She Makes Noise, the electronic music and film festival of La Casa Encendida of Fundación Montemadrid, is back for its ninth edition from 19 to 22 October. The festival invites audiences to cast aside any prejudices and discover electronic and experimental music and contemporary audiovisual art made by women and non-binary identities. This year the programme revolves around vocal and sound experimentation and different forms of dissidence. Building on previous editions, the festival pursues its eco-feminist approach to alternative ways of thinking, listening, learning and dancing.
Vocal experimentation is one of the essential features of the artists in the programme, reaching beyond rhythmical foundations and carefully choreographed performance-oriented presentations. This year the festival also shines a spotlight on artists who bring their magic from Latin America, as well as others who hail from Nigeria, Greece, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The usual contemporary film cycle, an audiovisual workshop and morning sessions for families complete the programme. And as special complement to mark the twentieth anniversary of La Casa Encendida, this year we’ve released a compilation She Makes Noise album on vinyl featuring the artists who have performed at the festival since it was launched in 2015. It’s on sale at the online shop of La Casa Encendida, at the information point and at selected record shops. Releasing a compilation album marks a milestone and we’re delighted to share it with the artists who have taken part in the past eight editions of the festival. Designed as a piece of art, the vinyl brings together some of the artists and ideas that have shaped She Makes Noise since the very first edition back in 2015. It has two sides and offers two concepts for active listening and dancing.
She Makes Noise 2023 starts with Nwando Ebizie. Originally from Nigeria and now based in London, the multidisciplinary artist will offer the Spanish première of her musical The Swan, a project that draws on influences from Afrofuturism, experimental theatre and dance associated with the African diaspora, science fiction, and neurodiversity research. The result is an intense performance with roots in opera and the living arts but all wrapped up in a carefully choreographed electronic production. The album The Swan was produced by Mathew Herbert.
Venezuelan visual artist and film-maker Valentina Alvarado will run a workshop entitled Secuencia Sonora (Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo) and take part in the visual set of the electronic music producer Dania. Together they will offer the Madrid première of their expanded cinema show on 16mm which uses vocal experimentation to explore the theme of migration. Lila Tirando a Violeta is a young composer and singer from Uruguay who blends different electronic music styles with her country’s folklore. Here in Madrid, she will use her presence at the festival to launch her latest album released on the prestigious Hyperdub label. Meanwhile, Bitter Babe will bring the top dance rhythms from the Bogotá-Medellín-Miami axis.
Sarahsson is vocal experimentation taken to the most extreme performance. The festival will mark the first public outing in Spain of her debut album Horgenaith, which has rapidly turned her into an icon of new noise and industrial electronic music in queer activism in the United Kingdom. And Evita Manji is the artist chosen to give the last concert at She Makes Noise 2023. From Athens, she is known for destructuring electronic pop, as shown by her album Spandrel?, released under the PAN label. Both artists make constant references to nature and are vocal critics of climate change.
Première of five films never screened in Spain
The She Makes Noise film programme features the première of five films never before screened in Spain, all of which explore dissonant universes and challenge established norms. The cycle opens with the first screening in Spain of Martha Mechow’s Losing Faith, a transgressive portrait of a women’s commune in Italy. It continues with the première of the new release by Jennifer Reeder, Perpetrator, a horror film about serial murders in which she revisits her habitual themes of adolescence, the taboos associated with the female body and the decadence of American society. The short film session entitled Encuentros en la tercera fase is a prelude to the eco-feminism that will resonate later in the concerts by Sarahsson and Evita Manji. The screenings begin with The Antarctic Gardener, by Elisa Strinna, which speculates on the possibility of creating artificial ecosystems in extreme environments. Next up is Mis amigos los pájaros, by Vitória Monteiro, about the online communities and the life of a Uruguayan migrant. The last screening explores the universe of the pioneering electronic music composer Wendy Carlos, directed by Frances Scott and Chu-Li Shewring.
The En Familia programme features two electronic music concerts for children and young people. From Barcelona and performing for the first time in Madrid, Adelaida invites audiences to share a sensory and magical journey through her album Cántaro. And Helena Gallardo, aided by the sound and visual artist Laura Garrido, has prepared a concert using images from the cult sci-fi film Fantastic Planet.
The festival is curated by Playtime Audiovisuales: Natalia Piñuel Martín (music and activities) and Enrique Piñuel Martín (film).
