Other Futures proudly presents a Souk Records label special. Tonight’s music programme is a taster for what’s to come at Other Futures festival in the fall of 2020.
This lineup comprises Palestinian fringe hip hop, mutant Kuduro from the US, and beat deconstructions from Portugal. Souk Records started in 2018, bringing exciting new beats from every corner of the world with the divergent taste that its parent-label Discrepant has been delivering since 2010. More than just a dance music label, it focuses on the strains of dance music being created in different cultures, embracing the influences of the globalized world while still retaining its own identity. This is event is co-hosted by our friends OCCII.

MUQATA’A (Ramallah, PS)
Muqata’a, which roughly translates to “disrupt”, is an excellent beats craftsman and MC from Palestine. He is the driving force behind the thriving hip hop scene in Ramallah, creating refined tracks using samples of traditional Arab music, field recordings, and electronic devices. Muqata’a co-founded the Ramallah Underground Collective [2002-2009], and the audiovisual performance group Tashweesh. His much-lauded solo releases include ‘Inkanakuntu’ (Souk, 2018) and ‘Dubt Al-Ghubar’ (Third Type Tapes, 2017). Muqata’a has composed several film scores as well as scores for dance performances, and collaborated with the Kronos Quartet.

ONLY NOW (aka Kush Arora | San Francisco, US)
Only Now is an alias for San Francisco-based veteran producer Kush Arora, who brings together a heavyweight convergence of wild abandon, tribalism and sounds incorporating themes of time and existence. He paints mutant kuduro, meticulous sound design, powerful ambient and elements of other genres into a unique force. Think: a modern, beat-heavy version industrial music, but with a sensibility of being informed on a global level.

GONZO (Canary Islands / London, PT)
Portuguese sound artist Gonzo, aka Gonçalo F. Cardoso, is the label owner of Discrepant and its subsidiaries Souk, Sucata Tapes and Farsa Discos. As a DJ he creates dizzying collage-style mixes full of energy, weird beats, original and found music compositions as well as field recordings. With a focus on modern music from the Arab world and South America, his aim is to challenge people’s conceptions of dance music by dislocating them from western-centric perspectives and showcasing the many outernational sounds of the world around us. In 2017, Cardoso won the prestigious Ars Electronica jury prize for his work ‘A Study of 21st Century Drone Acoustics’.