Three Andorran Artists Advance to Sona9 Preliminaries

Three Andorran artists—Eugenia Correia from Sant Julià de Lòria, Júlia Sart from Ordino, and Marta Argemí, performing as Marta’s from Escaldes-Engordany—will compete in the preliminary stage of the 26th Sona9 contest, a platform for emerging Catalan-language music.

The artists were selected among 30 acts from a record 176 submissions, the third-highest total in the competition's history and the most in the last 14 years. Organised by Grup Enderrock and 3Cat, the event receives support from the Andorran government, Generalitat de Catalunya, and sponsorship from Estrella Damm, along with backing from Palma city council.

Correia brings a pop-fusion project, Sart delivers authorial pop, and Marta’s offers indie-pop. All three are set for 20-minute performances on 11 June at Auditori Nacional d’Ordino.

The preliminaries span 10 concerts across Catalan-speaking territories in June: Barcelona (1, 8, 10, and 17 June at Antiga Fàbrica Damm), València (4 June at Octubre Centre de Cultura Contemporània), Tarragona (6 June at Capsa de Música), Salt (12 June at Sala La Mirona), Lleida (18 June at Espai Orfeó), and Palma (23 June at Terra Mar i Terra).

A jury including representatives from Enderrock, TV3, Catalunya Ràdio, Cases de la Música, Centre Cultural Albareda, Mercat de Música Viva de Vic, and producer Aleix Iglesias made the selections. Submissions reflected balanced gender distribution (48% women and mixed groups, 52% men), with 54% from Barcelona provinces, followed by Girona (15%), Lleida and Tarragona (6% each), Balearic Islands (11%), València (5%), and Andorra (3%). Leading genres included authorial song and pop (43%), pop-rock (28%), rock variants (17%), urban (11%), and folk (1%), with groups averaging three members.

Twelve acts will advance from the preliminaries to semifinals on 8, 14, and 16 July at Sala La Nau in Barcelona’s Poble Nou. The final takes place on 23 September during Festes de la Mercè.