The festival dedicated to world music takes place in Arles from Monday July 8 to Sunday July 14.
“We want to explore new territories with artists who invent the sound of tomorrow, to give voice to artists who define trends, pioneers”, explains Stéphane Krasniewski, director of the Les Suds festival in Arles, whose 29th edition will take place from Monday July 8 to Sunday July 14, with a program impressive in its density. Around world music, the marathon festival multiplies the directions, the proposals with meetings from morning until the middle of the night.
Among these discoveries, Sardinian singer Daniela Pes, a multi-instrumentalist with an electro touch, is performing for the first time in France during Precious Moments. During evenings at the ancient theater, the Japanese Makoto San presents his modern tale, inspired by medieval percussion. With Aichoucha, Khalil Epi revisits Tunisian heritage with electro tones. In three meetings, everything is said about the eclecticism of a festival open to all horizons and which also carries a “special attention to artists from territories exhibited in the news.”
“A question of survival”
“Not everyone claims to be the spokesperson for their people”but offer a look at planet and “remind us of the extent to which creation is a question of survival”. Kamilya Jubran is Palestinian, Nawal comes from the Comoros, Hudaki Village Band is a Ukrainian orchestra, Tranpe, Rufus Cappadocia and Sheila Anozier mix Haitian music and cello…
“Finally, there is always a festive axiscontinues Stéphane Krasniewski, with big names like Tiken Jah Fakoly, Barbara Pravi who revisits Dalida in a gypsy style, Rodrigo Cuevas or Jeff Mills, who plays with his long-time accomplice Jean-Phi Dari and Prabhu Edouard for an extraordinary richness in timbres and harmonies” between electro and Indian music.
The festive side also comes with the nights, which are back from midnight to the archbishopric for avant-garde proposals like Twende Pamoja which brings together the violin of Théo Ceccaldi, the electro of Faizal Mostrixx and the African rap of Kadilida and Aunty Rayzor, the atypical Fleuves formation which makes trad lovers and electro fans dance or the Moroccan Sami Galbi, who sings chaâbi or raï, handles machines or plays the guitar in a very joyful way.
A festival on a human scale
Last year, the festival brought together around 40,000 people. “Without mainstream headliner”, insists Stéphane Krasniewski, who wishes to maintain this format, with free meetings during the day, discovery aperitifs, musical naps, workshops, screenings, intimate moments and major concerts. For the team, “we have to find a model where we maintain proximity with the public, to offer discoveries, to take risks, to develop a bond of loyalty. The objective is not to become a big machine, but to be in sharing.”
