Music from the four corners of the earth, accompanied by the best cuisine and handicrafts: the Med Festival in Loulé is being held for the fourth time and promises to be up to expectations. The creator of the soundtrack to “Babel” has already said he’ll be there. “The best and most varied programme of all the Festivals of the Mediterranean to date”. This is how the Loulé Council describes the fourth staging of the MED, which will be providing summer entertainment in Loulé for five days from 27th June to 1st July.

There will be numerous “World Music” bands appearing on the stages of the festival, ranging from the strong influence of African and Arab music, and tango, to salsa, sounds of the Balkans, soul and Celtic rhythms, as well as the latest sounds of electronic music and rock.

The vast majority of the bands already have plenty of international experience in the field of “World Music”, but that’s not all. An example is the presence of Gustavo Santaolalla, composer of the soundtracks to the films “Brokeback Mountain” and “Babel”, which won him two Oscars (2006 and 2007): he will be in Loulé with his group Bajofondo Tango Club.

But there are also well known Portuguese participants, such as Sara Tavares, who will be performing tracks from her album “Balancê”, and will be opening the festival on 27th June.

Also on the first day of the festival, the Turkish singer of Kurdish origin AYNUR will be performing, who is in the front line of Turkish artists to be blending traditional music with western sounds.

Otherwise, over thirty bands will be playing on four different stages, and in addition there will be cuisine and handicrafts from the Mediterranean, as well as theatre, contemporary dance with the Companhia Amálgama and the artist of gypsy origin Cidália Moreira, and also fine arts, and exhibitions. All of this packed into an area stretching from the Alcaidaria do Castelo to the Largo da Igreja Matriz.

27th June: Sara Tavares (Portugal)

Aynur (Turkey)

28th June: Natacha Atlas (Belgium)

Sergent Garcia (France)

DJ Shantel (Germany)

29th June: TINARIWEN (Mali)

TARAF DE HAIDOUKS (Romania)

AKLI D (Algeria)

30th June: VINICIO CAPOSSELA (Italy)

YERBA BUENA (USA)

L’HAM DE FOC (Spain)

1st July: BAJOFONDO TANGO CLUB (Argentina)

CHAMBAO (Spain)