Feeërieën 2019: Welcome in our musical outdoor wünderkammer

Welcome to the now 16th edition of our magical annual outdoor festival: the Feeërieën! We rather proudly open our musical wünderkammer again this year and it buzzes, surprises, moves, connects and amazes. At what other festival would you find, all in one go: hyperkinetic footwork from Chicago, uplifting disco-funk from Somalia, Turkish psychedelica, a stunning soprano voice, an Ethiopian harpist who plays the ‘King David’s Harp’, a male choir that summons the vibe of Kurt Weill, and a dash of vivid Afro-American poetry? Indeed!

Somali Night Fever w/ Dur Dur Band (Analog Africa/So)

In the ’70s-’80s, the Somali capital Mogadishu was a magnet for many progressive African bands. Mogadishu became known as the ‘pearl of the Indian Ocean’ because it was a metropolis where the music and nightlife flourished. The fruits of this ‘golden era’ were recently revealed on the superb collector ‘Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa’ (Ostinato Records), with a starring role for the disco- and funk-impregnated Dur-Dur Band.

Everything changed drastically at the start of 1990 when dictator Siad Barre sent the country into a civil war. An entire music culture was wiped out in one fell swoop and many musicians left the country due to the repression and economic crisis. When the excellent global sounds label Analog Africa dusted off old cassettes by Dur-Dur Band again last year it resulted in the successful release ‘Dur-Dur of Somalia - Volume 1 & 2’. Pitchfork-hipsters were convinced and a number of Dur-Dur Band members who had settled in London breathed new life into the collective. Are you ready for legendary Somalian (disco-)funk on the one?

Maurice Louca (eg)

The guests: A Trio/Anthea Caddy/Khaled Yassine/Christine Kazaryan.

Cairo born musician/composer Maurice Louca is a key figure in the experimental Egyptian music scene. He helped work on Nadah El Shazly’s debut album and was a part of The Dwarfs of East Agouza with the likes of Sun City Girls’ Alan Bishop. Earlier this year, Louca delivered his most prestigious work so far with ‘Elephantine’. You could call it: ‘An Arab take on Sun Ra’ whereby Louca freely flirts with avant-, free- & cosmic-jazz (and African music too) without losing sight of the rhythm.

Following his frankly impressive visit to BRDCST, Maurice Louca, AB and Mophradat (an international association that creates opportunities for artists from the Arab world.) now get together for a unique project. Maurice Louca will reside in AB for a number of days to record a brand new album on which he forms an alliance with the originally Lebanese band "A" Trio. Basically: one of the ‘oldest’ improvisation ensembles of the Arabic world, one that also signed off on the first free-jazz album from that region. He then plans to expand the ensemble with a number of guest musicians.

The project is produced as part of The Consortium Commissions – a project initiated by Mophradat.

Aside from the Feeërieën, this project will also be seen in London’s prestigious ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art).