Bogotá’s Festival Centro is back with a mix of free live music performances and events to brighten your January.
Returning for its fourteenth year, Festival Centro brings an eclectic selection of 29 musical artists and groups from Colombia and abroad to five stages in the city’s centre. The celebrations officially got going yesterday with Paisa post punk posers Margarita Siempre Viva kicking things off in the Bronx. There’s plenty left in store this weekend, with dozens of events daily until Sunday 29th January.
Sticking true to the festival’s slogan “los sonidos de de la diferencia,” this year’s organisers have stitched together a stylistically and geographically diverse line-up. Revellers can sample electronic folk from Argentinian artist Nación Ekeko or take in Canadian-Colombian singer Lido Pimienta’s fusion of traditional sounds and electro-pop. Briela Ojeda thrilled at last year’s Estéreo Picnic and she’s back to light up the centre.
Alternatively, there’s Colombian national treasure, vallenato legend Alfredo Gutiérrez, horror-punk star Radamel and Chilean singer-songwriter Diego Lorenzini among many others.
If you fancy a side-helping of intellectual stimulation, the festival also offers a number of talks, including a celebration of Alfredo Gutiérrez and a discussion about safe and sustainable spaces for music within the city. And if that’s still not enough to entertain you this weekend, 25 restaurants, bars and cafes will be providing one-off discounts and promotions.
Performances will take place in Bronx Distrito Creativo, el Teatro Colon, el Teatro Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, City U y El Muelle de la FUGA. The full programme of free events and information about timings and locations can be found on the festival’s website.
