More than 100 concerts, artists and groups, new performance spaces, music on the beach, the most classic and the most modern music… It’s all part of the musical programme of La Mercè, divided between Música Mercè and the concerts organised by radio broadcasters, and BAM, which also brings together the concerts of Acció Cultura Viva. From 20 to 24 September, La Mercè is music.

Among the novelties this year are a new stage in Plaça de Catalunya for the BAM concerts on the 20th, 21st and 23rd, and the repetition, for yet another year, of concert nights on Carrer Menéndez y Pelayo, in the district of Les Corts. In total, the city will have fourteen stages with musical programming where we will be able to see live more than 140 artists and musical groups.

In the Música Mercè programme, a series of concerts that aim to be a kind of gateway to the world, you will feel different accents and rhythms. And there you will see reflected, musically, the diversity and cultural identity of the city and beyond: from the Municipal Band of Barcelona to proposals that combine jazz and folk such as those of Magalí Sãre + Manel Fortià; the singer-songwriter songs of Marwan; the pop, rock and folk of La Ludwig Band; the electronic music hybridised with traditional sounds of the Galician Mercedes Peón; the endless talents of Rita Payés and Javier Colina; the Mallorcan pop of Maria Jaume; the indie of Cala Vento and the latest creations of Figa Flawas and Oques Grasses, with the new album Fruit del deliri.

Add to the list the performance of talents with Moroccan roots such as PINAN 450F; the great star of Moroccan Oum; Aïta Mon Amour (Widad Mjama) or Maalem Hassan Boussou, who will perform with his group in concert with Raúl Rodríguez, and you can already start to get a first idea of a very diverse programme, where you will also find rumba of the Arrels de Gràcia or the folk of Estònia dels Puuluup, among many other proposals.

You’ll see it all on eight stages: Teatre Grec, Catedral Avenue; Sant Jaume Square; Pla i Armengol Gardens; Passeig dels Til-lers in Ciutadella park (during the sustainable nutrition fair Terra i gust); Plaça Major in Nou Barris, in front of the district’s headquarters, as well as Menéndez y Pelayo street, where there will be concerts by the radio stations, and Bogatell beach (Mediterràniament stage).

The Música Mercè programme includes two large-scale concerts that pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of the Sala Zeleste on Carrer Argenteria (more information after the summer), and a second one that explores the history and music and dances that have survived to the present day, with the participation of more than fifty artists such as Judit Neddermann, Raúl Rodríguez, Momi Maiga and Anna Ferrer.

In addition to the aforementioned new stage in Plaça de Catalunya, the BAM concerts will also be held in Rambla del Raval, Plaça Reial (note that there is a tribute to the Jamboree) and the Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damm, as well as in Plaça de Can Fabra and the Fabra i Coats venue. Barcelona Acció Musical brings together some forty artists revolving around different themes, including tradition revisited, the club and the collective, new urban music, contemporary music, other festive music and emergence.

Among the guests at BAM, there are unmissable dates such as the Moroccan electronic music of Cheb Runner; the trap of Sodamantina and Chill Mafia; the pop of Los Ganglios and the indie jazz of Magalí Datzira, as well as PUTOCHINOMARICÓN and Las Ninyas del Corro. Lucia Fumero and the transvestite show Futuroa will also be among the many interesting dates at BAM.

Under the umbrella of BAM Acció Cultura Viva we find the concerts in Sant Andreu (on the stages of the Plaça de Can Fabra and the Fabra i Coats site) with a programme with its own personality that takes in the diverse rhythms and talents of the Barcelona and Catalan scene. Here you will hear, among others, Cecé & The Soul Kitchen, Las Bajas Pasiones, the electronica of Colombian Meli Perea and the Barcelona and Mexican techno of Øbsidiaän, among others.

These are just some of the musical offerings of La Mercè. Check the website of the Festa Major de Barcelona for more information on the artists and groups programmed.