Ever since humans as we know them have existed, they have migrated across the globe. This migration started a mere 200,000 years ago from the very continent that nowadays is facing the greatest limitations in its travel capacities: Africa. One can't help but wonder how this has happened, why, and what effects this might have on the continent's cultures.
When describing cultures, we think of the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society. These cultures are neither static nor constant but rather fluctuate over time changing through each interaction with other cultures and its people. We've seen this in the story of the Romany Gypsies as well as contemporary Western cultures - as people explore beyond their physical and mental borders they bring with them their stories, their music and their arts forever affecting their new environments leaving a lasting mark.
Although this might sound brilliant, we should not forget that travelling beyond your physical and mental territories is, for many, still a luxury. One that signifies independence and therefore freedom - freedom to move, freedom to speak, freedom to think.
While we find comfort in the idea of living in a so-called free world, a quick comparison of passports harshly shows us that truly free are those who own one of a First-World country. And that those born in the Third-World, are inclined to remain there.
However, the extent to which this institutionalized restriction on physical mobility impacts the creative fields - fields renowned for and associated with the freedom of creation, thought and speech - remains unclear. What is this divisive message that’s being spread through denied visa requests, discriminatory border controls and inefficient bureaucracies?
In our utopian quest for a creative playing field that is levelled out globally, we are going to try and find out exactly how this inequality in mobility shapes our cultural landscape. In the process of this research, we'll explore the many facets of mobility which is not merely limited by the physical aspect but also encompasses the mobility of knowledge and financial mobility. We will take this opportunity to research the very infrastructures that allow for creative knowledge and free-thought to spread and the restrictions sabotaging it.
How has mobility and its restrictions shaped our cultural landscape? To what extent is this landscape a proper representation of its regions? What role does the internet play in facilitating the mobility of knowledge and therefore the shaping of culture? What can creators, curators, organizers and policymakers do to minimize the social gap within their communities maximizing financial and therefore creative mobility? In the months following up to Atlas Electronic’s fourth edition as well as during its programming in August 2019, we will reflect on these issues raised by people in the field along with existing solutions.
Kamaal Williams — live (UK)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 • Amphitheatre
Kamaal Williams aka Henry Wu is spearheading the thriving scene that’s grown out of London’s young, jazz-influenced musical circles. Mingling a variety of the genre's traditions with broken beat, house and garage, the London keyboardist developed a hyperdynamic sound bursting of poly-rhythmic sounds and spheres.
Jazar Crew (PS)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 • Amphitheatre
The Palestinian Jazar Crew started to throw their own parties against all odds to provide safe spaces for Palestinian youth away from the prying eyes of conservative Palestinians and Israeli authorities. With their club in Haifa named Kabareet, they've shown the world that There Is Life Underground.
African Music Archive (DE)
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The African Music Archives (AMA) is a uniquely extensive collection of sub-Sahara African music, containing anything music-related from vinyl-records, audio- and video tapes, CD's, DVD's, to newspaper clippings with articles, reports, interviews, reviews and more. The approximately 10.000 sound carriers of which some of them are dating back to the '40s, represent almost any sub-Saharan country.
GAN GAH (BE)
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Moroccan-born and Brussels-based, GAN GAH tells a story many could relate to. Both in his DJing and his productions, he's found a way of feeding his Agadir roots, Gnawa and Amazigh territories, into modern electronic music, fusing not only sounds but cultures alike.
Houariyat — live (MA)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 • Amphitheatre
Houariyat or B'net Houariyat - which translates to 'Girls of the Houara' - is a group of five women who perform traditional music from their native region through singing and dancing. Their story started as one of the women who made music from their homes because they weren't allowed to perform in public spaces. Now, this female group uses their uplifting music to spread a message of empowerment using humoristic approaches to daily scenarios surrounding the lives of women.
Lina Laraki (MA)
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Multimedia artist and Central Saint Martins graduate Lina Laraki's practice is shaped by a variety of media like image, sound and installations. In her work, she explores emotions and aesthetics related to the cinematographic apparatus by questioning the roles of space, narration and spectatorship. In order to create emotional resistances towards a more tender art, the Moroccan artist plays with movement as both a language and a gesture.
Driss Bennis (MA)
19:00 ➣ 20:00 • Main Stage
Malika (MA)
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OJOO GYAL (MA)
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Olfa Ben Ali (RE FUSE MAGAZINE)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Olfa Ben Ali is an award-winning Tunisian-French visual artist. Olfa is part of a new generation of creators that is strongly rooted in Western Europe but which historically and emotionally relates to North Africa. Using language, her own experiences and minority discourses as tools, she questions the relationship between contemporary migration issues and colonial history. Her work is intimate and poetic while at the same time political and full of contrasts, guarding a strong sense of humanity throughout.
Re|fuse is an avant-garde magazine with the soul of an artist and the face of a refugee. It hijacks the language of fashion to encourage an honest and passionate exchange mediated by visual art among people who were brought together under extreme circumstances.
Re|fuse is based on an original idea by Olfa Ben Ali, whose roots extend in Europe and Africa, that the continents that are brought together by the Mediterranean Sea. This same sea that on most people's minds is linked to vacation sites has become the silent witness of the crossing of thousands of refugees to Europe.The people who are stripped of their dignity as they are asked to hand over their wet clothes to the boarder police when they reach the Mediterranean shores.
Re|fuse sees in these clothes a flow of inspiration: trends, styles that come out of places like Aleppo, Khabul and Baghdad emerge as a kaleidoscopic image of fragments of stories and images of the people who dare to dream in the face of tragedy.
RE:BOOT (DE)
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RE:BOOT is a collective of artists, designers, researchers, DJs and promoters from Hamburg,
Frankfurt and Berlin. Their aim is to renew the perception of non-western subculture.
RE:BOOT is in close cooperation with Europe's biggest African Music Archive, called AMA.
In 2016 the AMA started the largest digitizing project of African music in history, with RE:BOOT as their partners. Together with AMA they try to spread the knowledge and music which has been collected. The archive of the AMA ranges from Field Recordings of Traditional Chants from the
1950s to South-African kwaito Records from the 1990s.
As a DJ act they deliver eclectic DJ sets containing exclusive never-heard records of
the archive in combination with contemporary dance productions which are based on non-western rhythmical influences.
REALM (MA)
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Tom Simmert (DE)
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Yasmean (MA)
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For this moroccan-born DJ, raised in Casablanca, sharing music has always been a core mission to her identity. Yasmean has this ability to set the mood and translates her energy into record selections, where genres and influences are blended for the common good of her crowd. She has laid-down her energy on several high-profile radio stations such as Rinse FM, Berlin Community Radio and Red Light Radio. She embodies confidence behind the decks and her cutting-edge approach of Djing makes her one of a kind in the moroccan scene. Her style balances between a ferocious appetite for heavy bass, IDM, junglist rollers and splintered techno. She also has a soft side that she highlights throughout ambient music and soothing, healing melodies she likes to call « her therapy ».
Kosh (MA)
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After more than 10 years experimenting in the studio, Kosh is one of the few upcoming Moroccan artists to keep an eye on. Born and raised in Casablanca, it’s during his years in the U.S. that his interest in early acid tracks and Detroit electro truly matured. His involvement with the Orlando house and techno scene allowed him to further his passion for the American sound and sharpen his skills behind the decks.
Whether playing Dj sets or performing live, Kosh knows how to subtly jump through different genres. Versatility is in fact often said to be his trademark. His music delicately blends nasty acid basslines, frenetic breaks and electro beats, as well as warm infused pads and fast-paced techno.
After moving back to Casablanca in 2016, Kosh has been actively involved with the label Casa Voyager that he co-founded with his long time friends and music partners
Driss Bennis (aka OCB) and Jonas Bengio (aka Viewtiful Joe).
Noritsu (MA)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Noritsu is a moroccan young artist who grew up in France in the mid 90’s.
She has been witnessing all the uproar around the hip hop culture: Graffiti, new rap music icons and the hood rules staged in some historical turnpoints of french hip hop such as Iam, NTM or Les Sages Poètes De La Rue. This all culture has been for her about freestyle. And she made a motto out of it : «I will freestyle my way out » she answered to her parents when they first asked her what she intended to do with her life. And somehow they could see where she got that from : she has been listening to the synthesizers sound of raï and has been dancing with her sister on Cheb Hasni tracks before she couldn’t even walk.
When you ask Noritsu where she actually is from, she says «I am Berlin-based, obviously» cause as many artists she fell in love with the city, its multiart practices, its freedom spirit and the high inspirational environment of it. She then continues, « where I do come from really I don’t know, or I should say I know but you won’t like the answer : « I’m from everywhere, everywhere I go I found personal and musical families, I am just as much from Rio than I am from Morocco »
Her musical inspirations are just as wide as her thirst for the world. Electronic music, hip hop, funk, soul, bossa nova, italo disco, north african vibes, or the turkish bluenote that is so popular in turkish-german coffees. Her classical influences goes from Gil Scott Heron, Sade, Nina Simone, Freddie hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Roy Ayers to Oum Khalthoum, Warda and Nass El Ghiiwan.
