Hay Festival Cartagena 2023

Welcome to the Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias 2023 programme, to be held from 26 to 29 January. In this page you can find the events in the general programme as well as Hay Joven activities tor university audiences, Hay Comunitario sessions which will take place in different areas of Cartagena, Reading Clubs and Talento Editorial.

The tickets of the general programme and reading clubs are on sale for in person events. If you wish to register to see the live streaming of events, please select the option "Register to watch online" when this option is available. Hay Joven, Hay Comunitario and Talento Editorial are 100% in person and free of charge.

If you have any issues regarding the payment of your tickets, please contact us at tickets@hayfestival.org or at +57 317 516 55 13.

If you are a students a wish to request free tickets, you can write to us at estudiantes@hayfestival.com.

If you have any general questions, you can find us at contacto@hayfestival.org.

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Event HC1

Workshop with La Pacifican Power: From sea to sea

Evento inaugural

 Institución Educativa 14 de Febrero, El Pozón
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A dialogue about the development of new approaches in music, based on traditional community practices. An experience full of power and zest with the band La Pacifican Power, which brings together some of the most popular voices from El Chocó to Pacífico Sur. At this event, members of La Pacifican Power will run a workshop for musicians that will unite the two musical styles of Colombia’s two coasts. With Nidia Góngora, Alexis Play, Heriberto Bonilla, Adrian Viáfara, Freddy Colorado and César Herrera.
For ages over 10
This event has taken place
Workshop with La Pacifican Power: From sea to sea

Event 1

Fernando León de Aranoa in conversation with Andrés Mompotes

El Tiempo event

 Teatro Adolfo Mejía
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Fernando León de Aranoa, renowned screenplay writer and director from Spain, will talk about his career in general, and in particular about his most recent work, presenting Sintiéndolo mucho, a documentary about the last decade of Joaquín Sabina. León de Aranoa wrote and directed the movie Barrio, telling the story of the life of a group of teenagers in a marginal neighbourhood, and won the Goya awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director, and the Concha de Plata for Best Director at the San Sebastián Film Festival. Mondays in the Sun, starring Javier Bardem, which he directed in 2002, won five Goya Awards and the Concha de Oro for Best Film at the San Sebastián Film Festival. In 2021, his movie The Good Boss, starring Javier Bardem, won the Goya Awards for Best Film and Best Director, and was selected by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain as the Spanish representant at the 94th edition of the Oscars, in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. He will talk to the director of El Tiempo, Andrés Mompotes.

This event has taken place

Event 1B

Screening of the documentary film Sintiéndolo mucho, presented by Fernando León de Aranoa

 Teatro Adolfo Mejía
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Sintiéndolo mucho is a portrait of the living musical legend Joaquín Sabina (Spain), made not far from his skin, with nocturnality and premeditation, by his friend, the filmmaker Fernando León de Aranoa. A tale that is like his voice, rough and unequalized, which tells the story of the artist's intimacy, behind the scenes, his other side, without mitigation; the story that starts when he leaves the stage, and accompanies him in his daily life, and in the unexpected: laughter and drama. Sintiéndolo mucho is the result of thirteen years of filming together, and tours all stages, public and private, luminous and hidden, of Joaquín Sabina. A promenade through the key points of his life and his work: what moves him, what inspires him, what hurts him, developed through live, shared situations as a musician and a filmmaker.
This event has taken place
Screening of the documentary film Sintiéndolo mucho, presented by Fernando León de Aranoa

Event 10A

La Pacifican Power in concert (General)

 Explanada del Centro de Convenciones
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More than an orchestra or a band, La Pacifican Power is a laboratory of collective creation that seeks to promote the different kinds of cultural manifestation of the Colombian Pacific, in which music has a central place, in dialogue with the oral narrative tradition, the visual arts and others. They will offer us a concert for dancing and enjoying tunes that come from the border of Panama to the border of Ecuador, and from the peaks of the Western Ranges to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The Big Band of the Unit of Culture of Comfenalco Cartagena will present the opening act.
This event has taken place
La Pacifican Power in concert (General)

Event 10B

La Pacifican Power in concert (Platea)

 Explanada del Centro de Convenciones
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More than an orchestra or a band, La Pacifican Power is a laboratory of collective creation that seeks to promote the different kinds of cultural manifestation of the Colombian Pacific, in which music has a central place, in dialogue with the oral narrative tradition, the visual arts and others. They will offer us a concert for dancing and enjoying tunes that come from the border of Panama to the border of Ecuador, and from the peaks of the Western Ranges to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The Big Band of the Unit of Culture of Comfenalco Cartagena will present the opening act.

