Sónar 2024 – 13 June 2024 (Barcelona)

Sónar 2024 kicked off this Thursday at the Montjuic fairgrounds for the 31st edition of the Catalan festival, with Air, Paul Kalkbrenner, Jessie Ware and Kaytranada as the festival’s main attractions by night and Laurent Garnier and Sevdaliza at Sónar by day.

Sevdaliza, Sónar 2024 – Photo by Víctor Ramos Santafé for Indieofilo^©

The opening day started with the overlapping of Pablopablo and the main stage performance of Olof Dreijer with the percussionist Diva Cruz. Taking advantage of the longer duration of The Knife’s half show, we caught Jorge Drexler’s son’s show in a fairly packed Sónar Hall. Accompanied by a saxophone and drums, pablopablo offered an intimate show full of pop, in which slow rhythms abounded and the delicacy of a forced voice over falsettos was the main instrument on which the dreamy songs of the Madrid-born singer sailed. There was time for ‘Otra vida‘, ‘Sidekick‘ and a number of new songs to be played, which at times left a disjointed, collage-like feeling that began to empty the hangar of the exhibition hall.

pablopablo, Sónar 2024 – Photo by Víctor Ramos Santafé for Indieofilo^©

Quite the opposite of Olof Dreijer and Diva Cruz’s show on the main stage. An amalgam of rhythms based on percussion and synthesizers that had the audience dancing from the first second of the show.. With a jubilant Olof, who never stopped smiling, and in front of that force on stage that is Diva Cruz, the duo’s show has been in full swing for almost an hour, highlighting the pleasure of the Swede’s remix to close in “Oral” of Björk and Rosalía or the power of “Brujas”, the theme taht they’ve done together, which seems tailor-made to be played on loop during the 8M protests.. Between dances, passages from The Knife or even Celia Cruz, theirs was one of the shows of the festival… and yet we had only been there for 2 hours!

Olof Dreijer y Diva Cruz, Sónar 2024 – Photo by Víctor Ramos Santafé for Indieofilo^©

We don’t know if it was the drop in energy or really the nature of their show, but Judeline‘s concert was not enough for us. Standing in front of a huge stage with a staircase with a door in the middle, the Andalusian singer seemed overly timid and lacking in strength, which resulted in some rather decaffeinated versions of brilliant songs such as ‘Zahara‘ and ‘Mangata‘. Personally, I think that these flamenco touches mixed with the urban rhythms of their songs would sound much more powerful live, without the lesser presence of an autotune that swallows everything, leaving the feeling of a completely impersonal show.

Judeline, Sónar 2024 – Photo by Víctor Ramos Santafé for Indieofilo^©

Speaking of disappointments, Sevdaliza‘s visit to Primavera Sound 2023 last year left us wanting more with a show full of 90s Eurodance. Returning to Barcelona barely a year later, her concert was diametrically opposed, offering a show full of delicacy and sensuality, with trip-hop as close to rock as it was to reggaeton at various points. She was joined by a drummer who was the main character in the early stages of the concert for his presence in songs like “Human” or “Good torture”, the show gradually moved towards more danceable rhythms, which made us wonder how good the Iranian would have been on one of the Sónar nights.… In this way, In a fast-paced and energetic second part of the show, she presented her recent collaborations on ‘Ride or Die‘ and ‘Nothing Lasts Forever‘, as well as his new song ‘Alibi‘.. We’re still missing more tracks from the wonderful ISON (2017), but at least this time we’ve come to terms with the Iranian-born artist’s live performances…

Sevdaliza, Sónar 2024 – Photo by Víctor Ramos Santafé for Indieofilo^©

In a 180º turn, we would go to the stage of the Sónar Complex to be surprised by the proposal of Aïsha Devi in the show “Les immortelles”. A torrent of electronic sounds with a predominance of bass, and although I had my usual drum earplugs in, I must confess that at times I felt overwhelmed by the power that the Swiss woman unleashed from the stage. Accompanied by a scenography of banners and chiaroscuro lighting, much of the concert was based on her wonderful album Death is Home (2023). Physically and emotionally exhausted, we can only be grateful that a festival of Sónar’s magnitude continues to support such diverse proposals on a stage the size of the small auditorium of the Sónar Complex stage.

Aïsha Devi, Sónar 2024 – Photo by Víctor Ramos Santafé for Indieofilo^©

At the end of the day, and after the sonic upheaval of the last hour, it was back to the Sónar Village stage to see if all the good things that the young Irishwoman Yunè Pinku has shown on her EPs would continue live. If they gave equal parts hyper-pop and UK garage, their concert moved away from the darker passages to more conventional pop, highlighting the Malaysian singer’s voice. Theirs was a show that went from so-good to so-less, where the monotony and lack of rhythmic variation meant that after the first 10 minutes all the songs sounded very similar, leading to a general feeling of boredom.