The event, which celebrates its 17th edition, includes six concerts and film screenings on stages such as Jameos del Agua, Santo Domingo Convent or the CIC El Almacén.
Lovers of contemporary music will be delighted to know that, after 2 years of forced absence, the Lanzarote Visual Music Festival will be back, with a 17th edition from October 11th to 22nd; 11 days of concerts by avant-garde musicians in spectacular natural spaces and unique enclaves on the island of volcanoes.
Created and organized by the Cabildo de Lanzarote in 1989, at the proposal of the artist Ildefonso Aguilar, the Lanzarote Visual Music Festival is a reference meeting for contemporary music and other avant-garde artistic expressions, in complete harmony with the natural spaces of the island, such as the auditoriums of Jameos del Agua, the Cueva de los Verdes, the Santo Domingo Convent and the El Almacén Cultural Centre.
For the Culture Counciler, Alberto Aguiar, this Festival is a great opportunity to highlight the landscape heritage of Lanzarote and its multiple possibilities for the development of unique cultural activities. “This is one of the longest-running music festivals on the Canarian scene and one of the first Contemporary Music Festivals created in the world, which is a great attraction for those who enjoy and like avant-garde music,” explains the Minister.
In this context, the artistic director and founder of the Festival, Ildefonso Aguilar, assures that the Festival is a unique alternative offer, which contributes to enriching the cultural program of the island and the Canary Islands. “After the long hiatus caused by the pandemic, starting its start-up again is costing a lot of work. To implement an event of these characteristics and to be able to consolidate it and make it visible among the population, it is necessary that several editions pass, “says its director.
Among the huge list of artists who have passed through the Visual Music Festival, contemporary musicians of the stature of Michael Brook, Anja Lechner, Johann Johansson or Brian Eno stand out, who stated that Lanzarote stimulates artistic behavior and a physical approach to creation pure.
PROGRAMME
This year’s concert programme starts on Tuesday 11th October at the CIC El Almacén with local artist Iván Vilella, a multidisciplinary artist who will present his project “Ucronías”, expressly created for the Festival. In addition to Vilella, that same day we will be able to enjoy the proposal of Nico Hernández & Simone Marin who will stage their video and laser sound-synchronised mapping project
On Thursday 13th, at 8:00 p.m., O-Janà + Michele Rabbia will perform at the Jameos del Agua Auditorium, a project that brings together the singer Ludovica Manzo and the electronic musician/pianist Alessandra Bossa with the percussionist Michele Rabbia. The combination of these artists, each loaded with spontaneity, curiosity and audacity, is exciting and the result is music that ranges from electronics to composition and free improvisation.
The Convent of Santo Domingo will be, on Saturday, October 15th at 8:00 p.m., the stage for the We Are (T)here project, a research work on the voice from a choreographic perspective created by Aurora Bauzà and Pere Jou in the that the voice and body of the four performers generate acoustic compositions and sound experimentations that enable the discovery of space through voice and movement. The sound takes shape in the space, materializes and becomes present thanks to the natural resonance of the space that welcomes it, which becomes a fifth performer.
The second week of the festival begins with “Electric Amazigh”, a project by Javier Infante & North Sea String Quartet, which will take place on Thursday, October 20th at 8:00 p.m. at Jameos del Agua. “Electric Amazigh” is the new work by the Dutch jazz string quartet North Sea String Quartet and the Canarian guitarist-composer Javier Infante. A vibrant collaboration in which acoustic and electric sounds converge in a timeless look at the traces of the aboriginal past of the Canary archipelago that continue to resonate in the present.
On the last day of the Festival, on Saturday October 22nd, the Norwegian Eivind Aarset will perform at the Jameos del Agua Auditorium, a guitarist with an enviable personality and a unique musical vision that can range from absolute intimacy to the most scorching intensity. For this occasion he is accompanied by Audun Erlien on bass, and by Erland Dahlen and Wetle Holte on drums, percussion and electronics.
As usual at this Festival, and which has become its hallmark, the lighting design and visual effects of almost all the concerts will be carried out by the Festival’s director, Ildefonso Aguilar.
The offer of the 17th edition of the FMVL is completed with the screening of two documentaries about contemporary musicians Max Richter and Ennio Morricone, which will take place at the CIC El Almacén on October 12th and 19th, respectively.
Tickets to attend the concerts and screenings can be purchased, starting on August 16, through the website www.festivaldemusicavisualdelanzarote.com/
This Festival is organized by the Culture Area of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, and is sponsored by Turismo Lanzarote and with the collaboration of the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers and the Teguise City Council.