interested in discovering, letting themselves be surprised and in having fun”, said Enric Palau, who also pointed out that the professional area, Sónar+D, gathered 5,500 professionals from 75 different countries in sold out networking sessions.

Some of the names at this year’s programme were outstanding names such as Justice, Nicolas Jaar, Moderat, Masters at Work, Arca & Jesse Kanda, Soulwax, Dj Shado or De la Soul among others.

Sónar Barcelona’s activities are divided into two main locations: Sónar by Day, located in Fira Montjuïc, concerts and dj’s, showcases and Sónar+D; the international congress focused on the digital creative industries and dedicated to creating professional, business and networking opportunities; whereas Sónar by Night is located at the Fira Gran Via de L’Hospitalet, and hosts live shows and dj sets from the biggest names in international music.

After Barcelona, Sónar continues to other corners of the world. The next places are Buenos Aires (November, 26), Bogotá (December, 2), Reykjavik (March, 16-17), Hong Kong (March, 17) and Istanbul (March, 31-31).