Ali Sethi & Nicolás Jaar performed live during the closing night of Le Guess Who? 2025 in which mesmerizing Urdu poems drifted through weightless, time-bending productions; at times floating in ambient abstraction, at times bouncing over syncopated bass and traditional Indian rhythms. You can now listen to the full performance:
About
Long captivated by Jaar’s music, Ali Sethi found a space in their collaboration for sonic exploration that seduces, challenges and redefines identities. Composer and performer Sethi blends traditional South Asian melodies with global beats and is known for reviving the ghazal, an ancient poetic form that was taken by Sufi mystics from the Arab world to Persia and throughout the Indian subcontinent. Nicolás Jaar’s abstract productions span shades of pop, ambient, noise and club music and converge with Sethi’s world in their collaborative project Intiha (2023). Rooted in improvisation, the album composition was initiated by Sethi, vocalizing over samples from Jaar’s album Telas.
Le Guess Who? Recordings
The publication of this recording is part of Le Guess Who?’s ongoing expansion of the festival’s recordings archive, with 150 recordings from past editions now freely available online.
This archive contains audio and/or video recordings of performances by DARKSIDE, aja monet, ASA-CHANG & Junray, Meshell Ndegeocello, Kamilya Jubran, Alan Sparhawk, Stereolab, Tom Skinner, Selda Bağcan, clipping., Aldous Harding, Deerhunter, Art Ensemble of Chicago, The Microphones, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Lightning Bolt, Neneh Cherry, Arooj Aftab, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, and many more.
Captured at TivoliVredenburg's Grote Zaal on Sunday, 9 November 2025.
Audio recording and mix by Marc Broer
& Lucas Broer
Photography by Lisanne Lentink
