Return of the internationally recognised four-day inland music festival to Malaga province

Around 30 bands and musicians have been lined up for this year's Pueblos Blancos Music Festival, a series of concerts that will be staged in various towns of Malaga province's Serranía de Ronda from 31 July until 3 August. Now in its eighth year, the concerts, which are free thanks to the support of various local councils and sponsors, will take place in Ronda, Montejaque, Jimera de Líbar, Cortes de la Frontera and Olvera (Cdaiz), and will present bands from Spain, the UK, Mozambique and the USA.

The festival began in 2016 and was organised to offer amateur musicians and artists a unique initiative in which to showcase their music. Once again, this year the festival will present rock, country, jazz, blues, funk, soul and rhythm and blues. Austin (Texas), the world capital of live music, will once again be the most represented city as the idea of the Pueblos Blancos festival was born there.

This festival has been recognised by the Music Cities Awards, a global competition designed to acknowledge and reward the most outstanding applications of music for economic, social, environmental and cultural development in cities and places all around the world. The four-day festival aims to create a community to make it easier for bands and musicians to perform outside of their own countries.

Along with the concerts, attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy tours of the villages involved, along with a series of meetings and workshops to strengthen ties with the international community of musicians who live in this area.

Returning to this festival again this year is Joe King Carrasco, a legendary musician whose music is a cross-cultural blend of rock and Latin rhythms fused with salsa, reggae and blues. Others who are no strangers to this festival are Donovan Keith, one of Texas' most promising young soul singers, and Joao Cossa, a reggae artiste who fuses his music with southern African sounds and rhythms.

Other bands include Slim Jim and the Redeemers, a Barcelona country-rock outfit who offer a mix of original songs and traditional American roots music; Debra Watson and the Smoking Aces, an Austin band described as a "force of energy" and who perform an eclectic mix of Rock, Blues, Swing, Jazz and Rockabilly; The Maddening Flames, one of the most acclaimed Spanish indie-rock groups of the 1990s; and Zinger, considered one of Belgium's top bands due to their original mix of brass infused rock and roll.

For more information, schedules, locations and times, see the Pueblos Blancos Music Festival Facebook page, or www.pueblosblancosmusicfestival.com