Two additional activities have been added to the program of the festival:
October 8, 17:30, lobby of Hanzas Perons (Hanzas street 16a) – music critic Artemy Troitsky’s public interview with Duma
Duma a.k.a. Martin Khanja (aka Lord Spike Heart) and Sam Karugu emerge from Nairobi’s flourishing underground metal scene as former members of the bands Lust of a Dying Breed and Seeds of Datura. Together in 2019 they formed Duma (Darkness in kikuyu) with Sam abandoning bass for production and guitars and Lord Spike Heart providing extreme vocals to the project.
The performance of Duma at Skaņu Mežs will occur as part of the REMAIIN project, which has received grants from the European Union’s “Creative Europe” programme and the Latvian Ministry of Culture. It investigates non-European influences in the avant-garde music of the past and the present.
October 8 and 9, October 8, lobby of Hanzas Perons (Hanzas street 16a) – John Wiese’s Sound Films (playing on loop)
John Wiese is an artist and composer living and working in Los Angeles and Cleveland. From his experiments with recording as a teenager, he has since gone on to work in the world of contemporary sound art and the international experimental community. His sounds can be completely serene and sublime while at the same time being as equally frenetic and irregular, a sign of the artist’s ability to adapt and utilize a wide palette to build captivating aural works. As a performer and recording artist, his expertise in composition, texture, and experimentation with sound confirm his reputation of being an original and innovative voice in experimental music. (Luke Tandy)
List of works:
- Prince Tape (2016) 4:45
- Staircase (2013/2020) 5:38
- Sissy Spacek “Stacking” (2014) 1:13
- Sissy Spacek x Mata Gallery (2014) 1:16
- Smegma Live at Dublab (2016) 7:08
- Joseph Hammer (2013) 9:01
- The Tenses with John Wiese (2014) 12:18
- Enacted Through (2020) 20:00
- Three Glass Bottles (2014) 0:29
The Skaņu mežs festival is supported by the State Cultural Capital Fund, the Riga City Council, the Ministry of Culture, Goethe-Institut Riga, the Trust for Mutual Understanding Foundation, and the US Embassy. The sponsors of the festival are iRobot and Valmiermuiža. Skaņu mežs is a member of the international network ICAS (International Cities of Advanced Sound).
