Light and sound, party and relaxation came together on the first day of Sónar, which opened its doors yesterday Thursday, later than usual and with the main stage, the SonarVillage, completely covered, precautions so that the first visitors did not finish melted by the sweltering heat in the afternoon, at the start of the event, which will host 250 performances in three days.
It was Sergi Botella, producer from Egaren, in charge of inaugurating this 30th edition using his vinyls at the warm start of a day in which audiovisual shows had their share of prominence with the proposals of Nosaj Thing, Kode9 and Oneohtrix Point Never. Although the icing on the cake was Black Coffee, the well-known South African DJ in Ibiza nights, who closed the day by making everyone in attendance dance. The artist, who punches only with his right arm (an intentional run-in reduced the mobility of his left), offered his danceable deephouse rhythms that he mixes with Amapià and other African rhythms. Mixes that have made him one of the most sought-after DJs on the scene, who has collaborated with names such as Usher, Pharrell Williams or David Guetta, and above all they make everyone in front dance, just as the full Village could check last night.
Before this triumphant closing, sounds for all tastes could be heard in the Montjuïc venue, such as Chica Acosta’s Afro-Caribbean, cumbia and reggaeton, also worked by the English Manuka Honey to show that the Latin style is also in the clubs Meanwhile, at SonarHall, Barcelona’s Kyne mixed R
To continue with the female presence landed the trio Kitty110, LaBlackie and L’Beel, three women, three different characters who alternated on stage to interpret post-pandemic street stories to the beat of rap, drill and dancehall.
After the dance there was space for experimentation with Marina Herlop, singer, composer and producer trained in classical music who has opted for electronics. She arrives at Sónar with Pripyat, the Catalan’s third album, in which she uses an invented language just like Sigur Rós. Produced by Pan, label of the Venezuelan Arca, its sound has been compared to that of Björk. La de Piera appeared on stage accompanied by the Tarta Relena, a trio of flautists and a percussionist, and wearing colorful fake pigtails to show off her dreamlike and introspective music in front of the curiosity of the SonarHall.
In the same space – and with great anticipation – it was where Daniel Lopatin, known as Oneohtrix Point Never, presented Rebuilds, an audiovisual show in which images melt between beams of light to the rhythm of synthesized music, which transforms its textures in a journey through all the emotions that left more than one person surprised, wanting to dance more and contemplate less. A proposal very distant from that of Tohji, the Japanese rapper who, after a long intro by his DJ, satisfied the audience with his rhythmic amalgam of styles mixed with video game music.
To continue researching it was necessary to cram into the overflowing Stage D, where American Nosaj Thing presented his new title, Continua, with the elegant tone that has made him famous in Los Angeles, and which present in an audiovisual show in collaboration with the Japanese Daito Manabe. Soft and enveloping rhythms accompanied by images that invite calm. Emotions opposite to the break proposed by Kode9 in Escapology, with which the Scotsman abducted the audience from the auditorium (the Complex D), with an audio-visual epic of cerebral and disruptive, sometimes cacophonous sound, which recounted the separation of Scotland from England to go in search of the stars.
It was past nine and the lawn of the Village was buzzing with Charlotte Adigéry
