¡Vamos Hostias! - 2

The modern day festivals are more about socializing and less about music. So you may make a plan but you have to take it easy when your plan appears to go wrong. The Fiesta de Bienvenida offered us 10 names to perform on two stages situated side by side. Such the environmental organization ensured minimal lags between the performances and, more important, minimal movements for the audience. Twenty steps to the left, twenty steps to the right - and you have visited both the stages. A major improvement, without a doubt.

Out of the ten names mentioned, only three attracted my attention: Jimena Amarillo, a non-binary urban artist whose latest album I like; the band 30s40s50s fronted by Operación Triunfo alum Beli Basarte, and revived Delafe Y Las Flores Azules.

Unfortunately, the aim to see them all was never achieved. When we came to recinto ferial (main festival location) 30s40s50s were leaving the stage. The performance of Jimena Amarillo was long gone. But the colourful and energetic show of Delafe Y Las Flores Azules erased all the traces of regret caused by our late arrival. 

Oscar and Helena were in their top form presenting the pack of their top songs. The sunshine-electro-avant-hip-hop band was accompanied onstage by a tiny brass section whose members wholly participated in the main protagonists’ activities like cross-stage dancing etc. This was the event enormously lighthearted, uplifting and pure.

Why I started this entry with the “more about socializing” line? That’s because right after Helena & Oscar danced their bodies offstage we abandoned the music of the rest of the night and dove headfirst into socializing. In the old town of Aranda we had a late dinner with a bottle of wine and then came to Café Central for dancing. I do believe this was way more entertaining for us personally than the shows of urban performers Dillom and Cupido at recinto.

Somehow we ended up more introduced to communication at the expense of music this year. The music is important but the friends are more important, and we met so many friends those days!

¡Vamos Hostias! - 1

August 9, in the afternoon. The Fiat 500X built-in navigator guides us further along the A-1 / E-5 interstate but we turn to Milagros via exit number 146.

It’s a tradition. This is how we pay tribute to the place where our historia ribereña once began. In 2013, before returning to the airport, we were sitting on the bank of the Riaza River beholding how the whole village of Milagros gathered on the opposite bank of the river for cooking the giant paella - and wept because we thought it would never happen again for us.

But somehow it happened 8 times more. Most of them we accommodate in Kinedomus Bienestar rural hotel. There is no better place than Kinedomus for the post-gig relaxation. It’s 3 km from Aranda opposite to the festival area. You arrive at the hotel at half past 3 am with buzzing ears – and you are surrounded by an endless, thick, almost palpable silence. The crickets is the only sound you can hear.

Some neutral assessment: despite the enormous heatwave that splashed upon the central regions of Spain this year, Sonorama had a huge influx of visitors. I have never seen so many people here, and not only me - it was noted by everyone we spoke to. The organizers’ policy to promote the festival amongst the younger audience is working apparently. Our beloved friend Gloria’s son once said: "I will not go with you cos it’s all dad music". So Gloria grabbed a short video once a day to show him the prevalence of all those young faces in the crowd. 30% of the line-up are urbanites and trappers - what kind of "dad music" it could be?

Ten years ago it was possible to come to Aranda’s historic cluster at 12:00 and go right to the security fence in front of the Plaza del Trigo stage to behold three concerts in a row plus one secret show staying there in the first line. Oh, good old times. Now it is impossible: you should arrive at least half an hour earlier to proceed to the first line, so we don’t even try to. The neighboring Plaza la Sal does not bear the same cult significance, no one fights for the opportunity to be in the first line there - and it fits us perfectly. Moreover, there are always some really interesting young bands performing there. The perfect choice for broadening your horizons.

¡Vamos Hostias! - 0

This report was originally supposed to be called "La Última Aventura" ("The Last Adventure"), or "La Gira De Despedida" ("The Farewell Tour"). It’s not that in the process of completing the report the hope grew up on me that everything would get better in the near future - but I hardly feel despondent or melancholic, so now I would like to make the title more uplifting. Neither English translation of the word "hostia" comes any close to adequate, so you are free to place anything you like instead of it. "Let's go, bitches!" or "Let's go, cool kids!" – you name it.

Sonorama Ribera 2023. The Prologue

In a cursory examination of the Sonorama schedule published yesterday it becomes apparent that the Spanish indie music landscape is changed. The chances are it's changed forever. Sonorama always was a rock-oriented event, but now at least 25% of performers are the urban- and trap-related artists. If to include the rock bands than implement the elements of urban styles into their music (Cupido, Jimena Amarillo, etc) the percentage would be even higher narrowly reaching one third of the lineup. What does it mean globally? The trap, reggaeton and other related subgenres are the music of the young. The persons into their forties may still be listening to rock, but the festivals make their living out of the younger people. If you want to follow the future you need to align to the youngsters' tastes. I may not like it but I am not a target market anyway.

Another considerable part of the Sonorama 2023 lineup is the "festival indie". Festival indie is the negatively connoted entity within the music business of Spain. It describes the zillions of the same-sounding rock bands that more or less follow the template of the Big Three (Love Of Lesbian, Izal, Vetusta Morla) casting aside the theatrical grandeur of the former and the genre-bending tendencies of the latter. Briefly, this is the generation of the rock bands more concerned about reaching the festival headliner status than the creative validity and innovation. What does that mean globally? It means that the "burbuja de festivales" (festival balloon, or festival bubble) is not over yet, and the possibility of performing deep in the night and/or seeing your name printed in largest typeface possible is still a ripe target for the young rockers, even if it not necessary entails any substantial commercial success. This ain't necessarily bad but the common lack of imagination within this category is, say, disappointing. The only thing they are as vocal as inventive in is the brief summary in their Spotify profile.

The last thing I'd like to emphasize is the direct consequence of the previous two. There is so little space left for the 'non-aligned' artists or the bands hard to allocate to any distinct category. There was absolitely no issue for me to sellect 10 to 20 "the most interesring smallest font size bands" out of the festival's billboards of the previous editions. This year it's neither 20 nor 10. It's, like, six. Six bands. Dani, 30s40s50, Martina Efedra, Jimena Amarillo, Victorias, Vera Fauna - and even then, none of them I'm 100% assured of, as long as at least three of them are flesh and blood of "indi festivalero". Thank goodness there are some better-known bands in the lineup (Kitai, Niña Coyote eta Chico Tornado, León Benavente, L.A.) there's no doubt about.

Am I any depressed based on these reflections? Nope. 

There's one thing that makes me looking forward to these 4,5 days of music and wine (and calimocho as an option). Just imagine: it's 2:00 a.m and you walk from the food court to WCs left of one of the secondary stages. As you walk along to the front side of that stage the sound is reaching you - and then in a matter of a second you are stunned. You forget where you're walking to. You don't mind the late hour as well as your growing fatigue. There's nobody else around you in this world. It's only you - and the band onstage. I'm sure it's gonna happen because it happened to me many times before.

Because it always happens in Sonorama.