IWA FEST will celebrate its fourth edition of the September 22 to 27 With an intense cultural week and two days of concerts in the Fort of Victoria Grande with Talvin Singh, Bombino, Caliphate 3/4 among other referents of that crossing of cultures.
From September 22 to 27, Melilla will host the fourth edition of IWA FESTan appointment that has established itself as one of the most unique cultural events in southern Europe. With the Fort of Victoria Grande as a musical epicenter and the UNED MELILLA As the headquarters of cultural activities, the festival is reaffirmed as a space where tradition and avant -garde are, exploring the links that unite cultures from different parts of the world.
In this edition, the program travels from the Mediterranean basin to territories as far away as Niger, India, Kenya, the United Kingdom, Tunisia or Italy, confirming its global vocation and its commitment to cultural diversity. “We want to demonstrate that traditions are not relics of the past, but living languages that, by encountering current creativity, can be transformed and acquire new meanings,” They point out from the Iwa Fest organization.
A cultural week at UNED Melilla
The program will begin on Monday, September 22 at the UNED headquarters, which will become a meeting point for cinema, reflection and cultural dialogue throughout the week.
Film cycle: music, migration and roots
The first block will be dedicated to cinema, with daily projections that connect music, migration and tradition:
Monday 22: Love, Deutchmarks and Deathabout the relationship between music and immigration.
Tuesday 23: Tañen FuroJavier Idoipe’s musical journey through northern Spain.
Wednesday 24: SiraT, from Oliver Laxe, awarded in Cannes.
Thursday 25: He always saiddocumentary that portrays the creative universe of Júlia Colom.
The day will close with an intimate concert of Júia Colomwhere he will advance songs from his next album planned for 2025.
Conversations: Encounters with creators and local culture
The format Conversations It will take place from Tuesday 23 to Friday 26, offering a space for direct dialogue with the public. This year will have several outstanding proposals:
Talk with María Medem:
The renowned Sevillian artist, follower of the Ukiyo-E style and inspired by teachers such as Katsushika Hokusai or Ikko Tanaka, has achieved its own visual language where it fuses Japanese tradition and contemporary culture. Medeem, awarded awards as best revelation author in Barcelona Comic and the ACDComic Award, will share in a talk led by Rocío Madrid its creative process and its way of understanding illustration and narrative art.
Round Table “Agobio Geography”:
Different actors of Melilla’s cultural activity will discuss challenges and sensations around creative work and cultural management in the city. They will participate Carlos Reverte (Manager of Israel Fernández and promoter of Melilla’s flamenco sample), Dani Botello (Musical journalist and collaborator of Mondosonoro) and Santi Moga (Audiovisual producer).
Meeting “Melilla, my home and my condemnation”:
Alba Domínguez Penadirector and creator of the homonymous magazine, will talk about how this project has found diverse and unique forms of expression, building critical and poetic looks from the cultural border that Melilla represents.
These meetings reinforce the idea of IWA FEST as more than a musical festival: a platform to think, dialogue and create community.
Two concert nights in the Fort of Victoria Grande
He Friday 26 and Saturday, September 27music will take prominence in the Fort of Victoria Grande, a place full of history that will become a scenario where global sounds will live together.
Friday 26: Global tradition and electronics
The first day will open with The nestBurgos that combines traditional instruments such as Bouzouki or mandolin with contemporary compositions, claiming Spanish folklore from a current perspective. From Morocco, The Leila The energy of the Aarfa regada and other Berebers styles will take to the stage, representing the North African underground. The Italian Daniela Pes It will take over with a direct enveloping in which jazz, ambient and experimental electronics are mixed, presenting themes of its celebrated album Spira (2023). The night will enter electronic territory with the French duo Ko Shin Moonwhose psychedelic sound fuses musical traditions and Global Beats.
The closure will be in charge of the Indians Tech Panda & Kenzaniwhich will take the public on a trip of traditional Indian music to the global electronic scene. The DJs José Sabroso and Yasmina KarrunFestival residents, will maintain energy between performances, this is another of this year’s novelties.
Saturday 27: Spirituality, dance and miscegenation
The second day will begin with the direct of Talvin Singhpioneer of fusion between Indian classical music and Drum & Bass. Winner of Mercury Prize, Singh has collaborated with artists such as Björk, Madonna or Siouxsie & The Banshees, and will offer in Iwa Fest his first concert in Melilla. From Niger it will arrive Bombinoone of the great referents of the desert blues and spokesman for the Tuareg culture, with songs that combine social commitment and tribal energy. Midnight will be reserved for 3/4 caliphatethe Sevillian collective, despite the renewal of the band, have managed to accommodate new voices and new sensibilities ”within their proposal that practices what they themselves call futuristic folklore, a mixture of flamenco, punk, psychedelia and electronics. What a summer they carry. Then it will be the turn of Kabeoushéone of the sensations of the current African scene, which travels between the Psych-Soul, the Gospel and the Trap with an unpredictable scenic proposal. The closing will come with GhoulaTunisian producer that mixes electronic, R&B and rhythms of North Africa in a live designed for dance.
José Sabroso and Yasmina Karrun They will repeat as resident djs, closing the night.
With this fourth edition, IWA FEST It is consolidated as an essential event for those who seek different musical and cultural experiences. More than a festival, it is a space where music and reflection become tools for dialogue and transformation, connecting Melilla’s diversity with the entire world.
Tickets and more information: IWA-FEST.com