Noureddine Ezarraf (MA)
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Noureddine Ezarraf is a writer, poet, translator, performer and photographer from the medieval Berber town of Aghmat (Morocco). Ezarraf’s work is an attempt to explore the poetics and the practice of poetry, by questioning oneself on the medium, trying to go beyond the frames which define the contours of this artistic practice.
Maria Daïf (MA)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Maria Daïf was born in 1972 in Casablanca. She is graduated in French literature and in psychoanalysis applied to the literature. She started her journalistic career in 1997 by joining the first monthly feminine and feminist magazine of the country. She spent more than 15 years in moroccan media as a journalist and chief editor, specialized in art and culture. Eager for innovative adventures, she began in 2005 to accompagn artistic projects in council and press relations. She was a member for more than 5 years of Young Arab Theater Fund's selection committee as well as of the Art Moves Africa selection committee. Her professional adventures have a common engine : the conviction that the access to art and culture is a human right. From December 2015 to october 2018 she managed the Touria and Abdelaziz Tazi Foundation, a private fund dedicated to support art and culture in Morocco and its space L’Uzine, in Casablanca, Morocco. The two institutions are now considered as some of the most important cultural operators in the country and the MENA region.
Alexa Kruger (UK)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Studied Houariyat / how (traditional) female artists are positioned in Morocco.
Esa (SA)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Charismatic and energy-filled as a DJ, gifted as a producer, and driven as an educator, Cape Town born Esa Williams, has sculpted his own unique and expansive musical identity. As an ambassador for the South African music scene within the crowded landscape of European nightlife, he draws upon his cultural roots, his global travels, and the people he meets, to embody a sound without limitations.
Esa’s move to UK catalyzed his impressive and evolving musical output. After proving his natural ability behind the decks, Esa joined Scottish legendary DJ’s Harri & Domenic at the Sub-Club, and subsequently produced his own Rememory Music Label.
Esa’s global outlook has continued to expand. He has a strong following throughout Europe, only enhanced by his creative musical direction and releases, and has carved out a niche curating electronic music-focused educational programmes in Cuba, Brazil, East & South Africa. By sharing his skills and inspiring enthusiastic DJ’s and producers around the world, he too furthers his own knowledge.
Esa can be heard weaving together the tales of such meetings, and the resulting musical outcomes, on his monthly slot on Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM. Committed to the concept of delivering a musical journey, Esa sparks intrigue in his listeners, asking them to accompany him as he creates something special both in-studio and on the dance floor.
VOST (MA)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Born in Marrakech, VOST lives between Morocco and France, more precisely Marseille. Discovering a love for electronic music through ED Banger records' highly energetic releases, VOST's mindset of rebellion against conformism and obedience has been nurtured in the punk rave scene of Southern France in which he has been active playing and organizing punk rave parties. He mixes the industrial, noisy and desolate electronic beats of his DJ sets in a way that is a statement of rebellion against blind slavery to the system, and most importantly a longing for freedom and raw love for high octane and energetic music.
Polyswitch (MA)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Nassim Azarzar (MA)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Nassim Azarzar’s work approaches philosophical and historical questions through a range of visual forms, media, and social engagement. Focusing on natural patterns and their relationship to the history of Islamic art, similitude in structures and scale, old and new printing practices, and genealogies of aesthetics, his work challenges the paradigm of modern art and of modernity itself to trace the movement of shapes and patterns across contexts, and through time and space. He is as much inspired by natural structures observable in nature, and by Alan Turing’s mathematically modeled approach to natural forms, as he is by the genealogies of shapes and patterns that characterize the history of Islamic art and Moroccan art. Observing the movement of art in new social and cultural spaces, and onto novel surfaces and materials in cities and urban spaces, he builds upon the ideas promulgated by Moroccan artists and intellectuals in 1960’s meant to disentangle colonial history from modern Moroccan art. Moving from the museum to the streets, Azarzar now takes inspiration from new aesthetics that emerge hand-painted on the facades of storefronts, in typographies found adorning large trucks, and as forms of design that shape the everyday visuals of contemporary Morocco. Thinking with the idea of entropy, his work traces the movement of visuals across media, surfaces, and materials in order to inquire into the power of aesthetics and images in the contemporary world.
Maalem Hassan El Gadiri (MA)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Louise Chen (FR)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Half Taiwanese-half french and currently based in Paris, made a name for herself by promoting parties since 2012. Originally starting off as a hip-hop and R&B DJ, Louise has grown up with sampling culture and been a crate-digger for a long time. Her endless quest looking for soul, funk, disco and jazz has led her to build her own sound when playing clubs like Rex and Concrete. In 2018, she released her first track, a rolling tune that reflects Louise's take on Horny House - "Reach" came out on Moxie's On Loop label and Compilation. Today she hosts radio shows on Le Mellotron, Rinse France, The Lot Radio in New York, Radio Nova & DJs alongside acts like Floating Points, MCDE & Bambounou.
K15 (UK)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Jayson Wynters (UK)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Jayson Wynters is a DJ that is able to combine many genres in one set and make it work. Wynters was first known as a garage MC in Birmingham, before rising to prominence in the city’s underground radio and club scene, where he showcased an impressive..It was in 2015 that Wynters began to really stand out from the rest, with a particular techno legend taking notice. None other than Mr G had found himself a protégé and announced he was signing Wynters to his own label Phoenix G. Mr G’s first release of 2016 was Wynters EP 'Unfamiliar Territories', a 4 track record that is hazy, technoid and threads into deep territories. This is also only the second time Phoenix G has released a record that isn’t from the label founder himself. Understandably, it has taken something rather special for this exception to occur. Wynters music exemplifies his perspective, and therefore his collection of life experiences—the ups, the downs, good times and not-so-good times. Using music as an outlet for expression, whether in the form of DJing or having fun on some drum machines and synths, is one of the most defining features to Wynters. He continues to fuel his passion by keeping an eye on the future rather than the past and striving to remain different.
ISSAM (MA)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
MMMC (MA)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Tarwa N Tiniri – live (MA)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
TARWA N-TINIRI is a growing group of six highly talented musicians and performers united to show the Amazigh music and culture to the world! Our origin is from Morocco’s Ouarzazate, the city with the nickname “The door of the desert”. Desert Blues genre has an increasing music interest all over the world because of bands like Tinariwen, Bombino, Tamikrest … which are the main musical inspirations for us.
From self-made guitar in 2012, when the band started, to original instruments, the band are now established and have been in many big festivals in Morocco. They first trip abroad was in 2018 to Norway and touring there in Trondheim and Oslo with great experience.
The origin of our lyrics is written by the band members, and we also compose the music ourselves. Some of the melodies are written by Amazigh poets. We perform our songs in Amazigh language. The lyrics are often about the social conditions of the nomadic people, but also about love, friendship and peace. Our song Taryet, and till now our most seen YouTube music video with over 600K viewers since March 2017.
ASNA (CI)
00:00 ➣ 00:00 •
Skotek (MA)
Abdullah Miniawy (EG)
Abdullah Miniawy is 24 years old, Egyptian artist mainly known as a writer & chanter, who performed around the world shoulder to shoulder with great names notably headed by Erik Truffaz, and also performed in many prestigious festivals such as [festival d’Avignon 72e]. His album Darraje with the Münich based trio Carl-Gari was selected by the prestigious NPR as one of best album of 2016. His vital projects are currently a mark in evoking a new theory in musicology. Current projects: Le Cri du Caire, a trio based in Paris, France, with Carl-gari, a trio based in Munich, Germany & also in a duo with Hyperpotamus who based in Madrid, Spain.The artist philosophical lyrics were sprayed over different outskirts during the Egyptian revolution in 2011, as well as many different regions, notably headed by Yarmouk, Camp in Syria. “I intended to stop making music during a walk in Alexandria 2013, but the screams out of an armoured vehicle singing my lyrics made me change my mind.”
mad miran (NL)
Now based in Rotterdam (where she works at the respected Clone Records shop), mad miran is a DJ who bubbled up from Amsterdam's underground scene, expanding her reach to take over dancefloors all across Europe and eventually landing a residency at De School. This long-time music fanatic started her journey behind the booth as part of the Strange Sounds from Beyond crew (she's still a resident there), where she built up her tastes in an even wider array of different electronic styles. After making the transition from always being on the dancefloor to someone who now oversees the party, mad miran's DJ skills are hard to argue with as she is able to confidently blend and blur the lines between whatever corner of adventurous electronic music catches her fancy in the moment. Her first physical format mixtape will be released on the Italian ever-rising label Art-Aud in January and is a 90mn trip of old-school madness, very symbolic of Miran's own rave spirit!
