On the evening of Monday 25th of September, Sónar closed its 30th anniversary celebrations by providing the soundtrack for the closing ceremony of La Mercè in Barcelona. The Piromusical sets fireworks to music, drawing the curtain on the city's biggest annual celebration.

The creative team at Pirotècnia Igual (Canyelles) studied the soundtrack provided by Sónar for over a month in order to decide which effects to combine with each moment, depending on the rhythm and intensity of the music. The team then spent  over 20 days developing the spectacle, which involved over 1,300kg of pyrotechnic material spread across 700 installations. In total, over 15,000 discharges were fired during the show, using digital ignition systems, accurate to within a hundredth of a second, all controlled by two computers.

At 10pm, as everyone gazed up at the sky, the opening notes of Ryuichi Sakamoto's ‘Chasm’ rang out, a piece chosen especially by Sónar to pay tribute to the legendary Japanese composer, who sadly passed away earlier this year.

The show lasted 30 minutes and featured five segments of music mixed and mastered by Phran,  a DJ and producer who’s a regular performer at Sónar. The soundtrack took the audience on a global journey through sounds, voices, and rhythms from all five continents: a cross-cultural journey and a giant celebration, featuring classic tracks from some of the most legendary names in modern music.

From Rosalía and Bad Gyal to Daft Punk and Pet Shop Boys. And from Björk and Aphex Twin to Miss Kittin and Jeff Mills. Just some of the artists from the history of the festival that were shared with over 100,000 people who attended the show, plus the 1 million spectators who followed it live on TV3.

Listen to all 52 tracks in their entirety in the playlist for the Piromusical de La Mercè 2023, ya Now available via the Sónar Spotify account.