AXE Ceremonia: How the Mexican Festival Redefines Youth Culture With ‘Balance Between Past and Present'
Some call it 'the festival of the future' due to its eclecticism and bold approach to creating lineups aimed at a multigenerational audience. For others, AXE Ceremonia brings together major alternative music shows in inclusive spaces, where the distinction from other festivals is evident — from the outfits attendees choose for the occasion to the sonic acts showcased during the marathon event.
But for Diego Jiménez, director and co-founder of the festival, it's the place that provides the opportunity to host the creator of the popular corridos tumbados genre, Natanael Cano, as a headliner one night — and the next day, the two-time Grammy-winning American rapper Tyler, Tyler The Creator. Amidst all that, attendees can hear trip-hop veterans Massive Attack, British sensation Charli XCX, South Korean boy band Tomorrow X Together, and Argentine experimental trap duo Ca7riel y Paco Amoroso.
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'We like to differentiate ourselves from other festivals by focusing on youth culture rather than a specific genre or musical style,' Jiménez tells Billboard Español about the festival, whose 12th edition will take place this Saturday and Sunday (April 5 and 6) at Parque Bicentenario in Mexico City.
'Seeing Tyler, The Creator on a lineup at major festivals around the world is more common, but seeing him one day and Natanael Cano the next doesn't happen often elsewhere. That gives AXE Ceremonia a very strong personality,' adds the organizer.
Produced by the company ECO Live, this year's festival lineup is rounded out by a diverse group of international bands and solo artists — including Parcels, Gesaffelstein, Nathy Peluso, The Marías, Meme del Real, pablopablo, Lil Yachty, Artemas, Hanumankind, A.G. Cook, NSQK, The Dare, Simpson Ahuevo, Brutalism 300, and Luisa Almaguer — making it one of the most innovative offerings of the spring festival season.
The 12th edition of the festival will mark the return of Natanael Cano to Mexico City, who previously performed as an emerging artist in 2022. This time, he will take center stage as a headliner after becoming one of the stars of Mexican regional music and delivering a sold-out concert at the Estadio GNP Seguros in August 2024.
'Watching an artist grow like that is very exciting, and it speaks to this dialogue that exists between this city and the rest of the world — of becoming a cultural capital — and how the vision of culture and music from a Mexican perspective has an international impact,' Jiménez observes.
Additionally, this year the festival introduces K-pop to its musical offerings for the first time by inviting South Korean boy band Tomorrow X Together, allowing it to cater to another segment of the audience —Generation Alpha, or those born in the early 2010s. 'We like to seek balance, those connections between the past and the present, to create a snapshot of what's happening today,' Jiménez notes.
The organizer also highlighted the introduction of a new space dedicated to tropical music, salsa, merengue, bachata, and cumbia in this year's edition of the festival, which will feature two iconic dance halls from Mexico City: Miki's and Barba Azul.
'Speaking of the present and the past, if you listen to Bad Bunny's album (Debí Tirar Más Fotos), it's based on sounds from the past — that distinctly Latin sound. How does youth interact with these sounds? You create a new space,' he explains.
The festival's organizers expect to gather 55,000 people per day, totaling 110,000 attendees over the weekend. In past editions, the festival's stages have hosted prominent figures in music such as Björk, Rosalía, Kendrick Lamar, LCD Soundsystem, Travis Scott, James Blake, Wu-Tang Clan, A$AP Rocky, Aphex Twin, Snoop Dogg, Animal Collective, Underworld, Nicolas Jaar and Fuerza Regida.
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