Nusasonic is a multi-year project that plunges into a broad spectrum of experimental sound and music cultures in Southeast Asia, enabling dialogue within the region, with Europe, and beyond. It kicks off 2–13 October 2018 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, beginning as a multi-day lab where new artist pairings, a hacklab, and a sonic wilderness group play together and create new musical works, ideas, and possibilities. Later in the week and weekend, the festival showcases the results of these works within a programme that also includes concerts, a club night, guerrilla outdoor events, and daytime programme of talks, panels, and workshops.

Nusasonic takes its title from “Nusantara,” an ancient Javanese term which is nowadays used to address the multiple connections between Southeast Asian countries. Nusasonic will incorporate a mix of formats such as artistic labs, commissioned works, concerts, installations, festivals, lectures, publications and more to look at how contemporary sound practices enable connections and dialogues within the Southeast Asian region and with Europe, all while paying critical attention to local contexts and ongoing global asymmetries. In addition to presenting outstanding artistic voices to the public, the initiative will aim to support artists in their practice, to strengthen local networks, to encourage cross-border and inter-cultural cooperation, and to contribute to broadening the understanding of contemporary sound practices. The Yogyakarta kick-off features:

AGF [DE/FI] / Caliph8 [PH] / Cheryl Ong, Riska Farasonalia, Nadya Hatta, Kok Siew Wai [INT] / Dangerdope [ID] / Erick Calilan & Duto Hardono [PH/ID] / Fauxe [SG] / Gabber Modus Operandi [ID] / Jessica Ekomane [FR/DE] / Joee & I [PH] / Jogja Noise Bomging [ID] / Kombo [INT] / mobilegirl [DE] / Nadah el Shazly [EG] / N.M.O. [INT] / Opium Hum [DE] / Peter Kirn, Lintang Radittya, Andreas Siagian – MusicMakers Hacklab [INT] / Potro Joyo [ID] / Setabuhan [ID] / Sote [IR] / Uwalmassa [ID] / Yennu Ariendra & J Mo’ong Santoso Pribadi [ID] & more

Adopting a multi-perspective approach, the project is collaboratively created by Yes No Klub (Yogyakarta), WSK Festival of the Recently Possible (Manila), Playfreely/BlackKaji (Singapore), and CTM Festival for Adventurous Music & Art (Berlin). It is an initiative of the Goethe-Instituts in Southeast Asia.

Following the kick-off in Yogyakarta, Nusasonic will take different shapes and formats and visit Manila, Singapore, and other loctions in Southeast Asian over the coming years. The initiative will also connect to Berlin and to some extent the globe.

→ nusasonic.com

You can also follow the initiative on Instagram @Nusasonic.

An initiative of the Goethe-Instituts in Southeast Asia. Supported by Musicboard Berlin and the SHAPE platform which is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.