Meridian Brothers
Strange, freaky, and pleasantly insane. This is roughly how the groundbreaking music of the Meridian Brothers can be described. This quintet from Colombia, led by guitarist, composer and knob turner Eblis Álvarez, knows how to forge salsa, cumbia and other tropical rhythms using all kinds of electronics into experimental yet danceable and easily digestible crafts in a light-hearted and inventive way.
ZEA
Zea is the solo project of the Frisian Amsterdammer Arnold de Boer, also known as the singer and guitarist in the renowned post-punk band The Ex. In more than twenty years, Zea played in forty countries on six continents. What is special is that wherever he goes, De Boer sings in Frisian as well as in English.
Togo All Stars
Look closely at the map of West Africa and find the city of Lomé, and try to imagine what the music of this area sounds like. A hundred miles to the west is Accra, Ghana, where the highlife movement emerged in the 1950s. Another 160 kilometers to the east is Cotonou, the birthplace of the acclaimed Orchester Poly Rythmo. And another 50 miles further you enter Lagos, where Fela Kuti pioneered his Afrobeat. All these aforementioned influences bubble up in the music of one of Lomé’s leading bands: Togo All Stars. The group also brings out a highly original element of its own: the Togolese sound, which is rooted in voodoo rhythms and afro funk.
Manu & .multibeat
With the project The Rediscovery of Heaven, interdisciplinary maker and spoken word artist Manu van Kersbergen investigates the need to rethink our concepts of reality and the social constructs that result from it. In collaboration with keyboardist Boudewijn Pleij, bassist Thijs van Zutphen and drummer Aron Smit (.multibeat), a new language is sought in an in-between world consisting of text and compositions with which to redefine our greatly changed reality.
Three Little Clouds
This band is known for their glorious, dynamic shows. The stages are marked with funk, fun and sweat drops. Most of the time no one who attends these performances wears a shirt. The public cannot and will not stand still. Where the grass was trampled to the ground at many festivals, the six-piece band can now tour alone. Despite the fact that nothing seemed to be organised in 2020, Three Little Clouds has been nominated for the Zilveren Nutkraker – a recognition of and an incentive prize for up-and-coming talent and played the Apollo Theater Special at DWDD.
PAARD50 // 21 – 30 October
PAARD celebrates it’s 50th birthday in 2022 and we will honor that with a spectacular party week in October: PAARD50. From October 21, till October 30 – during PAARD50 – we will celebrate PAARD of the past, PAARD of the future and especially PAARD NOW.
More acts, program and information will follow! Read more at www.paard.nl/en/paard-50.