Viewtiful Joe - live (FR)
Kreggo (IT)
Kreggo is better known for his work as G-23, DJ Groov and his cult Secret Rave project. From his small starship studio in Mongrando, Italy he weaves stories and tales from hued memories and faded dreams. Whirling from the hills and condensing down the green mountainsides into the vibrant forest, coasting the roof of his hardware strewn lab.
Gary Gritness - live (FR)
"Hailing from the post-industrial city of Nancy, France, is a bad boy and multi-instrumentalist funkateer Gary Gritness aka Slikk Tim.
Killer electro funk blending nowadays influences from the streets of Detroit, Oakland and Atlanta around his trademark soulful sound.
Using an old school setup, Gary’s music is dirty, warm & funky as hell, and is best enjoyed in his powerful live shows featuring masterful vocoder action and hard-core keyboards aggression.
As a session musician Slikk Tim has worked for many household names including Orlando Voorn, Dam-Funk, Los Hermanos & many others."
Crystallmess (FR)
Via Shape Platform: Hailing from Paris banlieues, Crystallmess operates from a place of generosity. Indeed, she’s a DJ, producer but also a writer and mixed media artist keen on shedding light on past and present subcultures. Growing up in a French Caribbean and African household, but still sneaking out, letting her hair down and being a club kid has directly informed her approach as DJ and producer. Going from abrasive zouk and dancehall to afro-trance and Detroit techno. Whether she’s behind the decks for a Janus party at Saule/Berghain, Hyperdub’s monthly ø party at Corsica Studios, Yves Tumor’s Terms of Endearment’s party or Parisian local party CONCRETE. Her DJ style is eclectic yet cohesive, relying more on textures, sound continuum and narrative rather than genres and still rock the dance floor. Tackling the subjects of club culture, colonial alienation and alternative temporalities, she created Collective Amnesia in 2018. Inspired by Cybernetic Club Research Unit’s Kodwo Eshun work on Afrofuturism and music, this multidisciplinary performance mixing film and DJing, and traditional vocal performance of griology celebrates the forgotten history of logobi, an urban Afro-French dance from the mid-00s merging hardcore techno and coupé décalé. Recently her work has been presented at Lafayette Anticipations in Paris, Geneva Biennale, Ars Electronica in Linz, La Gaité Lyrique in Paris, Espace Arlaud in Lausanne.
Georges Bajalia (US)
A. George Bajalia is an anthropologist (Ph.D Candidate, Columbia University) and theatre director based between Morocco and New York. He is the co-founding Artistic Director of mobile arts lab Borderline Theatre Project with Tom Casserly (Tony Award for Best Musical, Fun Home). With Borderline and through the support of the American Language Centers of Morocco, he has directed F7ali F7alek (a Moroccan Arabic take on West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet, and the story of Tislit and Isli) as well as produced the annual Youmein Creative Media Festival in Tangier, Morocco. For the screen, he has directed With Rugs Unfurled: The Social Life of a Moroccan Rug, as well as Multi Meets Poly: Multiculturalism and Polyculturalism go on a first date. His academic and artistic work has been supported by CAORC-Mellon Mediterranean Research Fellowship, the American Institute of Maghrib Studies Long-Term Fellowship, Fulbright Foundation, the Fulbright-Hays DDRA fellowship, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and research fellowships from Columbia University’s Middle East Institute and the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life. He is also a research fellow associated with the collective Think Tanger. His research and artistic interests intersect in the borderland narratives of northern Morocco, and the social, linguistic, and political formations that emerge through waiting at borders. He holds a BA from Northwestern University's School of Communication, and an MA and M.Phil from Columbia University in Socio-Cultural Anthropology. More information about his creative work and research can be found online at www.georgebajalia.com // [email protected]
Sicaria Sound (UK)
"Rooted in London and with Moroccan and South Sudanese heritage respectively, Imbratura and Ndeko aka Sicaria Sound have firmly established themselves as selectors of new and underground music across the 140 bpm spectrum. Since the pair started DJing together they've played for Deep Medi, Fabric, Lovebox, Outlook Festival and more, alongside undertaking radio residencies and appearances on the likes of Rinse FM and BBC Radio 1. Expect their sets to be loaded with forward-thinking bass sounds.
In details: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1De5w8-vMZZEkuJEp5XgOzEkxqCQ5FOXR?sort=13&direction;=a"
Kenza Berrada (MA)
Born in Morocco, she started theater with the troupe of the Lycée Descartes, Rabat. Arrived in Paris after her baccalaureate, after a preparatory literary class, she obtained a bachelor's degree in modern literature and a master's degree in cultural mediation and communication. At the same time, she takes Simon courses and workshops with directors and choreographers such as Marcel Bozonnet and Elsa Wolliatson (African dance). With a group of young actors from the "physical theater training laboratory", they set up a collective, the collective Nash. In a writing process, they mix authors' texts with personal writing, improvise, dance, and test the relationship of the camera to the stage. They create The Imagined Community from Twelve Angry Men by Réginald Rose and are currently working on a rewrite of The Slave Island. She plays in Quai Ouest de Koltès, A Castle in Sweden by Françoise Sagan, For those who remain Pascal Elbé, Scissors, Paper, Caillou Daniel Keene, Blackbird David Harrower ... On the screen, she turns with Laila Marrakchi, Leila Kilani, Manuel Schapira ... She collaborates with directors and assist them such as Benjamin Guillard, Alexander Zeldin, director at the National Theater of London. After having participated in a workshop of Pascal Rambert at the Venice Biennale, she organizes, under the same model, theater workshops and performances during the first biennale of architecture of Rabat-Salé. She works between Paris and Morocco as as an actress and director. She is particularly interested in working with and on the issues of marginalized populations.
Ismail Alaoui Fdili (FR)
Saint-Denis based Moroccan Artist, (Graduated from IsdaT and Ensa Paris Cergy) Ismail Alaoui Fdili, works with multiple mediums to interrogate the “idea” of the value given to time, labour, and the ressources surrounding us. His work focuses mainly on the role of people living on the edge of society, whilst being necessary agents to it, such as garbage collectors, car parkers,look-outs and beggars. His artistic practice takes the form of fictional documentary films, in situ interventions, and installations.
Hadj Sameer (FR)
"Paris & London local, and top-tier musical digger. His father hailing from Algeria had amassed an extensive collection, ranging from African / North African, jazz (mostly spiritual, with African instruments and influences), to disco music. Whereas his mother provided a middle-eastern flavour with a Turkish music influence having hailed from Turkey and being brought up in Algeria. Starting from there, inspiration from his varied musical heritage allowed for Hadj Sameer to self-explore from an early age in the form of the electronic music field (emphasizing on Detroit techno, Chicago house, bass, dubstep, D&B;, and jungle music) which has taken prevalence in his life since his early teens at the onset of maturity.
He released an Afro Caribbean mixtape on the London based label The Trilogy Tapes in 2017 available. After that first project, he pulled out an Algerian hybrid reggae raï tape on Future Times on the YES MIX series launched by Max D."
Ismail Zaidy (MA)
Ismail Zaidy - L4artiste - 21 years old born and raised in Marrakesh, Morocco. I received my baccalaureate in 2015 and went on to graduate with a BA in International Management in 2018 from Cadi Ayad in Marrakesh. Started taking pictures during summer of 2017, to express my inner perspective, around a hub of other unique creatives. My style is abstract and minimalist, photographs have been taken with a Samsung S5 My father is from Marrakesh, my mother from a small town called Oud Zem. My siblings feature in much of my work. Family is intrinsic to my creativity.
Guedra Guedra - live (MA)
DJ & PRODUCER mixing contemporary music selection from different ethnic music parts of Africa from the psychedelic vintage music to global bass. Lineup connecting “music of North Africa with his Africa”.
Sukitoa o Namau - live (MA/FR)
Sukitoa o Namau is a Moroccan experimental sound artist and researcher. Her background is rooted in contemporary dance, performing arts and visual arts. On her academic path in Performing Arts and Theater Studies, she centred her fields of study on the relations existing between Dance and Image in contemporary dance works. In 2012, she created her dance company UCHRONIE and broadened her research to the subject of Choreographical Thresholds and to a possible dance below and beyond the dancing body. She incorporated sound to her practice while directing a dance piece, Des feurs pour Schrödinger, for which she composed and performed a soundtrack. From then on, she has been using sound as a medium to deepen her reflection about Thresholds through field recordings, processed sounds and electronics. In 2016, she was awarded the prestigious "Andreas Robbins Scholarship" by the UPA (Underground Producers Alliance), a consortium of underground producers, MC's and engineers founded by Scotty Hard (Wu-Tang Clan), HPrizm (Anti Pop Consortium) and Raz Mesinai (Badawi, SubDub) in NY. In 2017, she released her debut EP Nari and has been chosen as a featured artist for Taqsim, a platform that enables musicians and producers from the MENA region to communicate through sound, improvisation and collaboration, in cooperation with Mideast Tunes. She worked as a field recordist and content creator for this borderless sound archive. The same year, she toured the UK after being invited by HCMF-Huddersfield contemporary music festival. She's currently organizing a new tour and working on a new album that should be released with London-based label, First Terrace Records.
