Search: SPAZA
SPAZA – Road to Johannesburg
In this film, Johannesburg record label Mushroom Hour Half Hour’s rotating SPAZA ensemble takes you on a journey through their creative process as they delve into a new project. SPAZA are a band...
Film: SPAZA – Road to Johannesburg
Please note: in order to attend this film screening on Wednesday 10 November, you can just show your festival ticket at the entrance of Louis Hartlooper Complex. In this film, Johannesburg record lab...
Listen to South African collective SPAZA's soundtrack album 'UPRIZE!'
South African collective SPAZA released their new album ‘Uprize!’ last month. It was recorded in 2016 as the soundtrack for Sifiso Khanyile's 2017 documentary of the same name, which tells the history of the 1976 uprisings in Soweto against the racist apartheid government. On the album, the SPAZA ensemble displays a mixture o...
This Wednesday at Louis Hartlooper Complex: watch the premiere of SPAZA – Road to Johannesburg
This week, you can start your Le Guess Who? 2021 experience already on Wednesday. That night, at 8PM, Louis Hartlooper Complex will screen the premiere of 'SPAZA – Road to Johannesburg'. Free entrance upon showing your LGW21 festival ticket at the door. This film is a new LGW production, made after the South African collective SPAZ...
Launching COSMOS, a new, hybrid platform by Le Guess Who?
As an international festival, Le Guess Who? has always worked with a borderless and boundary-crossing ethos. Now, we further enhance this focus with the launch of COSMOS: a new, hybrid platform that connects the local, physical festival environment with exclusive content that is available for worldwide, online streaming, via cosmos.legues...
Timetable & last program additions for LGW21 revealed + limited Saturday Tickets to go on sale
With just one week until the 14th edition of Le Guess Who?, the organization shares the timetable and last program additions for this year’s festival. Aside from some cancellations, the Utrecht festival for boundary-crossing music and culture now announces 41 final program additions, featuring live music performances, film screening...
Listen to the gleaming optimistic sound of Y-Bayani & Baby Naa on their album ‘Nsie Nsie’
Y-Bayani & Baby Naa And The Band of Enlightenment, Reason & Love is a collaborative project between musicians Yussef Hussain (Y-Bayani), Naomi Addy (Baby Naa), Josie Coppola and Max Weissenfeldt (Philophon Records). Straddling the realms of reggae and Ghana’s Highlife movement into an innovative, cinematic sound that is...
Listen: Black Country, New Road release debut album 'For the first time'
The enigmatic seven-piece band Black Country, New Road have released their long anticipated debut album 'For the first time'. It was recorded with Andy Savours (My Bloody Valentine) and is released via Ninja Tune. In anticipation of the album release, The Quietus spoke to four of the members about what really...
Listen: Model Home release collaborative album with Saint Abdullah
Washington-based experimental hip-hop duo Model Home have released a new collaborative album with Iranian dub duo Saint Abdullah. 'Invasive Inclinations' is described as a meeting of forces from "two similar planets in different galaxies but interchangeably habitable". The album was recorded in one day at Pioneer Works Center F...
Listen: Damon Locks' Black Monument Ensemble release new song 'Keep Your Mind Free'
Chicago's Damon Locks' Black Monument Ensemble have released a new song from their upcoming album 'NOW', to be released on April 9th. With a mix of pulsing trumpet sounds, 'Keep Your Mind Free' originated from the reflection that Covid-19 has different outcomes for each group of society, especially for people in prison...
Listen: Pink Siifu releases NEGRO DELUXE
Rapper and producer Pink Siifu's has become known for his mercurial talent for intersecting styles and culture. Last year, Pink Siifu released 'NEGRO', an album that employs influences from Sun Ra, Bad Brains and the late great Ras G to materialize a firebrand, revolutionary assault on police brutality and racism. Now, the rapper an...
Black Country, New Road share stripped back, acoustic version of 'Track X'
Following the release of their debut album 'For the first time' earlier this year, the enigmatic Black Country, New Road now display a new, more intimate side of the band with a stripped back and acoustic version of their single 'Track X', retitled into 'Track X (Guest)'. Listen below. "This version is where the lyri...
Revealing 46 program additions for Le Guess Who? 2021
It is true that making plans for shows and festivals in 2021 is a bit of a gamble. But Le Guess Who? believes that it’s important to have something to look forward to. In the spirit of cautious optimism, we are proud to announce the second round of confirmations for November 11-14 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Le Guess Who?’s...
