Those of us who live in Barcelona and love music, know that in this Mediterranean city when the good weather falls we can count on at least 3 giant festivals of contemporary music: the Primavera Sound, the Sónar, and the Festival Cruïlla.
This third one is the newest of them all and has earned a place on the pedestal in a very short time. It is characterised by its commitment to crossroads of different rhythms of the world (cruïlla in Catalan means crossroads). Also for its well-designed timetables, its more accessible prices and its commitment to local multidisciplinary talent.
The ninth online edition of the multi-rhythmic Cruïlla festival will take place at the Parc del Fòrum from 12 to 14 July.
Recently, in the Antigua Fàbrica Damm (the festival’s biggest commercial partner for some years now) in Barcelona has unveiled to the public its innovations for this year’s edition, which will take place between 12 and 14 July at the Parc del Fòrum.
Cruïlla has raised the flag among the three best music festivals in Barcelona on its own merit.
The music programme of this year’s Cruïlla Festival will be headed by Jack White (ex-founder of the White Stripes), Prophets of Rage. Also N.E.R.D. with Pharrell Williams, David Byrne, The Roots (the band from the American Jimmy Fallon show), Gilberto Gil, and many more.
N.E.R.D. with Pharrell Williams, headlines the line-up of Cruïlla Festival 2018.
Undoubtedly the most powerful novelty of the 2018 edition was announced by Jordi Herreruela, director of the Cruïlla Festival, who has announced the surprising alliance with the White Summer festival, which has been held every August in Serres de Pals, on the Costa Brava, for the last seven years.
Herreruela also announced that the festival organisers have reached an agreement with the Teatre del Liceu so that festival-goers can obtain tickets to the opera at reasonable prices throughout the year. The first work that Cruïlla subscribers will be able to attend is La Favorite by Donizetti. Attendees will be able to attend the play for the reduced price of €50 and the performances will start on 8 July.
He also recalled that the renowned Catalan theatre company La Fura dels Baus and a scale reproduction of the popular festival of Aquelarre de Cervera, will complete the varied programme of this summer festival.
The performance of the renowned theatre company La Fura dels Baus will be one of the novelties of this year’s festival.
The White Summer Festival is present at Cruïlla 2018
On the other hand, the White Summer Festival is characterised by a more creative, gastronomic, theatrical and signature proposal. The festival was born as a meeting point between people, beauty and artistic creation, as well as to build bridges between entrepreneurs, restaurateurs and artists.
In this way, the promoter of the German festival, the interior designer and set designer Myriam Cuatrecasas, announced the details of this first rapprochement between the two Catalan festivals.
The White Summer Festival will be held from August 4th to 26th at Masia Gelabert (Girona) between 6pm and 1am.
Melomaniacs who come to Parc del Fòrum during Cruïlla will find a new space specially curated for the occasion called Cruïlla Lifestyle by White Summer. There dance performances, workshops, theatre and juggling will take place between concerts.
“What could we offer the Cruïlla audience,” asks Cuatrecasas. “A complete offer of hedonism, pleasure and creativity, because we all have a trapped artist and we help them to let go”, answers the director of White Summer.
This benchmark Barcelona festival, framed in the maxim ‘Cruïlla es més‘, aims to become a new multisensory experience. It will be supported by the savoir faire of White Summer, offering a varied culinary offer of quality in the Village, Lifestyle and Market areas.
White Summer festival will bring specialised and differentiated areas to the Parc del Fòrum during Cruïlla, such as the Market, Kids, Village and Lifestyle areas.
The Market area, meanwhile, will bring the festival-going public closer to an interesting collection of fashion by emerging creators. The little ones also have their Kids space reserved for them with different activities. Some of them are action painting, giant bubbles, robotics workshops and a denim recycling workshop.
“We have conceived the vast space of the Forum as a great musical archipelago, divided into cultural islands, which are the spaces that White Summer will contribute to this edition of Cruïlla,” said Myriam Cuatrecasas. “We want you to leave the festival in the early hours of 15 July with a comprehensive sensory experience, as our contribution will raise the level of the vibrations”, she emphasised.
In addition, White Summer Festival has arranged for its own dance company to be present in several venues during the three days of the festival. Similarly, aerial dance shows and colourful performances by the White Summer Festival will be performed by the White Dance Company. Jirafas de Xirriquiteula Teatre and the Dragons de Traps, will complete the festival’s offer for all audiences.
The organisers of the White Summer Festival of Serres de Pals will be putting all their knowledge into making Cruïlla a completely multisensory festival.
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For his part, Lluís Danés, a renowned cinematographic director and set designer, will be in charge of setting up the main stage of the Cruïlla Festival for the second consecutive year. On this occasion, the concept chosen by Danés recalls the inventions of Jules Verne. It has a musical distillery concept and a large machine full of gramophones that are modified. This is thanks to the lighting, depending on the time of day and the band playing.
“The Damm stage, which I have called the Cathedral of the Sea, will be a hundred square metres bigger than last year’s stage. That’s about 18 metres higher, it will be huge. Located in front of the Mediterranean, we want it to become a loudspeaker that brings together all the voices that are raised on the stage, distills them, condenses them and launches them into the world”, Danés emphasised.
Simulation of the final result of the main stage created by film director and set designer Lluís Danés for next summer’s edition.
Another new feature of this July 2018 edition is, according to its director Jordi Herreruela, a mobile app for the festival. This year, the app will also feature a game to “hunt virtual Gaudí dragons around the Forum site during the festival”.
David Byrne, former founder of Talking Heads, is one of the main attractions of this year’s line-up.
Last but not least, we cannot fail to invite you to the White Summer Festival, which will take place between 4 and 26 August 2018 at the Mas Gelabert in Serres de Pals surrounded by the Montgrí Natural Park in the heart of the Costa Brava.
