As part of a wider festival in honour of Barcelona's patron saint, La Mercè, music lovers will be spoilt for choice this year with BAM, the independent music festival par excellence, and Mercè Musica. Over four days (BAM lasts for three), the numerous venues dotted around the city centre, the Forum and a new venue in Montjuïc, will play host to a wide selection of local, national and international artists.
BAM 2010, which will make up half of the festival's programme, has a local Catalonian line-up that features the indie pop group, Me and The Bees; La Banda Municipal del Polo Norte showcasing their new album, Corazón o nada; the Canary Islander, El Guincho, also with a new album, Pop Negro; the experimental rock band, Standstill; the experimental and theatrical nu-folk of Seward; the sound-system of Balkatalan Experience; the Catalonian pop group, Mishima, who will present Ordre i Aventura; the dynamic pop of San Leon; and the pop-folk band, Els Amics de les Arts, who will appear at the monumental Antigua Fábrica Damm.
Groups from other parts of Spain include the burlesque artist from Madrid, Vinila Von Bismark; the country rock of Arizona Baby from Valladolid; the post-rock of Toundra from Madrid; and Miren Iza's band Tulsa, who will be performing at the Plaza del Rei.
International groups make up 35% of the line-up this year, and they include the Parisian singer-songwriter, Dorothée, alias The Rodeo; the swing rock of the also French, Poutrelles Fever; the electronic tropical music of the Australian, Suckafish P Jones; the hip hop and dubstep of the Briton, Alexander Nut; the soul and folk of Belgian singer, Selah Sue; the French jazzy rap of Ozzen; the futuristic and avant-garde hip hop of New York group, Anti-Pop Consortium, the Swiss singer-songwriter, Sophie Hunger presenting her new album, 1983, the British electro-pop group, Goldfrapp; the Icelandic singer-songwriter, Ólöf Arnald, and the new queen of the Parisian music scene, the Moroccan-born Hindi Zahra; the American power-pop band, Ok Go, and Scotland's Belle & Sebastian, who have chosen BAM for their eagerly-awaited return to the stage.
BAM will also feature a concert organised by MINIMÚSICA for children with the groups, Me and The Bees, Gentle Music Men and Oh!Cake & The Cookie.
The Mercè festival's music programme this year is notable for its eclecticism and quality. At the Plaza Catalunya, the Plaza de la Catedral, the Plaza San Jaume or the Forum during the four-day festival, audiences can see the Catalonian singer-songwriter, Quimi Portet; a feast of rhythms with the Senegalese artist, Dudu N'Diaye Rose, in collaboration with the local group, Tactequeté; the show, Camarón: La Leyenda del Tiempo by Chicuelo featuring Duquende and Sílvia Perez among others; Daby Touré's mix of traditional African music and more current sounds; also from Senegal, Awadi, the standard bearer of African hip hop; and a rumba party hosted by our very own Txarly Brown with the Original Jazz Orquestra Taller de Músics.
And it is all free of charge!
