Two years after an exciting and promising 2019 edition, and at the end of a long tunnel of cancellations, postponements, closures and impossibility for cultural events to exist and for artists to take the stage, Nuits sonores & European Lab Brussels are finally back to life and renewing the thread of their story. The team, the partners and all the structures involved in the organization of the festival and the forum announce with great joy the 4th edition: it will be committed, nocturnal, festive and liberated.
The organizers want to reclaim the spaces that have disappeared for too long of conviviality, dialogue, sharing and proximity. They want to take note of the profound paradigm shifts that have accompanied this phase of the global health crisis, particularly with regard to culture and its democratic, social and environmental issues. What role should a festival and a forum for debate play with the public and its territory? How can we take the right measure of the democratic and environmental crisis we are going through? How can we be useful and try to transform our cultural events into opportunities to ward off withdrawal?
From 6 to 10 October 2021, the 4th edition will be written under the sign of diversity, mixity and parity. In the fabulous setting of Bozar, in the warmth of C12, in the welcoming and unifying walls of LaVallée.
For five days, the festival will offer an exploratory and innovative musical program: where a contemporary electronic artist like Max Cooper can meet post-modern composer Bruce Brubaker for a tribute to Philip Glass, where institutional music will be heckled by a new guard of subversive musicians, like the neo-classicism defended by Polish musicians Hania Rani & Dobrawa Czocher, where music will flirt with dance, cinema and performance, with, in particular, the creation Deep See Blue Surrounding You, a project by video artist and visual artist Laure Prouvost, who will invite musicians such as Flavien Berger and Lafawndha on stage.
European Lab consists of conferences, debates and documentary screenings designed to make sense of the great political, economic, social and urban transformations of our age. Inviting a new generation of thinkers and citizens to join the debate, European Lab reflects the convictions of Bozar Agora, an initiative that brings art, society and politics together to challenge and rebuild the European narrative, particularly among the younger generations.
European Lab
Thursday 7 & Friday 8 October – 16:00-23:00
Bozar – Terarken & Rotonde – Rue Ravenstein 23, 1000 Brussels
Free of charge
The alternative hub is set at LaVallée for the two last days of the festival. With a musical improvisation that will last four hours on modular machines and a carte blanche to the Belgian collective Queer Future Club, whom performers will take care of closing the festival.
The program will highlight the abundant Belgian and Brussels scene, whose international echo is growing stronger and stronger, such as Nala Sinephro, a genius harpist who just signed her first album on the prestigious Warp label. Likewise M I M I, a young Belgian artist from Zambia who, through his DJ sets, explores his Afro-descendant origins and brilliantly defines the future of an electronic scene that is definitely oriented towards the South.
From the rare meeting of Sara Dziri and Mika Oki on the decks of C12 (opening for Daniel Avery & HAAi) to the first performance in their own city of the new duo It’s Complicated formed by David Shaw and Strapontin, not forgetting an original back to back between Le Motel and German artist Darwin, or a futuristic jazz jam with Maoupa Mazzocchetti & Simon Halsberghe, among others. The festival will also honour artistic collectives, spokespersons for living and committed communities, ambassadors of the capital’s diversity and dynamism.
This year, Nuits sonores Brussels will give carte blanche to the Queer Future Club, which brings together performers, dancers, musicians, speakers and even fortune tellers, by entrusting them with the keys to the festival’s closing on Sunday 10 October at LaVallée.
Program
Max Cooper & Bruce Brubaker present Glassforms + Hania Rani & Dobrawa Czocher
Wednesday 6 October · 19:00-23:00
Bozar · Henry Le Boeuf Hall – Rue Ravenstein 23, 1000 Brussels
26€
Nala Sinephro
Thursday 7 October · 19:30-22:30
Bozar · Hall M – Rue Ravenstein 23, 1000 Brussels
16€
Deep See Blue Surrounding You ft. Flavien Berger, Lafawndah & Laure Prouvost (commissaire : Martha Kirszenbaum)
Friday 8 October · 19:30-23:00
Bozar · Henry Le Boeuf Hall – Rue Ravenstein 23, 1000 Brussels
19€ · Combi ticket afterparty 29€
Afterparty #1
Daniel Avery b2b HAAi, Mika Oki b2b Sara Dziri, Rokia Bamba, Mim Suleiman, AliA
Friday 8 October · 23:00-06:00
C12 – Rue du Marché aux Herbes 16, 1000 Brussels
16€ · combi ticket Deep See Blue 29€
Afterparty #2
It’s Complicated, JASSS, Aroh b2b Kuba’97, M I M I, TSVI, Le Motel b2b Darwin
Saturday 9 October · 23:00-06:00
C12 – Rue du Marché aux Herbes 16, 1000 Brussels
14€
Hub alternatif: Modular jam
Simon Halsberghe, Weird Dust, Dziri, Maoupa Mazzocchetti
Saturday 9 October · 18:00-00:00
LaVallée – Rue Adolphe Lavallée 39, 1080 Brussels
10€
Hub alternatif: Queer Future Club
Azo b2b Gamine + more TBA
Sunday 10 October · 16:00-00:00
LaVallée – Rue Adolphe Lavallée 39, 1080 Brussels
10€
