A festival on a large scale

Sónar São Paulo2012, which will be presenting more than 50 shows in the Brazilian city's Anhembi Parque on 11 and 12 May, will be Sónar's largest event outside Spain yet. 

Both events bring together the Sónar by Day and Sónar by Night format in a single space, non-stop until 5 in the morning. 

The festival consists of three stages with different capacities, located in the Anhembi Parque venue: SonarClub (the main stage, which will host the large format shows), SonarVillage (partially covered, with artificial grass, and the stage for the artists who are part of the programme curated by Red Bull Music Academy, among others), and SonarHall (the covered auditorium featuring more experimental ideas and approaches). As well as these three stages, there are the areas devoted to SonarPro, including the SonarCinema screening room. 

Musical line-up

The Sónar São Paulo line-up includes the outstanding new show in 3 dimensions from Kraftwerk, one of the most influential groups in music history. The German group arrives at Sónar São Paulo after having sold out all the tickets for its eight shows at the MoMA in New York. 

Besides the new show from Kraftwerk, Sónar São Paulo presents outstanding international names in today's music, including James Blake, Chromeo, Mogwai, Justice, Squarepusher, Modeselektor, Flying Lotus, Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto, Four Tet, Cee Lo Green, Jeff Mills, Little Dragon and DOOM,to name just a fews.

The festival will also be paying special attention to the exciting and dynamic creative scene in Brazil, a country with an impressive musical tradition from which top drawer artists continue to emerge, and many of them will be present at Sónar São Paulo, including: Gui Boratto, Ricardo Donoso, Gang Do Eletro, M Takara Vs. Akin, Bruno Belluomini, Nedu Lopes, Psilosamples, Pazes, Emicida, Dago...

Meanwhile, Red Bull Music Academy, the roaming school of musical talent that will take place for the fifteenth time in New York this September, will be responsible for curating part of the SonarVillage stage, consisting of former students and artists who have worked with the Academy, such as Flying Lotus, DOOM, James Pants, Cut Chemist, Rustie, James Holden, Tiger & Woods, DJ Zegon & Sonidos Unidos Sound System, Pazes and Mauricio Fleury.

Check out the complete Sónar São Paulo line-up here, with dates, stages and times.

SonarPro São Paulo, an outstanding meeting point for professionals

In addition to the musical line-up, the festival presents SonarPro São Paulo, the meeting point for professionals in the music industry and creative businesses associated with creativity and technology, with a strong contingent of artists, creators and professionals from Brazil and Catalonia.

The Sónar São Paulo professional area will also act as a springboard for Catalonia's creative and cultural industries. The Ministry of Culture of the Government of Catalonia, through the ICIC, has signed a four-year agreement with Sónar to make Sónar's Brazilian festival a platform for the promotion for ideas and projects by Catalan businesses and entrepreneurs in the technological and cultural spheres.

The SonarPro São Paulo programme features the Canadians Eski (specialists in the technology used for big shows), Brazil's Muti Randolph (whose works fall between technological design and architectural spaces) and the Catalans Conductr (the creators of audio applications for mobile phones), Jocabola (systems generators and data visualization) and Reactable Systems (inventors of the popular interactive table/instrument Reactable), among others.

The SonarPro activities fall into four main areas: 1) Technology applied to musical creation; 2) Art and technology on stage 3) Video games and 4) New instruments.

SonarPro São Paulo presents SonarCinema, the festival's space for films, documentaries and audiovisual pieces that are outstanding due to the originality of their styles and the high artistic value of their content. The selection of pieces has been curated by Sónar in collaboration with two of the most important audiovisual festivals in Catalonia: In-Edit, the festival specializing in music documentaries (which will be holding the fourth In-Edit Brazil will on the same days in São Paulo) and Screen from Barcelona, a platform dedicated to the moving image in contemporary art.

Check the SonarPro activities
and films at SonarCinema here