James Holden & Maalem Houssam Guinia - live (UK/MA)
Modular synthesizer meets Morocco's Gnawa tradition as UK synth guru James Holden teams up with the Maalem Houssam Guinia, son of the late Gnawa legend and previous Holden-collaborator Maalem Mahmoud Guinia, for a trio of live collaborations recorded during the Guinia band's first trip to London back in 2016.
Just Alex (BY)
Painting ... for me its vibration, those feelings, those reactions that happen to me. I'm trying to talk about it in art. A lot of information instinctively delayed every day. And when I stay near the canvas, I take the brush and put on as if by accident the accumulated information on the canvas. And what you paint, you don't always know, you don’t always know what would be in the end. I think that an artist can only be the one who wants to be an artist, whose soul is not staying at the same place, who are constantly worried and experiencing, who feels that he need to speak out. Holding a brush, there are moments when you feel yourself more than a human. Somehow I organically blended into this state and found myself as a happy person.
Nonku Phiri - live (SA)
Following the release of her debut solo single, the internationally acclaimed 'Things We Do On The Weekend', Nonku Phiri has established herself as on one of the most distinctive and influential voices in South Africa’s electronic music landscape. Effortlessly moving between house, electronica, R'nB and kwaito. She was first brought to the music industry's attention at the age of 17 courtesy of a serendipitous collaboration. She proceeded to become a sought after collaborator, working with multiple artists, spanning continents and genre spectrums. In 2015, the undeniable trajectory of her burgeoning success led to Nonku embarking on her solo career journey. After years of travelling, performing and writing, 2018 will bare witness to the launch of her independent label 'Albino Black' along with the release of her highly anticipated EP. Nonku has reached a juncture in her career where her creative voice and perspective are both clearly defined, congruently carving a path for her most impactful musical journey to date.
Penny Penny - live (SA)
Giyani Kulani, better known by his stage name Penny Penny is a South African musician and politician, known affectionately as the "Shangaan Disco King" for the musical style he helped popularise. He was the youngest of 68 children from a local doctor with 25 wives. His family was poor, meaning he received no education, but he soon became known for his dancing and was nicknamed Penny. Aged 19, he worked on a West Driefontein goldmine near Carletonville, and soon left to escape the region's poor working conditions, although he did win several breakdancing trophies before his departure. His breakthrough came with the recording and release of his 1994 debut album Shaka Bundu, which was recorded in a week using little gear but went on to sale 250,000 copies in the country. The music features Tsonga (or Shangaan) disco sound, which emerged in Penny's native Tsonga culture, fused with contemporary house music from the United States. Unusually, the songs on the album were recorded in the Tsonga or Xitsonga language, or more specifically its Limpopo-region dialect Xihlanganu, one of the least-heard languages in South Africa. This was a conscious choice on behalf of Penny, who wanted to introduce his language "to the world."
Whirldfuzzz (UK)
Perrine Philomeen (NL)
Perrine Philomeen works under the pseudonym KIDS OF THE UNIVERSE and focuses on the globalized world, which is constantly on the move. She observes current society and questions the future. She transforms her observations into strong moving images with the help of photography, styling, 3D, prints and fashion. The right doses of humour, contrast, optimism and innovation are always present in her work. “Let's celebrate superdiversity in a continuous changing globe!”
Hosein Jaddad (MA)
Hosein Jaddad is a Painter, calligrapher and ceramist sculptor was born in 1991 in Safi, Morocco. Graduated from the Academy of Traditional Arts of Casablanca in 2016 and the Center of Ceramic Art in Safi 2012.
Soraya (UK)
Soraya Brouwer is Truants’ founder and editorial director and currently based in London. She has a bachelor degree in English Literature, with minors in power and language and genocide studies. She works in AR at Native Instruments and over the last few years she has organised events, lectures and screenings focused on the diversification of clubbing and music journalism, and the decolonisation of higher education. She also has hosted a number of Truants club nights in Amsterdam, Paris, Helsinki and London. When she is not drawing or working on Truants, she is either watching the Bundesliga, running in the park or fixing Max B’s ID3 tags in her music library.
Luka Productions - live (ML)
Luka Productions is Luka Guindo, rapper, producer, and multi-instrumentalist from Bamako, Mali. Working from a small bedroom sized studio alongside a busy street in the capital city, Luka has built a reputation as one of the most prodigious beatmakers. With a musical training in West African gospel music, Luka is known in the regional scenes of thumping electro Balani Show and lightning hi-energy Hip Hop. Luka’s tracks draw on the rich musical history of Mali, mixing Kora and Balafon with software percussion, flute, horns, and synthesizer, bringing the village life into the modern urban Bamako. In 2016, he released his first international debut, Mali Kady: high energy Hip Hop, with lighting fast rapping, driving percussion, and balafon dance tracks. His 2017 release Fasokan went in a different direction. Inspired by the minimal electronic compositions of Craig Leon, Fasokan is a guided meditation; spoken verse guides, set to the backdrop of sweeping electronics and hypnotic dreamscapes. The album earned critical acclaim, featured as Boomkat’s Top album of 2017, and Fact Mag’s Best Bandcamp albums of 2017. He played his first European tour in fall of 2017, debuting at Le Guess Who in Utrecht. His new album, Falaw, veers into another direction. In contrast to his usual PC-based sequencing, Falaw invites a number of traditional performers to join him in the studio. Griots recount sage stories over Luka’s sweeping synth pads while ngonis shred pentatonic solos to the crash of sequenced drum samples. Paying homage to the storyteller, combined with regional styles of lyrical Hip Hop, Falaw offers advice on modern living, with heartfelt songs about loss, love, and life. Tracks like BBNI offer Luka’s version of the melodic Bamako Hip Hop banger, while Forêt features lush acoustic ngoni with looping call and response. In addition to his work sequencing and producing, Luka plays a variety of instruments across the tracks, performing vocals, djembe, synthesizer, guitar, and bass. The effect is both space age and organic. Creating at the confluence of electronic and tradition, Falaw is destined to be a future classic, both at home in Mali and abroad. In a genre where all too often “modern” is used exclusively to indicate Western collaborators, Falaw is a groundbreaking entry into homemade fourth world music and a suggestion of the new Malian sound.
Microdosing (UK)
Microdosing is a Manchester-based cult underground experimental events collective that explores ambient, electronic, avant-garde and ethnographic music around the fringes of traditional dance-focused parties. Intentionally set up to shift attention away from the DJ and focus on the specific listening environment of the room, Microdosing has become a key destination for mind-expanding sounds and deep listening sessions. The Microdosing residency on NTS Radio offers a monthly taste of the associated sounds. Founded and overseen by All Night Flight Records boss Tom Houghton, regular guests and members include Seb Mariner (NTS), Space Afrika, Will Boyd (Sferic) and more.
Otim Alpha & Leo Palayeng - live (UG)
At weddings in Northern Uganda, special Acholi songs are played known as ‘Larakaraka’. Over a decade ago, Otim Alpha began collaborating with fellow wedding musician and producer Leo Palayeng to mix up Acholi music into a newer hyper-frenetic electronic version known as Acholitronix. They toured the style across East Africa, and became known to Nyege Nyege Tapes who showcased them at their festival, and released Otim’s hit collection ‘Gulu City Anthems’. The tape sold out within days, and later in 2017 Otim performed at Unsound Festival, earning him a live reputation that warranted festival director Mat Schultz’s Instagram post “Every European festival MUST book Otim Alpha!”
Dollypran - live (MA)
Mar & Sol Soundsystem (PT)
Mar & Sol Soundsystem is a special live DJ set on vinyl that reveals all the sonorous archive of these Luso African ex. countries. Since the first tribal sounds until the last released records using the mark of the Mar & Sol label.
KAMYN - live (MA)
Selim Harbi (TN)
VR & Multimedia storyteller, photographer, and visual consultant, based between Tunis and Berlin, working mainly in North and subsaharian Africa, I Attempt to ‘see’: and reflect my surroundings, travelling and collecting untold stories along the way—stories that may explore surprising issues behind the seemingly ordinary. Through living and working in Africa Europe and the Middle East, I amassed a solid ground experience, a multi-cultural background and a wide knowledge in cross-media publishing and production (works ). Focused on contemporary socio-political issues, I am dedicating my expertise to develop new generative media and storytelling concepts. In 2013 I co-founded Afreekyama Collective: one of the very first cross-media platform dedicated to creative multimedia storytelling in Africa.
