Widely considered to be one of the most forward-thinking festivals, Le Guess Who? exists to platform fresh perspectives on what is possible in music. Artists from all over the world offer insights into the unprecedented diversity of human creativity.
Le Guess Who? returns 7-10 November 2024 for its 17th edition in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The festival now reveals its full 2024 line-up, after previously announcing festival curators Arooj Aftab, Bo Ningen, Crystallmess, DARKSIDE, Mabe Fratti, and Touching Bass, as well as performances by Shabjdeed & Al Nather, Kim Gordon, Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, Theo Parrish, Meshell Ndegeocello, King Jammy and more.
Hannah Elsisi presents Chromesthesia
On Saturday, 9 November, British-Egyptian award-winning social and intellectual historian Hannah Elsisi presents Chromesthesia, a 13-hour durational performance. From Rio to Cairo, Miami to Kampala, Chromesthesia tracks Afro-diasporic rhythms and explores the history that undergirds Afro-descendant electronic music.
The popular music of the 21st century is virtually impossible without shared global experiences of migration and displacement due to a.o. war, climate change, economic collapse, and gender violence. Precisely because music needs no permission, it can sound the horn of liberation and chime louder than speech. From Electro-Shaabi to Amapiano, from Raptor House to Reggaeton, the global rhythms of our times archive over a millennium of African and Afro-descendant musicking on the move.
For Le Guess Who? 2024, Hannah Elsisi’s Chromesthesia curation will feature the choreography of Congolese performer Natisa Exocé Kasongo combined with audiovisual design by Dutch-born Sudanese maverick Tarik Barri, as well as performances by South Africa’s Sho Madjozi, who seamlessly blends Tsonga, English, and Swahili with genres such as gqom, Afro-pop, and hip-hop; New York R&B vocalist Yaya Bey, who incorporates her Caribbean roots to give odes to her father Ayub Bey (Grand Daddy I.U.); Lamin Fofana, who explores questions of movement, migration, alienation and belonging; DJ Babatr, considered the Godfather of Raptor House, in collaboration with singer Betsayda Machado, who grew up in El Clavo, Venezuela, where the roots of her ancestors–slaves who had freed themselves–still resonate in the music that is made there; and Maurice Louca, one of the most adventurous figures in Egypt’s thriving experimental arts scene.
General Program
Joining Le Guess Who?’s general festival line-up are a.o. the premiere of Hadra Immersive, an ancient northern Moroccan ceremony presented by Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra and visual artist Arion de Munck; legendary composer, pianist and flutist Brian Jackson, known for his collaboration with Gil Scott-Heron, and whose music influenced the likes of Common and Kendrick Lamar; UK’s first dub band Creation Rebel, who broke new ground in the late 1970s, and now return to the stage after a 40-year absence with live mix by producer and founder of On-U Sound label Adrian Sherwood; Quebecois singer and guitarist Myriam Gendron, who blends traditional and avant elements of original songs in both English and French; South-London multidisciplinary artist GAIKA who performs together with poet and musician James Massiah; Egyptian artist Abyusif, whose departures from conventional musical limitations challenge the boundaries of rap; the world premiere of Peruvian sound artist Ale Hop with Congolese guitarist Titi Bakorta, fusing the pulsating rhythms of reimagined Congolese music with hypnotic guitar riffs and buoyant electronics; the spirited Turkish three-piece Haossaa; South London vocalist and musician Wu-Lu, who weaves hip-hop, rock, and punk (curated by Bo Ningen); Oslo-based collective DNA? AND? consisting of young people with Down syndrome performing improvised music with professional artists; Scientist, one of the most distinctive figures on the Jamaican music scene; an exciting and powerful collaboration between Rotterdam natives Acidic Male’s confessional electronic landscapes and VULVA’s raw expression of doom; American folk artist Tucker Zimmerman, who just released a new album featuring backing from a.o. label mates Big Thief; and a collaboration between producer Abul Mogard (AKA Guido Zen), known for the immersive textures and mesmerizing drones of his compositions, and record producer, composer, and mastering engineer Rafael Anton Irisarri.
Sounds of Places
Sounds of Places is a residency-based sound gathering, initiated by Radio Alhara and commissioned by Wonder Cabinet, that focuses on the sonic aesthetics of place. The first edition took place in 2024 in the Cremisan Valley, one of the last green spaces around the city of Bethlehem, Palestine. Now the artists involved in this residency present their works at Le Guess Who?, featuring Christmas in Mourning, a collaboration between electronic musicians Sary Moussa and Abed Kobeissy, and the Greek Orthodox tenor of the Church of the Nativity, Laurence Sammour; Beirut’s Yara Asmar, who performs a piece based on recordings of her sound installation permanently installed in the vanishing Cremisan Valley; and Faster than light, always, a collaboration between Julmud, an interdisciplinary artist based in Ramallah, Palestine, and Sasha Shadid, a British/Palestinian movement creative.
A full overview of new program additions can be found below. View the full line-up for Le Guess Who? 2024 via www.leguesswho.com/lineup.
Tickets
Remaining tickets for Thursday, Saturday and Sunday are on sale now; 4-Day Passes and Friday tickets are sold out.
This year, Le Guess Who? also offers separate tickets at a reduced price for specific venues. The following Venue Tickets are available: Touching Bass presents INNA at KABUL à GoGo (Friday, 8 November), Crystallmess presents at BASIS (Friday, 8 November), Hannah Elsisi presents Chromesthesia at KABUL à GoGo (Saturday, 9 November), and Theo Parrish at WAS. (Saturday, 9 November). Tickets are available at www.leguesswho.com/tickets.
For more info, visit www.leguesswho.com.
