I didn’t go to all the concerts at Suoni 2025 (I’d need the gift of ubiquity for that), but my respectable experience of shows of all kinds leads me to think that last night was probably one of the most memorable of this edition of the avant-garde and experimental music festival.
The Alberta-based duo of Jairus Sharif and Mustafa Rafiq, the Montreal quartet Egyptian Cotton Arkestra and Brussels bassist Farida Amadou followed each other on stage. The intensity of the different musics on offer brought a broad smile to the faces of the many music lovers at the Casa del Popolo.
Sharif and Rafiq (sax and guitar + electronic) kicked off the evening with their waves of molecular abstraction, building to an enveloping tide of timbral saturation. This was followed by the four members of the Egyptian Cotton Arkestra (James Goddard, saxophone, Lucas Huang, percussion, Markus Lake, bass, and Ari Swan, violin) and their slow but irremediable, and above all irresistibly exciting, constructions, like an imposing crescendo from almost nothing to an unleashing of free power. This band is to jazz what Godspeed is to rock.
Farida Amadou, alone with her bass, did not let herself be imposed upon. She extracted a remarkable sonic punch from her instrument, which she plays both traditionally and as a percussion instrument (laid flat on her knees, and struck in all sorts of ways and with all sorts of sticks). Her musical architectures are made up of rhythmic drones through which a few thematic motifs thread their way. Pulsating noise that’s both inspiring and addictive!
LISTEN TO THE ALBUM WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS BY FARIDA AMADOU, ON BANDCAMP
And then, as a big bonus for the attentive and participative audience, Jairus, Mustafa and the four acolytes of the Egyptian Cotton Arkestra hopped on stage with Farida and jammed together two thrilling adrenalin discharges, veritable sonic tsunamis of musical freedom and creative incandescence. We would have taken another hour of this, easily. I’d even go so far as to suggest that Jairus, Mustafa and Farida move to Montreal just to hear them regularly offer us this kind of holistic and liberating catharsis. It wouldn’t be kind to Alberta or Brussels, but when it’s as good as this, being selfish is justifiable.
More! More!
