Sónar (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈsonər]) is an annual three-day music festival held in Barcelona, Spain. It is described officially as a festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art. Music is by far the main aspect of the festival. The festival runs for three days and nights, usually starting on a Thursday in the third week of June. The seventeenth edition of the Sónar festival was held on the 17th, 18th, & 19th of June 2010. Annually there are around 80,000 visitors to the festival.

The official website describes the festival as 'Three days and three nights in touch with the most up-to-date developments and featuring the most relevant national and international artists.' 'Sónar is the essential meeting point for an alert public, cutting-edge artists and the most influential professionals from the sectors of music and modern arts.' Sonar has a partnership relation with SonarSound Tokyo.

Sónar By Day takes place in the Center of Contemporary Culture (CCCB) and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) very near to La Rambla. It usually starts around Midday and continues until around 10pm for each of the three days of the festival.

Paul Kalkbrenner (German pronunciation: [paʊl ˈkalkbrɛnɐ]) (born 1977 in Leipzig, Germany) is a German electronic musician and actor from Berlin.

As of 2010, Paul Kalkbrenner has tallied up more than 15 years of experience as a producer and live act. The early 90s after the Berlin Wall fell were formative years for Paul, and after spending many long and sleepless nights on the dancefloors of E-Werk, Planet and Whale, the dream was born to make music himself. A job as TV editor got him through the mid-90s and financed his first music gear. By this point Paul had already decided that he did not want to be a typical DJ playing other people's records, but rather to play only his own music, live in a club setting. His first tracks as Paul Kalkbrenner were released in 1999 on Berlin-based BPitch Control (the newly founded label from Ellen Allien) as the Friedrichshain EP, titled after his home district in the city's east. A series of further singles and two full-lengths (Superimpose and Time) followed, plus continuous live performances.

Laurent Garnier (also known as Choice), (born 1 February 1966, Boulogne-sur-Seine, France) is a French techno music producer and DJ. Garnier began DJ-ing in Manchester during the late 1980s. By the following decade, he had a broad stylistic range, able to span deep house, Detroit techno, trance and jazz. He added production work to his schedule in the early 1990s, and recorded several albums.

During the late 1970s, Garnier discovered clubbing with his brother in Paris, where his family lived. He loved disco but also listened to all other contemporary musical genres including reggae, funk, and punk. At the age of 16, Garnier had started recording and mixing music on tape recorders.

In 1984, Garnier started working as a waiter for the French Embassy in London. He stayed there for a year and a half before moving to Manchester in 1986. Living in England he discovered the booming UK house scene and started DJing.

In 1987, he discovered the The Haçienda in Manchester, and met Mike Pickering the resident DJ. Chicago house and Detroit techno became popular, and Garnier started mixing there under the name of DJ Pedro.

Marco Antonio Silva a.k.a. DJ Marky is a Brazilian drum and bass DJ.

Together with DJ Patife, XRS Land and Drumagick, Brazilians were forging a new sound in drum and bass that became popular around the world with releases such as LK and Só Tinha Que Ser Com Você.^{[citation needed]}

He was brought to the attention of the English DJ Bryan Gee, head of V Recordings, who saw Marky playing in a club in São Paulo in 1998. He invited the DJ to play in London. This experience resulted in a residency at the club Movement, a subsequent residency at The End club, work for the UK's BBC Radio 1, and global popularity.

Marky got started in drum and bass in 1992, but by 1997, he went to London and met DJ Hype and Goldie. In 1999, he was awarded "Best New DJ" by the UK music critics. The recording sessions of his album, Working the Mix, happened in his house, with two pick ups, one mixer and vinyl albums. His appeal became more widespread after a two hour set on BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix in March 2004, and his album In Rotation.

Wagner Borges Ribeiro de Souza (born September 15, 1977), better known by his stage name DJ Patife, is a prominent Brazilian drum and bass DJ.

He had contact with the drum and bass scene through friend DJ Marky while working in a record store. DJ Patife's first gig was at São Paulo's Arena Music Hall. In 1997, he travelled to Europe with Marky. There, he accompanied Roni Size in the delivery of the Mercury Prize. With crescent popularity, Patife released his first album in 2000, Sounds of Drum'n'bass. The album was praised by England magazines Muzik and MixMag, resulting in an invitation to release the album in that country.

In 2000, Patife, Marky, and the Drumagick duo played for 5,000 people in São Paulo. Patife's remix for Max de Castro's "Pra Você Lembrar" was a hit in the Londoner dance tracks and was included in the main England dance magazines' playlists. Three of Patife's songs were included in the compilation Brazil EP, released in England by V Recordings. In 2000, he participated in Otto's double-CD Changez Tout - "Samba Pra Burro Dissecado" and in Fernanda Porto's album. Patife played in the 2001 version of the Rock in Rio festival. Also in 2001, he performed in the U.S., Scotland, London, and Amsterdam.