Barcelona's Plaça Reial to host 50 concerts through to November

The live music initiative Àgora Musical de la Rambla will put on over 50 concerts in Barcelona from this Friday until November. The stage will be the old town’s Plaça Reial, located just off the Rambla boulevard, after which the initiative is named. 

Àgora comes as a result of local collectives and efforts to enrich the Rambla area, and its surrounding neighborhoods, through the means of culture. There is a lot of emphasis on collaboration and partnership, with the Barcelona local council cultural rights official, Dani Granados, saying that it is “a good show of a willingness to make culture a space for cooperation and participation”. 

On Friday, a performance from the Raval’s Band will inaugurate the program, a group coming from the El Raval district, just across the Rambla from Plaça Reial. They will also be playing alongside the local Music School, and the Juan Pedro Carrero Music School. 

Other notable musicians based in Barcelona’s old town collaborating this year include the Clarence Bekker Band, and the guitarists Chicuelo, Hidrogenese and Sanjosex. These three guitarists are confirmed to perform in June, on Sundays 6, 13 and 20 June respectively. 

The Clarence Bekker band are not due to perform until August 11, during a month which will also feature performances from Bratia, Ashé Quartet and Do Up (August 3, 15 and 22 respectively). July will also be packed with other local musical events, such Sílvia Comes’ performance alongside residents of the Gothic Quarter who are part of the musical project ‘Pati de veïnes’, meaning ‘neighborhood yard’ in English. 

Àgora itself comes as part of a bigger initiative to ‘Transform the Rambla’ laid out by the KMZero team. The aim is to “revitalize the characteristic boulevard and reconnect it with the locals”. The scheduled concerts also form part of a Cultural Rights Plan, designed to encourage cultural participation in public space.