Ready for the MUD, the refuge for restless ears
From March 12 to 15, venues such as the Café del Teatro, the Enric Granados Auditorium or the Teatro de la Lonja will host an eclectic program
LleidaWhen spring filters like a secret through the mist and the light timidly lengthens, the MUD rises once more as a refuge for restless ears. Nineteen editions later, the Festival Músicas Dispersas exudes maturity and consolidates a singular perspective: understanding roots music not as a museum piece, but as living, permeable matter, capable of mutating by engaging with the present without losing the essence that anchors it. In times of algorithms and predictable programming, the festival persists in its purpose with theopenminded folkOpening up daring spaces for discovery, and connecting tradition and contemporary art without abandoning the commitment that nourishes it. From March 12 to 15, venues such as the Café del Teatro, the Enric Granados Auditorium, and the Teatro de la Lonja will host an eclectic program that will take us from the dub from South Asian influences, passing through the folk American influences leading back to the roots of Ebro tradition.
The opening will be on Thursday, March 12th in the evening at Café del Teatre and will be presented by Asian Dub Foundation. The London-based collective, born in the nineties under the wing of Community Music, has made fusion a political and aesthetic tool: jungle,dub, Incendiary guitars, South Asian roots, and a message that has always confronted social conflict head-on. With a career that has led them to share the stage with Rage Against the Machine and collaborate with Radiohead, their live show promises to be an explosion of energy and community awareness.
The Enric Granados Auditorium will host Santiago Auserón with La Academia Nocturna on Friday the 13th. This project revisits his songbook, from Radio Futura to Juan Perro, with a solid band and nuances that traverse rhythm & blues, jazz, and Caribbean sounds, all with the soul of a craftsman. Later, at the Café del Teatro, German musician and producer Shantel will transform the space into a pan-European map conducive to dance and fusion, with electronic rhythms that travel through Southeast Europe, cross the Middle East, and reach the Mediterranean.
On Saturday, March 14th, the Café del Teatro will showcase new perspectives on folk music. At 10 pm Terrae will presentOur grain (Microscope, 2025), a work that sings of the Terres de l'Ebre region through an organic combination of primal voice and percussion with synthesizers and contemporary textures. Following this, L'Arannà will present the showTurmarineAn immersion into the traditions of the Pitiusas Islands, where castanets and flutes converse with electronic music to offer a unique perspective on Ibiza and Formentera.
On Sunday, March 15, Ben Harper will close out MUD at the Teatro de la Lonja with a solo performance, an exclusive event in Catalonia as part of the Black Music Festival's 25th anniversary celebration. With 18 studio albums and a career spanning blues, folk, rock, and reggae, and backed by several Grammy Awards, Harper embodies the genre-bending spirit that MUD champions.
Mornings will also feature prominently at the Café del Teatre. On Saturday at noon, Pau Castellví will present his solo project, and at midday, Ponent Roots will invite everyone to dance without inhibitions. On Sunday at noon, El Pony Menut will introduce the festival to families with humor and educational content.
Nineteen years later, the MUD continues to demonstrate that the margins can be the center and that roots music becomes one of the most contemporary ways of telling our stories.