Primavera Sound 2019: Lolina + Bea Pelea + Clara! + Linn Da Quebrada + Mina

Since her time as one half of Hype Williams, the stoner dub project she formed with Dean Blunt, the persona of Inga Copeland has always been a mystery. There is no record of her real name; there is not even any record of her actually being real. Her last reincarnation is Lolina, the alias she has chosen to brawl with the traditional song format. Her proposal, a kind of deformed trip-hop, comes from the fringes, from beyond the edge of the known world. A fascinating trial and error method simply seems to go for the best error.

No bouquets of roses, no box of chocolates. Let’s be serious, please. What brings out Bea Pelea’s romantic side is reggaeton and the likes. The artist from Granada has managed to filter all the sounds that surrounded her in a childhood spent in Mexico and Guatemala (salsa, cumbia, dembow) and has turned them into tender (multiple) love letters, although one thing inevitably leads to another. “Tú sabes, bebé, que en el amor a veces se gana, a veces se pierde”, she exclaims in "Sé que me buscas". No matter what, it is always a win-win situation for us if she keeps on pouring her personal diary onto the dancefloor.

Clara Sobrino –artistic name, Clara!– is something like a doctor honoris causa of reggeaton. A precocious figure of authority on the scene thanks to the series of mixtapes "Reggaetoneras" on which she links the prehistory, the present and the future of female presence in the genre, destroying stereotypes on what it is and what it represents. Finally in 2018 Clara! has decided to move over to the other side of the mirror and record her voice and vision of the style by teaming up with Maupa Mazzochetti on the 12” "Meneo". In her hands, the harshness of reggaeton rhythms acquire a distant clarity that stamps out all traces of misogyny: "Si te acercas, me escabullo / Si me tocas, te aniquilo / de un chasquido te fulmino / Si me buscas, te destruyo".

Enough already of phallocentrism and taboos about sexuality and the body. We are all political bodies. Enough of white hetero cisgender men who are in love with themselves. The last thing that Linn da Quebrada, who has suffered poverty, racism, homophobia, transphobia, machismo and even cancer before reaching the age of thirty, needs is to have to put up with your crap now. She is focused on spreading her spectacular visual album Pajubá worldwide, fruit of an amazing crowdfunding. The album unleashes her explosive character on stunning videos that are like a Brazilian answer to Beyoncé’s Lemonade. With favela funk and obscene dances, her work is obviously aimed directly at the deepest roots of heteropatriarchy, which crumbles to the rhythm of her dancing heels. You can escape from the machismo, but you can’t escape from her vogue afro-funk.

We had always thought there was only one Mina – the Tigresa de Cremona, of course-, but from now on we will also recognize this name as that of the British producer who forged her reputation DJing afrobeat, dancehall and tropical flavours at underground parties, to then go on and sign to Enchufada and release a series of EPs and singles on which she collaborates with different vocalists of different nationalities; compositions that Mina turns into the backbone of incredible sessions where she aims to bring out the colours of rhythms from all over the world.