herofest el hierro pony bravo

HeroFest returns to El Hierro with Pony Bravo headlining

Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.

HeroFest returns to El Hierro for its ninth edition

El Hierro inaugurates a new edition of HeroFest this Friday 11 September, reaffirming for the ninth consecutive year its place on the map of alternative music in the Canary Islands. On an island of just over eleven thousand inhabitants and far from the major touring circuits, the festival has established itself as a coherent proposition, and it does so with Pony Bravo heading a bill that also features names such as Ale Acosta, Casablanca III and Pleito.

A natural fit between band and festival

The trajectory of the Seville band fits perfectly with the philosophy of the Canarian gathering, since its watchwords are independence, risk-taking and a critical eye on the industry. The opening of this edition once again spreads the festival across different parts of La Frontera, such as Tigaday and La Maceta, weaving together the landscape, the local community and its musical programme. The El Hierro festival champions a model built on closeness, a carefully curated line-up and an experience in which the surroundings are also part of the live show.

That is why the organisers’ priority is listening and discovery, with particular attention to emerging acts alongside already established names from the alternative circuit. “Mega-festivals are more corporate and colder; small ones offer closeness and discovery. They are essential for keeping music healthy,” summarises Daniel Alonso, leader of Pony Bravo, when asked about the kind of context in which HeroFest sits. The Seville band has already had similar experiences at other festivals in the Canary Islands, which strengthens its bond with this type of island setting: “The Islands are a very special place and we can say they have been among the best trips we have made with the group.”

Music that is lived, not just programmed

The meeting of programming and territory translates into an atmosphere in which concerts do not function as isolated events, but as part of a wider experience. Moving between stages, the reduced scale and the proximity between artists and attendees generate a different kind of attention, less fragmented than in other formats. In that context, HeroFest insists on a programme that shuns dominant patterns and opens space for hybrid propositions. “We feel more comfortable at festivals like this and, in fact, we believe music should generate non-conventional proposals, but that rarely happens,” notes Alonso, underlining the usual tension between creation and the industrial circuit.

This year’s edition maintains a clear line of support for the diversity of scenes, with a particularly strong presence of Canarian projects alongside mainland Spanish and international artists. The coexistence of these names does not respond to a logic of accumulation, but to an intention to build a dialogue between different trajectories, languages and contexts. “Without support for local and lesser-known artists, the creative fabric is destroyed, which is why small festivals are much more important than we think,” adds the Seville musician.

A language of their own, rooted in the local

In the case of Pony Bravo, their participation in HeroFest reinforces an aesthetic coherence that has marked their entire career. The band has developed a language of its own in which elements of rock, electronica, humour and sonic experimentation coexist, always with a strong charge of identity. “We use the local to talk about universal things because all places share elements in common,” says the musician and singer. That idea of connection also runs through their relationship with Canarian audiences, where the reception of hybrid propositions finds especially receptive ground: “Working from the local helps you to be more universal, and music connects us beyond place.”

Beyond the island context, the group also champions the need to think about culture from a greater decentralisation of the usual focal points. “The best gaze is the one that observes from a distance, because centralism in Spain is still a huge backward step,” says Alonso, in a reflection that goes beyond the strictly musical. On stage, however, the band keeps to its usual approach, though it acknowledges that the surroundings influence the energy of the live show. “We try to be faithful to what we do, but in interesting places you enjoy it more,” and that difference does not alter the setlist, but it does change the way the stage is inhabited and the bond with the audience is established.

A synthsis of Pony Bravo’s career, with El Hierro in mind

Specifically, the concert in El Hierro is shaped as a synthesis of the different stages of Pony Bravo, with a particular presence of their latest work, Trópico (2024). But the band’s relationship with the Island is not limited solely to their performance on stage. The journey through the territory itself leaves a mark that forms part of the band’s imagination. “La Sabina, bent over, is still there, and that shows that unique things grow on the periphery,” says Alonso, establishing a connection between the landscape and permanence that goes beyond the anecdotal.

HeroFest, in its ninth edition, thus reinforces an identity built on continuity. It is a festival that has been consolidating a community of audiences and artists around an idea of music as a shared experience, where scale does not determine intensity. “They are the foundation of a creative musical fabric and, without them, music becomes an empty product,” concludes Alonso about this type of initiative, underlining the importance of sustaining spaces that do not respond exclusively to the logic of the market. In that balance between programming, territory and listening, HeroFest continues to establish itself as a stable meeting point within the Canarian cultural calendar, where music is not only programmed, but inhabited.

🧭 Explore El Hierro with us
📰 Read more El Hierro news ☀️ Check El Hierro weather 🏝️ Get the El Hierro island guide 🏖️ Find the best beaches in El Hierro

Source

Scroll to Top