The best music festivals in Catalonia for summer 2021

"We are obliged to never lose hope", with this quotation from the sadly-departed activist and economist Arcadi Oliveras, the Itaca festival steps forward to present its new edition. From June 4th to July 4th, more than twenty of Catalonia's most popular groups will visit the various villages of the Empordà that host the festival. Oques Grasses, Clara Peya, Lágrimas de Sangre, Stay Homas, Mazoni, Núria Graham and Zoo are some of the artists on this year's programme.

Festival organized by the association representing the "micro-villages" of Catalonia and Aktive, focused mainly on sounds of jazz, blues and soul. Already underway and with programming continuing until October 5th, Joan Chamorro and Èlia Bastida, Alba Armengou and Jan Domenech, Quico Pi de la Serra, Carla Motis and Belén Bandera and Oriol Romaní are some of the artists scheduled.

The A prop cycle celebrates its second edition in 2021. A festival of proximity and small format, born from a desire to showcase the emerging creators of the Girona region. Among these, names like Tona Gafarot, Kumbara, Remei de Ca La Fresca and Romaní. 

Cornamusam is an international roots music festival dedicated to the cornamusa or sac de gemecs - otherwise known as the bagpipes and their music, both homegrown and from around the world. It was born in 1991 on the initiative of Til·ler, popular culture association of La Garrotxa. This year they are celebrating their 30th anniversary.

Year after year, the Jardins de Pedralbes is consolidating its reputation as one of the most exquisite festivals on our agenda. After reinventing itself last summer as FesPedralbes because of the pandemic, this 2021 it recover a (partial) normality bringing to the gardens of the Royal Palace of Pedralbes artists like Nathy Peluso, Amaia, Manel, Love of Lesbian, Aitana, Miguel Poveda, and Alvaro Soler.

One of the most special dates of the summer festival season and also an early flowerer. The Embassa't in Sabadell is reborn this year as a cycle of six sessions that, from 10th to 13th June, will feature Manel, Sidonie, Rigoberta Bandini, Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagés and Pau Vallvé and for children Xiula.

Last year, Cruïlla was able to stay active thanks to its XXS concert series. An experience that was successful enough for its organizers to bring it back this summer. With the Disseny Hub de les Glòries, the Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damm and the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium as its venues, Joan Miquel Oliver, Maria Jaume, Queralt Lahoz, Ariana Abecasis, Ramon Cugat, The Tyets, Zoo, Sofía Ellar, Flashy Ice Cream, 31Fam, PAWN Gang ...will be in charge of setting the tempo.

More than a festival, Respira is the experience that Joan Dausà has put together to present his new songs, for an album he won't release until autumn. There will be six unique concerts in a space as remarkable as the Empúries archeological site.

La Garrotxa's summer culture and nature festival returns to life after a year of forced silence. And it does so by recovering the programme it had scheduled for the 2020 edition: Compañía Eléctrica Dharma, Roger Mas and El Petit de Cal Eril, among others, and adding some Sopa de Cabra which is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its emblematic album Ben endins.

Marala, La Ludwig Band, Ikram Bouloum, Anna Andre, Salvatge Cor, Maria Jaume, Nacho Vegas, Ferran Palau, Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagés, are some of the main exponents of this Maresme-based festival - an event that distributes its "poetry plus" programme among towns such as Sant Andreu de Llevaneres, Sant Vicenç de Montalt, Dosrius, Alella, Arenys de Mar, Mataró or Caldes d'Estrac, combining verses and melodies. An unmissable festival, and one of the few festivals that withstood the pandemic in 2020.

Meritxell Neddermann is the main attraction of the Ponts a les Arts Sonores programme, based in Martorell. Along with the author of In the Backyard of the Castle, an exquisite album that has not had all the recognition it deserves, the PAS will also feature, among others, the voices of Perpignan singer Mélodie Gimard and Patax.

Few festivals can say that their programme reads like a list of the main references of the current Catalan music scene. Stay Homas, Zoo, Ciudad Jara, Oques Grasses, Iseo & Dodosound, Smoking Souls, Lágrimas de Sangre, Ladilla Rusa and Els Amics de les Arts make up a programme that is completed with the participation of Chinese rapper Ana Tijoux.

It was one of the great victims of the pandemic last year and is one of the first major festivals in the country to recover its activity. Vida returns to the Masia d'en Cabanyes, and does so with a poster full of local talent. Love of Lesbian, Vetusta Morla and Nathy Peluso head a programme that also includes Stay Homas, Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagés, Ferran Palau, Rigoberta Bandini, Núria Graham, Mujeres, El Petit de Cal Eril, Clara Peya ...

The central Barcelona Jardins del Palau Robert are transformed into the Clotilde stage, a festival conceived by four Catalan music radio stations: Flaixbac, Europa Fm, Els 40 and iCat. It is not surprising, then, that the programme is also kilometre zero, with protagonists such as Lildami, Joan Garrido, Roba Estesa, Porto Bello, Sara Roy and Beth.

Urban festival life extends well beyond Barcelona and Sota la Palmera in Tarragona is a clear example. Núria Graham, Maria Jaume, Maluks, Cultrum are just a small sample of the more than 40 artists who will play there.

A classic among classics of our festival itinerary, Canet Rock returns on 3rd July. Lildami, Stay Homas, Jazzwoman, Buhos, Zoo, Suu, Oques Grasses, Doctor Prats, Miki Núñez, Ciudad Jara, Ítaca Band are some of the proposals that will share their songs until sunrise.

