Emergente Festival Opens Call for Applications for 7th Edition
December 27, 28, and 29 at BOTA, Lisbon
The 7th edition of the Emergente Festival takes place for the second time at BOTA, on December 27, 28, and 29. Submissions for the call for emerging artists are now open.
Since its inception, the Emergente Festival has been the “festival of the new generation of independent Portuguese music.” A festival focused on what best defines emerging national music: the profusion of highly diverse and eclectic sounds, which in turn result from a vast array of blends of indie-rock, traditional music, electronic dance music, jazz, and original music sung in Portuguese.
The Emergente Festival has featured guest artists such as Filipe Sambado, Surma, Maria Reis, Pedro Mafama, Solar Corona, Unsafe Space Garden, and Bandua; and selected by the Open Call, projects such as Lana Gasparøtti, Humana Taranja, Marquise, Malva, IBSXJAUR, Líquen, among many others.
The 2024 Open Call received over 90 applications, and the 2025 edition is now open, open to all emerging Portuguese music projects that want to win one of the first stages to perform live at the Emergente Festival. The rules can be found on Emergente’s Instagram.
From this Open Call, the projects that will perform at the 2025 edition will be selected, after being evaluated by a jury comprised of a group of music industry professionals: musicians, producers, radio hosts, journalists, managers, and bookers—all true music lovers and music lovers who ensure the demanding task of making the best selection each year.
In total, 10 slots will be allocated to the 2025 Super Emergent acts: nine (9) to be filled by selection via Open Call and one (1) to be filled by the band with the most votes from the NEXT Sessions audience. The NEXT Sessions have been held monthly since March 2025 (the last scheduled for November 1st).
The 10 Super Emergent acts are joined by six bands and artists on the rise who have already been announced as part of the 2025 lineup: Inóspita, Divã, Malva, bbb hairdryer, Chat GRP, and Máquina.
Continuing the tradition of never having had any edition of Emergente the same, the festival maintains the three-day Christmas festivities at BOTA, but this year adds a matinee session. Thus, the 2025 edition’s schedule will open on the 26th with Inóspita’s late-afternoon performance, and will continue with five sessions of three shows each: Friday the 26th, after the opening, with an evening session; Saturday the 27th and Sunday the 28th with a matinee and soirée. There will be 16 shows in total.
Malva will open the second day with her second album, Poros. This album resulted in the Best Super Emerging Musical Project Award, which she received in 2023 after a successful performance in a completely silent Musicbox. Inóspita, the paradoxical guitarist, whose music is anything but inhospitable, will open the festival after selling out Lux Frágil with her debut album earlier this year.
Divã, the post-punk band that opened for British band Maruja on their two Portuguese dates in 2024, closes the first night with their characteristic irreverence, experimentalism, and cathartic energy. The second night is closed by bbbhairdryer, who embody freedom on stage, “tearing ears and tearing faces and hearts apart.”
The final day promises to knock the BOOT off its feet. It opens with Chat GRP and their intense live performance, and finally, MÁQUINA., who arrive at the festival after a ubiquitous presence on national stages over the past two years, closing this edition with a flourish.
The 7th edition of Emergente promises to be a hit.
EMERGENTE FESTIVAL HISTORY
Over 300 bands of the newest Portuguese music have already participated in Emergente’s Open Call (last year alone, the festival received 92 entries), and of these, 42 have performed on Emergente’s various stages since 2020. The first edition, in 2019, did not have an Open Call.
Lineups (in bold – bands selected by Open Call):
2019 – Cosmic Mass / Sun Blossoms / Time for T / Tourjets / Filipe Sambado & Os Acompanhantes de Luxo / Pedro Mafama / Venga Venga / Môrus / Elephante Maze / Palmers / Ossos D’Ouvido / Cave Story / Sunflowers / Dji Jays;
2020 – Dream People / Meta / Hause Plants / Fugue / Rui Rosa / Cíntia / Vila Martel / Lana Gasparøtti;
2021 – Chinaskee / Sreya / Gator The Alligator / Mike Vhiles / Caio / Eva Cigana / Los Chapos / Mikee Shite / Conjunto Júlio / Too Many Suns / Solar Corona / Humana Taranja / Biloba / April Marmara / Bia Maria / Falso Nove / Quase Nicolau / Madalena Palmeirim;
2022 – Moma T / Black Lavender / Javisol / O Marta / BANDUA / Themanus / Ana de Llor / A Sul / Siwo / Sfistikated / Unsafe Space Garden / James Flower;
2023 (all previous award winners as guests): a / Lana Gasparøtti / Falso Nove / Humana Taranja / Javisol / O Marta / Ricardo Crávidá / Royal Bermuda / Human Natures / Marquise / Marianne 7Redoma / Malva / Evaya / X IT.
2024 – Agressive Girls / Líquen / IBSXJAUR / Surma / Bea Bandeirinha / Pato Bernardo / Maria Reis / Francisco Fontes / Catarina Carvalho Gomes / Hal Still Echoes / Ya Sin / Baleia Baleia Baleia
Award-Winning Bands and Projects:
Best Show (MC – by public vote)
Best Musical Project (MPM – by jury vote)
Honourable Mentions (MH – by festival mention)
2020 MC – Lana Gasparøtti
2020 MPM – Meta_
2021 MC – Los Chapos
2021 MPM – Falso Nove
2021 MH – Humana Taranja
2022 MC – Javisol
2022 MPM – O Marta
2023 MC – Marquise
2023 MPM – Malva
2023 MH – Marianne
2024 MC – Catarina Carvalho Gomes
2024 MPM – Lichen
Always confirm with the concert hall or promoter the access conditions, confirmation of the date and time, ticket sales location, price, and availability.
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