When it was launched almost 25 years ago, Coachella gave pride of place to rock’n’roll, with American stars. But with its 2023 edition, the American festival celebrates music that is more diverse and international than ever.
Puerto Rico, South Korea, Spain, Belgium and even Pakistan: half of the artists invited to Indio, in the California desert, come from countries other than the United States. Programming that puts an end to American musical hegemony, as streaming and social networks bring out artists capable of conquering a global audience all over the planet.
This year, it is the Puerto Rican Bad Bunny who occupies the top of the poster of Coachella. The master of reggateon opened the festival on Friday with a supercharged performance, which paid homage to his Caribbean influences.
Some stars are obviously relishing the international success of their music. Like the Spanish singer Rosalia, a hybrid car who made a name for herself by mixing pop and flamenco. ” I’m from Barcelona, that’s why being on this stage is so special for me“, she launched on Saturday to her excited fans. ” It is thanks to you that I am here.“
K-pop brings crowds together
On the same night, K-pop group BLACKPINK drew one of the biggest crowds of the weekend. Tens of thousands of festival-goers rushed to attend their fiery show, punctuated by projectors operated by drones and fireworks.
” The constant public demand for K-pop is clear, even to people who monitor financial results far more than trends.“says CedarBough Saeji, a professor specializing in East Asia and K-pop at the University of Washington. ” America (…) is a very important trendsetter, but global cultural flows have changed“, she explains to AFP.
Pakistan meets Mexican folk
At Coachella, the Icelandic Bjork or the Nigerian Burna Boy had the honor of being on the main stage this year. The Indian Diljit Dosanjh and the Pakistani Ali Sethi, are them on secondary stages, but attract large crowds with their concerts full of energy. For ” those of us who come from other places, other traditions, (…) the fact that Coachella welcomes us and receives us here, it’s a new journey“, confides to AFP Ali Sethi, whose song Pasoori has over half a billion views on YouTube.
The title Pasoori which roughly translates to ” difficult mess“, was the most searched song on Google in 2022, offering a musical metaphor for the conflict between India and Pakistan in the form of a passionate love song. Ali Sethi says he was ” stunned“by the global response to the song, which mixes the sounds of classical music from South Asia, contemporary rhythms of the region but also Turkish tempos, others reminiscent of flamenco or reggaeton.
The Conexion Divina group also marked this edition of Coachella. This female trio revisits in a modern way the regional Mexican-American music which thrives in these immense spaces between Texas and California which were long governed by Mexico City and not Washington. Liz Trujillo, who recently graduated from high school and is now the band’s lead singer, wants to bring a ” female perspective” and an ” youthful touch” to the “sierreno”, a musical style originating in the mountains of northern Mexico and mainly played on the guitar.
This genre is increasingly popular on streaming platforms: according to a study published by Spotify, the popularity of regional Mexican-American music increased by 56% between 2021 and 2022, for a total of 5.6 billion streams internationally and a total of 66 million listeners outside of Mexico. Young people revolutionizing this folk genre add melancholy, nostalgia and a notable spirit of inclusion.
Multilingual concert
“The Internet has completely reshuffled the cards of the music industry“said Ms. Saeji for her part. ” Global audiences are now much more aware of artists coming from countries unaccustomed to exercising cultural hegemony“, observes the expert. If the American industry still weighs, “ we will eventually find ourselves in a situation where the music that appears in the charts will permanently come from several languages“, she predicts.
To be convinced of this, it is enough to examine in detail the programming of Coachella, which notably includes the French singer Christine and the Queens, the Belgian pop sensation Angele, and the Argentinian ska group Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.
The Palestinian-Chilean Elyanna has entered the history of the festival, becoming the first artist to perform a concert entirely in Arabic. ” Music is music“, blows the Turkish DJ Omer Mesci, known by his artist name Minus the Light, confiding to being inspired by the diversity of the festival. ” That’s the beauty of it, it’s so colorful.“