Cruïlla will return to the Parc del Fòrum on July 8th, 9th and 10th in a festival that will recover the usual pre-pandemic characteristics and will become the first mass format festival in Europe. The venue is to host 25,000 people every day, who will have to take an antigen test beforehand. Izal, Two Door Cinema Club, Amaral, Editors, Kase.O, Manel, Dorian, Iseo & DodoSound, Natos y Waor, Two Door Cinema Club, Morcheeba ... a line-up that combines local and international stars.

Mestizaje, reggae and hip hop are the musical motifs beacon of Festiuet, as the coastal festival revives to make Coma-Ruga beach into one great party. Just look at the programme to get the flavour: Oques Grasses, Doctor Prats, SFDK, Ciudad Jara, Los Chikos del Maíz, Green Valley, Xavi Sarrià, Crim, Roba Estesa, La Sra. Tomasa, Pupil·les, Jazzwoman...

A date not to be missed, the Porta Ferrada festival in Sant Feliu de Guíxols reaches its 59th edition this summer. There is no excuse not to go up to the Costa Brava, especially if you have the chance to see Ben Harper, Pau Vallvé, El Petit de Cal Eril, Bad Gyal, Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagés, Sidecars, Sidonie, Sergio Dalma, Kool & The Gang, La Oreja de Van Gogh or Rozalén.

After the last edition was cancelled due to Covid-19, the Castell de Peralada International Festival returns its 35th edition, which also wants to pay homage to the memory of Artur Suqué, patriarch of the Suqué Mateu family and founder together with his wife, of this inescapable Empordà summer appointment, who died on 30th April. A tribute that will come through the shows of Sondra Radvanovsky, Jonas Kaufmann or the Béjart Ballet Lausanne, or of names linked to other styles beyond the lyrical, such as the singer and composer Rufus Wainwright or Sílvia Pérez Cruz.

Few festivals are held in a space as magical as the gardens of Cap Roig. Love of Lesbian, Manel, Amics de les Arts, Blaumut, Estopa, Sílvia Pérez Cruz, Ara Malikian and David Bisbal, are the main drawcards of an event that has opted to recover many of the artists who had were to participate in last summer's edition.

Acampada 1.0 is the format in which a whole group of festivals such as Acampada Jove are to be presented in 2021. This year there will be three days of concerts in Plaça Sant Francesc in the capital of Conca de Barberà, with bands such as Zoo, Ebri Knight, Búhos, Ciudad Jara and Roba Estesa, among others, as protagonists. The long-awaited 25th edition will have to wait until 2022.

Summer in L'Escala and Empúries is the sound of Portalblau, a festival that this year reaches its 14th edition. With an eclectic and varied line-up in which there are proposals for all melodic palates, Manu Guix, Alba Carmona, Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagés, Oques Grasses and Miki Núñez are some of the artists who will appear at this Alt Empordà coastal fest in summer 2021.

With the help of the Primavera Sound team, this summer we will once again enjoy Les Nits del Fòrum. A cycle that begins on July 17th with the accelerated rhythm of the Tarragona punks Crim. Then there's Bad Gyal, Estrella Morente, Ribogerta Bandini, Ladilla Rusa ... a list of proposals that continues until mid-September with the concerts of Califato 3/4 and Los Planetas.

The Share Festival reformulates its format and this summer reappears as a series of concerts to be held at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium. A great venue for big names: La Pegatina, Oques Grasses, Morad, 31 Fam, Don Patricio, Alba Reche, Natalia Lazcunza, Lola Índigo...

The old fortress of Roses is the iconic location of the Sons del Món festival that begins with a performance by Good Save The Queen, a Queen tribute band from Argentina who were to have participated in last year's edition. And with them, Stay Homas, La Casa Azul, Oques Grasses, Nil Moliner and Aitana.

B! de Bolvir. One of the newest events in the summer music calendar, this summer it reaches its seventh edition and, due to its location, Bolvir de la Cerdanya, one of the most unique and attractive in our festival ecosystem. One evening, on July 7th, in which the Pyrenees will dance to the rhythm of Miki Núñez and Ju.

Classical music also finds its place in summer festivals thanks to the Shubertíada initiative. This year in Vilabertran you can enjoy the exquisite sounds of among others, the Quartet Casals, the Keybart Ensemble, Mathias Goerne, Juan de la Rubia and Maria Dueñas.

MClan, Pasion Vega, Marina Rossell, Els Amics de les Arts, Carlos Sadness, Sopa de Cabra, David Otero and Maria José Llergo are some of the artists who will show their songs at the Jardins de Santa Clotilde in Lloret within the Som de Mar festival.

Second edition of this solidarity event to raise money for childhood cancer research at the Associació de Familiars i Amics de Nens Oncològics de Catalunya. Núria Graham, Sr. Wilson and Sr. Chen are the first artists to have announced that they are joining this magnificent cause.

This is the great showcase of the Catalan music scene. After a pandemic edition in hybrid format - with a mixture of face-to-face concerts and streaming performances - this year the organization of the Vic Live Music Market hopes to once again fill all corners of the city.

The Parc de La Coope in Sarrià de Ter will be the sound box for the 18th edition of In-Somni. Still with half of its programme to be confirmed, at present the date features Luw, Grises and Flashy Ice Cream.

The event that closes the season of major outdoor events. With folk and roots sounds as its major styles, few details have been announced so far for the 23rd edition of the Fira Mediterrània de Manresa. It has been confirmed, however, that it will be held in mid-October and that Raquel Lúa, Berta Sala and Svart Vin will perform as part of the Programme to Support the Creation of Music Houses. A first taste of the many confirmations that are still to be announced.

Download our calendar of Catalonia music fests for summer 2021

Calendari festivals. Maria López Moya