The 11th edition of the Sonora Festival in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has a clear winner, the carefree funk of the Gran Canaria band Nala Rami, who won the first prize after the final held this weekend and also secured three out of the four Sonora Passports, allowing them to perform this year at the Sonidos Líquidos Festival in Lanzarote, Phe Festival, and Boreal Festival in Tenerife. The fourth Sonora Passport, leading to the stages of the Herofest festival in El Hierro, was awarded to the Tenerife duo Dyatlov.
A Sonora final characterized by the extremely high quality of the finalist proposals led the organization to award, for the first time in its history, a second ex aequo prize to two bands, the Gran Canaria Pink Flamingos & The Cherry Lovers, and Bad Bone Stompers from Tenerife, who delivered two extraordinary performances on the stage of Espacio Miller in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and received the prize from Sonora 2024’s jury president, Dania Dévora.
To close the festivities, the stellar performance by Niños Mutantes, who are on a farewell tour after 30 years of success, offered the audience at Sonora 2024 the best of their extensive and intense musical career in a memorable concert.
The Culture Councillor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Adrián Santana, presented the €5,000 cheque to Nala Rami, the alter ego of Alan Imar Rodríguez, a composer, musician, and multi-instrumentalist producer who is accompanied by Kilian Barrera, Marta Holly, Leonardo Segovia, Carlos Artiles, and JFranchesco Ramos Alemán to offer Sonora’s audience a fantasy-filled ritual with glitter, funk, and an ’80s essence.
In addition to the prize, which, as stated in the contest rules, must be used for a music promotion project, Nala Rami also secures a slot to perform at the Sonora Festival in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 2024, which will take place at Plaza de la Música on June 22 as part of the cultural events for the city’s Foundational Festivities, whose lineup will be announced soon.
Alizulh, Bad Bone Stompers, Dyatlov, El Marido Ideal, Hey Chabón, Muyaio, Nala Rami, Paula Espinosa, Pink Flamingos & The Cherry Lovers, and Virya Cruz, ten finalists with varied styles and proposals out of the 137 submitted this year, were the highlights of the great emerging music celebration in Canary Islands and delivered ten performances that set a high standard for future editions.
The jury for this edition of Sonora’s final, chaired by Dania Dévora, included cultural journalist Nora Navarro, cultural journalist Laura Ramírez, cultural manager Montse González, musician and producer Saot ST, music critic Adrián Gómez, Ruta 66 magazine director Jorge Ortega, and the directors of the four Canary festivals participating in the Sonora Passport: Neftalí Acosta (Sonidos Líquidos), Ivan Hall (Phe Festival), Alejandro Padrón (Herofest), and Javier Jiménez (Festival Boreal).