Pink Siifu releases video for 'lng hair dnt care' from upcoming album 'GUMBO’!'
Rapper and producer Pink Siifu has a mercurial talent for intersecting styles and culture. Following the release of 2020's 'NEGRO' (which got expanded to 'NEGRO DELUXE' earlier this year), Pink Siifu is now already preparing his follow-up, entitled 'GUMBO’!', out August 3. The album will feature contributions by Nic...
Revealing the full line-up for Le Guess Who? 2021 with 70 new program additions
Le Guess Who? exists to bring people together through art and music, and despite the uncertainty of the times we have continued to work toward that end. Some things might change, and some things will change, but we have put together a festival for 2021 that we are extremely proud of, and will bring it to you in whatever form possible.&nbs...
Damon Locks discusses Black Monument Ensemble's 'NOW' with Nombuso Mathibela for PAM
Pan African Music (PAM)'s contributor Nombuso Mathibela had the opportunity to interview Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble about their latest album, 'NOW', which features Erica Rene, Tramaine Parker, Richie Parks, Phillip Armstrong, Eric Tre’von, Monique Golding, and Angel Bat David (clarinet) and Ben LeMar Gay (cornet and me...
Letters from musicians: Bant Mag. talk to Damon Locks
Ahead of his performance at Le Guess Who? 2021, Turkey's Bant Mag. talk to Chicago visual artist, musician and sound artist Damon Locks. The interview is part of their series 'Letters from musicians'; as it’s been a whole year under the pandemic conditions, they have reached out to a number of musicians to hear about their varying f...
Read Bant Mag.'s track by track interview with Black Country, New Road
Even with just limited material out, the enigmatic Black Country, New Road became a steadfast live sensation with their mixture of post-punk, ashen Slint-like minimalism and pastoral dark folk leanings. Ahead of their performance at Le Guess Who? 2021, Turkey's Bant Mag. did a track by track interview with the British ban...
Damon Locks' Black Monument Ensemble announce new album 'NOW'; watch the video for the title track
Originally conceived as a medium for Chicago-based multi-media artist/activist Damon Locks’s sample-based sound collage work, Black Monument Ensemble (BME) has evolved from a solo mission into a vibrant collective of artists, musicians, singers, and dancers making work with common goals of joy, compassion, and intention. Follo...
Watch: Conjunto Papa Upa releases video for 'Todo Parao'
Conjunto Papa Upa, the so-called Afro-Caribbean retro psychedelic rhythm machine of Venezuelan, Amsterdam-based musician Alex Figueira, has released a new video for 'Todo Parao'. His music, a quirky combination of lo-fi surf rock, funk, psychedelica and samba, resounds the street scenes of Figueira's salad days in Caracas. You can w...
Watch: Pink Siifu releases new short film 'NATION TYME!'
Rapper and producer Pink Siifu has released the short film 'NATION TYME!'. Apart from the song of the same name on his latest solo album 'NEGRO', the film also features new music. 'NATION TYME!' quotes 'It's Nation Time', an iconic poem of writer, teacher, poet and political activist Amiri Baraka. As Pink Siifu states, he...
Watch a video portrait of Egyptian Zar ensemble Mazaher
Mazaher are a small group of mostly women musicians and singers who play Zãr music: chanting songs and playing hypnotic polyrhythms traditionally used as a purification and exorcism ritual to help pacify and cleanse the human spirit. Zar practitioners have been stigmatized because of this exorcist tradition and the aim of...
Watch: Brazilian artist Sessa performs a sultry session at the iconic KEXP studio
One of the first acts announced for Le Guess Who? 2021 is the Brazilian singer-songwriter Sessa. His music, sung in Portuguese, resembles the sensual lyrics and melodic flourishes of Bossa Nova, in the vein of classic Brazilian artists like Caetano Veloso and Jobim. However, the music gets a deliberate minimalist treatment rarely found in...
Revealing the curators and initial program for Le Guess Who? 2021
Inviting guest curators to build their own programs has become a hallmark of Le Guess Who? over the years. Featuring both their inspirations and fellow like-minded artists, this allows upcoming acts to perform alongside established artists. We are genuinely excited to now reveal the curators for Le Guess Who? 2021, as well as the first pe...