Yazid Bezaz (MA)
Habib Achour (FR)
"Habib Achour started his career at EMI France in the early 90s, promoting labels such as Blue Note Records and Emi Arabia. Later, be it in his capacity as manager or booking agent, he has represented artists such as Erik Truffaz, Anouar Brahem and Dhafer Youssef, to name but a few. In addition to that, he has experience managing and/or programming festivals in Morocco, Lebanon and France (among which the Festival d´Île-de-France in Paris).
Following on from Marseille-Provence’s tenure as European Capital of Culture in 2013, for which Achour was responsible for music and urban culture, he joined the New Morning club in Paris as Deputy Director. Today, he is Head of International Development for Africa & the Middle-East at SACEM."
Zipporah (UK)
As a slick selector with a strong ear for deep rhythms, Zipporah blends global bass with loved classics and obscure cuts, focusing heavily on dance-music from across Africa, UK and the Middle East. Zipporah explores the bass spectrum with everything from Moroccan dubstep, South African Gqom, Nigerian dancehall, Ghanain afroclub sounds, Palestinian hip hop, UK afro bass, grime and garage, with some Old-School funk, soul and hip hop cureveballs thrown in for good measure. No set is ever the same, as Zipporah digs deep into her vast and multicultural collection to fit each moment, place and dancefloor.
SARAAIT (MA)
Based in Rabat, SARAAIT is a Moroccan DJ that puts storytelling at the heart of her MO. Her teenage years saw her grow fond of post-punk & hardcore punk, which was an early sign of her inclination to the powerful and punchy side of music. It was only a matter of time before she crossed paths with techno and fell in love. What others may perceive as dark, she finds warm and welcoming. Her sets oscillate between modular deep techno cuts, raw industrial tracks and a touch of EBM.
Lost Pattern (MA)
Lost Pattern is an experimental electronic music producer and DJ based in Casablanca with a limitless vision that breaks the barrier of genres and music styles.
Mary (NL)
Klara Ravat (ES)
Klara Ravat is an olfactory artist an experimental filmmaker based in Berlin. By opposing the division between the realm of memory and the realm of experience, Ravat absorbs the tradition of remembrance art into daily practice. By investigating the concept of landscape in an adventurous and exploratory way, she wants to amplify the wonderment of the spectator by creating compositions or settings that generate tranquil poetic images that leave traces and balances on the edge of alienation and recognition. After studying qualitative trend research in Barcelona Klara moved to The Netherlands where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (ArtScience at The Royal Academy of Arts). At the same time, she started studying Psychology at the Open University of Catalonia. Klara is the co-founder and the director of the Smell Lab, a community project that focuses on the investigation and practice of the art and science of the sense of smell.
GMB (IND)
Good,MostlyBad (GMB) is Gurmehar Bedi's music selection as a DJ providing bass-heavy, dance floor stomping sounds from an array of genres like hip-hop, trap, afrobeat, grime and UK bass. Her sets are influenced by human emotion, taking you through a journey of energy.
She has carved a niche for herself in her city by constantly pushing new sounds amongst the local crowd. Right now she's on a self-fulfilling journey to finding her sound as she takes on music production. Her first single, ""REELIN"" was featured by RollingStone India on their May Playlist. Her productions are bass-heavy, riddled with numerous percussive elements and overlayed with her signature warped spoken word/rapping and the unexpected cohesiveness to the layers of her choice of sounds. "
Raskas - live (MA)
Raskas is an independent post-rock/experimental electronica music group formed in Casablanca in 2013, and consisting now of only two members. According to their bio: “the name [Raskas] comes from a rare kind of “fish” that stays alive around 72 hours after being taken out of the water. That’s how we feel and behave. And that’s how we conceive music”. This last statement was somehow honoured during their latest live performance on the Tremplin Boulevard Festival in their hometown. By their last song, they had turned an audience consisting of a dozen people into a packed house.
3xOJ (MA)
Mo Baala - live (MA)
Pluridisciplicany artist, Mo Baala spent his childhood and his youth in the heart of the souks and bazaars of his heart town, Taroudant in southern Morocco. His passion for reading, cinema, music and philosophy, as well as his particular interest in traditional arts and crafts Moroccan, African and elsewhere constitute the bulk of its intensive artistic and creative education. Mohammed uses drawing, painting, graffiti as well as collage and sculpture. He creates installations in which he performs poetic and musical performances, he practices land art and explores photography and digital drawing. He is also a fan of action painting, street art and frescoes. Recycling, music and poetry play a key role in his artistic practice. Since 2016 and its emergence on the international art scene on the occasion of the Marrakech Biennale 6 with 2 shows, Baala+Belli at Galerie 127 & SWAP 2016 with the KECH Collective, he participated in a series of collective exhibitions (Morocco, France, Italy, Germany ..) and was represented at several international art fairs and exhibitions. (1-54 London & Marrakech / YIA / AKKA / The Others Art Fair, Torino, Documenta, Saout Mellah…) He had his first solo show Yellow & Red in Marseille in 2017 at Le Pangolin with Galerie127 & Be Your Heart, was his first Moroccan solo show at Le Comptoir de Mines Gallery in 2018, that same year his was selected for Second Life the collective inaugural exhibition of Macaal and the official selection for Tales from Water Margins for the BIC/Casablanca Biennale 2018, curated by Christine Eyene, In 2019 in was one of the 3 artists selected by curator Sonia Perrin for the inaugural exhibition of DaDa Marrakech, In August/September 2019, he will premiere his music single and video installation Give Me MY Mouth at Atlas Electronic & in November present his animated film Safari at Paris Photo with Galerie 127.
Emmy Bacharach (UK)
Emmy Bacharach is a DJ, architect, audio-visual artist and researcher. She has made a name for herself DJing in underground parties around London, from her residency at the Pink Elephant all-vinyl allotment parties to regular slots at warehouse venues Grow Tottenham and Unit 18. She is a co-founder of Co-Select, a DJ collective promoting gender equality in dance music culture and organising inclusive and eclectic parties in London since 2017, this year appearing at UK festivals Waywood and Brainchild. Her sets bring together diverse influences from Detroit electro to 90s breakbeat to global bass, always full of energy. Her ongoing research project Sonic Urbanism explores the origins of dance music and the spatial politics of club culture focused on Detroit techno and its relationship to the post-industrial urban condition.
Djoyce (MA)
Djoyce is a Moroccan DJ with an ear for experimental sounds. Born and raised in Rabat, he made his way into the electronic music scene running festivals and parties around Morocco. Since moving to Istanbul, Turkey, he has established himself in the underground bass scene and built his sound playing in clubs Pixie and Temple. Putting together unexpected elements, he creates an energy that is hardcore and playful: bass, grime and footwork meet with industrial beats and choppy breaks.
KALBOCA (MA)
KALBOCA explores steaming sounds through selections carefully cut for the occasion, mixing Reggaeton, Dancehall Baile Funk, RnB, Grime and more.
Jauk Armal - live (MA)
Singer, author and composer specializing in percussion, Amram El Maleh aka Jauk or Arman Lemal became the undisputed father of Dakka jazz and Dakka rock with his group, the Jaguars. First composer of a Franco-Moroccan fusion in the Mediterranean with titles like "Dakka", "The three prophets" and "Gnaoua blues", he will be later quoted in the history of jazz as "Nowaday's Swing". Enriched by three Mediterranean cultures and a storehouse of anthropo-rhythmic discoveries, he moved to Paris in 1967 where the Sorbonne opened its doors. He co-founded the first dance course in university and taught there for nearly fifteen years, broadcasting the tale of Amazigh and Gnaoua music in France and Europe. Ranked among the 100 best drummers and world drummers of the 80s by "PAISTE", he is also honoured by a distinction of the Academy Art Sciences and letters in 1980. Living between Marseille and Casablanca, he brings his diversified and rich know-how to the young music scene. Today, at the height of his 71 years, Jauk, choreo-musician still turbulent and hectic is always full of projects to follow.
Ani Phoebe (US)
Ani Phoebe is from NYC and has mostly resided in Rio de Janeiro for the past years. Always on the move, she's interested in cultural exchanges coming from a place of humility and a decolonial perspective. A polyglot, she focuses on music from around the world, especially in different languages, and particularly from women and female-identifying persons. She founded minasö, a feminist group of female-identifying and non-binary women in dance music in Rio de Janeiro.
