Heroines of Sound Festival – Tag 1

In the organizer's words:

Feminist, diverse, cross-genre: from July 11 to 13, 2024, the "Heroines of Sound" festival will once again present early and current heroes of electronic sound through to performance, sound art and advanced pop at Radialsystem. The 'disembodied' sound of electronic music is a legend that will be re-examined with the current program, but especially with the two festival focuses on voice and percussion in combination with electronics. You can experience beat-oriented drum and electronic sets by outstanding percussionists such as 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 can be heard for the first time in Berlin. These works 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' "Maŝinika Deliro" in the Radialsystem - 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, shattering sonic perceptions with rattling vocal chords and false vocal folds.

One of the festival's spotlights 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 with her radical approach in the former Yugoslavia of the 1960s/70s. Using body and voice as instrument and medium, she questions conventional gender roles, as in her new work "Membrane Universe" - a composition commissioned by the festival.

Together with interdisciplinary performances by younger artists/authors such as Ira Hadžić and Swantje Lichtenstein, the intergenerational evening program presents the diverse encounters between language, literature and (sound) art. Other highlights include recent compositions by Karen Power, Kathy Hinde and Anna Murray, which the Irish Quiet Music Ensemble will be performing in Berlin for the first time. These works explore the potential of contemporary music in combination with electronics, field recordings, dance and Noh singing from Japanese culture. Composer and this year's guest curator Julia Mihály will present her new version of "18WEST - Songs for the Downfall", which captivates with its stylistic references to agitprop and protest music. The program also presents performances by experimental multi-instrumentalist Theresa Stroetges aka Golden Diskó Ship and Ukrainian electronic musician Zavoloka.