Ecuador will take center stage at the 31st edition of La Mar de Músicas, set for July 17-25 in Cartagena, Spain, as the 2026 focus country. The festival will spotlight the Andean nation through music, film, art, and literature, with a music lineup that ranges from Andean traditions and pasillo to pop and electronic music.
The program includes Machaka, Lolabúm, San Pedro Bonfim y sus milagros, LaTorre, Papaya Dada, Paola Navarrete, Humazapas, Jatun Mama, Swing Original Monks, and Margarita Laso. Organized by Cartagena City Council, the festival turns its attention this year to Ecuador, whose cultural scene continues to produce work that connects tradition with contemporary experimentation.
Festival director Eugenio González said the selection aims to reflect the breadth of Ecuador’s music scene, from alternative rock, indie pop, and electronic music to Andean traditions, Latin American fusion, and song rooted in local forms.
Among the best-known acts is Swing Original Monks, one of Ecuador’s most internationally visible bands of the past decade. The group combines Andean rhythms such as pasillo and sanjuanito with ska, electronic music, and Balkan influences, a hybrid it has described as “Andean folktronica.” Papaya Dada also joins the bill. The band has built a large audience in Ecuador and has helped update the festive sound of cumbia and Andean chicha with touches of hip-hop and funk, which it calls “radioactive chicha.”
Elsewhere, the lineup reflects the current pulse of Ecuadorian pop and alternative music. Paola Navarrete, a key figure in the country’s indie-pop renewal, will bring a set that combines indie pop, electronic music, and singer-songwriter traditions. Lolabúm, meanwhile, is one of the most influential bands in the newer Latin American alternative circuit. They mix indie pop, rock, and electronic music with sharply literary lyrics.
The festival will also feature artists exploring new links between heritage and modern forms. Machaka merges urban sounds with Andean rhythms, bolero, and cumbia in a style he calls “Ecuadorian sabrosura.” LaTorre presents intimate electropop that connects electronic production with echoes of Andean tradition. In turn, San Pedro Bonfim y sus milagros, the solo project of Pedro Bonfim Salgado, approaches Latin American song through experimentation and a strong poetic thread.
The Ecuador focus also includes projects closely tied to the country’s cultural roots. Humazapas, a traditional Kichwa music and dance group from Cotacachi, works to recover rituals and music from the Andean calendar. Jatun Mama pairs Kichwa music with electronic elements in a contemporary project linked to the life and celebrations of Indigenous communities. Margarita Laso, one of Ecuador’s most important voices, completes the selection with a body of work dedicated for decades to preserving and sharing traditional repertoire, especially pasillo, yaraví, and sanjuanito.
The Ecuador special has support from the Embassy of Ecuador in Spain and Fundación Música Joven. The full festival program will be announced at a later date.
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central