Sónar started out in 1994 to be something more than just another music festival. Yes, it would feature live performances, all grouped together broadly under the electronica umbrella, but founders Sergi Caballero, Enric Palau, and Ricard Robles wanted to push the boundaries beyond the experience of just being an audience member at a concert.

Ever since, the festival – which includes not only the best of the best in electronic music and all its cutting-edge subgenres, but also workshops, demonstrations, hands-on sampling, and even TEDx talks for musicians, producers, stage directors, and hardware and software manufacturers – has become a Mecca for music lovers all over the world, whether they flock to the Barcelona edition or its sister events in Chicago, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Hamburg, Bogota, New York, Seoul, Rome, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Tokyo and Seoul. Now, Sónar will add Istanbul, Turkey to the mix with its debut festival occurring there this weekend, from March 24-25, 2017.

And of course, Sónar's signature elements of conferences, workshops,art exhibitions and multimedia performances by local and foreign musicians and artists will play a starring role alongside the music. Sónar Instanbul's first-year headliners include Nina Kraviz, Moderat, Roisin Murphy, Floating Points, DJ Koze, Jimi Tenor, and more. It's the first expansion by a major music festival brand into Turkey that we've heard of. Could this signal the start of a new and growing festival destination?

Sónar Istanbul takes place March 24-25, 2017.