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!

Hyperdub 15

Simply superb, forward-thinking label Hyperdub is the influential brain-child of Scottish producer Steve Goodman a.k.a. Kode9. Although the label was a contributor to dubstep gaining ground, it quickly took on an own identity with headstrong releases by the likes of Burial (!), Dean Blunt, King of Footwork DJ Rashad, Fatima Al Qadiri, Laurel Halo and recently also Klein and Okzharp & Manthe Ribane (who were both brilliant last year at the Feeërieën). This year, Hyperdub celebrates its 15th anniversary and we want to mark the moment in style with a true triple bill.

Kode9 (uk)

Those who want to get a grip on Kode9’s musical open-mindedness and identity: follow our 3-step plan! #1: Listen to his dub-infused albums ‘Memories of the Future’ (2006) and ‘Black Sun’ (2011), which were recorded with soulmate/MC/poet The Spaceape (r.i.p.) and hear how timeless they still sound. #2: Listen to ‘Nothing’ (2014), on which he abundantly flirts with dub, footwork and even John Cage. #3 Listen to ‘FABRICLIVE 100'’, according to Resident Advisor ‘a landmark mix'’, one that he put together with Burial and which well illustrates his visionary musical mind. Here, he hops seamlessly from South African gqom to Chicago footwork to ‘90s rave, electro-pop and acid trance.

Scratcha DVA & Lady Lykez (uk)

London producer Scratcha DVA – also known for his alter ego’s DJ Scratcha, DVA [Hi:Emotions], Scratchclart and DVA – was recently described by Fader as ‘one of bass and U.K. funky's foremost innovators.’ He has worked with grime phenomenon Wiley as well as with The Comet Is Coming-keyboard-player Danalogue, and (as an experiment) he recorded his album ‘NOTU_URONLINEU’ (2016) entirely in the dark. For the Feeërieën, DVA (which stands for Diverse Arts) gets together with the young MC Lady Lykez.

Dj Taye (us)

Over the last decade, the Teklife crew has been on an evangelic mission to have footwork conquer the world from out of their hometown, Chicago. Footwork – aside from the genre, also a form of fast-as-lightning street dance in true battle style – was already around in the ‘90s (!) at a speed of 160 bpm and along the (high)way it picked up influences of house and techno. Although footwork is still considered an outsider art, the releases by members of Teklife - DJ Rashad (r.i.p.), RP Boo and recently also DJ Taye – come out on influential labels like Planet Mu and Hyperdub, amongst others. DJ Taye linked himself to Hyperdub with his debut 'Still Trippin’', which was described by Boomkat as ‘a stellar debut … with a unique triple threat in the footwork circle’: DJ Taye produced all the tracks, took care of his own raps, and presents this streetdance with plenty of his own music.