COSMOS is Le Guess Who?'s hybrid platform that showcases music scenes from around the world. At the festival's 20th edition, COSMOS will once again play an integral role. Here's how to experience the sounds of COSMOS—on and offline—from 5-8 November.
COSMOS FOYER
COSMOS x Refuge Worldwide return to the Foyer next to Pandora, right in the middle of TivoliVredenburg. Join us for four days of live radio, talks, DJ sets ranging from ambient to high-energy, and exclusive one-off performances each day—hosted and streamed live by Refuge Worldwide and the COSMOS crew.
This year, the Foyer will host performances by e.g. YPY (aka Koshiro Hino from goat (JP)), More Eaze, Chuck Roth, a special COSMOS project called Baltic Rehearsals, and much more.
LIVE RADIO
From Thursday to Sunday, we're beaming out from our radio booth at the Foyer. Come hang with us, or tune in from wherever you are by pushing the "Live"-button on our website, or go to Refuge Worldwide.
In addition, the live radio broadcast is carried by these partner stations:
Dublin Digital Radio (Ireland)
Seyðisfjörður Community Radio (Iceland)
IDA Radio (Estonia)
Tīrkultūra (Latvia)
Radio Buena Vida (Scotland)
Radio Vilnius (Lithuania)
Lahmacun Radio (Hungary)
Resonance FM & Extra (UK)
Mutant Radio (Georgia / Germany)
Radio Worm (the Netherlands)
Cashmere Radio (Germany)
674.FM (Germany)
COSMOS FILMS
Saturday, 13:00 – 15:30 at Slachtstraat Filmtheater
Every year, vibrant music communities from every corner of the map become COSMOS Embassies and share their stories—both online and offline—through mixtapes, films, live radio, conversations and performances.
This time, we commissioned local filmmakers to portray the main music spaces, actors and activities in and around Osaka's OTO Building, the Cabo Verdean diaspora, and one of Amsterdam’s most beloved DIY-venues. The films will be presented at Slachtstraat Filmtheater on Saturday, 7 November, in collaboration with NAKID, OCCII, and Tabanka Records.
In addition, we're premiering a new collaboration between our Istanbul Embassy IDGK and Antipode Magazine, as well as a sneak peak of Roads to Sintīr, an ongoing documentary project by Tania Feghali and Chullu Agency, focussing on the Amazigh and Sufi music practices in Tunisia.
All screenings will be in attendance of each Embassy to provide context and answer questions from the audience.
NAKID (Osaka, JP)
NAKID is a record label founded by Koshiro Hino (YPY / goat) in Osaka City, with its headquarter located inside the OTO Building. OTO also houses many other creative studios and ateliers, as well as one of Japan’s leading underground clubs, Daphnia.
In his atmospheric film, director Yusuke Nakano and his team bridge the gap between Osaka's adventurous musical heritage—the Boredoms et al.—and today's torchbearers of experimentation, among them goat’s Rei Tateishi and Koki Emura / EM Records.
OCCII (Amsterdam, NL)
The iconic independent venue OCCII, is the eccentric-looking wooden building facing the southern entrance of Vondelpark in Amsterdam. Since 1984—when it was squatted, then legalized in 1992—it has been a venue for subversive sounds, underground music, film screenings and workshops, all rooted in DIY ethics. A home to all kinds of subcultures and DIY collectives, OCCII provides a cultural program that is hand-picked for those drawn to a wonderful and wide range of subversive sounds and music genres: global beats, noise, punk, folk, improv, rave, avant-garde and electronix.
In their documentary—or rather, DOCCII—director Shifra Osorio Whewell, and the team behind Amsterdam's iconic DIY venue, captures the spirit of the space in true OCCII fashion: a communal effort that's equal parts chaotic, creative and deeply ambitious.
Tabanka Records (Cabo Verde, CV)
Tabanka Records is a project founded in Amadora, Portugal, in mid-2019 by Mama Demba (River Ramos) and Henrique Silva. Originally conceived as a vinyl record shop, it quickly evolved into a platform for music, with a strong focus on Lusophone cultures—the communities connected by the Portuguese language and shared historical ties—particularly the Cabo Verdean one.
For his film, renowned Cabo Verdean director Nuno Boaventura Miranda creates a dense visual poem by pairing an intimate performance with the stunning Cabo Verdean landscapes that continue to shape the work of the country's artistic diaspora.
IDGK x Antipode – Live at Yuva (Istanbul, Turkey)
“Antipode” is a zine/book series mapping underground punk and DIY-culture from different regions and their diasporas. COSMOS Embassy IDGK is an Istanbul-based initiative documenting the city’s alternative music scene. When the launch tour of Antipode's first issue stopped in Istanbul, IDGK recorded and interviewed the featured bands (ta2reeban, Shafrah, Ragum, Taqbir) in the backstage of club Karga for their “Yuva” series.
Roads to Sintīr (Tunis, Tunisia)
Roads to Sintīr is an ongoing film and sound research project by Tania Feghali, tracing an “endless sound” resurfacing across seemingly distant geographies, instruments, and traditions. Beginning in Tunisia, the research moves through vernacular and pastoral musical traditions, landscapes, and Amazigh and Sufi practices. It explores encounters through improvisation, and the drone as a sound that keeps on bringing us back home.
