Saul Williams meets Carlos Niño & Friends featuring Surya Botofasina - Live at Le Guess Who? 2025
Curated by Lonnie Holley, Saul Williams meets Carlos Niño & Friends featuring Surya Botofasina performed live at Le Guess Who? 2025, following the release of their self-titled album via International Anthem. Relive the performance with our concert film, premiered by The Wire.
Poet, musician, actor and director Saul Williams is the groundbreaking artist who introduced the world to the slam poetry movement–with the film Slam (1998)–and a vital voice in alternative hip-hop scenes (also counting collaborations with a.o. Janelle Monáe, The Roots, Gil Scott-Heron and Erykah Badu). Exposed to activism from a young age, Williams' art is both a weapon against oppression and a vehicle for celebrating African-American culture. At Le Guess Who? 2025 he performed his poetry alongside prolific album producer, extensive percussionist and experimental composer Carlos Niño. Known for his main project Carlos Niño & Friends and for his extensive work on André 3000's New Blue Sun (among many other collaborations), he describes his sound as "spiritual, improvisational, space collage".
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 The Dwarfs of East Agouza, The Cosmic Tones Research Trio, Ali Sethi & Nicolás Jaar, aja monet, ASA-CHANG & Junray, DARKSIDE, Meshell Ndegeocello, Kamilya Jubran, Alan Sparhawk, Stereolab, Tom Skinner, Selda Bağcan, clipping., Aldous Harding, Deerhunter, Art Ensemble of Chicago, The Microphones, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Arooj Aftab, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, and many more.
Captured at TivoliVredenburg's Grote Zaal on Saturday, 8 November 2025.
Saul Williams - voice, words
Carlos Niño - percussion, bells, chimes, cymbals
Surya Botofasina - keys, voice
Zach Prewitt - live mix
Direction: Dammes Kieft
Camera: Anaïs Saebu, Emily Duurland, Hannah Zwaans, Manou Veldman, Jonathan Sipkema, Nicky Pajkić, Rikash Gobardhan, Yuma Eekman, Dammes Kieft
Production: Studio Dammes, Ramon de Lima
Montage & Grade: Dammes Kieft
AC & Datahandling: Dennis Bravenboer
Sound recording: Marc Broer
Photography: Maarten Mooijman