Philou Louzolo (NL)
Philou’s coming of age is defined by the forces of musical and cultural diversity, living in worlds seemingly estranged from one another. As an adopted black kid, Philou grew up with the loving care of his adoptive Dutch grandparents. His grandfather taught him how to listen to jazz and classical music from a very young age, provoking a surge of curiosity about his own African heritage. He found Nigerian and Congolese tapes from his African birth parents that were in his families possession and started digging into the traditional sounds of Africa. Through music, Louzolo developed an early sensitivity towards cultural expressions in general. Not merely for the continent that carries his roots, but also for sci-fi and Japanese anime. He began experimenting with producing electronic music as a way to unite the various realms of his omnifarious inner word. Composing his identity as a performing artist began years later, guided by the nightlife scenes of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. With an extensive pan-African sound, he began reaching the hearts of large crowds, ultimately pushing his popularity across national and international borders where he made appearances in the Panorama Bar, Nuits de Sonores, DGTL, Le Sucre, DJOON, North Sea Jazz, De School, Dekmantel Selectors. A highlight of his early success is the release of the EP Alkbulan Republic which was a tribute to Nigerian pioneers such as Fela Kuti and William Onyeabor. This EP was recorded in collaboration with musicians from Ghana and Nigeria and mixed and produced by Philou in the city where he currently resides, Rotterdam. This vinyl gem is repressed at least four times and hit the Juno bestseller charts. His influence even grew into the embodiment of a larger message, containing an awareness about socio-political issues within the industry concerning representation, (musical) ownership and race.
Heimer (RUDE) (DE)
Living in between the two cities of Berlin and Frankfurt, Heimer is a visual and electronic music artist whos artistic output is packed with an unconventional style of displaced imagery, experimental soundscapes and heavily influenced by anti-aestheticization. Heimer's work focuses on dissolving inherited boundaries and unveiling the essence of sound and imagery. Whos main focus is to detach itself from the glorification of the individual.
Born and raised in the outer parts of Berlin, Heimer???s art practice has been formed by his passion for producing experimental electronic music (TOMLAB/DESKPOP), underground club culture, and an ever-changing but constantly dying city. Heimer is also are part of the RUDE collective which is a cross platform group of people focusing on deconstructing our idea of communication and visuality. A symbol for commercial productization that is built on a subculture which will never see its own benefits.
JANTES (MA/FR)
100% BOOTY 200% GETO 2HOES ON THE DECK RIDE IT SMELLS LIKE HASH AND CRUNK VIBES 2RIMS ON THE SPINN THEY MAKE THE WHEELIE LOOK FIT 2 RATS IN THE CLUB THEY GON MAKE THEM BOOTYS TWERLE
Rui Vargas (PT)
Lux-Frágil’s music director and resident since day 1, Rui keeps a lifelong love affair with the art of sharing music – the right record, at the right time. A radio host and DJ since 1988 – having played alongside an all-star who’s who of House and Techno -, his eagerness for freshness and quality is translated into being one of the country’s most in-demand DJs. A unique trendsetter, he showcases this ability not only with his bi-weekly show on the national public radio but also behind the decks (his six-hour-long sets being a Saturday night staple with a cult following) and, ultimately, working for the melting pot that is Lux’s musical programming.
Ntombi Ndaba & Esa's Afro-Synth Band - live (SA)
Eleanor Ntombikayise Ndaba was born on 28 February 1958 in Vryheid (Afrikaans for ‘Freedom’), in the Zululand region north of Durban. In the early 1960s, her family was forced to relocate to the newly built township of eMondlo a few kilometres away, along with millions of other South Africans living under the notorious system of enforced segregation known as apartheid. Ntombikayise (isiZulu for ‘Daddy’s girl) grew up in a close-knit family. Her father worked as a driver for a local furniture company, her mother as a domestic worker for a family in town. As a young girl, Ntombi would sit glued to her radio, taking it all in. The first record she bought was ‘Ngiyabuza’ by Letta Mbulu, one of her biggest influences. As a teenager, she started singing for a local band in eMondlo called Shame. Hooked, she decided to follow her dream and make the journey, like so many others, to the City of Gold: Johannesburg. “I’ve always known I’d be a singer,” she remembers. “I was singing in church and school. I wasn’t shy at all. I’m not shy, I’m an outspoken person. I don’t get nervous when I sing, I just feel free, and happy.” In Joburg, young Ntombi auditioned successfully to join the cast of Gibson Kente, the famous “father of township theatre”, in a production titled Hungry Spoon. In the same cast were two other young singers who were soon to become major stars of the ‘bubblegum’ era: Phumi Maduna (of Cheek To Cheek) and Brenda Fassie.
Nathan Fallou Fuhr (US/SN)
Founder & Artistic Director of festival Deggi Daaj International, adoptive son & final collaborator of UNESCO "Living Human Treasure" Doudou Ndiaye Rose.
Two Faced (MA)
ACHIL (MA)
Sweethis (MA)
Mez (UK)
"An MC who hails from Nottingham, England, Mez (know to his friends as Uncle) began his career back in 2013. After releasing several free EPs, in 2015 Mez began to set up his second home in London. Making appearances on radio stations including Rinse, Radar and NTS where he’s now a regular, Mez has also enjoyed support from BBC 1Xtra, winning their #NextInGrime competition. In the same year, he starred on Lord Of The Mics VII, the legendary battle series that sees MC’s go head-to-head in a lyrical war of words. Mez also took on jazz improvisation with the Kamaal Williams ensemble at the Redbull Studios, resulting in an epic 10-minute long one-take freestyle (and performances at Jazz Café and Electric Brixton). Mez has already supported Stormzy and Kano on their respective tours; Mez was also invited by Skepta as one of the acts to open his sold-out Alexandra Palace Show at the end of 2016. A similar request from D Double E followed with Mez appearing at his 02 Academy Islington headline show and subsequent 2019 tour. Festival appearances include Born N Bred, Bread & Butter & NASS while he’s already frequented Kosovo, Berlin and Amsterdam to spread his grime sound. An i-D Magazine one to watch for 2018, Mez’s subsequent debut EP ‘Tyrone’ pushed the sonic warfare further, allowing him to push his performance, demonstrating that he’s an ultimate stage show don with his DJ Grandmixxer.
Having built up his arsenal over the last 12 months, summer 2019 kicked off with the highly anticipated ‘Tyrone 2’ EP, offering up 11 tracks of futuristic mic skills and weird wonky twisted beats. With two full capacity high-octane Keep Hush parties under his durag, Mez is set on taking grime back to the club where it belongs. "
Mo Jakob (NL)
Mo Jakob is a DJ shaped by the sounds of boom-bap and jazz; through the sampling culture, he explored beyond these genres and taught himself to intertwine different schools in his sets. Mo Jakob organizes his own event 'Concentric Circles' in which storytelling plays a central role.
Brahim Laghfiri - live (MA)
Lead singer/artist Generation Taragalte
Guedra - live (MA)
Guedra is a trance ritual rather than dance. Usually done on the knees, it starts with the head and faces covered. Flicky movements of the hand. Ribcage vertical pulses. Swaying head. The ritual is performed by a solo woman but may include another woman or man.
DJ Okapi (SA)
Digging up rare vinyl grooves in the city of gold, DJ Okapi brings a forgotten era of South African pop music back to life... specifically the synth-fuelled 80s disco-funk known as bubblegum and the unique house-inspired kwaito grooves of the early 90s, connecting them to their contemporaries in other parts of Africa and its diaspora. Since 2009, through his Afrosynth blog (www.afrosynth.blogspot.com), DJ Okapi has been instrumental in turning a new generation of music fans all over the world on to South African music of the 80s and 90s, most of which was never heard outside the country at the time. Afrosynth has more recently grown into a physical store in downtown Johannesburg and a re-issue label, Afrosynth Records.
Afrorack - live (UG)
What started as a DIY modular synthesizer project by Bamanya Brian called AFRORACK has grown to be an audio arts organization to help the community develop and thrive through technology resources. The name is a play on the widely used Eurorack modular synthesizer. By committing to providing accessibility to modular synthesizers and sound design tools, they serve children and young adults of colour. At AFRORACK, everyone's focused on diverse community access via a collection of workshops, seminars, and ambitious programming centred around modular education.
Fatima Ferrari (NL)
Spinning an eclectic mix of electronic club and booty bounce sets, influenced by dark dancehall, Arab bass and UK bass influenced reggaeton.
Abdoulaye Kandiafa Kone - live (MLI)
Kandiafa plays the ngoni. With his brilliant technique, he brings out the finest melodies from his ngoni and is a knockout wherever they play!
Zineb Benjelloun (MA)
Zineb Benjelloun is an artist and illustrator from Morocco with a background in fine arts and documentary filmmaking. She is inspired by the richness of the iconography within Moroccan culture. Her work celebrates the collective imagination and knowledge. In addition to her exhibition work, Zineb does screen printing, illustrations for children’s books, graphic novels, visual identities for local and international cultural events as well as graphic design for public awareness campaigns.
Sarra Wild (UK)
Sarra Wild is a co-founder of the Glaswegian night club and collective, OH141 as well as a DJ and promoter. She created OH141, a space where women, people of colour and members of the LGBTQ+ community could have fun and feel safe and accepted. Sarra’s work has been recognised by Dazed and The List’s Hot 100 where she has been nominated for her stellar activism toward creating safe spaces for queer communities, people of colour, and women!
