The first-ever Festival NRMAL (F/N), organized by NRMAL and Alianza Francesa de Monterrey, is introduced to the world March 13, 2010 in Monterrey, Mexico, on the grounds of the Alianza Francesa de Monterrey during the weekend prior to SXSW. F/N brings a collection of emerging artists and musicians together to showcase their work in a small, intimate setting framed by a Mexican cultural landscape. Four stages with a capacity of 700 people each showcase independent bands on the rise to a young Mexican audience who would otherwise not have the opportunity to see them.
More than 40 international acts are performing, including: Yacht, Daedelus, Banda de Turistas, The Death Set, Nite Jewel, Yellow Fever, Julianna Barwick, Awesome Color, Tyvek, Golden Triangle, White Rainbow, Juiceboxxx, The Keyishe, Poirier, and Toy Selectah. A visual arts portion also characterizes the festival, featuring installations created specifically for the event. In the visual realm, Equipo Plastico from Spain and others take the lead.
The festival is an opportunity for artists and audiences of all nationalities to visit Monterrey, get exposure to Mexican culture, and potentially establish artistic collaborations with the international community. The bands slated for F/N come from countries such as Argentina, Spain and Mexico, just to name a few. F/N also helps position Monterrey as a stopping point within the touring circuits of American and international bands.
USA to Monterrey and Back Again
The close proximity between Monterrey and Austin, roughly 6 hours by bus, presents bands slated for peformances at South by Southwest with the opportunity to appear in the Mexican public's radar.
On March 12th at 12:00a.m. the festival organizers will be busing down bands from Austin. There will be seats available for media on the bus ride down, for further info contact raul@nrmal.net.
Fans interested in making the trip down from Austin have a few cheap bus options: Autobuses Americanos has daily buses from Austin to Monterrey, and Greyhound has a $99 roundtrip ticket available as well.
Monterrey is the third largest city in Mexico - industrial by profession and artistic by nature. Set in the middle of the desert and surrounded by mountains, it is a hot spot for students and young professionals who enjoy the cultural scene and vibrant nightlife that the city has to offer.