The MED Festival was once again at BTL – Bolsa de Turismo de Lisboa, to publicize its 19th edition, which takes place from June 29th to July 2nd, in the Historic Area of Loulé.
During this week, at the stand of the Municipality of Loulé and at “Espaço Algarve”, through presentation moments, the public that passes through this event will get to know some details about what is expected for what is one of the highlights of animation vacation in the Algarve.
90 hours of music, 66 concerts, 400 musicians, 18 nationalities, 12 stages, 100 handicraft exhibitors, 4 art exhibitions spread across the venue, and 8 street entertainment groups that will walk through the streets and alleys of the festival daily are some of the numbers for this year.
At this moment, the Municipality “lifts the veil” and announced today the first 17 names that will take the stage in the 5 days with the best of the world’s music. They are: Amadou&Mariam (Mali), Amaro Freitas (Brazil), AYWA (Morocco/France), BandaAdriatica (Italy), Bandua (Portugal), Bateu Matou (Portugal), Bia Ferreira (Brazil), Bulimundo (Cape Verde), Club Makumba (Portugal), Horace Andy (Jamaica), Lavoisier (Portugal), Omar Souleyman (Syria), Onipa (Ghana/UK), Sara Correia (Portugal), Sarah McCoy (USA), Sétima Legião (Portugal) and Pedro Mafama ( Portugal).
One of the highlights is the return of Jamaican Horace Andy, a veritable institution when it comes to reggae. The artist has already been to Loulé in 2009 and, for this concert, another wave of “good vibes” is expected.
Also returning to the MED stage is Amadou & Mariam, coming directly from Mali. This musical duo, who were at this festival in the Algarve in 2008, achieved their global success by combining West African influences with R&B and are one of the most cherished projects in the world of music.
In Portuguese music, this year MED has one of the three concerts that will mark the 40 years of Sétima Legião’s career; in addition to Lisbon and Porto, the band is coming to Loulé for a commemorative show.
The Brazilian Bia Ferreira starred, in May 2022, at Cineteatro Louletano, in the “warm-up” for MED, and now, this voice of the fight for LGBTQl+ rights, against racism and xenophobia, is part of this year’s poster. It is hoped that this concert will be a space for clarification and, at the same time, for provocation, in defense of the causes in which he believes.
Music, Cinema, Poetry, Theatre, Street Entertainment, Plastic Arts, Thematic Conference, and Gastronomy are once again part of this year’s program. The commitment to environmental sustainability, the promotion of gender equality, and the union of peoples also continue to deserve special attention from the organization.
Since 2004, the MED Festival has made an important contribution to the touristic projection of the Algarve region, cultural enhancement, and boosting of the local economy.
Applauded by the public and recognized by critics, Festival MED is, once again, nominated for the Iberian Festival Awards, in the following categories: Best Medium-Size Festival, Best Lusophone and Hispanic Festival, Best Tourism Promotion, Best International Performance with a concert by the Colombians Guetto Kumbé, Contribution to Sustainability, Contribution to Equality and Better.
MED has already had 50 nominations since the beginning of these awards and was distinguished as the Best Medium-Size Festival in the Iberian Peninsula, in 2017 and 2018; Best Tourism Promotion (Portugal), in 2018 and 2020; Contribution to Sustainability in the Iberian Peninsula, in 2019; Best Lusophone and Hispanic Festival in the Iberian Peninsula, in 2020.
Over these 18 editions, more than 600 bands have played at the Festival, representing more than 50 countries. During the moment of presentation to the Media and entities, which took place this Friday, the councilor of the Municipality of Loulé and director of the Festival MED, Carlos Carmo underlined the fact that “this is a festival of world music, which tries to embrace the whole planet” but which “is not restricted to this cultural aspect”.
The person in charge addressed some of the environmental matters that have been implemented over the years at this event, with emphasis on the challenge launched in 2022 to the designers of the Loulé Design Lab in order to reuse “the waste that is normally thrown away” for furniture that has been in various spaces in the enclosure, for example, puffs made of tarpaulins or tables created from plastic bottles.
This official also underlined the tourist impact that the MED has: more than 40% of visitors are tourists and 39% of them choose to come to the Algarve and Loulé because of the MED Festival. “Besides the music, what motivates visitors the most is the experience that MED offers”, said Carlos Carmo.
Antena 1, Antena 2, and Antena 3 are once again media partners radio and other partners will be announced soon.
Pedro Mafama, one of the artists on the MED’23 musical lineup, joined this presentation at FIL and left a few words to those present: “I am very excited to play at MED, it will be the first time. The city is beautiful! I will bring my next project, ‘I was in the abyss but I took a step forward’. Meet you there!”.
Always confirm with the concert hall or promoter the conditions of access, confirmation of the date or time, tickets place of sale, price, and availability.
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