HAT - live (MA/US)
Since 2012, Hatim Belyamani – aka HAT – unites artists in an ever-evolving audio-visual dance between traditional music and digital remix art. In his one-of-a-kind live show, HAT is as an orchestra conductor from the future, beaming traditional musicians from the four corners of the world onto a big screen, and shaping them harmoniously into new electro beats. Growing up in Morocco, surrounded by sounds of the country’s Arabic, Amazigh, and Sub-Saharan African origins, Hatim was an award-winning classical pianist and guitarist before finding his voice in electronic music. In 2012, inspired to celebrate his roots, Hatim founded Remix ←→ Culture, a non-profit organization that bridges cultural divides through the transformative power of music, film, and remix. Hatim and his team traverse the globe, capturing the sights and sounds of underrepresented musical traditions, which they share for free online under a Creative Commons license. HAT’s performances are a live remixing of these videos, seamlessly blending the traditional with the experimental – acoustic trance with electronic dance – connecting his audiences to distant cultures in a unique audio-visual journey.
Tribe On Wax (MA)
Saad Elbaraka & Retro Cassetta - live (MA)
Get Me / A(WAKE) (NL)
Get Me – a place for today’s activist. A new generation of change advocates, grown up in a visually dominated world. They look for substance in distinctive aesthetics and don’t recognise themselves in current policies. This generation is determined to challenge the status quo and Get Me explores the radical alternatives. Through visual essays, honest portrayals and debates, we seek to bring understanding, relativism, and surer footing. Get Me is made up of two elements: our movement, and our agency – which specialises in creative strategy, campaigns and content. Where the movement, both represented in on- and offline space, creates a platform for new activist voices and brings like-minded young changemakers together, the agency is a guide for institutes, brands and decision-makers in this current world that is crying out for a new perspective.
Mr. Wix (NL)
Mr Wix' all-round style, digging deep in the crates and spinning everything from hip hop to broken beats made him a well-known DJ in the Dutch scene. Perfecting his skills on the decks since the mid-nineties, his career takes off in 1999 when he lands a monthly residency at Paradiso's Bassline - when Amsterdam's main Hip Hop/R&B; night. 2000 sees the launch of his monthly nights, 'Chocolate' in Off Corso (Rotterdam) and 'Knockout' in Paradiso (Amsterdam). These nights prove to be a platform for Wix's creative mind, adding his flavour to the whole package, from artwork to programming. His parties attract a fresh and funky crowd and are always packed. Major moves are made in the creative arena. Wix continues to set up 'Bling', a partnership with Jimmy Woo. He starts as DJ and co-host for VPRO's national radio show ' 3voor12XL' where his sounds infect the airwaves and the internet every week for years now. In 2005 Mr Wix decided to introduce two new genres in the Netherlands. Baile Funk and Baltimore Booty. Adding those two, the overall sound of Mr Wix got richer and more complete, taking one step further in the alternative dance scene. With his filthy Booty sound, Wix is a force to be reckoned with in the future! In September 2007 Wix was asked to play at the art show after party of the critically acclaimed artist and graphic designer Piet Parra at the Paris Paris club. The infamous Baguette Frappant evening was born. Wix and Parra formed Parra Soundsystem and with the help of the Pan O Chokolate crew from Paris, The Baguette Frappant evening is now a monthly resident at the famous Paris Paris. At this night Mr Wix plays a mix of Rock, Rave, Baile Funk, Bmore Booty and Hip Hop.
Sound of Mint - Live (MA)
Sound of Mint is a new and exciting collaboration between DJ/producer Fadel (Get Physical Music, Toolroom Records, Griffintown Records) and master percussionist and film composer, Joel Pelligrini, who has recorded more than 22 albums in his 35-year music career. Their new concept – a marriage between electronic music and atypical acoustic and analogic instruments – can be described as a colorfully orchestrated ethnic-electro performance with both surprising and enchanting improvisations. Inspired by North and Sub-Saharan African musical traditions, Sound of Mint produces the same euphoria procured by sipping a warm and perfectly spiced Moroccan mint tea. The music invites audience members to dance to unique improvisational moments filled with emotion, often leaving them in a state of trance. The upcoming live performances of Sound of Mint transmit the warmth of humanity by simultaneously touring the urban centers of the globe and echoing ancestral African traditions in the middle of deserts and other uncommon, mystical places. Their debut album is currently being recorded, and includes collaborations with acoustic masters in Africa, Asia, and Europe. In the mean time, you can watch their most recent live performance, set on a breathtaking rooftop in Casablanca. https://bit.ly/2Km3qwt
Ksti Hu (RUDE) (DE)
Ksti Hu is a Russian-born, German-based graphic designer and visual artist. After moving to a new country at the age of 18, she began to master German, which later became her second ???mother tongue.??? This intense linguistic experience prompted her to carry out an immense research project called ???Rude,??? which is focused on experiments with language, typography, and identity. Over the past years, she has been traveling around the globe with exhibitions, lectures, and performances, exploring new mediums and approaches in graphic design, settling in her work to no boundaries at all.
She taught costume & stage design by HFG Offenbach & fashion at K??nig Klasse, was among the art residency tutors on graphic design in Montenegro, organized by the Moscow ???Golden Bee??? Graphic Design Biennale."
➣ For the fourth time in a row, Atlas Electronic will be held in its home away from home: the environmentally friendly eco-lodge, Villa Janna. Some of you might know this place like the back of your hand by now. But for those of you who don't, let us walk you through our one-of-a-kind festival site.
Villa Janna is an eco-lodge built just outside the lively city of Marrakech. Situated in La Palmeraie - a palm grove counting over 100,000 palm trees - it is the perfect getaway. An adventurous off-road trail takes you further away from the familiar, leading you to an ancient looking building. Its round features arising from the desert-like plain are characteristics that, once seen, instantly become the landmarks for your navigation.
The award-winning location is applauded both nationally and internationally for its architecture and durability. In 2016, it won first place for durable tourism in the context of the twenty-second session of the Conference of the Parties (COP22) - an annual conference on climate change held by the United Nations. Villa Janna also holds the 2016 Terra award for its contemporary architecture from raw earth. But hold on. This eco-lodge from red clay is Africa's largest of its kind, making it the ultimate location for our intimate festival.
It's four days a year that Villa Janna is transformed into a stunning festival site able of hosting up to 2000 people. Each of its three stages in unique in its own way. From the rooftop stage with panoramic views to the ancient Roman-inspired Amphitheatre and laidback Pool stage, surprises lay around every corner. Take your time to roam the premises and explore the various hidden rooms and areas. Be inspired by the Atlas Art Village, sign up for one of the workshops or join the panel discussions.
One ticket gives you full access to the festival programme. Including elaborate art-programming, talks, workshops and panel discussions.
EARLY BIRD FESTIVAL TICKET + OPENING CONCERT | Passe-partout
One ticket gives you full access to the festival day and night programming on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Including an elaborate art-programming, talks, workshops and panel discussions.
2ND RELEASE FESTIVAL TICKET + OPENING CONCERT | Passe-partout
One ticket gives you full access to the festival day and night programming on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Including an elaborate art-programming, talks, workshops and panel discussions.
3RD RELEASE FESTIVAL TICKET + OPENING CONCERT | Passe-partout
One ticket gives you full access to the festival day and night programming on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Including an elaborate art-programming, talks, workshops and panel discussions.
4TH RELEASE FESTIVAL TICKET | Passe-partout
One ticket gives you full access to the festival day and night programming on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Including an elaborate art-programming, talks, workshops and panel discussions.
Note: this ticket is not valid on the Opening Concert on Thursday September 29, 2019.
Valid for 4 persons | One ticket gives 4 people access to the full festival programme. Including elaborate art-programming, talks, workshops and panel discussions.
Four Person | Early Bird Group Festival Ticket + Opening Concert
One ticket gives you full access to the festival day and night programming on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Including an elaborate art-programming, talks, workshops and panel discussions.
Four Person | 2nd Release Group Festival Ticket + Opening Concert
One ticket gives you full access to the festival day and night programming on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Including an elaborate art-programming, talks, workshops and panel discussions.
Four Person | 3rd Release Group Ticket
One ticket gives you full access to the festival day and night programming on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Including an elaborate art-programming, talks, workshops and panel discussions.
➣ Where is the festival?
The Opening Concert and Festival of Atlas Electronic are being held at Villa Janna Ecolodge located in the Palmeraie area of Marrakech.
The address of Villa Janna is Douar El Mghazli CR Al Ouidane, BP Guéliz 2691 - 40000, Morocco.
➣ What are the opening times?
Thursday 18:00 - 03:00
Friday 12:00 - 04:00
Saturday 12:00 - 05:00
Sunday 12:00 - 04:00
Thursday Opening concert with limited access.
The campsite is open from August 29th 12:00 until September 2nd 12:00.
The timetable will be communicated a few weeks before the event.
