Wave Breaks On The Med

The first night of this year’s Italia Wave Love Festival will focus on Mediterranean music and culture as part of a bid to create a platform for the region’s music professionals.

Medwave, as the first night will be called, hopes to create a meeting opportunity between Mediterranean music business professionals and support the dialogue between different cultures.

All the mainstage acts appearing July 21 will come from Italy, France, Algeria, Spain, Morocco and Lebanon. They’ve been selected by the Arezzo Wave Italia Foundation, working in cahoots with France’s Festival Les Méditerranéennes, Spain’s Mercat de Música Viva de Vic event, Morocco’s Timitar Festival and the cultural section of the Lebanese export bureau.

The highlight appears to be new music from Italian solo artist Daniele Silvestri, backed – at various points in his performance – by members of all the other acts on the bill.

They include Moroccan singer Hindi Zara, Algerian musician Amazigh Kateb, Spanish rock, reggae and punk band La Kinky Beat, and Lebanese “Trap” act The I-Voice, whose musical genre is so-named because it combines traditional arab music (Trab) with rap.

The Medwave project also includes various training courses that Italy’s authors’ association and other Mediterranean music business organisations will run not far from the festival site at Livorno.

Medwave is being put together with help from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Italy’s Rai Radio 2, which will run a live broadcast of the evening’s entertainment.

The international acts for this year’s Italia Wave Love Festival July 21-25 will be announced before the end of the month. Last year the event had Placebo, Kraftwerk, Aphex Twin, and Ska-P.