Diversity is the hallmark for the music programme for La Mercè, a celebration which decentralises concerts and broadens the array of artistic projects thanks to the BAM festival, Acció Cultura Viva and Música Mercè. The three music sections for the festivities bring together a hundred artists and groups at twelve stages in public spaces with open access.

Music stages at La Mercè

The steady return to normality after the Covid-19 crisis allows for a Mercè which regains open spaces at different points around the city. Besides the Teatre Grec and the Jardins del Doctor Pla i Armengol, this year we’ll be able to enjoy music at classic festival venues such as Rambla del Raval, Av. Catedral, Av. Reina Maria Cristina and the Mediterràneament stage by Estrella Damm at the Bogatell beach. Other spaces are being kept too, such as the Moll de la Fusta wharf and the Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damm, Plaça Major de Nou Barris and the Fabra i Coats site. New venues include Ronda de Sant Antoni and Zona Universitària.

Música Mercè

This year’s Música Mercè offers forty concerts around eight venues, with Gisela Sais taking on the role of artistic director for the first time. Highlights include the performances at the Teatre Grec, with acts ranging from the young duet of trombone player Rita Payés and pianist Lucia Fumero to the Cuban producer and multi-instrumentalist Alain Pérez and the outfit which created the soundtrack for the exhibition “Frida Kahlo”, by the Ideal Digital Arts Centre, with projections onto stone walls. In the Jardins del Doctor Pla i Armengol we find an open-air club to discover the nova cançó of the 21^st century, while Ronda de Sant Antoni is to be transformed into a stage devoted to dance.

The Parc Central de Nou Barris is also set to be transformed for the sixth year running, acting as a large auditorium for symphonic music with performances by the Barcelona Municipal Band, the Symphony Orchestra for the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra – National Orchestra of Catalonia.

Festival BAM

With thirty artists, the BAM is the music section at La Mercè which brings us into contact with a less conventional programme, based around six concepts: dissidence, revisiting roots, collective urban and club music, self-management, extreme music and emergencies. This section features artists as diverse as Frantic Amber, Luna Ki, Asmâa Hamzaoui, Cartel Madras and Anika 9.

Acció Cultura Viva

The festival Acció Cultura Viva promotes its unique essence by creating a line-up through a participatory process which attracted over five hundred proposals.

Diversity and gender parity drive this music programme, which this year offers transgressive, inclusive, surprising and experimental acts. There’s a special focus on grand feminist music icons, dissident artists and groups which explore musical genres such as flamenco, electronic music, rap, rock, urban beats, trap, R&B, reggae, jazz and singer-songwriters.

On Friday, 23 September, the Nau Bostik provides the stage for concerts by La Maga, Eli Almic and Koers. The rest of the programme will be at the Fabra i Coats site on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 September, with a line-up of: Miquel i Novel Quintet, Noko Woi, Senyor Oca, Trezor, Remei de Ca la Fresca, TNDE (The Near Death Ensemble), Robot Emilio, Flamenco Metropolitan, Joana Dark, Zbabek, Nara is Neus, AMAS, Eva Fernández, Opinólogas, Som Noise and DJ Trapella

Music from Rome arrives in Barcelona

As the guest city, Rome has inspired concerts such as the one by Vozes, devoted to the Italian artist Mina, featuring the Catalan mezzosoprano Marta Valero and the Rachele Andriolo social choir, made up of sixteen women who perform roots music. The programme also includes unmissable concerts such as the one my Manarinno, one of Italy’s best-known artists, with a first performance in Catalonia, and another by the unclassifiable Italian singer-songwriter Vinicio Capossela. Finally, the Barcelona-based Italian artist Paolo Angeli will be offering a concert with a native Sardinian guitar which he himself has adapted.

Concerts in Av. Reina Maria Cristina

Radio stations make a return to the classic stage in Av. Reina Maria Cristina, offering music programmes such as the one from Cadena 100, with performances from David Ros, La Oreja de Van Goch and Mosaic on Friday 23 September. On Saturday, it’s the turn of Europa FM, with concerts by Samantha, Nerea Rodríguez, Les Montses, Itaca Band and La Pegatina. On Sunday, RAC 105 rounds off the programme at this stage with performances by Clima, Ginestà, Stay Homas, Buhos and Habla de Mí en Presente. On Sunday, there’s also a programme by Els 40 at the new stage in Zona Universitària (C/ Martí i Franquès), with Portobello, Miki Núñez, Lola Índigo, The Tyets and Dr. Prats.