➣ When is the Opening Concert and/or the festival?
We’ll start the journey with an Opening Concert on August 29th. Thereafter we continue with three days of the festival between August 30th until September 1st of 2019.
➣ What's a Festival Passe-partout ticket?
A Festival Passe-partout is a ticket for three or four full days of the festival. This ticket will give you access to the festival from August 29th (Thursday) or 30th (Friday) until September 1st (Sunday).
The Opening Concert is included in the different ticket tiers. The capacity is very limited so don’t wait too long with purchasing your ticket.
➣ How does the deposit payment work at Fixers Worldwide?
1. Select your ticket(s) in our ticketshop
2. Go to payment and select Installment plan
3. Pay only 40% now
4. Get notified via email about the remaining payments (2 x 30%)
Purchases can’t be changed unless there is proof of a valid reason. In such a case, please contact our team: [email protected].
➣ I'm 17 now, but my 18th birthday is before the festival. Can I buy a ticket?
As long as you’re 18 by the time you pick-up your wristband, you may purchase a ticket when you are 17. Just make sure you bring your I.D. along – all customers are ID’d regardless of age.
➣ What's The Atlas Experience - Nomadic campsite package?
We are offering a limited amount of experience packages which include tickets to both the festival and opening concert, four nights in a luxury nomad tent on the campsite, daily breakfast, yoga, access to private concerts, a relaxation treatment with hammam and massage, unlimited dips in the pool and of course pick-up and drop-off with the Festival Shuttle Service - Location in the center.
➣ What access do I have?
With a Festival Passe-partout, visitors have access to the festival from the 29th August until the September 1st of 2019. You will have access to all public areas.
To enter the campsite you must have a valid Full Atlas Experience ticket or a separate add-on Camping ticket.
➣ I can't go anymore. Can I refund my ticket?
Purchases can’t be changed unless there is proof of a valid reason. In such a case, please contact our team: [email protected].
➣ Where do I buy a ticket?
You can purchase your ticket in the ticket shop of Fixers Worldwide.
Moroccan? Use an international credit card or contact us via our online-form to apply for it. One of the ambassadors will contact you to make the transaction.
➣ Can I change my package after I have paid?
Purchases can’t be changed unless there is proof of a valid reason. In such a case, please contact our team: [email protected].
➣ Payment failed. What now?
Did you fill in all the information correctly? Still not working? For everything regarding the tickets and the ticket shop, it is best to contact the service directly by going to https://help.fixersworld.com.
➣ What's the best way to get to the festival?
We advise you to use the Festival Shuttle Service from the city centre or designated hotels.
Schedules of the shuttle service will be announced 2 weeks prior to the festival.
➣ Is there a good taxi service?
We advise you to use our Festival Shuttle Service or plan your ride carefully in advance when you’re new in Morocco to avoid extra costs. Our Festival Shuttle Service schedule will be communicated before the event.
➣ What's The Atlas Experience - Nomadic campsite package?
We are offering a limited amount of experience packages which include tickets to both the festival and opening concert, four nights in a luxury nomad tent on the campsite, daily breakfast, yoga, access to private concerts, a relaxation treatment with hammam and massage, unlimited dips in the pool and of course pick-up and drop-off with the Festival Shuttle Service - Location in the center.
➣ What access do I have?
With a Festival Passe-partout, visitors have access to the festival from the 29th August until the September 1st of 2019. You will have access to all public areas.
To enter the campsite you must have a valid Full Atlas Experience ticket or a separate add-on Camping ticket.
➣ I can't go anymore. Can I refund my ticket?
Purchases can’t be changed unless there is proof of a valid reason. In such a case, please contact our team: [email protected].
➣ Where do I buy a ticket?
You can purchase your ticket in the ticket shop of Fixers Worldwide.
Moroccan? Use an international credit card or contact us via our online-form to apply for it. One of the ambassadors will contact you to make the transaction.
➣ Can I change my package after I have paid?
Purchases can’t be changed unless there is proof of a valid reason. In such a case, please contact our team: [email protected].
➣ Payment failed. What now?
Did you fill in all the information correctly? Still not working? For everything regarding the tickets and the ticket shop, it is best to contact the service directly by going to https://help.fixersworld.com.
➣ Where do I sleep?
We advise you to book a spot on the campsite to avoid the hassle of commuting. However, we are working on ways to offer hotel deals, which will be communicated when available.
➣ Do you have other options for accommodation?
Currently, there are no other options outside of the On-site Camping. This may change in the coming months.
➣ Can I get a package for one person?
Unfortunately, packages come in pairs (two-person or four-person packages). Travelling alone? Get yourself a Festival Passe-partout or find someone to share a tent with on our facebook page.
➣ Do we get a private tent?
Yes, we have tents for 2 persons and 4 persons.
➣ When does the campsite open? When can I check-in?
The campsite is officially open to Atlas Electronic visitors from Thursday 29th August 12:00 until Monday 2nd of September 12:00.
➣ Can I bring my pet?
Pets are not allowed anywhere within the campsite and festival grounds. Access will be denied at the door.
➣ Can I take a shower?
Yes, there will be showers available for our camping guests.
➣ What can/can't I bring to the campsite?
Illegal substances are strictly prohibited at the festival. Any person found in possession of such substances will be denied entry and/or removed from the festival. You are allowed to bring two litres of alcohol and unlimited food and water to the campsite. Note that this is possible only upon arrival. However, there will be enough bars/food corners where you can get reasonably priced food/drinks.
➣ Can I bring a Campervan into the campsite?
Please send an email to [email protected] to discuss.
➣ How do I get in touch with the PR person of Atlas Electronic?
Please send an email to [email protected].
➣ I have a suggestion and would like to get in touch with the organization.
Please send an email to info@atlas-electronic.com.
➣ How do I get in contact for everything regarding tickets?
It's best to visit https://help.fixersworld.com/ or email to [email protected].
➣ House rules
By entering the festival grounds you are agreeing that you have read and understood these house rules and agree to comply with and be bound by these house rules.
The house rules are subject to change, the most up-to-date version of the house rules that will apply will be available at the gate of Atlas Electronic.
If visitors do not abide by the Atlas Electronic house rules, they can and will be removed from the festival area.
We don't allow any kinds of soft and/or hard drugs or research chemicals.
If you have (prescription) medicines you need to bring with you, please email [email protected] and we will discuss the appropriate procedure.
Follow instructions by Atlas Electronic staff and security at all times.
Security personnel can search visitors.
Refusal to undergo a search will result in expulsion, without a refund.
Visitors are to abide by decisions made by security personnel at all times.
These decisions could relate to carrying and/or bringing in materials, food and equipment or the validity of entrance tickets.
Atlas Electronic staff will always have the final say in these matters.
The sale of t-shirts and other souvenirs, as well as foods and drinks, is prohibited.
Distributing flyers, posters, banners and/or stickers is not permitted – neither at or around the festival area, nor at the hotels and the nearby roads.
Sampling is not allowed, either.
Lighting a fire or BBQ is strictly forbidden.
At the request of Atlas Electronic’s staff, security or otherwise, you will have to show your ID to confirm your age. We might also ask for your ID at the bar. The legal drinking age in Morocco is 18 years.
We reserve the right to make changes in the festival programme and/or timetable.
➣ Do bring
- Your good mood
- Small backpacks or bags
- Sunscreen (containers will be checked at the entrance)
- Swimming gear (we have a pool)
- Blanket or rug to sit on
➣ Not allowed to bring
- Any amount of soft or hard drugs
- (Semi-)professional equipment, such as photo, audio, video or recording equipment, including GoPro. These can be confiscated upon entrance.
- Glassware, cans and plastic bottles
- Flyers, stickers or other promotional/print materials
- Permanent markers
- Large backpacks
- Umbrellas and parasols
- Food and drinks in any kind of containers and/or wrapping
- Dangerous objects
- Stools, steps and/or folding chairs
- Pets
- Air cushions and/or other inflatable material, e.g. air beds or chairs
- Prams and buggies
- Large plastic tarps
- Banners or flags
➣ What currency do I need on-site
The Moroccan currency is called Dirham (MAD). For certain side-activities, you will need cash. However, the majority of the purchases at the festival (e.g. food, drinks, and shisha) are paid with AE Tokens which can be purchased with cards or cash after entrance.
➣ Can I exchange a foreign currency for Dirham (MAD) on-site?
No, you can’t exchange any foreign currencies to Dirhams.
➣ Why do you use AE tokens payment service?
This service ensures the quickest and safest way of paying at the festival.
➣ Where can I get my wristband?
You will get your wristband when you enter the festival site. Note that you only get one wristband. Keep this wristband on at all times.
➣ Will there be any ATMs on-site?
Yes, there will be ATMs on the site. But we do advise you to bring enough cash.
➣ What is the price of the drinks on-site?
One AE Token will be worth around 30 Dirham.