The Altaveu Festival celebrates the 50 years of the historic Diada in Sant Boi

BarcelonaThe Altaveu Festival in Sant Boi de Llobregat will host a free opening concert on September 10th, the eve of the National Day, at the Town Hall square, featuring performances by Lluís Gavaldà, Joan Pau Chaves, Mushka, Els Amics de les Arts, David Carabén, Joan Garriga and Maria Hein, among others. Titled 50 diades a Sant Boi 1976-2026, the concert will lead into a new edition of the festival that includes artists such as Los Sírex, Dan Peralbo i el Comboi, Arnau Obiols and La Perra Blanco. The Altaveu will kick off with the traditional awards ceremony which will take place on September 8th at the Ateneu Santboià Gardens. The gala will award Els Pets, Arnau Obiols, Remei de Ca la Fresca, Periferia, A Contra Blues, Great Canyon Records and the LEM Festival.

The opening concert celebrates the fifty years of the historic Diada in Sant Boi, the first one after the death of Franco. The Assembly of Catalonia, the platform that grouped the Catalan political opposition before parliamentary democracy, had located the event at the Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona, but with five days to go, it was still not authorized. The organization moved the demonstration to the town in the Baix Llobregat, where thousands of people gathered under the slogan "Freedom, amnesty, statute of autonomy". In the show, the invited artists will reinterpret songs that are part of the collective memory, such as some from the 'Nova Cançó', and will make them dialogue with their own hits.

Regarding the Altaveu awards, this year there will be one for the rock band Remei de Ca la Fresca "for their combative spirit and commitment to social, political and environmental issues". Los Sírex and Dan Peralbo i el Comboi will also receive an award, two rock bands that "represent two very different generations but with a strong spirit of resistance".

On September 11th, the Ateneu Gardens will host emerging music from Leyre Estruch, Syd dePalma, and Silvio. The following day, Duatizz, Sr. Chinarro, Jordi Ganchitos, and Kris Tena will perform there. On the Cal Ninyo stage, Arnau Obiols will perform, exploring Catalan musical tradition using objects and sounds from the forest environment; Juana Everett, the folk and country singer-songwriter from Madrid who arrives after releasing the album Past lives in California (Great Canyon Records), and Carla Pérez Vas, a member of the Maresme band Mourn. The program will be completed with activities such as a record and music book fair, and the exhibition Urban Tribes, when music became identity, a journey through the history of the main urban cultures that marked Barcelona and its metropolitan area at the end of the 20th century, which can be seen from September 12th to November 28th.