Each year, Le Guess Who? invites guest curators to create their own dedicated programs, highlighting their inspirations, emerging acts and fellow like-minded artists, with an emphasis on discovery and exploration.
Musician and visual artist Lonnie Holley introduces his curation at Le Guess Who? 2025 with a personally compiled playlist.
Lonnie Holley has devoted his life to improvisational creativity across many mediums, including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography and performance. His art rises from the ashes of struggle and hardship, but perhaps more importantly, from a furious curiosity and biological necessity to craft, transform something and give it new meaning.
His curation for Le Guess Who? 2025 is an act of remembrance, paying tribute to the many collaborators and kindred spirits who have shaped his artistic and musical paths.
The playlist he has compiled features The Space Lady, who's music, tucked into echo and soft synth pads, brings an heart-warming message that defies genres, styles and generations; poet, musician, actor and director Saul Williams, who will perform at the festival alongside prolific album producer, extensive percussionist and experimental composer Carlos Niño; singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist keiyaA, whose soulful and subdued vocal melodies flow over homespun productions — grainy samples and lo-fi beats meet vibrant, dissonant electronic textures; and multi-talented artist Alabaster DePlume, whose instrumental and lyrical creations radiate healing and empathy.
Furthermore, the playlist gives space to multidisciplinary artist Semiratruth, who opens portals through words and the alchemy of found sounds, in-between abstract hip-hop and sound collage; The Cosmic Tones Research Trio, who offers the chance to engage with songs intended for healing through saxophone, cello, piano, and flutes; celebrated composers within the fields of contemporary ambient and experimental music, Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore; Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff, a sprawling drum collective that builds songs on spiritually elevated grooves and ancient polyrhythms–passed on from Senegal, Cameroon and the Gorée Island–to give life to innovative infectious jams; and Merope, a duo that crafts an intimate soundscape, gently intertwining elements of jazz, ambient, 20th century minimalism and kosmische musik, creating a stirring soundtrack for the contemporary international landscape. At the festival, Merope will share the stage with legendary bassist and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily.
Tune in below. The playlist is also available via Spotify and YouTube.
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