Circuit Estepa Mediterrània, now in its seventh year, features top artists, international discoveries, and new stage-performance areas

Co-produced by Fira Mediterrània and Casa de la Música Manresa, the Estepa line-up features 17 shows, from 6 to 8 October Highlights include shows by established groups, such as Fanfare Ciocarlia, emerging international talents, like Hanba!, and bands making their debut performances in the country, including Gertrudis

Co-produced by Fira Mediterrània and Casa de la Música Manresa, the Estepa line-up features 17 shows, from 6 to 8 October

Highlights include shows by established groups, such as Fanfare Ciocarlia, emerging international talents, like Hanba!, and bands making their debut performances in the country, including Gertrudis

The 7th Estepa features a new stage at Cases de la Música, while Saturday 8 October sees the transformation of Parc de la Seu into a unique venue that champions sound system culture

Circuit Estepa Mediterrània was born in 2010 as an offshoot and alternative official co-production of Fira Mediterrània and Casa de la Música de Manresa. The line-up aims to reflect the underground scene, broaden artistic horizons in relation to the Mediterranean and strengthen Fira's connections with Manresa through the inclusion of new performing arts venues that book live music acts in the city throughout the year. After six years and more than 60 performances, the 2016 Estepa Mediterrània, now in its seventh year, has a line-up of 17 eclectic shows, with 2 new venues.

The programme includes established, top level groups such as Fanfare Ciocarlia, probably the most famous Balkan brass band in the world, currently on its 20th anniversary tour. The band will play on Saturday, 8 October in Stroika, alongside Mazagan & Hamid El Hadri, an ensemble from Maghreb, featuring a mixture of traditional music and urban beats, known as chaâbi-groove. Also included in the line-up is Hanba!, an emerging international talent and powerhouse that takes its inspiration from Poland's prolific inter-war music heritage, offering audiences hard-hitting folk punk in a show that has toured throughout festivals in Europe and the US. The Polish quartet will play the streets of Manresa in parade style on Thursday 6 October and at Voilà! on Friday 7 October. International representation is completed with the Tolosa-based group Scarecrow, from the Languedoc region in France, with its potent blues and hip hop fusion. Scarecrow comes to Fira Mediterrània through the MMM euroregional programme, headed by Cases de la Música and based on artist exchanges across the Pyrenees. The band will close the line-up on the Casa de la Música stage, a new performance venue, in Plaça Europa on 8 October. Other emerging artists also set to perform there include: Hora de Joglar, from Girona-Salt; Soroll Blanc, from Terrassa; O Val das Mouras, from Hospitalet; Darlas Qwart from Mataró, and El Fugitiu, from Manresa.

Another new development this year is the addition of a second, free, daytime venue, modelled on Jamaican sound system culture. From midday until the evening on Saturday, 8 October, Parc de la Seu will host an artisan sound system, produced by the Barcelona-based group Rebelmadiaq, with a programme that features the Bages-based band Instròniks (with a children's workshop), the Ossona-based group Fire Warriors, the Barcelona-based duo The Rigodonians and, of course, Rebelmadiaq Sound System. Rebelmadiaq has produced this potent Jamaican style sound system, using artisan techniques, in a tribute to Jamaican culture, where the sound system is a focal element of popular festival culture, without stages and without barriers between the audience and the artists. The Rebelmadiaq sound system is the nerve centre of this unique venue with music at its hub.

The seventh Circuit Estepa Mediterrània will kick off on Thursday 6 October with a performance by the Aranese singer Alidé Sans, who presents her new album Eth Paradís ei en tu. The programme also features a triple line-up on Friday night at Stroika, with: Gertrudis and the premiere of their latest album; Ebri Knight and his protest folk from Maresme; and Dr Prats, an emerging star of the new fusion scene.

