The Backpackers Hostel Blog

Until 30 Jun

The guitar and voice of Marcio Mello will start off the festival, sponsored by Voll Damm, at the Harlem Jazz Club. This year there are 80 concerts with 300 musicians in ten halls of the Barcelona district.

Highlights in the program of concerts include Matt Harding from the USA, and the Bulgarian group Romaní Chavé. But 96% of the musicians are Catalans, including Joan Pau Cumelles with his Blues Band and the composer and guitarist Joan Vinyals, also from Barcelona, and his Delta Power Trio. (Taken from http://w3.bcn.es).

Program

Thu 19, Fri 20, Sat 21 Jun

Program at CCCB - MACBA - SANTA MÒNICA - FIRA GRAN VIA - L’AUDITORI - PALAU DE LA MUSICA CATALANA Ticket info Buy tickets

Sónar is a three-day annual music festival held in Barcelona. It is described as a festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art (Concerts, Dj´s, SonarCinema, SonarMática, Sonarama, Conferences and Panels, Profesional and Editorial Fair).

‘Three days and three nights in touch with the most up-to-date developments and featuring the most relevant national and international artists.’

‘Sónar is the essential meeting point for an alert public, cutting-edge artists and the most influential professionals from the sectors of music and modern arts.’ (Taken from www.sonar.es and www.wikipedia.org)

View all artists info

Until Sun 31 Aug

At Artesania Catalunya (C/ Banys Nous, 11) Free Admission

Mon-Fri 9am to 7pm / Sat 10am to 2pm & 3pm to 7pm / Sun 10am to 2pm

“Dones D’Aigua” (Women of Water) or Fairies. These particular mythological beings are the spirit of the exhibition by the artist Carme Bosch.

From the floral art and the audiovisual technology, she intends to show the legendary history of these mythical women. The photographic images and the projections of video will introduce the viewer to several Catalan places, where the women of water live together with the landscape´s elements. (Taken from http://www.bcn.es)

Thu 12 Jun

From 6pm at Parc del Forum (Rambla Prim 1) 68€ + booking fees Buy tickets

On June 12th the Daydream Festival will start the independent pop and rock concerts with Radiohead in its only performance in Spain.

Radiohead is an English alternative rock band from Oxfordshire. The group is composed of Thom Yorke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, electronics), Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, other instruments), Ed O’Brien (guitar, backing vocals), Colin Greenwood (bass guitar, synthesisers) and Phil Selway (drums, percussion). Radiohead have released seven albums and have sold over 23 million records over their career.

Other confirmed artists are Bat for Lashes, Liars, Clinic, Low, Modeselektor LIVE!, Enemc presenta “Off Computer”, Cristoph de Babalon, Christian Vogel, Cuchillo, Faust, Four Tet live and M83a. (Taken from http://blog.wired.com, www.daydream-festival.es and www.wikipedia.org).

Wed 25 Jun - Sat 2 Aug

1 2

3 4

Click here to see complete programme Click here to Buy tickets

This is the 29th edition of the Barcelona Grec 2008 Festival , with a huge programme of more than 40 theatre, dance and music performances.

Many of the bigger music events take place in the Poble Espanyol, with artists such as The Brothers Size, Vanessa da Mata, Hiroaki Umeda, as well as international pop stars. Other big name highlights include Marianne Faithfull at the Teatre Grec, and the highly acclaimed contemporary dance maestro Trisha Brown. It is recommended to book your tickets well in advance.

(Taken from www.barcelonafestival.com; http://gothamist.com; popnewss.files.wordpress.com; www.eu-japanfest.org; www.icatfm.cat).

