Reflective, playful, critical and stuffed with a high-flying program – pan-Arab and Ugandan in particular – the Spielact festival is settling in Geneva for the fifth consecutive year, to put to pieces strange ideas such as “concert”, “genre or “party”. Meet in the first half of July between the Common and the decidedly well-named Makhno to bring the city to its knees: “ in four years, it’s the sharpest line-up I’ve had the chance to sharpen enthuses Mabrouk Hosni Ibn Aleya, one of the event’s programmers, who is also a well-known disorganizer on the Geneva noise scene. The boy invites among others, for this fifth vintage, Big Murk, sound architect of the new Palestinian Trap scene, the Geneva duo Zo.Ro or Organ Punishment, half of Scorpion Violente.
Hrizen
But that’s not all : ” after six editions including two tours, the local structure Bisque returns to decapsulate its concept Gazouz on the first of July, by inviting one of the most disruptive underground labels in Cairo, Hizz, which arrives with the legendary Abo Sahar comments Mabrouk. ” We are also delighted to welcome during this same evening the dark electronics of Liliane Chléla, as well as the Tunisian dark phonk of Hrizen. Hrizen, who is none other than the leader of the Toxic Gang, a collective from Sousse in Tunisia, which oscillates between Horrocore Memphis trend and Post-Shaabi, in which the late rapper Cheb Terro operated. The arrival of Hrizen in Europe is – from memory – an absolute first as well as a veritable rapological and diplomatic tour de force, which we salute: “ the darkness of this Tunisian rapological nebula is of a darkness that echoes a whole generation disillusioned by the revolution. Producer and DJ, Hrizen constitutes to this day one of the most disruptive black stones of a local scene which is still struggling to find itself, but which swings massive left-rights in the map of post-modern sound. »
Aya Metwalli
Another big promise, the residence between Emma Souharce and Aya Metwalli. The first, originating from the most deafening sound undergrounds of Geneva, drifts between pop-noise and homemade rhythmic pulsations. The second has been nurtured by recordings by Oum Kalthoum since her earliest childhood. Since then, Aya has been lacerating her memories in a buzz of semi-improvised minimalist compositions, between drone and cold vocalizations: “ it’s like rolling a shovel like a Grim Reaper during a near-death experience scripted by an Egyptian telenovela laughs the programmer. ” In terms of creation, with this meeting we begin an ultra-laboratory shift. The girls will compose in pairs and in total immersion for a week, at Le Commun. We can’t wait to experience how Aya Metwalli will cross swords with our producer Emma, from among others the excellent local collective Copy paste. Verdict scheduled for July 7 at the BIG.
Pö
PAM is delighted to bring its stamp to a program as demanding as it is cheeky. Result ? We land in Switzerland with three ambassadors from the Nyege Nyege collective for a carte blanche dedicated to sound deviations drawn from the popular repertoires of the suburbs of Kampala. On July 15, we land in Geneva with, in our suitcases, MC Yallah, a key figure in the East African underground hip-hop scene for nearly 20 years or the Ghanaian singer Pö, a hybridizer with an off-centre spoken word, embellished raspy post-punk bulletins as well as impulsive industrial rhythms. The Ugandan Catu Diosis is also expected on the dancefloor with a restless set of bass music.
Among the many lively workshops presented during the Spielact, we draw your attention to the talk ” Being LGBTQI+ in Tunisia by Bochra Triki which will be held on July 1st at Le Commun. Born in 1990 in Tunisia, Bochra is an artist and co-organizer of Chouftouhonna, the only international festival of queer and feminist art in Tunis. She also co-founded Shift, a queer and feminist graphic novel project. She is currently co-curator of the Tashweesh festival and produces podcasts alongside the excellent Tunisian media Inkyfada. For this meeting, she will be interviewed as part of the JINS podcast – the first podcast on the sexuality of Arab and/or Muslim people, 100% independent, feminist and inclusive. The party, the music, but the insurrection, too.
Spielact, fifth edition, from June 28 to July 16, 2023 in Geneva.
Transdisciplinary art festival, the event takes place in five key places in the city:
Le Commun, Rue des Vieux-Grenadiers 10, 1205 GVA Kzern, Quai des Vernets 3 La Makhno, Place des Volontaires 4 Théâtre de l’Usine, rue de la Coulouvrenière 11 BIG, Parc de la Perle du Lac
www.spielact.ch