La Hispanidad sigue viva y creciendo, a pesar de los intentos por distanciarnos.

The fifth edition of the great Spanish cultural festival will take place from October 3rd to 12th with over 150 activities spread across different points of the capital, and will have Argentina as the guest country. Additionally, it will feature a new main stage located in Plaza de Colón, which will host a free concert by international artist Gloria Estefan on October 5th at noon, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of her career.

The Cuban singer and songwriter, winner of nine GRAMMY awards and with over 100 million records sold, will deliver a historic performance where she will revisit the great hits of her career, such as «Mi Tierra» and «Hoy». Estefan will also be in charge of reading the inaugural speech on October 3rd, kicking off this cultural event that has become a global reference and will be held again under the theme «All accents fit in Madrid». Additionally, this year, as a novelty, the event will have the collaboration of Repsol.

The presentation of the programming for this cultural event has featured performances by singer India Martínez, who has covered the song «Hoy» in honor of Gloria Estefan, and the Contrabando orchestra, which has performed three pieces of salsa, merengue, and bachata.

Díaz Ayuso has stated that the Hispanic Heritage celebration in Madrid has established itself as one of the major cultural events of the year on both sides of the Atlantic and has celebrated «our endearing brotherhood, our amazing history, our vibrant and lively present, and our future of joint enterprises.»

United States in the Grand Parade

In addition, Hispanic Heritage 2025 will feature two other notable milestones. The first will coincide with the Grand Parade, which will once again march down Gran Vía on October 5th and, for the first time, will include the participation of the United States alongside the rest of the Hispanic-American nationalities, filling this iconic street with music and folklore, and this will be broadcast, also for the first time, by the American network Univision.

This fact coincides with the announcement made by President Isabel Díaz Ayuso during her official trip to Miami and New York, in which the North American country will be the guest of the VI edition of this event in 2026.

Among the 150 scheduled activities, highlights include concerts by artists such as the emblematic Cuban musician Eliades Ochoa, star of the legendary Buena Vista Social Club, the Dominican Henry Méndez, the Buenos Aires-based Babasónicos, the Colombian band Bomba Estéreo, the Spaniard María José Llergo, or the duo formed by Mocedades and Los Panchos.

Furthermore, flamenco, declared a Cultural Heritage of Interest by the Community of Madrid, will once again have a special prominence within this multicultural gathering with a show by Corral de la Morería, a symbol of this art on an international level, returning to Plaza Mayor after filling it in the 2023 and 2024 editions.

Recognized Hispanic-American groups and soloists

The celebration will extend to various stages of the city such as Plaza de España, Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Puente del Rey, and Plaza de Colón, which joins as a space to Hispanic Heritage, replacing Puerta de Alcalá.

Aleesha, Bareto, Bon Calso, Çantamarta, Dillom, La Ganga Calé, El Twanguero, Gerardo Morán, Henry Méndez, Karina La Princesita, Kevin Johansen + Liniers + The Nada, Los Estanques & El Canijo de Jerez, Maestro Espada, Miranda!, Muerdo, Nidia Góngora, ORCAM, Orquesta Aragón, Rita Payés, Silvana Estrada, or Tiraya are some of the names that will bring rhythm to this Hispanic celebration.

Alongside music, there will also be folklore, gastronomy, literature, and cinema, with a film series based on the novels of Mario Vargas Llosa in tribute to the Peruvian Nobel laureate, who passed away last April, among other proposals. Díaz Ayuso has emphasized that, for the first time since this multicultural event in Spanish began, Mario Vargas Llosa is not among us, «but we will have his books, which will continue to be read, because he was a great writer with enthusiastic readers around the world,» she pointed out.

Also, on September 21st, as the kickoff of this edition, the race «Madrid Corre por Madrid, Hispanic Heritage edition» will take place, celebrating sports, where a solidarity euro from each bib will be donated to the Victims of Terrorism Association.

In 2024, Hispanic Heritage set a record attendance and managed to gather over 630,000 people, surpassing the previous year’s figures by 12%. Thus, the event continues to establish itself as the major meeting of Spanish culture, giving visibility to Ibero-American traditions and folklore worldwide.