The Babel Sound festival, launched in 2010, is held every year for a week in July on the shores of Lake Balaton, two and a half hours from Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Once again, the participation of Catalan and Balearic groups shows that they are becoming regular features on the festival programme.
Over its seven years of life, the festival has brought the most special music and the most exotic performers in the world. It is a cultural encounter on a grand scale, where professionals share their passion for music and dance. As well as the two concerts that take place every evening after sunset, there are activities for families and children throughout the day.
17 July at 19.30
The band, founded by the Zuñiga Brothers in Mallorca in 2009, is made up of musicians from different parts of the world, which makes it essentially multicultural. Their music is based on a mixture of sounds from the Andes with African rhythms and American tradition. Not forgetting a social message, they bring dynamism, energy and abundant surprises to the stage.
18 July at 23.30
The composer Luiz Murá left Brazil to create music that would connect his country of origin with other cultures all over the world. It was in Barcelona that he met the other members of the band, from Italy, Mexico and Spain, and they formed a group with quite different musical roots.
20 July
Carola Ortiz - 19.30
The Catalan singer, clarinetist and composer belongs to a new generation of versatile artistes. She has worked on over twenty albums in different genres, from jazz to rock, as well as experimental music. She has travelled all over the world with musicians, which has provided her with an incomparable experience on stage.
The group have created a ‘new sound’, which they define as a ‘bowl of food’ containing different flavours –in this case, songs– spiced with Mediterranean culture. Their music has the melodies, the freshness and the joy of Mallorca, not forgetting the roots and customs. And so it comes as no surprise that the band use gastronomic metaphors in their lyrics when dealing with concepts to do with life or love.
Rumbamazhiga – 21.00
The Catalan group combine Catalan rumba with Amaziga music, the result of the fusion of musicians with different geographical and musical origins. Their performances produce unified melodies and rhythms which give rise to a unique sound.
21 July
Banda Zeitun – 17.00
Made up of musicians from Sicily, Catalonia and Andalusia, the Balearic group has an unquestionably Mediterranean stamp – indeed, ‘zeitun’ in Arabic means ‘olive’. A fusion of cultures, dances and music of the Iberian and Italian coasts, which also leaves room for improvisation on stage.
Doctor Prats – 21.00
Although they started up in 2015, they are possibly one of the most internationally renowned Catalan groups. To Babel Sound they bring songs from their latest album, ‘Aham Sigah’, which mixes ska, reggae, punk rock, kumbaya and electronic music. Winners of the Enderrock 2016 awards for best album and best musical group, Doctor Prats have given over 130 concerts in less than a year, which has catapulted them to the foremost stages of the whole world.
