SONOTOPIA: GLOBAL SOUTH GROOVES with Kampire & Adamantios [DJ set]

GLOBAL SOUTH GROOVES
Friday, October 9th
PLEX
22:00 - 04:00
Free Entrance!

This special “global south” party brings Uganda’s Nyege Nyege back to Athens, with Kampire’s unique selection and energy. Be ready for outernational beats and latest productions from the farthest corners of the global music scene!

20:00 – 22:00 – Artist Talk
Binetou Sylla with Adamantios Kafetzis

22:00 - Party
Kampire (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
Adamantios (Teranga Beat)

Kampire
DJ set
Among East Africa’s most exciting DJs and a core member of Kampala’s Nyege Nyege collective, Kampire’s vibrant bass-heavy sets have transported her to bring the best of Ugandan party culture to clubs & festivals across the world. Her Boiler Room set from Nyege Nyege festival 2018 was a legitimate ‘internet moment’, with thousands of shares leading to serious FOMO from electronic music fans watching online. In October 2021 Kampire joined BBC Radio 1’s as one of their esteemed ‘Residency’ host DJs, giving her an even bigger platform for showcasing the best new music from across the diaspora and followed this with a crucial BBC Essential Mix in 2022. Her monthly NTS Radio Residency has continued to see Kampire shine a light on other DJs & artists from Africa and the diaspora, including Authentically Plastic, Chrisman & DJ IV.

The recent ‘A Dancefloor in Ndola’ compilation curated for Strut Records, saw Kampire return to her roots and bring together a range of different East and Southern African genres from Congolese rumba and soukous to 1980s township bubblegum and the rich guitar-led sounds of Zambian kalindula. “There are styles of music on the compilation which are often considered unsophisticated from rural areas. I and other contemporary African artists and DJs draw inspiration from them; it is part of what makes us ourselves.” Kampire also shines the spotlight on many incredible women in African music from the 80s, including Congolese legends like Pembey Sheiro, Feza Shamamba and Princesse Mansia M’bila to V-Mash and Di Groovy Girls from South Africa. As a curator, Kampire’s week-long ‘Club & Care’ Residency at Gessnerallee in Zurich celebrated inclusive nightlife; with workshops, a sober day rave and a club night featuring internationally recognized DJs and local collectives.

Adamantios (Teranga Beat) DJ set
Adamantios Kafetzis, visual artist, intensive record collector, DJ, owner of the Teranga Beat record label and editor of the Eligo Audio Culture website. Adamantios Kafetzis curates DJ-sets of rare power and true feeling, always presenting unpredictable recordings. After extensive research and regular visits to Senegal and its neighboring countries, he decided to establish Teranga Beat Records, bringing to the fore a well-hidden chapter of West African music. Based in Dakar, Teranga Beat started in 2010, releasing “Diamonoye Tiopité – L’ Epoque De L’Evolution”. To date, Teranga Beat has released 14 releases. Hybrid Grooves from around the world.

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SONOTOPIA - The Soundtrack to Bautopia Festival

This years’ seventh edition of ECHN’s annual BAUTOPIA event is the largest to date. It is a culture and creativity festival in the true sense of the word, with numerous programs across different venues, including exhibitions, guided tours, book launches and special activities. It is only logical that it also presents its own music programming, across the venues Bios, Romantso, Latraac and Plex.

Each BAUTOPIA event is co-hosted by one of ECHN's member hubs. Under the title CREATIVE AGENCY: Sustaining Culture & Creativity in the Age of Intelligence, creative hub managers, CCSI stakeholders, artists, creative professionals, students and the general audience will explore sustainability not only from the environmental standpoint, but also the sustainability of creative professions in the face of multiple crises.

This October, our host will be BIOS in Athens, which encompasses several well-known venues and hubs, including Bios itself, Romantso, Plex and Latraac, each offering a different spatial context for exhibiting, performing and learning. With many CCSI professionals converging to Athens for the event, we decided to extend and develop the event’s music program, and give it its own identity under the SONOTOPIA banner.

You can expect four distinct music events, featuring artists from Greece, Switzerland, France, Denmark, the UK and Uganda, from playful experiments and pure noise, over eclectic dance selections, all the way to cutting-edge drum’n’bass, jungle and dubstep plates, rounded up by a party focusing on the sounds of the global south and bringing the vibes of renowned Nyege Nyege Tapes label, which recontextualized contemporary African dance music for the new generations of audiences.

The artists include the meccano master Pierre Bastien, making a comeback to Athens after 15 years since his last performance; Kampire, the lady on the forefront of the Nyege Nyege Tapes global takeover; Binetou, founder and director of Wèrè Wèrè Music which builds Bridges between African contemporary music and the world, and a producer and DJ herself; Klinical, one of the leaders of the new wave of UK bass music; Insomniac, Swiss bass and jungle DJ regularly moving around the European circuit; Ivanol, Chilean-born but Danish-based noise doctor; as well as selected local contributions from the likes of Jay Glass Dubs, K.atou, Adamantios and Cryogenics.

More confirmations are being expected, as well as a safe, easy-listening afternoon refuge at Latraac, for those wishing to move away from the noise and the crowd, and the Craft Club pop-up, in which everyone is invited to dance or chill, but one way or the other - to do some crochet!

A little bit of everything, for everyone!