Riga, Latvia’s Skaņu Mežs festival for adventurous music will host its 22nd edition on 4-5 October at concert hall Hanzas Perons (16A Hanzas Street), kicked off with a free-entry opening event at bar Laska V21 (21 Vagonu street) on 28 September. It will include 20 performances, 3 sound art installations, and 7 lectures or workshops. Prominent guests include iconic experimental electronics duo Autechre, abstract hip-hop group Armand Hammer, guitar innovator Fred Frith, and prominent composers Jennifer Walshe and Raven Chacon.
Festival passes can be purchased at www.ticketservice.lv and currently cost 50 EUR.
Skaņu Mežs has been hailed as “the biggest experimental music festival in the Baltics” (The Wire Magazine). Its stage will draw together adventurous musicians from many fields of music, including noise, contemporary music, electro-acoustics, and free improvisation, as well as hip-hop, metal, and punk.
The free-entry opening event at Laska V21 starts at 18:00 and will feature electro-acoustic composer John Chantler, improvising guitar/drum duo of Aaron Edgcomb and Kirsten Carey, young composer Ernests Valts Circenis with electronic works, and DJ sets by Nick Klein and Ģirts Reiniks.
Highlights of the festival’s first central concert evening (October 4) feature the iconic Warp Records duo Autechre who will perform in total darkness, a solo performance by “giant of the avant-garde” (Chicago Reader) Fred Frith in honor of his seminal album “Guitar Solos” which turns 50 this year, and a duo performance by Irish composers Jennifer Walshe and Neil Luck, hailed to be among “the most innovative composer-performers in modern music” by The Journal of Music. Vocalist Charmaine Lee will deliver a short but sparkling set based on voice, feedback, and live processing.
The second evening will turn to experimental music’s relationship with hip-hop, metal, and rap, featuring billy woods and Elucid a.k.a. Armand Hammer, described as “underground rap legends” by The Washington Post, the collaboration of experimental metal band The Body & post-industrial club music producer and vocalist Dis Fig (expected to be the loudest concert of this festival edition), and the noise-punk duo Deli Girls.
Raven Chacon was already scheduled to play at Skaņu Mežs in 2023 but had to cancel due to personal reasons. This year, having been awarded not only the Pulitzer Prize for Music but now also the MacArthur Fellowship, he arrives at Skaņu Mežs as one of the most highly awarded American experimental musicians of our time.
Almost ten years ago, Skaņu Mežs co-founded the innovative music platform SHAPE+ together with Prague’s MeetFactory. It is now a union of 18 festivals and is co-funded by the European Union and Pro Helvetia. The platform is represented in the program by Polish beatmaker 2K88 and Australian-born electro-acoustic music composer John Chantler.
tekhnē, another EU-funded project, this time focused on sound art and demystification of technology, motivated Skaņu Mežs to commission installations from such artists as producer Nick Klein, trombone player Tintin Patrone, and harsh noise wall spearhead Vomir. All three will also give musical performances after which the installations will remain exhibited for the duration of the festival.
“Four Electroacoustic Love Poems” is also a noteworthy commission of Skaņu Mežs 2024. It shines a light on Gundega Šmite not only as one of today’s key Latvian composers but also as a literary talent, as it is based on her own poetry. It is a continuation of her long-standing artistic partnership with soprano Gunta Gelgote.
The alternative club music underground of the Baltic states will be explored with performances by Undveld (Lithuania) and Dharma Doom (Estonia).
Skaņu Mežs 2024 will be documented by renowned experimental music photographer Dawid Laskowski, known for his work at Cafe OTO. The festival will be reviewed by Peter Margasak for The Wire Magazine, Daryl Worthington for The Quietus, Victor Moreno for Metal Magazine, and Matti Komulainen for Soundi.
A full overview of the festival program will be available on the festival website.
Workshops and lectures will be hosted by Jennifer Walshe, Neil Luck, Raven Chacon, Are Mokkelbost, Fred Frith, Charmaine Lee, and Dawid Laskowski at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and Art Academy of Latvia.
Skaņu Mežs is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, Riga municipality, Danish Cultural Institute, Goethe-Institut Riga, Culture Ireland, and Trust for Mutual Understanding.
Skaņu Mežs is part of the SHAPE+ platform for innovative music and interdisciplinary art and sound art project “tekhnē”, both supported by the European Union and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia. SHAPE+ is also supported by Pro Helvetia.
2K88 is a SHAPE+ artist, while the new works by Nick Klein and Tintin Patrone are created as part of “tekhnē”.
Skaņu Mežs is also part of festival networks NERDS (North European Resonance and Dissonance Society) and ICAS.
The festival collaborates with such local businesses as Mans Robots, Valmiermuiža, Laima, Staburadze, Augļu Serviss, Very Berry, and Balta.
Media partners: The Quietus, TVNET, Satori, Rīgas Laiks, Ir, Radio NABA, and Mūzikas Saule.
More info: www.skanumezs.lv
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