The festival putting a whole new spin on the term ‘January Blues’

This winter, Portugal's newly named city of culture, Braga, will host SQUARE, a new opportunity for artists from around the world to showcase their considerable talents and also network with each other and brainstorm ideas about the best ways to navigate the ever-changing music industry.

Running from January 29 until February 1, this four-day event will centre around the theme of ‘MARGIN’. In practice, this will include grassroots collectives and practitioners looking at the physical margins of countries which border the Atlantic and their specific identities, discussing the problematic concept of centres and thereby addressing issues of accessibility, and also concentrating on the unique challenges which come with being an independent artist. 

Working to bring this all together are a range of partners, including the non-profit Associação Ecos Culturais do Louro and the Porto-based record labels Lovers & Lollipops and Amplificasom. Beyond Portugal’s borders, the conference is also welcoming Canadian label River Down Records and Mexican collective NAAFI who are committed to ‘decolonising the dance floor,’ as well as teams from iconic venues such as Basilica Hudson in New York and Café OTO in London. 

Joining these industry heads is an incredible artist line-up that includes Songlines’ favourites like El Khat and Asmaa Hamzaoui & Bnat Timbouktou. Other potentially newer names include Angolan Afrobeat artist Tennaz, Julián Mayorga whose ‘post-cumbia’ sounds interweave absurdist fables, and Glasgow’s queer-punk group Comfort. 

In a time where not only the limited hours of sunlight but looming interconnected global crises seem to be spelling out a dark time for the music industry, innovative and progressive showcases like SQUARE may act as a vital leading light.

Find out more at squarefestival.pt