EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — Downtown El Paso is expected to draw crowds this weekend as the Sol Summit Music and Culture Festival brings live music and local art to the area.
Organizers say the event will feature several music acts, including Bomba Estéreo, The Flaming Lips, and Sparta.
The El Paso Community Foundation is putting on the festival this year as part of its effort to hold events that reflect El Paso’s binational and bilingual community.
Speaking to KFOX14/CBS4 on Tuesday, Jim Ward, frontman of the El Paso band Sparta, said he is excited to be part of the festival’s first year.
“This first year mixes international and North American bands. The focus is on culture, not just making money. We’re really happy to be part of the first year. I wanted to be in this lineup because it’s the beginning, and I love this city. The timing worked out perfectly for us,” Ward said.
The festival also lines up with Sparta’s new album called “Cut a Silhouette.”
“It’s our first record in quite a few years and our first with this lineup,” Ward added.
Ward also spoke about the moment Coldplay took the stage here in the borderland, adding that he spoke to Coldplay singer Chris Martin and encouraged him to play in El Paso.
“For 24 years, I’ve been saying, ‘Hey Chris, can you come play in my hometown? We’d love to have you.’ What I like to think is I did my job as a person who loves this town to convey its importance to people outside of this town. That stuck with them, and when the opportunity to come here, they did. I didn’t bring them…All I did was talk, which is what I think I do everywhere, which is talk about how great the people of the city are. I think we are important.
Since Coldplay’s concert, several other major artists are set to take the stage here in the borderland in the coming weeks and months, including popular K-pop group BTS, who will perform the same weekend as the Sol Summit.
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Sparta’s Jim Ward set to take the stage at Sol Summit festival in downtown El Paso (Credit: KFOX14/CBS4)
Meanwhile, in addition to the music, the festival will also bring local artists as art installations will be on display.
Speaking to KFOX14/CBS4 on Tuesday, local artist Tino Ortega described one of the installations that will be on display: “So here we have a giant installation.” He added, “It’s cool that it’s a cow skull…it just plays with that southwest motif.” Ortega said, “I like to incorporate as much of the history and culture into the works done.”
The Sol Summit Music and Culture Festival will be held at the San Jacinto Plaza in Downtown El Paso on May 2 and 3.
Bomba Estereo, DIIV, and local band Frontera Bugalu are among the artists set to perform Saturday, May 2.
Ximena Sariñana, as well as The Flaming Lips, Sparta, and local bands Sultanes del Yonke and Doom Well, among others, will perform on Sunday, May 3.
For more information on how to buy tickets, click here.
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