During this "year of Japan” at Sónar, much of the programming will provide a general view of the country's various musical styles, looking at hip-hop, downbeat, minimalism, ambient pop, fusion and improvisation.

The Japanese music scene is one of the most fertile and complex in the world today. Its particularly idiosyncratic nature, which bears no relationship to Western fashions, has led to a harmonious coexistence between cutting edge and popular sounds in a unique communion, which can only be understood in its own context.

Japanese artists have been a constant presence at Sónar throughout the festival's history. Almost fifty of them have appeared on the festival's stages since 1995, including leading lights such as Merzbow, Sketch Show, Towatom, Mu, Otomo Yoshihide & Sachiko M, KK Null, Tujiko Noriko and Gak Sato. The links between the Barcelona event and Asia have recently been strengthened with SonarSound in Tokyo.

In 2006, Sónar places Japanese music at centre stage with a multifarious programme, including variations on hip-hop and downtempo (Hifana, Afra & The Incredible Beatbox Band, Tucker, Dj Krush, Nobukazu Takemura), minimalism (Ryoji Ikeda, ryuichi sakamoto + alva noto), ambient pop (the Plop and Spekk labels, both established by Nao Sugimoto) and the fusion between audio/video engineering and free improvisation (Softpad, Marina Yanagisawa, Kanta Horio, Taeji Sawai, Dora Video, Optrum, Toshio Iwai) - with all performances having singularity as their distinguishing feature.

More info: www.sonar.es

(source: Press release)