This event has taken place
La Pacifican Power in concert (Platea)

Event 23

iLe in conversation with Silvia Viñas and Eliezer Budasoff

El hilo event, a podcast by Radio Ambulante Studios and Vice News Songs against power

 Teatro Adolfo Mejía
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The singer and songwriter Ileana Cabra (iLe), who began her career rapping with Calle 13 and won a Grammy with her first solo album, has used musical form to speak out about abuses of power and colonialism; to process the reality that involves her as a woman and a Puerto Rican, as she did during the protests that brought down the island’s government in 2019 and as she does in her latest album, released in 2022, Nacarile. In this special episode of El hilo, recorded live, the artist will talk about her way of working with reality, about the voices of women in the industry, about the power of the stage and of songs to make people heard, to translate something that can touch us all. In conversation with Silvia Viñas and Eliezer Budasoff.

This event will be recorded and later broadcast as a podcast

This event has taken place

Event 33

Performance by Andrea Echeverri

Ruiseñora

 Teatro Adolfo Mejía
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The singer, musician, composer and visual artist Andrea Echeverri (Colombia) is also one of Latin America’s most loved rock singers. The Aterciopelados vocalist presents Ruiseñora: “I am Andrea Echeverri Arias, Ruiseñora, singer by profession and a shameless adult in a society that is ill, unequal, violent and sexist. My voice has grey hairs, wrinkles and certainties, its apocalyptic sounds move the earth, although not without an ironic touch and a light at the end of the tunnel.”
This event has taken place
Performance by Andrea Echeverri

Event 39

Mercedes Cebrián in conversation with Margarita Valencia

Writing for the senses

 Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (Salón del Rey)
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The Spanish writer, literary critic and journalist, Mercedes Cebrián, has recently published Cocido y violonchelo, a book that brings together her two passions, gastronomy and music, tackling them from her point of view as a writer. Other titles of hers include Muchacha de Castilla, Burp. Apuntes gastronómicos, Malgastar, La nueva taxidermia and Mercado común. She has also published poems, essays and short stories in outlets such as Revista de Occidente, Letras Libres, The Indian Quarterly, Poetry London, Gatopardo, Diario de Poesía, Quimera and Circumference, and she was guest editor at the Caballo de Troya imprint in 2018. She will talk to Margarita Valencia.
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Event HC10

Music workshop with Hugo Candelario González

 Institución Educativa San Francisco de Asís, Membrillal
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At this event, the master Hugo Candelario González offers a masterclass that bring sounds from the Colombian Pacific coast to the Caribbean, sharing the marimba, bunde and currulao, among other styles and rhythms. A very special workshop for learning about the country’s two coasts, exploring genres that go back a long way and learning new ways of playing them.
This event has taken place
Music workshop with Hugo Candelario González

Event 54

Alonso Sánchez Baute and Rafael Noguera in conversation with Silvia Hoyos

Leandro Díaz forever

 Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (patio)
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The figure of the mythical vallenato composer Leandro Díaz (Colombia) has been brought to life in the recent biographical series of the same name produced by RCN. The writer Alonso Sánchez Baute and the screenwriter Rafael Noguera talk to Silvia Hoyos about the task of adapting for television the life and experiences of this personality, so loved by the Colombian public.

This event has taken place

Event 56

Juanes and Diego Londoño in conversation with Juan Esteban Lewin Pinzón

El País América event

 Centro de Convenciones (Auditorio Getsemaní)
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The singer, composer, musician and musical legend in the Spanish-speaking world, the Paisa artist Juan Esteban Aristizábal, or Juanes, comes to Cartagena to talk about his book of memoire, Juanes by Diego Londoño, written with the journalist Diego Londoño (Colombia), author of various books about musicians. In conversation with Juan Esteban Lewin Pinzón.

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Event 71

Fonseca in conversation with Winston Manrique Sabogal

 Centro de Convenciones (Auditorio Getsemaní)
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The Colombian musician Fonseca celebrates 20 years of his musical career and, to celebrate it, he has published the book Canciones, historias y 20 años de memorias. The singer-songwriter, that includes tradicional and contemporary music on his repertoire, goes through his career looking at his most celebrated songs, referencing the creative process and his personal experiences. In conversation with Winston Manrique Sabogal.
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Event 78

Conversation between Hugo Candelario González and Daniel Samper Pizano, with music by Trío Bahía

Two coasts come together: music from the Pacific coast visits the Caribbean

 Teatro Adolfo Mejía
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Conversation-homage to the music of the Pacific involving the writer Daniel Samper Pizano (Colombia) and Hugo Candelario González (Colombia), composer, arranger, saxophonist, marimba player and classically-educated conductor, who has dedicated his career to disseminating the music of the Colombian Pacific region. This will be followed by a traditional marimba concert with Trío Bahía, who will explore the possibilities in terms of timbre, melody and rhythm of the marimba, the bombo, the cununos, the guasá and also soprano sax, guitar and vocals.

This event has taken place
sura
RCN
Bancolombia