Sónar Chicago Festival

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Country and Region United States — Illinois
Type of Festival Music
Location of Festival Chicago, Illinois, USA
Festival Description

In accordance with its objective of disseminating the philosophy of the Barcelona festival and adapting it to new cities and formats, Sónar together with US Bonnaroo promoter AC Entertainment will organise the first Sónar Chicago from the 9th till the 11th of September - a new festival which is anticipated to be a regular event.

The Sónar by Day activities at Sónar Chicago will take place in the many rooms and spaces of the Chicago Cultural Center (CCC), the headquarters of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the city’s main public cultural venue. The programme will be completed with Sónar by Night shows and sessions.

Sónar Chicago will present a multidisciplinary line-up with an experimental slant that is consistent with the distinguishing feature of the Barcelona festival, and which on this occasion will focus on emerging talent and local scenes, in both North America and Catalonia.

As usual at Sónar, the line-up combines some important names on the current landscape with other less mainstream and more experimental offerings, and it will be announced in mid-July.

Since 2002, Sónar has held 24 events all over the world in different formats in other countries and cities, such as Lisbon (2002), Neuchatel (2002), Hamburg (2002-2006), Tokyo (2002/2004/2006), London (2002-2005, 2009 and 2010), Rome (2003), Sao Paulo (2004), Lyon (2004), Buenos Aires (2006), Seoul (2006) and Washington (2009). Sónar has also been the showcase for Catalan culture in the world by means of events in collaboration with the Institut Ramon Llull in other cities such as Guadalajara (2004), Frankfurt (2007) and New York (2009).

Festival Dates June 16 - 18, 2011
Festival Links

http://www.sonarchicago.com/en/noticies.php?id=114

Festival Events:

Highlights 2010:
  • Confirmed artists
    • The Slew (the scratch-rock project led by the wizard on the decks Kid Koala)
    • Oval (a key project in 1990s electronica, featuring Germany’s Markus Popp, back with a new album)
    • Ben Frost (the Australian resident in Iceland is one of the most acclaimed sonic experimentalists working today)
    • Nosaj Thing (the Los Angeles beatmaker featuring a show with serious visual impact)
    • The Dutchman Martyn (a key name at the techno-dubstep crossroads)
    • Nicolas Bernier & Martin Messier: La Chambre des Machines (a Canadian duo that base their show on rudimentary noise machines from the early twentieth century)
    • Lesley Flanigan (a New York artist who constructs her music with hand-made instruments and the sounds created by her own voice)
    • spa.RK: Bradien (The Catalan performers are headed by two artists from the renowned Barcelona label spa.RK: Bradien — an experimental and tropical pop trio) and;
    • bRUNA (the creator of electronica with a heavy emotional charge). Two new projects seeking new musical languages will also be present, in the shape of Huan (folk, noise and experimentation) and Faraón (psychedelia, Krautrock and jazz)
  • Collaborations
    Sónar Chicago expands its line-up with its collaboration with Adventures In Modern Music (AIMM) — The five-day festival organised by the renowned British magazine The Wire and the promoters at the Empty Bottle, one of the city’s most important venues. In its eighth outing this year, it presents shows by The Rhys Chatham Trio, Sleep and Efterklang, among others.
  • Films
    Meanwhile, SonarCinema presents five films: “Synth Britannia” (the BBC documentary telling the story of the birth of synth pop in Great Britain), “Amplified Gesture” (a film produced by David Sylvian on the art of improvisation), “Sensuous Cornelius” (the excellent filming of the live show by the Japanese musician), “Finisterrae” (the full-length film providing the image for Sónar 2010) and “Sónar Around The World” (which documents an entire year of Sónar, produced and made by Televisió de Catalunya).

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Practical Info:

World-wide Sonar Festivals:
Sonar North American Tour:

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