UH FEST 2024

The 2019 edition of UH Fest is set to take place across various venues and spaces of Budapest between 29th September and 6th October, highlighting again the effort to cross-pollinate and connect the local and international scenes with live performances, music happenings, workshops, talks. The festival's line-up is now full, passes are available here.

Faithful to its emphasis on presenting unconventional approaches to music without stylistic limitations and boxes, and also to its tradition and practice of presenting adventurous music in an intimate vibe, this year will bring dozens of artists pushing boundaries and stretching the possibilities of contemporary music-making and thinking about music. Whether it's Japanese avantnoise legend Keiji Haino, who will perform alongside longtime collaborator, Hungarian drummer extraordinaire Pándi Balázs, or Muqata'a, the godfather of underground hip hop in Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine, or DJ Marcelle renowned for her eclectic music selections from her 20 000 record collection, or Leisha Thomas aka Alpha Maid, member of the Curl collective crafting unique compositions of lo-fi punk, songwriting and glitchy electronics.

Three years after his remarkable audiovisual show at UH Fest, Ata Ebtekar aka Sote will return to Budapest with his new conceptual performance Parallel Persia, featuring Arash Bolouri & Pouya Damadi on traditional Persian instruments, and reflecting on a Meta-Persian reality. Hommage á Tamas Ungvary feat. Nagy Ákos, Baráth Bálint, Siklósi Kristóf, in collaboration with the Unearthing The Music project, will champion the oeuvre of the esteemed 83 year-old Hungarian-Swedish composer, conductor, music professor, researcher (for instance at EMS Stockholm) and computer music pioneer Ungváry Tamás. Errorsmith is no novice on the music scene, active since the 1990s and releasing the fantastic Superlative Fatigue on Pan two years ago, his music defies temporal categorisation, he cuts/samples/twists sonics in his idiosyncratic style not dissimilar to Paris-based Canadian artist Cecilia, whose full-length Adoration appeared on Halcyon Veil, while NYC-based sound artist and composer Lea Bertucci's work bridges performance, installation and multichannel activations of acoustic space.

UH Fest continues its collaboration with the pan-European SHAPE platform for innovative music and audiovisual art. This year's SHAPE artists at UH Fest include Brussels-based DJ Clara! who does heterogeneous tempo hopping mixes, with music from different origins and cultural environments, lead by curiosity, humour and a strong love for dance, or sound artist Jessica Ekomane working between live performance and installation practice. For over a decade, Bear Bones, Lay Low, has been creating psychedelic electronic sound by juxtaposing digital and analogue sources, using repetitive melodies and rhythms combined with dissonant sounds, and inducing a multilayered trance where the archaic meets the futuristic.

Cellist Lucy Railton released her wonderful debut album Paradise 94 on Modern Love in 2018 of hard-edged electronic composition and expressive musique concrète, while electronic musician Rozi Mákó is experiencing the techno territories as Tsering and as the half of the duo Commitee, now will present her more subtle, abstract and contemplative solo work - they both will perform on the opening evening of the festival. Robert Curgenven is an Ireland-based sound artist renowned for his field recording and experimental practice, now will present his new work with video artist Kat McDowall entitled Agenesis. Half of EBM-tinged duo Volition Immanent, Parrish Smith appears in his solo DJ guise and will close the festival with a powerful set, while OD Bongo will present their buoyant hardware electronics live, also as part of the festival's afterparty.

Heroes of the Viennese improv-experimental scene Didi Kern & Philipp Quehenberger are fierce and unfettered, the energy of their drum-synth combo is insane. Glasgow based trio Still House Plants combine visual strategies, free improvisation, UK garage and punk with the ethos of Café Oto. Active since the Nineties, French noise spearheads Sister Iodine have retained their radical and uncompromising approach to sound exploration and limits stretching. Marco Papiro is a Swiss-Italian musician (member of the group MiR) and graphic designer who has gained some notoriety with his album covers for the likes of Panda Bear and Sun Araw, and his musical output follows in similar waters, embracing atmospheres that are surreal to arcane, celestial to subaqueous.

Luna Maria Cedron aka Fiesta En El Vacio mixes synthesizer and other electronic machines for a synthetic spell and to invoke romantic ghosts. John Bence's sonic world is rooted in classical composition with epic narrative themes and uncompromising sonics, his record Kill was released by Yves Tumor's Grooming label last year. Japanese power trio Kukangendai's tracks are made through a process of editing, replicating, and deliberate error creating a sense of distortion and places a burden on the performers, leading to their characteristically stoic and humorous live shows. Fabio Orsi's rich and extremely productive work emerges from the drone and electronic soundscapes of South Italy, while dj. flugvel og geimskip brings bizzarre horror-cosmic DIY-synthpop from Iceland (and she is not a DJ). Tommi Grönlund of Sähkö Recordings and Harri Hännikäinen of Keys of Life will present though their DJ project called ODJ.

UH Fest's emphasis on bringing together artists from various parts of the world with Budapest-based musicians has been part and parcel of the festival from the start. This year's edition includes Videogamemusic, Farbwechsel and Seagrave affiliate AIWA, Cranky Bow aka the “psychedelic stepson” of tech-noisenik Új Bála, just intonation oriented Gosheven, up-and-coming talent Siaga, free acid DJ maestro Mesterházy, and a new DJ duo of radio hosts Lazy Calm Raga. Heroes of the local improvisational scene are the duo of Bálint Bolcsó and Oli Mayne as BolcsóMayne, or the Dorota trio that will present their new more "rock oriented" record Solar The Monk with guest musicians. While Local folk singer Júlia Lerner will present her collaboration with French organ player Alexis Paul aka Saudaá Group.

For the daily schedule and passes you can check the festival's official site here. The workshop, installation and artist talk programmes, along with additional useful information will be presented in the middle of September.