Trend analyst Raquel Sánchez Montes has had to overcome a 45-day confinement, a 1,500-kilometre train journey and a 14-day quarantine to be able to attend her unavoidable annual appointment with the festival since 2004
“I’m really going to cry when I get to the Dream. I’m going to cry & rdquor ;. Rachel Sanchez Montes is a fashion trends analyst at Shanghai, the city where he has lived since last November and where he arrived after six years living in Guangzhou. A relentless fan of the Barcelona festival, which he has been visiting religiously since 2004, his face fell when, on April 1, the Chinese authorities decreed a shanghai total indefinite lockdown due to an uncontrolled wave of omicron. He made the calculations for him and began to suspect that this year, perhaps, he would not arrive in Barcelona on time. She was not willing, however, to lower her arms; I would get to Sónar at any price.
It has not been an easy adventure, but Raquel Sánchez Montes, after more than two months of tribulations, is about to arrive in Barcelona. “For me, Sónar is the beginning of everything. It is my new year, my source of inspiration, my meeting point & rdquor ;, assures the trend hunter, surrendered like few others to the ‘cool’ magnet of the advanced music festival. It has been a total of 45 days of initial confinement in Shanghai; a train journey of 1,500 kilometers between the metropolis and Guangzhou, in the south of the country; another forced confinement of 14 days in a hotel; and a flight to Paris before arriving, this past Saturday, in Madrid to visit her family, in Cepeda de la Mora, a municipality of Ávila with 80 inhabitants. “I have come to Sónar from New York, from Lisbon and from China, without failing once… But this has certainly been the most difficult and crazy trip of all& rdquor ;, he affirms between contagious laughs.
volunteer for the community
“It was supposed to be just five days of ‘lockdown’. But time passed and I told myself: ‘I have to go to Sónar, I have to go to Sónar, I have to get out of here as soon as possible. I needed time to process the visa & rdquor ;, remembers Sánchez Montes. would finally be 45 days of strict lockdown in Shanghai. “I signed up to volunteer for the community. The food had to be bought in a group, you couldn’t go on your own. So one of the community was in charge of buying everything for everyone and distributed it. I did it several days; That way I could go out a little, it entertained me and gave me the air & rdquor ;.
On May 16, our stylish adventurer was finally able to take a train bound for guangzhou. “He had tickets to go to more cities in case the plan failed, but it was preferable that he travel to Guanghzou. I have my company based there and that made things easier to apply for a visa and be able to travel abroad.” There were no flights and the only way to get around was by road or rail. He considered going by car, but it was too random. “In the end I took a kind of AVE in Chinese. I went with a friend, although we were in different cars. Almost 1,500 kilometers, seven hour drivewith stops, but without making transfers & rdquor ;, he explains.
Upon arrival in Guangzhou, and following the strict sanitary protocol, the two were transferred by bus to a hotel, where they had to spend a initial quarantine of seven days, plus another seven days of sanitary control. The authorities allowed both to share the hotel room. But one day, the plan seemed to fall apart: there was a suspected positive in the train car in which her friend had traveled and, as a precaution, she was transferred to another hotel, where she had to extend the quarantine even more. “I was really scared. I thought they would take me too because, not surprisingly, we were in the room together. But I was lucky and they left me where she was. If the quarantine had been extended more days, she would not have arrived on time & rdquor ;.
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The little odyssey came to an end on June 6. That day was able to pick up the visa that allowed him, on the 8th at dawn, to take a direct flight from Guangzhou to Paris. “And from there, to Madrid. And to my town, to visit my parents, who were, poor, like crazy to see me & rdquor ;. After a few days of essential rest, Sánchez Montes arrives in Barcelona this Wednesday; just the eve of the start of the festival. “Everything has gone as planned. I have an amazing feeling that I have achieved it!”, affirms the creative, who has brought, despite the many logistical inconveniences, the suitcases loaded with clothes and accessories with which to compose the amazing ‘looks’ that she always exhibits at Sónary that, during these 16 years, have made him a ‘must’ at the festival. “More than once they have told me that if they don’t see me it’s as if there were no Sónar & rdquor ;, he assures. “It has cost me more than other times to compose the ‘looks’, which I prepare one or two months before & rdquor ;. Even so, he carries with him in one of the suitcases his amazing collection of 120 glasses of impossible shapes.
Beyond the self-sacrificing love of Sónar and its fascinating artistic-aesthetic ecosystem, Sánchez Montes considers the festival an essential tool for his work. “I discover a lot of music and I love the festival, of course, but for me it’s work. I dedicate myself to analyzing trends and it helps me a lot in terms of styling: what people wear, in which countries new things emerge… It’s like a ‘networking’ for me. I have made a lot of professional contacts there. And I have made friends. All my friends around the world always meet at Sónar”.