Feminist, diverse and genre-spanning: from July 11 —13, 2024 the Heroines of Sound Festival presents early and present heroines of electronic sound ranging through performance, sound art, and progressive pop.
The allegedly disembodied sound of electronic music is a myth that we shed new light upon with our latest program, in particular with the two festival highlights on voice and percussion in combination with electronics. You are invited to experience drum and electronic sets performed by outstanding percussionists including Katharina Ernst, Tatiana Heuman, Florencia Curci, Teresa Riemann, Robyn Schulkowsky, and Laura Robles.
In concert with the young Polish ensemble Kompopolex, new works by Kelley Sheehan, Stellan Veloce, Sofie Meyer, Greta Eacott, Marta Śniady and Monika Dalach will be performed for the first time in Berlin. These explore the multifaceted spectrum of electronically enhanced percussive and instrumental voices in a unique way.
The soloist ensemble PHØNIX16 presents the world premiere of Marisol Jiménez’s “Maŝinika Deliro” – a crossover of performance art and electro-acoustic sound synthesis that virtually transforms the human body into a sound generator through the interplay of electronics and voice, shaking up our ideas about sound with rattling vocal chords and false vocal folds.
A spotlight is on Katalin Ladik (*1942). As one of the few female protagonists of the artistic avant-garde, she established herself as a pioneer of acoustic poetry in the former Yugoslavia of the 1960/70s with her radical approach. Using her body and voice as instrument and medium, she questions conventional gender roles, as she also does in her new work “Membrane Universe” which was commissioned by the festival. Together with interdisciplinary performances by younger artists/authors such as Ira Hadžić and Swantje Lichtenstein, the intergenerational evening program presents a wide variety of encounters between language, literature and sound art.
Further highlights include works by Karen Power, Kathy Hinde and Anna Murray with the Irish Quiet Music Ensemble which appears for the first time in Berlin. These explore the potential of contemporary music in combination with electronics, field recordings, dance, and Japanese Noh singing. This year´s guest curator Julia Mihály presents her new version of “18WEST – Songs for the Downfall” stirring up references to agitprop and protest music.
Together with performances by experimental-instrumentalist Theresa Stroetges aka Golden Diskó Ship, a beat-oriented set by electric bassist Farida Amadou as well as the multifaceted Ukrainian electronic sound artist Zavoloka tracing Ukrainian folk instruments into a sphere of abstract psychoactive sounds, a broad panorama of today’s experimental electronic music unfolds.
Three densely-packed festival days offer a diverse program during the day as well. Including video art, film portrait, workshop and on-hand sound bar. The program is rounded off by panel discussions on the key aspects of the festival program.
