The first Sónar Chicago starts this week

Sónar 2010 | 07.09.2010

On September 9, 10 and 11 , Sónar will be staging the 1st Sónar Chicago, a festival that will take place in the city’s highest level exceptional venues, and which bases its artistic personality on the DNA of the festival in Barcelona.

Over 3 days, the first Sónar Chicago will present over 30 activities, including concerts, conferences and film projections.

 

The opening event will take place on the afternoon of Thursday 9 September in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, located in the famous Millennium Park, featuring performances by the Detroit musician and producer Jimmy Edgar, who will be presenting his new album, the scratch-rock band The Slew amb Kid Koala, and the Dutch dj Martyn, as well as the Catalan projects Bradien and Faraón.

 

During the afternoons of Friday 10 and Saturday 11 September, the events will take place in the Chicago Cultural Center: they include shows by Australia's Ben Frost, one of today's most acclaimed sonic investigators, New York's Lesley Flanigan, California's Nosaj Thing and the legendary German experimental musician Oval, who will also be presenting new work.

 

The projects by Barcelona's renowned label spa.RK, Bradien and bRUNA, and the artists Faraón and Huan will represent today's Catalan music scene.

 

The musical programme during the night will take place at two clubs in Chicago with an extensive electronic tradition. On 10 September, the Sónar Club Night at the Smart Bar, organised in collaboration with the Red Bull Music Academy, will present live shows by Black Devil Disco Club and Space Dimension Controller and the djs Appleblim, Cosmin TRG and Todd Osborn. At Empty Bottle, Sónar Chicago is collaborating with the Adventures in Modern Music (AIMM) season of concerts, organised by the magazine The Wire.

 

As well as the new series of confirmed shows in collaboration with Red Bull Music Academy, there are conferences featuring the major talents in today's club sounds: Applebim and Ron Trent, who will talking about and sharing their music and experiences at the Randolph Café in the Chicago Cultural Centre.

 

Sónar Chicago will also have its own SonarCinema in the Garland Room of the Chicago Cultural Center, where many documentaries and films about advanced music will be shown.

 

Sónar Chicago is the result of an initiative of the Institut Ramon Llull - the consortium made up of the Government of Catalonia and the Government of the Balearic Islands - the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Advanced Music – the creators of the festival in Barcelona - and AC Entertainment, the promoter of the Bonaroo festival.

 

All the shows and activities at the festival are free of charge and open to all, except for the Sónar Club Night and Adventures in Modern Music (AIMM) events, which are subject to a separate entry fee.