Every year from mid October to mid November, Madrid hosts the Autumn Festival, inviting Spanish and international artists from the worlds of music, theatre, dance and circus. The 24th Festival of Autumn will stage 148 productions including 33 premiers and 28 from around the globe.
On the music side of things Caetano Veloso will be performing musi from his latest album Ce; other artists on the bill include David Sylvian, the French inventors of trip hop opera Nosfell, and as part of his 70th birthday celebrations, Philip Glass will perform his new work ‘Book of Longing’ based on the poems of Leonard Cohen. Other highlights of Madrids Autumn Festival include Italy’s PiccoloTheatre’s production of ‘Il Ventaglio’, the National Theatre of Great Britain’s production of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Happy Days’, and Akram Khan’s dance company perform Zero Degrees with music by Nitin Sawhney.
Historically, the Spanish and the Celts have a lot in common, although the Swn festival in Wales is quite different from the Madrid event. Taking place in Cardiff in November, Swn is a brand new festival, set up and curated by BBC Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens and Drowned In Sound (the music website and indie label). Native Welshman Huw is a big supporter of new and local music and has put together a great line up for Swn’s inaugural year with over 120 acts on the bill including fellow Radio 1 DJs Annie Mac and Steve Lamaq, Andy Votel, Beirut, Soft Hearted Scientists, David Holmes, and Radio Luxembourg. The gigs will be held at various venues around Cardiff and priority entrance is given to those who have bought a wristband as well as free local transportation and discounts at local establishments – and by the way ‘Swn’ is welsh for noise!
Lastly we go to the City of Angels for some rather devilish behaviour over the Halloween Weekend. 2007 marks the 10th Monster massive event taking place in Downtown Los Angeles at the Sports Arena. - Monster Massive calls itself America’s largest Halloween dance music festival and a ‘spooktacular event like no other’ with an amazing international DJ line up including Armin Van Burren from the Netherlands, the UK’s Judge Jules, Israel’s Infected Mushroom, Germany’s Digitalism and Chicago’s own Felix Da Housecat. The Sports Arena is huge so its been divided up into different areas to accommodate all the DJs – in keeping with this ghoulish time of year they are called Tomb of Doom, House of horror, Witches Woods and Devils Dungeon. Costumes are encouraged although there is a list of costume’s do’s and don’t’s on the website, so be sure to check them before you decide on your outfit. This event sold out last year so if you are tempted you should get your ticket now – the link for this and all the festivals can be found at www.kcrw.com/globalgigguide
That’s it for this weeks edition – if you have some fun Halloween music events planned
Send us an email to Global@kcrw.com
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The Global Gig Guide is produced for KCRW.com by JC Swiatek and the theme music is composed by the Plush Interiors.