Text by CLOT Magazine
SEMIBREVE, the Portuguese festival, is back from 24 to 27 this October for its 14th edition. Working with venues and open spaces in Braga, such as the UNESCO World Heritage site Bom Jesus, the grand Theatro Circo, contemporary art space gnration and Capela Imaculada chapel, throughout the last 13 editions, the programme has alternated collaborations, sound presentations, audio-visual performances and installations as well as workshops and conferences.
Highlights for the 2024 edition include the premiere of the extended version of The Reintegration of the Ear, a piece by composer and sound artist Christina Vantzou. This performance, featuring Irène Kurka, John Also Bennett, and Vantzou herself, will include tape, voice, bass flute, and electronics in a multiphonic arrangement. Rrose, the alter ego of American-born and London-based artist Seth Horvitz, who is celebrated for creating intricate techno with layered, filtered frequencies and tactile hissing sounds, will deliver a DJ set known for its ability to command the dancefloor.
Returning to Braga, Moritz von Oswald will present his new masterpiece, Silencio, composed on classic synthesisers and where he works with a 16-voice choir to explore the differences between human and artificial sound. Ziúr, founder and resident DJ of ‘Boo-Hoo’, produces music within such a scope, expansive, rich and diverse in texture, and will present a DJ set. The Bug, a founding member of King Midas Sound and countless other music projects will make the world premiere of Black, a musical eulogy to Amy Winehouse. Shida Shahabi‘s works blend classical and electronic elements, creating deeply atmospheric compositions. She will present her second album, Living Circle (2023), which combines ambient and drone techniques, offering a rich, immersive musical experience that appeals to both the mind and the heart.
We’ll not miss Białowieża and A Forbidden Distance, two projects that are part of The Crossing, a collaborative project by SEMIBREVE with Unsound, Sónar, and Berlin Atonal, as part of the TIMES network, which aims to support, promote, and improve diversity and sustainability within the music sector.
Białowieża is a performance by field recordist Chris Watson and Izabela Dłużyk, a blind sound recordist renowned for her profound connection to nature’s acoustics. The concert will take place in darkness, surrounded by an 8-channel sound system. A Forbidden Distance is a joint project by Iranian Canadian brothers Saint Abdullah, Irish sound designer and musician Eomac, and London-based Italian-Australian video artist and filmmaker Rebecca Salvadori that explores the sense of self in relation to processes of displacement.
SEMIBREVE will feature Stone Tape, two commissioned sound pieces by artists Jim O’Rourke and Keith Fullerton Whitman. Originally intended to be presented in a 17th-century monastery on the outskirts of Braga during the festival’s 2020 edition. After 4 years of waiting, These works will be exhibited as sound installations at Casa Rolão, a historic building and one of Braga’s most notable bookstores.
Other artists confirmed for this year’s edition are Spanish producer Nueen, who will collaborate with Manchester vocalist, rapper, poet, and performer Iceboy Violet; PUYR; DJ-activist born in Santiago de Compostela Saya; DJ and producer from Lisbon Van Der, who specialises in techno, exploring different subgenres in his sets; Carmen Villain, who crafts atmospheric music blending field recordings, woodwinds, samples, and synths, incorporating elements of fourth world, dub, and ambient; and Kalia Vandever, a Grammy Award-winning trombonist and composer, who will perform her first solo album, We Fell in Turn, released earlier this year.
SEMIBREVE is globally renowned for fostering community and diversity and supporting artists who explore new realms and venture into the unknown. The EDIGMA SEMIBREVE Award is the festival’s annual award to celebrate and promote the creation of works that explore interactivity, sound, and image supported by digital technologies. This year’s winner is Chasing Waterfalls, an audiovisual installation created by Hidden Edges.
The installation features a twisted screen structure with an unconventional, fluid, and organic shape that evokes a suspended waterfall. AI-generated animations of flowing water, seemingly organic yet machine-made, slowly decompose into pixelated flows of information and data patterns. This work will be presented during the festival together with works from the EDIGMA Semibreve Scholar that include Tree-dimensional by Ema Ferreira, COM TACTO by Eva Barbosa, Symbiophone by Jéssica Pereira Gaspar, Greenwasher by Susana Brochado with Ana Medeiros, and Código Concreto by Tobias Gaede.
Finally, another highlight added to the lineup is two artist talks. One between Mohammad Mehrabani-Yeganeh (of Saint Abdullah) and Saya Mohamed (Saya) conversing with Claire Biddles from The Wire will explore themes of migration, borders, and social identities, focusing on how these experiences shape sonic identities. Another one between Izabela Dłużyk and Margarida Mendes will discuss her collaborative process with Chris Watson, addressing artistic choices and the ethical questions that this project inevitably raised. As in previous editions, workshops will be open to the public and aimed at students. One is by Christina Vantzou, who explains how sound and voice play vital roles in shaping our world and emotions. At the same time, Kalia Vandever will lead a workshop focused on her distinctive sonorous tone and lyrical improvisation.
Find tickets here.
