Barcelona

Top Manta proposes an afternoon of conversation, workshops and music to talk about the Mediterranean as a border, not as a tourist postcard. Based on the migrant experience, and from screen printing and sewing with recycled African fabrics, the proposal connects culture, anti-racism and social and solidarity economy to defend decent work and life without borders.

Adrasha’s project mebrat / መብራት explores the figure of the lighthouse as a symbol of guidance and border, translating its pulses of light into rhythms. Through field recordings, visual poetry, and personal archives, she articulates soundscapes that address displacement, communication, and belonging from a political and sensory perspective.

The show takes its title from a song by Ibrahim Hesnawi, a Libyan reggae pioneer who started a musical movement that suffered political violence after Gaddafi's "Cultural Revolution" in the 1970s, when music was produced exclusively to serve the ideological propaganda of the state. The collaboration between Libyan artists Tewa Barnosa and boo.m is a sonic quest to explore reggae as a site of resistance in a time when pan-African solidarity is eclipsed and punished by imperial systems.

NDOX AK NDOX is a sound performance based on the successive journeys of people from West and North Africa across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, connecting paths that represent both hope and tragedy. PASAPORTEMAN treats these waters as a body in a coma. Through sound, and accompanied by the artists Nusmaïl (Jokkoo), opo (Jokkoo), and 3xOJ (Rahgoul), he seeks to honor and revive this body so that it can tell its stories.

The Mediterranean is often a hostile border, but also a point of cultural convergence between continents. 14 kilometers of Mediterranean Sea, at its narrowest point, separate the African continent from the European one. This musical session, structured as a story, explores the African musical genres that filtered into western homes and dance floors with sounds arriving from the south, often reinterpreted through an increasingly diverse and growing diaspora at the end of the last century and the beginning of this one.

A speculative game based on direct observation of the entire ecosystem that exists within water. What lives in the sea? What landscapes does it create? How many different creatures live in the water? What are they like and how do they move? We will draw the landscape of living beings that cannot be seen with the naked eye, a garden of microorganisms, a new science-fiction planet

A speculative game based on direct observation of the entire ecosystem that exists within water. What lives in the sea? What landscapes does it create? How many different creatures live in the water? What are they like and how do they move? We will draw the landscape of living beings that cannot be seen with the naked eye, a garden of microorganisms, a new science-fiction planet

Ngomez Nokass, a renowned Senegalese percussion and dance group based in Barcelona and specializing in traditional rhythms such as sabar, djembe, and mbalakh, will officially open the festival. Originally formed by eight members and now expanding to over 15, the group fuses traditional Senegalese percussion with the energy of dance, offering vibrant performances filled with rhythmic patterns that are part of a long and rich cultural heritage.

Opening on Thursday, March 26, starting at 5 p.m. Free admission.

Amman-born and Barcelona based for the last years, Miramizu is an expert in fusing disparate musical worlds into vibrant journeys. Drawn to contrast, she thrives on the friction between softness and impact, light and low-end, emotion and electricity. For her dj set at Art Explora, she will guide audiences on a sonic journey inspired by the Mediterranean, navigating textures, rhythms, and cultural echoes that reflect our shared landscape and collective experience

res_ (antes res_és_nostre) is a sound art duo that investigates the intersection between electronic music, language and visual arts, understanding sound as cultural, historical and political material. For Art Explora they present a live show based on the sampling of medieval catalan choirs, whose voices are fragmented and processed electronically, generating a dialogue between archive, technology and collective body. Their performance will be joined by 40 singers from the Canigó Choir.

Thriving on unpredictability, whether at a festival or an intimate club, mad miran’s connection to rave culture and unique blend of electronic beats guarantee a mesmerizing performance every time, marking her as one of the most exciting DJs to watch.

Naïm Gnawa Ensemble is a Moroccan traditional music ensemble based in Barcelona, specializing in the Gnawa repertoire. Led by maâlem Naim Issawa, the group performs in a large collective format rooted in ritual practice, combining percussion, ghaita trumpets and choral voices. Their music creates a shared, ceremonial experience where rhythm, repetition and collective energy play a central role.