Le Guess Who? is a leading international festival, celebrated for presenting groundbreaking music in inspiring ways. The festival is a celebration of cultural exchange where traditional forms are reimagined, bold new experiments in sound find international audiences, and artists are invited not just to perform, but to reshape the conversation.
On Friday, 6 November, Le Guess Who? hosts its freely accessible Sound & Culture Summit at Theater Utrecht.
Featuring workshops, panels, performances and listening sessions, the Sound & Culture Summit takes a deep dive into stories and experiences from the global cultural field on community organizing, decolonial practices, music curation, sonic heritage and how sound shapes our identities.
The Art of Dissent: Political Expression in the Music Industry explores how artists navigate the complexities of political expression in art. Interdisciplinary artist, poet and curator Rohan Ayinde hosts this conversation with activist and co-founder of the BDS movement Omar Barghouti, poet Lillian Allen and Palestinian MC, singer and producer Shadia Mansour.
Journalist and co-founder of Hearing Things Dylan Green hosts a conversation with musician and writer Melvin Gibbs about his recent book How Black Music Took Over the World, which traces how Black musical innovations traveled, transformed and ultimately reshaped global sound.
Diasporic Soundscapes: The Urgency of Intangible Cultural Heritage discusses the role of diasporas in preserving, shaping and promoting traditional music across countries and cultural contexts. Curator Raziyah Heath facilitates this conversation with Tabanka Records co-founder Henrique Silva and DJ Galecta.
Palestinian Sound Archive founder Mo'min Swaitat presents My beautiful side of the archive: a program to introduce the archive with a short documentary, talk and DJ set, exploring how archival practices can act as a decolonial methodology and an act of resistance.
Right Relations: Bridging The Gap Between Communities and Institutions explores how can institutions and grassroots collectives collaborate in truly meaningful, community-centered ways. Sociologist and educator Ebru Aydin hosts this conversation with Anne Breure, director of Theater Utrecht director, Andre Damian, founder of the Utrecht Ballroom Scene, and Sandra Maat, business coordinator at OCCII.
Legacies of Resistance: The Evolution of Dub dives into the politics, context and history behind dub music. Refuge Worldwide co-founder Richard Akingbehin hosts this talk with performer and activist Black Omolo and pioneering producer Gavsborg, tracing its roots in sound system culture, its ties to colonial and postcolonial realities, and how it became a powerful language of resistance, identity and community.
LGW presents a series of practical 'How To'-sessions, hosted by DJ & Advisor in culture & music Vanity Roxane, featuring:
• How To Curate a Line-Up (featuring booking agent, artist manager and event promoter Yuko Asanuma & performance artist and U? curator Fai Aldhukair);
• How To Run a Label (with Roger Dorresteijn, managing director of Epitaph);
• How To Set Up an Online Radio Station (featuring sound artist and representative of Tīrkultūra Radio Reinis Semēvics & DJ and Refuge Worldwide resident Leona Ojake);
• How To Dub (with artist and DJ CARISTA and a soon-to-be-announced LGW performer)