————–

1 The Brothers Size (Theatre)
2 Vanessa da Mata (Music)
3 Hiroaki Umeda (Dance)
4 Nit de Circ (Circus Night)

Thu 12 - Sun 15 Jun

Thu & Fri 8pm/Sat 9:30pm/Sun 6pm at Teatre Nacional de Catalunya (Plaça de les Arts, 1) 28 - 32€ Buy tickets

Harmony and chaos in dance “Preljocaj” takes as starting point the famous Vivaldi’s concerto “The four seasons”, one of the most popular pieces of the classical music repertoire, with the intention to discover new secrets in it . Its choreography lives together with the Fabrice Hyber’s “caosgrafía” to explode in a cheerful and colorful dance spectacle . (Taken from www.tnc.cat)

Watch video

Wed 28 May

10pm at Espacio Movistar. Portal del Coneixement (C/Pascual i Vila s/n)   28€   Buy tickets SOLD OUT

Alejandro Sanz was born in Madrid, Spain. He began playing guitar at the age of seven and composing his first songs three years later. His official debut, called “Viviendo Deprisa”, came in 1991 after signing up with Warner Music. “Si Tú Me Miras” followed in 1993, featuring contributions from Nacho Mañó, Chris Cameron and Paco de Lucía. His third album, aptly titled 3, was recorded in Venice, Italy, and produced by Miguel Angel Arenas and Emanuele Ruffinengo.

1997’s Más and 2000’s “El Alma al Aire”, the Spanish singer/songwriter achieved international top-selling status.

He also appeared in the film clip for The Corrs’ English translation of their duet, “Una Noche” (”One Night”) as Andrea’s love interest. The video is included in The Corrs’ DVD version of Best of The Corrs. In return, The Corrs sang “The Hardest Day” with him and “Una noche” for the spanish and latinamerican edition from the 2001 Corrs’gratest hits album.

In 2001, he became the first Spanish artist to record an Unplugged for MTV. In 2003, he recorded the album “No Es lo Mismo”, which won five 2004 Latin Grammy Awards. It won Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best Engineered Album with Mick Guzauski, Pepo Sherman, and Rafa Sardina as engineers.

Alejandro Sanz has won a total of 17 Grammys Awards (2 Regular Grammy Award and 15 Latin Grammy Awards) and has sold more than 25 million albums worldwide.

Sun 8 Jun

10am Bikes at C/ Aragón (between C/ Balmes and paseo de Gràcia)

10am Skates at paseo de Gràcia, (between C/ Aragón and C/ Valencia)

All the activities are free, with exception of the bike’s renting (call Biciclot 93 307 74 75 between 2 - 6 June, from 9:30am to 2pm)

This is the 28th edition of the Bike & Skate Festival. This is not a competition, it is just a festivity so family and friends can have fun and make a trip of few kilometers around the city of Barcelona.

Last year there were 15 thousand participants and the organizers expect that this year will be more. After the trip, there is going to be a big party at Montjuic mountain with activities such as spectacular exhibitions of the 11 times champion of the world of Bike Trial, Cesar Cañas; workshops and kids games; kids circuits; the traditional Fair, and many more.

This festival will be also a supportive festival. And the fact is that by second consecutive year the Bike & Skate Festival will participate with the NGO Active Africa collaborating in the recollection of material and spare parts for bicycles.

Route

More info at Bike & Skate Festival (just Spanish and Catalan)

Fri 23 May

9pm at Sala Apolo (Nou de la Rambla, 113) 17 - 20€ Buy tickets

Floggin Molly is an Irish American celtic punk band that formed in Los Angeles, California that combines traditional Celtic instruments with some guitars and drums. It has seven members: Dave King - lead vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhrán, banjo, spoons; Bridget Regan - fiddle, tin whistle, uillean pipes, vocals; Dennis Casey - guitar, vocals; Matt Hensley - accordion, concertina; Nathen Maxwell - bass guitar, vocals; Bob Schmidt - mandolin, banjo and George Schwindt - drums, percussion.

“If there were no violin, accordion or mandolin, this would be punk rock, and if there were no guitars, drums or bass, this would be traditional Irish music,” is how David King describes it. (Taken from http://students.ou.edu and www.wikipedia.org)

Wed 23 Apr

9pm at L’Auditori, Sala 1 Pau Casals (c/Lepant, 150)  28 - 42€ Buy tickets

II International Piano Festival of Barcelona is presenting McCoy Tyner Quartet.

Modern jazz has been shaped by the music of McCoy Tyner. His blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. His harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary of a majority of jazz pianists.

Tyner has released nearly 80 albums under his name, earned four Grammys and was awarded Jazz Master from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2002. He continues to leave his mark on generations of improvisers, and yet remains a disarmingly modest and spiritually directed man. (Taken from www.mccoytyner.com)