The experimental music extravaganza Meakusma Festival returns for it’s 20th anniversary edition from 29 August to 1 September in Eupen, in the German-speaking community of Belgium.
Starting on the Thursday, the festival will take place in the main venues, churches, and various other local sites of the East Belgian city.
The line-up has been curated to bring some of the most coveted alternative music acts of the past, present and future – from electronic, jazz to ambient and classical, the festival is known for its experimental and alternative curation.
With an intimate 700-capacity, the festival focuses on "music discovery, incredible sound-systems, and is well known as many DJs' favourite festival to play."
Combining a daytime outdoor dub system, experimental concerts and DJ set that will run into the early hours, Meakusma gives people a chance to explore the local area, enjoy multiple church concerts as well as sound art installations.
Meakusma Festival 2022. Credit: Meakusma / All rights reserved
This year, the festival is bringing a number of special acts, performances, and exhibitions.
The Klangturm Sound Tower will be built in the Saint Nikolaus church in Eupen - where the bells of the church will stop chiming and be replaced by the music of the Klangturm installation to mark the hour.
Museum of Sound will present the exhibition Mika Vainio 50Hz which celebrates the work of Mika Vainio, which will be set up in a beautiful private house in Nispert, close to Eupen, a mere 10-minute walk from the Galerie Vorn und Oben.
Modular Organ by Thomas Tourtelier in 2018. Credit: Meakusma Festival / All rights reserved
To get a taste of the musical line-up for this year, there are names such as Trevor Mathison – electronic music film composer who was a founding member of film collective Black Audio Film Collective, whose work the British Film Institute described as "some of the most challenging and experimental documentaries in Britain in the 1980s."
Meakusma will host the people behind the idiosyncratic dub techno outfit Hallucinator – loops which fuse dub sounds and the sounds of early 1980s industrial music. Berlin-based techno legend Rashad Becker will also be performing a live set.
British DJ and artist Josey Rebelle will get the crowd moving with her genre-blending sets which represent the sounds of her hometown London and her Caribbean background. She hosted a weekly show at Rinse FM and made her name on the DJ circuit as a resident at the now-defunct Plastic People club in East London.
Josey Rebelle: Credit: Courtesy of Meakusma Festival / All rights reserved
Amsterdam DJ and producer upsammy will also be gracing the festival with her tempo-defying mix of atmospheric melodies and broken-up rhythms. She has surged after a residency at NTS Radio and at Amsterdam club Garage Noord, with her DJ sets crossing the leftfield side of music, blending experimental drum and bass, techno and more.
Among the Belgian acts, Ostende’s Nosedrip will bring his signature energetic ambient but also energetic sets which won him a residency for NTS radio, while Brussels favourite Le Motel's bass-heavy and moody beats which range from dubstep to drill and trap will doubtless prove to be another crowd favourite.
Credit: Meakusma Festival
NYC-based experimentalist Lea Bertucci will be performing her work live alongside Echo Collective – the first time they ever work together. Her music describes relationships between acoustic phenomena and biological resonance.
The line-up includes: Susu Laroch, Honour, Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle, Jules Reidy, Lamin Fofana, Jessica Ekomane, Maxime Denuc, Lupini, Lutto Lento, Áine O’Dwyer, Ojoo Gyal & Ossia & many more.
Based in Eupen, Meakusma is an artist-focused collective in operation since 2004, organising concerts, club nights, workshops and - since 2016 - the Meakusma Festival. They launched their own record label in 2008 and are Kiosk Radio regulars.
Accommodation options in Eupen provided by the festival include camping, hotels, bed-and-breakfasts. Click here for more information.
