Radio Asia Festival, December 6–9, 2018
Radio Asia Festival, an event dedicated to niche Asian music, returns to Warsaw for its second edition. But its history goes back even further - it was born four years earlier as a series of concerts. So far, we hosted thirteen Asian artists and groups. Eight more coming up!
During the four festival days, you can hear radically different music projects - from contemplative, minimalist compositions, combining the sound of acoustic instruments and subtle electronics, through ritual dances accompanied by modern music, explosively melodic jazz from Korea, and homey Japanese melodies, to processed field recordings and a high-octane evening dance party with Indian bhangra.
Just like last year, the concerts are accompanied by Radio Asia Academy, which includes meetings with the artists, workshops, and lectures.
Radio Asia Academy Program
Tickets for individual day cost 60 PLN and are available at radioazja.pl, Going, Empik Bilety, as well as in the Empik chain stores and TR Warszawa. A ticket for a given day entitles you to take part in two concerts.
The guests of Radio Asia are:
6 XII: Midori Hirano (Japan)
Midori Hirano is a pianist, composer, and producer. She played the piano from an early age, and later went on to specialize in it at the music academy. Her compositions are based on the combination of the sounds of acoustic instruments, such as the piano, the strings, or the guitar, with an experimental mixture of contemporary, digital sounds, and subtly processed field recordings.
More info
6 XII: Masayoshi Fujita & Jan Jelinek (Japan/Germany)
A unique encounter of a renown Japanese vibraphonist and the guru of German electronic music. Jan Jelinek is famous for his minimalist compositions, which can be described as microhouse, glitch, or minimal techno. The artist focuses on the transformation of sound, transposing the parameters of popular music canon into abstract, reduced, textural electronics. He constructs collages from microfragments of sounds, forgotten samples, and audio tapes. He loops and modulates them, disguising their original source. Masayoshi Fujita is a composer and instrumentalist. In search of his own, individual vibraphone sound, he constantly explores its possibilities, attaching pieces of metal, foil, or other objects to the instrument. The new sounds he produces, which resemble computer distortions, broaden the sound spectrum without losing the actual character of the instrument. The music composed by Fujita is a spacious, hypnotic journey into the unknown, an oneiric voyage, an endless flight.
More info
7 XII: RSVP Bhangra (India/UK)
This five-man band combines traditional folk music from Punjab with Western rock chic, creating an irresistible high-energy dance mix. The sounds, beefed up by the classic rock instruments, bringing to mind dancing scenes from Bollywood movies, have charmed the audiences of numerous music festivals. The collective craze triggered by their performances at Glastonbury, Boomtown, or Womad, prove that the group's enthusiasm and energy are highly contagious.
More info
7 XII: Indian Man - Dj set (India/UK)
As a DJ, Indian Man serves bhangra in a new, yet traditional style, with a garage and hip hop touch. Bhangra is a music and dance style from Punjab, originally performed by farmers during Vaisakhi - a Punjabi spring celebration. Nowadays, the name also describes a style of pop music, which combines various elements of Western rock and traditional Punjabi music. Indian Man performed at international festivals, such as Glastonbury, Goulash Disko, Shambala, Latitude, Boomtown, Nozstock, Port Eliot, and Womad, introducing bhangra to dancing crowds. In December, bhangra will take over the audiences in Warsaw.
More info
8 XII: Tenniscoats (Japonia)
Tenniscoats are a Japanese duo made up of Saya and Takashi Ueno. Their music is a combination of folk, gentle psychedelics, and dreamy indie, which the artists like to describe as avant-pop. They are one of the most hipsterish bands of the Japanese underground scene. Their music is simple, unaffected, and genuine. The duo is not interested in inflated solos or complex compositions, instead playing with pure, heartwarmingly positive energy.
More info
8 XII: Hyunjin Bek & Kimoki Saturnballad (South Korea)
Hyunjin Bek is an artist with extremely broad interests - he works in the fields of visual art, film, theater, poetry, and music. Graduate of the sculpture department of the Seoul Institute of the Arts, he worked with the cult Arario gallery in Seoul. His works were shown in China, UK, and Italy. His first music project, UHUHBOO, is considered to be the most eccentric band in South Korea. The band's music found its way to Pina Bausch's performance and Park Chan-wook's films. The Polish audiences had a chance to experience the unparalleled stage expression of the band's leader in 2013, during the unforgettable concert in Warsaw.
More info
9 XII: Baliphonics (Sri Lanka)
The band was created in 2009, when the drummer, Samudi Suraweer, became fascinated with the music accompanying the rituals from Bali and Sri Lanka, and began his ethnomusicological research in this field. The make-up of the group is highly unusual. The band includes a modern, avant-garde duo - a drummer and a clarinetist, and two dancers and singers rooted in traditional music.
More info
9 XII: Kink Gong (France)
The auteur project of Laurent Jeanneau, musician and self-pronounced ethnographer. For 18 years, he has been traveling through Southeast Asia, documenting the disappearing music traditions of ethnic minorities. Jeanneau gathers and compiles unedited materials in his growing archive of sounds and images. Fragments from his collection, combined with modern electronics tissue, are released by a cult American label Sublime Frequencies, and the British Discrepant.
More info
Partners: TR Warszawa, Pogłos
Media: Dwójka - Program 2 Polskiego Radia, Co Jest Grane 24, Empik Bilety, Glissando, NN6T, Going., nowamuzyka.pl, Progrefonik, POKA POKA, AMS, Fiszki Polityki.
Festival is supported by Warsaw City Council
