SONAR 2008 REFLECTS INTERSECTION OF STYLES

In a musical world like today’s, which is in a process of hybridisation, labels fall short, the pieces of the difficult jigsaw of styles and subgenres no longer fit together, artists are defined by their qualities, and the ideas, feelings and sentiments that music can inspire in those listening to it must be taken into consideration.

Today’s popular dance music has no room for purism. A new generation of artists has decided to bring uncompromising entertainment back to the dancefloor, and it is doing so by turning to an intersection of styles which does not respect roots or rigid conventions. Names like Justice, Yelle, Diplo, M.I.A. and DJ Mehdi are shaking the foundations of dance and pop with a hybrid formula in which anything goes, and the only thing prohibited is boredom.

The family tree of electronic dance music, despite being confusing to many people due to its variety of genres, subgenres and complicated labels to identify very similar sounds, in reality has a very simple structure It comes from a shared root (disco music), grows from a trunk that is also shared (classic house, techno and electro) and fans out into an infinite number of branches, which are these many subgenres. And what always happens is whatever subgenre you look at, if you trace its development back, you will always arrive at the same trunk and the same root. There is always a basic tradition.

Today, however, something is changing. The traditional divisions of electronic music are no longer of any use in explaining new styles, because unusual mixtures are taking place. The passing of time, aesthetic variety, self-referencing and the collective conscience of the existence of a past and a common legacy have led to a phenomenon which could be described as a ‘suppression of roots’. Or also as ‘hybridisation’, which is when the features are so vague and the musical DNA is so mixed up that it is impossible to say for certain who is the musical father and mother of any new artist that bursts onto the scene.

Of the entire programme of Sónar 2008, there are four highlights which warrant special mention due to their unusual nature and special staging. These are what we have decided to call the Sónar “delicatessen” - the live performances by Goldfrapp, Camille, Basquiat Strings and BC vs JC featuring Darren Emerson.

Variety and quality. That is the binomial that best summarises the rich range of showcases in the Sónar 2008 programme.

In case you can't make it here in person, you will still be able to check out the festival minute by minute, 24 hours a day by using a computer. During the three days of the festival, Sónar radio will be the live and direct link will all the Sónar stages.

The player for listening to Sónar radio is now available at the Sonar website.

  Sonar

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