REMAIIN have announced three new acts for the 18th edition of OUT.FEST, a festival taking place in the southern bay of the Portuguese city of Lisbon, with each representing the organisation’s aim of exploring non-European influences in avant-garde music.
The acts consist of Amirtha Kidambi’s ‘Elder Ones‘, from New York, Paris-based Will Guthrie’s Nist-Nah gamelan ensemble, and renowned British sound artist David Toop, with each also giving a short public talk regarding their experiences and expertise in music and sound, in venues spread locally throughout the Barreiro area.
Amirtha Kidambi’s ‘Elder Ones’ are a quartet framing band leader Kidambi’s voice and Southern Indian devotional chants, adding a modern electronic and synthesizer touch to global spiritual jazz modes championed by the likes of Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane, heard most recently on 2019’s ‘From Untruth‘ album on Northern Spy Records.
Ensemble Nist-Nah, led by Australian percussionist Will Guthrie, is a collection of nine musicians based within Guthrie’s current home of France. His ensemble aims to take the foundation of Indonesian Gamelan and take it in unexpected directions, using homemade or found instruments, while avoiding the large issue of appropriation or exoticism, building in lessons from free jazz, drone, and electroacoustics. The ensemble also perform in Berlin early September as part of a Kontraklang Festival event.
David Toop, long-time collaborator with trailblazing music magazine The Wire and a name within music and music critique since the 70’s, will also make a rare live appearance. Author of such esteemed books as Ocean of Sound, Exotica or Haunted Weather, Toop’s insights into listening and sound creation — drawn from experiences of non-Western cultures — are rightly deemed some of the most valuable in modern years.
The three REMAIIN artists join previously announced acts including celebrated Japanese musician Phew, Prison Religion, Nicole Mitchell, Pisitakun, Usof, Cavernancia & Maria da Rocha, Poly Vuduvum, and Dibuk.
Inverted Audio is an official media partner of REMAIIN. Stay tuned for further news articles and features.