A sold-out-concert-hall went crazy for the performances by Revelland artists
“Do not only experience this moment as a personal challenge or an opportunity to test your individual performance. What really matters is that we are all here together to make something happen that has never happened before, laying the foundations for change. Thank you for being here, be proud of what we are building!”
With these words Ronald Ligtenberg, CEO of Possibilize, welcomed the six bands in the Revelland project and all the other professionals who are contributing to its success. After almost a year of working remotely they gathered in Utrecht and met on Friday, April 5th for a tryouts day.
The next day Sencity Festival took place at TivoliVredenburg, and the performances devised after several months of intense study, experimentation, rehearsals and lots of effort were unveiled in front of an attentive and involved audience.
The world-famous sensory stimulating festival inspired by deaf culture and the inability to hear music, which welcomes 1500 people every year, for this edition dedicated an exceptional space to the Revelland band showcases: they all took place at the Pandora stage, Sencity’s main stage, one after the other, with very brief moments of entertainment for quick stage changes, for a total of 6 intense 30-minute slots!
Let’s delve into all of them.
THIS IS MY ESCAPE
The Anahit gave us a sensory experience based on the total immersion of the spectator’s body in the performance, crossing the boundary between stage and audience.
A beginning of deep and dark sounds, low lights, dark and intense colors.
The band was accompanied throughout the live performance by two singers, who wove a sound carpet of transcendental voices, and by a deaf performer, whose movements and gestures helped build the atmosphere of an inner journey into which the Anahit led us.
A journey of immersion in atmospheres of light and shadow in a constant change of scenery, thanks to light, smells and interaction with the audience, as when a system of intertwined ropes served to put Rita (The Anahit’s singer) in contact with the audience around the stage at one of the performance’s top moments.
K!NGDOM’S HEART
A text initially appears in the background:
“Welcome to a unique emotional experience.
Now, close your eyes and sharpen your other senses.
Feel the vibrations, perceive your own heart.
The ceremony begins.”
A big beating heart, represented on the led wall, while a deep bass plays: K!NGDOM brought us through an emotional ritual, inviting all the people to move together to the rhythm of their music, thanks to lights, visuals, flavours and balloons that were scattered around the room and thanks, above all, to the tireless and contagious movement of all the band members and the deaf performer on stage.
All on and off stage was designed to generate emotions and create a sense of community, from lights to artists actions, from candies distributed among the audience, passing through lyrics and harmony, to the act of pointing a webcam at the faces of the audience and artists, inviting everyone to engage in affection gestures (always with consent) as a form of unity.
The band played their original songs alternated with popular and engaging tracks, such as Queen’s Don’t Stop me now or Alice Deejay’s Better off alone, interpreted in a very original way: with trumpet, sax and keyboard.
FREAKOTEQUE
An inclusive journey into an electronic bubble, a shared heartbeat, a resonance, in the art of being unique. The central theme of “Freakoteque” is the acceptance and celebration of the uniqueness of each individual. This performance aim is to reach everyone with a big welcome, regardless of who people are or where they come from.
A message of inclusion, contained in every gesture and action of “Freakoteque”.
One Eat One transformed the Pandora Stage into an electronic circus tent, bringing their electronic music sung and played with synthesizers and classical instruments to dialogue alongside talents such as soap-bubbles-performers and deaf performers.
Each electronic note was accompanied by the materialization of bubbles, each one distinctive and unrepeatable, destined to vanish but leaving an indelible mark on the audience’s hearts, skin, and minds, creating a multi-sensory enchantment.
A live performance inspired by the surrealist imagery of Salvador Dali and abstract painting of Vassili Kandinsky.
THE RITUAL
A magical use of light, reflecting cones of light, animalistic, alien and mutant stage clothes, an all-round show full of theatricality and interaction with the audience: CUT_ make people at Sencity festival feel part of a rite of passage.
“Our goal is to connect people that maybe in daily life never would’ve met and maybe even get them to admire or find beauty in people that are different to them – Cut said – Overcome differences and embrace diversity.”
And it was exactly this feeling that we experienced when Belle – CUT_’s singer – began her walk through the crowd, handing flaps of her bright green dress into people’s hands, in a gesture of extreme confidence, asking them to accompany her as she performed one of the songs, while scented clouds enveloped us.
ESCAPE THE NOISY WORLD TO THE NATURE
Sounds and visuals are the main characters of Bratři‘s live show: high visual technology and synthesised sounds combine with the analogue, human, natural component to suggest an escape from the man-made landscape.
Very high resolution computer graphics animations on the LED screen, electronic beats and LED tubes around the musicians on one side, and, on the other side, the analogue sound of the drums and the imperceptible movement of a plant in the centre of the stage to represent the connection with the audience.
Connected to motion sensors, the plant transmits the music it absorbs through vibrations, which it carries back to the projections that are displayed. This is how Bratři give a voice to those who might not otherwise hear it and demonstrate unity among us all.
DOWN BY THE RABBITHOLE
“We encourage you to retreat from the mundane constraints of reality. Allow yourself to let go and stay open to your surroundings. Our music will act as your sonic playground”
It’s 1:30 AM, the audience, by now totally involved and at ease as they reached the final act of this live music marathon, took Lyra Valenza’s advice to the letter, letting loose, wrapped in a colorful mist, among the band’s vibrant notes and bass.
A setting designed for letting go, leaving worries behind and not being afraid to be yourself, without being afraid of the passage of time, embracing our inner child.
The duo was accompanied in this performance by the visual artist Signe Dige, with whom they also made the video for Joy Divided, one year ago.
Watch the Full gallery!
Curious to experience The Anahit, Bratři, CUT_, K!NGDOM, Lyra Valenza, and One Eat One performances? They are going to play in various festivals across Europe, in order to share and broaden the knowledge of accessibility in the live music industry: Sziget, Cooltural Fest, Colours of Ostrava, ESNS, Roskilde, KeepOn LIVE Fest.
Stay tuned for updates!
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Revelland is Co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.