Ha'fest festival brings the world's musical weirdos together
Experimental sounds from across the world take centre stage at Ha'fest, a four-day music festival in Ghent
Experimental combinations
In 2013, she finally released an album under her own name and followed it up last year with The Sparkle in Our Flaws on the German label Glitterhouse, a reputed refuge for singer-songwriters.
At next week’s Ha’fest, organised by Handelsbeurs concert hall in Ghent and dedicated to experimental combinations, Acda (pictured) presents a new project. She won’t be playing at the Handelsbeurs itself, but at Sint-Jacob’s church. And she won’t be accompanied by her usual musicians (guitar, bass, drums) but by wind instruments, percussionists and a male choir.
The idea is to lend her songs a magical, even celestial, touch. Support act that evening is the Swedish Anna von Hausswolff who’s combining strange organ sounds with electronics.
More artic sounds come from Iceland’s Jóhann Jóhannsson, who will accompany his own documentary End of Summer, billed as “a startling look at life at the end of the world”. That same evening, Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire’s violinist, Sarah Neufeld, combines contemporary classical with improvisational and pop.
Ha’fest also offers the hypnotising noise of electric thumb pianos played by the Congolese ensemble Konono N°1 and the weird sound mixes of French pianist Christophe Chassol. The festival finishes with a jazzy evening: the crazy Portuguese big band L.U.M.E., the psychedelic jazz rock of Norwegian group Elephants and Taxiwars, the surprising bond between dEUS singer Tom Barman and saxmeister Robin Verheyen.
From 11 to 14 May at Handelsbeurs, Ghent
Photo © Terry Magson/Glitterhouse
