Sónar, which bills itself as ‘the International Festival of Advanced Music and New Media Art’ returns to Barcelona this June – with performances from the likes of The Chemical Brothers, FKA Twigs, Duran Duran and Skrillex.
Created in 1994, Sónar is widely recognised as a pioneering festival that is unafraid to experiment with electronic dance music’s newest trends.
On the side of the main event runs Sónar+D, an international conference that focuses on the digital transformation of the creative industries – including, of course, music.
Both Sónar and Sónar+D will run for three days this year: June 18-20.
The Independent Echo asked a few key members of Sónar’s team what they love most about the festival – and what they hope to achieve with it in years to come.
Anna Higueras – Sonar+D Conference and Panels Manager
What’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to you at Sonar?
Maybe it doesn’t look cool at first sight, but I remember something that happened a couple of years ago. I was running from one side to the other of the venue, morning of the closing day. There was an artist sound-checking at SonarVillage, the main open-air Sónar by Day stage.
The music was so damn catchy that I stepped in to see who was the artist, and instead I saw all the cleaning staff people dancing at the same time whilst sweeping and washing.
I obviously forgot to see who was the artist doing the soundcheck, but that was a hugely inspiring moment showing perfectly how good music contributes to happiness.
What does Sonar mean to you and why are you proud to work there?
Sónar and its creativity and tech-side congress, Sónar+D, are the closest you can be to see what comes next – not only by electronic music terms but also in understanding how the best minds keep the creative world turning.
Working and being surrounded of this lots of people, ideas and projects expands you to a wider way of thinking, and that’s much more that can be expected of most of the jobs I could look at.
What do you hope to achieve with the event/brand in the future?
I would love Sónar and Sónar+D to settle in everyone’s mind as the Festival that showcases mostly the best in avant-garde electronic music artists and shows, and the main stop for everyone involved in making all this possible: creators, technicians, entrepreneurs, artists, companies and researchers.
The opportunity to have a full experience, starting with a deep understanding and exchange of the creative process followed by the way to grow business, and all surrounded by a terrific festival.
Enrichetta Cardinale – Sónar International Press Dept. Manager
What’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to you at Sonar?
Cool things happen every day! Listening to a lot of new stuff, always being on top of music news…
But if I had to name one, it’s being quoted in several master and PHD thesis around the world concerning culture, music, festivals and new media art; they have focused on Sónar as benchmark case of study for cultural management worldwide.
What does Sonar mean to you and why are you proud to work there?
As art historian, journalist, foreign languages speaker and electronic music and digital art lover… I’m very proud to use all my skills, plus a big dose of passion, for the international communication at Sónar.
It’s not only for what Sónar represents today – the international hub of electronic music and digital creativity – but also for its historic role in the spread of digital culture, in all its nuances.
What do you hope to achieve with the event/brand in the future?
Achieve at least a bit of the 22 years of great inspiration, intuition and willpower achieved by the Sónar founders!
Vanessa Amell – Sónar Marketing and Sponsorship Department
What’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to you at Sonar?
Oh, there are a lot of things…
One of the best moments for me is Thursday at noon when I hear in my walkie-talkie: “We are opening the doors” and I see the first festival attendees crossing the doors and entering SonarVillage.
It means that the festival is going live and we have three days and two nights to enjoy and discover what’s coming in the next months.
Of course is also amazing to enjoy in less than 72 hours huge artists like The Chemical Brothers, Hot Chip, Duran Duran, FKA twigs, Flying Lotus, Arca & Jesse Kanda, Jamie xx, Róisín Murphy, Skrillex, Die Antwoord… and they are only a few. The line-up is awesome!
What does Sonar mean to you and why are you proud to work there?
Sónar for me means the future. I can know what will be the next music, the next technology and the next tendencies to help brands to develop their branding experiences and connect with Sónar fans.
I’m proud to work in a festival that turns 22 this year and since 2002 is a solid international music festival.
This year Sónar is taken place in different cities as Reykjavík, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Santiago de Chile, Bogotá and Buenos Aires.
And of course Barcelona, where every June transforms the city and becomes the world capital for electronic music.
What do you hope to achieve with the event/brand in the future?
To keep the Sónar magic and the good vibes, continuing developing exceptional and innovative brand experiences for our partners.
Nacho Moya – Sónar Social Media Strategist
What’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to you at Sonar?
The first year I’ve worked for Sónar, I arrived to the Sónar by Night venue and the first thing we did was going to have dinner.
When I got to my seat, I turned my head and I saw at my side all the Hot Chip members, at my right side were all the Metronomy members and suddenly all The Roots members entered in the room. That moment was really amazing!
Another one was when after Sónar 2013, we received a comment in our main Facebook page of a man that had met a woman in Sónar and he didn’t saved her phone number.
We tried with a post in our Facebook to get them together. We called that post SonarLove!
What does Sonar mean to you and why are you proud to work there?
To work in Social Media, plus work for a music festival plus work with a team that I really love – it is the best work I could ever hope for!
Let me explain a story: one day I was in another festival waiting in a restaurant and I heard a couple talking about the coverage of that festival on social media, complaining about it and saying that Sónar does it very well. This moment made me proud to work at Sónar and specifically in my position.
What do you hope to achieve with the event/brand in the future?
In October we were selected by Twitter as a best practice of using their advertising platform; I hope in the future we see similar rewards like this.
Georgia Taglietti – Sónar’s Head of Communications
What’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to you at Sonar?
Meeting Björk, meeting Nile Rogers, meeting the Beastie Boys and finally meeting the Sónar festival directors and actually get hired 20 years ago. And being there every time Laurent Garnier has closed it with the finest music.
What does Sonar mean to you and why are you proud to work there?
Sónar has been my life, my work and almost family environment for the last 20 years.
I think I am proud of what we achieved by working hard, above and beyond economy, politics, trends and personal situations. I am proud of Sónar because we never stop believing.
What do you hope to achieve with the event/brand in the future?
Keep up with the good job, the trends detection, the futuristic insight. Never ever look back thinking we could have done better, but learning every day from what we live and produce.
You always can do better, but the important thing is to be able to actually do something for music, culture and creativity and never stop learning.
[Enrichetta, Nacho and Vanessa pics by Miquel Trullols; Georgia pic by Oscar Garcia]