Full information and advance ticket purchases at:

www.estepamediterrania.cat

www.firamediterrania.cat

www.casadelamusica.cat/manresa

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Dani Castellano, Casa de la música de Manresa; Lídia Hinojo, Fira Mediterrània, and Jordi Planagumà, Xarxa de Cases de la música

ARTISTS WHO HAVE PERFORMED AT THE LAST SIX CIRCUIT ESTEPA MEDITERRÀNIA (2010-2015)

Els Trons (garage, Catalonia) · Selectors Badabadoc (Catalan iè-iè, Catalonia – Basque Country) · Carles Cases & Music Film Ensemble (Sound tracks, Catalonia) · Micu (Catalan rumba, Catalonia) · Txarly Brown (rumba and achilifunk, Catalonia) · Bikimel (singer-songwriter, Catalonia) · Blues de Circ (multidisciplinary, Catalonia) · Balkatalan Experience (Balkan and gipsy power, Catalonia) · La Bundu Band (electronic music, Catalonia) · DJ Merey (tropical bass, Venezuela – Catalonia) · Tarannà (jazz fusion, Catalonia) · Obrint Pas (ska-core and traditional, Valencia) · Jack of Heart (garage, France) · Walter Daniels & Guadalupe Plata (greasy blues, US – Jaén) · Les Absentes (folk deconstructions, Catalonia) · Feliu Ventura (singer-songwriter, Valencia) · DJ Kayalik + Papet J de Massilia Sound System (ragga and traditional, France) · Assabè (electronic folk, Catalonia) · E-Bastards (electronic music, Catalonia) · Filippo Landini (indie-folk, Catalonia) · Irie Révoltes (reggae and fusion, Germany) · Chalart 58 (dub, Catalonia) · StreetCookers Sound System (reggae and rap, Catalonia) · Esne Beltza (fusion and traditional, Basque Country) · Chabola Vip (fusion, Madrid) · S’Temple Bar (tavern music, Catalonia) · The Flytones (soul and funk, Catalonia) · The Rigodonians (world music, Catalonia) · Labatzuca (spoken word and sound, Catalonia) · Línia Maginot (pop-folk, Catalonia) · Lenacay (flamenco fusion, Catalonia) · Yacine Oriental Groove (world music, Catalonia – Greece – Algeria) · Caravan Palace (electro-fanfare and swing, France) · Muchachito Bombo Infierno (fusion, El Singerlín) · Joana Serrat (singer-songwriter, Vic) · Sonido Vegetal (gipsy punk, Al Andalus) · La Terrasseta de Preixens (rumba and fusion, Ponent) · Rude & the Lickshots (reggae, Italy – Germany) · Albert Palomar (indie-folk, Manresa) · Mascarimirì (pizzica and dancehall, Italy) · Germà Negre (JamaIcan festival folk, Banyoles) · Le Parody (electro-folk, Madrid) · Cuncumén (singer-songwriter, Chile) · Massilia Sound System (ragga and Provence traditional, Marseille) · Addictive TV (electronic music, UK) · Gots de Tuba (Jamaican fanfare, Osona) · Aspencat (fusion, Valencia region) · Bernat Font Trio (blues and swing, Barcelona) · Jazz Machín (bolero, Bages) · Marina BBFace (soul, BCN) · The Missing Leech (antifolk, Manresa) · Extraño Weys (hip-hop, Catalonia) · Kòdul (fusion, Bages) · Txarango (fusion, Ripollès) · Asian Dub Foundation (fusion, UK) · Cheikh Lô (world music, Senegal) · Auxili (reggae, Ontinyent) · Meneo (electronic music, LaTam) · Makabunda (Traditional Polish, Poland) · Oques Grasses (reggae, Osona) · Alba Marbà (singer-songwriter, Pla de Bages) · La Yegros (fusion, Argentina) · Rebelmadiaq (reggae, Barcelona – Al Andalus) · Laia Vehí (singer-songwriter, Empordà) · Sr. Wilson (rub-a-dub, Barcelona).