THE MUV! CIRCUITO MÚSICA URBANA HAS AN ECLECTIC LINE-UP WITH ROCK & ROLL, ELECTRONIC MUSIC, LATIN RHYTHMS, CLASSICAL MUSIC AND ZARZUELA! A festival without any aesthetic or musical barriers will take place on five unique stages in the Cabanyal-Canyameral neighbourhood, tickets on sale now. Urban music to take to the streets, in different styles and for all music tastes. The line-up for the 5th edition of the MUV! Circuito Música Urbana (Urban Music Festival) brings together very diverse proposals that will fill the Cabanyal-Canyameral neighbourhood with rhythms, songs and melodies during the last weekend of February.

The festival will kick off with a free launch party concert on 17 February at La Batisfera, featuring Aliya Cycon Project (ACP), a Valencia-based group whose talented American leader and singer Aliya Cycon was the first female lute player to graduate from the famous Berklee Valencia College of Music.

On February 24th and 25th, the festival will follow a musical route through five unique venues – La Batisfera, Lindala, Teatro El Musical (TEM), El Casinet and La Fábrica de Hielo – to enjoy music by established and emerging talents. Rock & roll, pop, jazz, hip-hop and reggae will coexist with electronic music, rumba, funk and Latin rhythms alongside other genres such as flamenco, zarzuela and classical music.

 Musical experiences, children’s programmes and many more activities

World music will be played at MUV! The renowned Colombian singer-songwriter Lili del Sol, based in Valencia, will delight the audience with her musical compositions in which she fuses Latin American rhythms to bring us closer to her land, culture and roots. Na Gloria will also be playing at MUV! festival with traditional instruments, performing songs by the great masters of Brazil.

Two bands from Valencia city, as different as they are similar, will share the stage: Ales Cesarini & Payoh Soul Rebel + Johnny B zero. The intrusions into jazz carried out by the reggae quartet led by double bass player Ales Cesarini mixes with the electric psychedelia of renowned Valencian quartet Johnny B. Zero’s rock works. The first band will also present their latest work Black Mantra, a look at the different ways of understanding music with the suggestive voice of Payoh Soul Rebel, the impressionist music of Baptiste Bailey on piano and the fusion of world music and Mozarabic rhythms of David Gadea on percussion. They will be joined by the catchy songs of Johnny B Zero, whose Metonymy of Sound was Best Rock Album at the Carles Santos Valencian Music Awards.

Another special concert will be TheChiripa, a new band with members of Rana Mariana and a new and promising Valencian singer, Nina Bonet, who is dedicated to the fusion of styles such as rumba, pop, electronic music and Latin rhythms. Also on the festival line-up are the young Screaming Pillows, recognised with the Carles Santos Award for Best Jazz Album 2022, with a repertoire made up entirely of original songs written both individually and collectively; Sala E, the new student band from the Berklee School in Valencia located by the Palau de les Arts, specialising in hip-hop/funk and Latin music, with professional musicians from all over the world; and Ay Trick, which since 2020 has conquered the Valencia music scene with modern compositions inspired by the pioneers of funk.

More musical experiences will be provided by the band Xixa Morá with their fun mix of cumbia with touches of funk, ska, rock, psychedelia and latin rhythms in a fun and energetic concert, or the performance of Jorge Valiente “El Cigarra”, a self-taught artist who is self-made in the streets of Valencia, who will present El sonido de la cigarra, urban flamenco with songs in which he brings his experiences to life. The festival will also host the launch of the album Valencia Miope / Fantasía suburbana, Folk onanista de agitación, by the composer Antonio J. Iglesias.

 In its desire to reach all audiences and musical styles, MUV! will offer a zarzuela concert and another of classical music. Viva lo nuestro, made up of 14 musicians, will trace a journey through the most representative romanzas and duets of zarzuela, a musical. And the Sociedad Musical Unión de Pescadores will present ‘Eurovisión Clasic’ with their band SMUP Quinteto de Vientos. A fun and participative journey through classical music designed for both the most sceptical audience of the genre and the most music-loving.

Aimed at family audiences, MUV! will offer the children’s musical theatre show La pluma de Aumagic, and Astral Kids, a rock concert and a musical workshop for the little ones.

The festival’s musical programme will be complemented by other activities such as urban art, workshops for adults, exhibitions, dj sets with vermouth, tastings with TYRIS craft beer pairing, sponsor of the festival together with the Valencian organic soft drink Fantástica Soda, etc.

Lineup and ticket sales: www.muvfest.com 

Report by Sabina Redfern

Article copyright ‘24/7 Valencia’