Now one of Europe's leading electronic, techno and niche music festivals, Les Nuits Sonores in Lyon, France, has again brought prime cuts and deep grooves to the riverside and city venues
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Austrian electro music duo Ogris Debris kicked off the inauguration night of the “Nuits sonores”, the electro music festival in the French city of Lyon.
In 10 years they have become one of Austria’s most acclaimed electronic music acts and their energetic live shows have inspired clubbers from Tokyo to Paris, London and Moscow. Now their debut album Constant Spring is out.
The pair are typical of a new generation of musicians who do not need classical instruments to make music.
“I once learned to play the guitar a little at music school but I do not have a real conservatory education,” says Gregor Ladenhauf.
“He can do everything just a little bit,” says Daniel Kohlmeigne.
“I have a multi-media training and my main instrument is of course the computer, I use my voice to imitate whatever instrument comes to mind,” adds Ladenhauf.
Kohlmeigner says he is even less trained.
“I am a pure button turner, I push keys and knobs. My world is the digital world, unfortunately I can’t play a real instrument.”
Michael Mayer
After the Austrians, a German took over to heat up the dance floor. DJ, producer and remixer Michael Mayer is one of Germany’s dance music stars.
He is also the co-owner of the successful Cologne-based independent electronic music record label Kompakt
He started behind the turntables when he was 14 and now in his mid-40s he still travels from club to club around the world.
“I think DJing is a little like wine, as they get older they get better. With experience you can work with a completely different profoundness than a DJ who’s just started,” he says.
Jiha Park & Jungmin Seo
Every year, the Nuits sonores presents the music scene from another city. This time the festival invited musicians from South Korea’s capital Seoul. Duo Jiha Park, (pronounced Djeeha), and Jungmin Seo, (pronounced Djiungmin), play on traditional Korean instruments but play their own compositions. The zither-like string instrument is called a “gayageum”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayageum
Glen Check
Glen Check is extremely successful in South Korean electronica. The new wave, indie band started in 2011. At the 10th Korean Music Awards in 2013, their debut ablum “Haute Couture” won the award for Best Dance & Electronic Album. The Nuits sonores audience clicked immediately to their groove.
ADVERTISEMENT“The music that we have made so far are mostly based on house or disco, funk and electronic music, so it’s easy to relate to I guess, easy to dance to”, says singer and guitarist June-One Kim.
The kids are alright
Children are also welcomed at the music festival. Mini Sonore is exclusively reserved for the 4 to 12-year-olds. While mum and dad wander off into festival mode, professional supervisors and trainees organise free workshops for the kids to explore music, animation, films, graphics and radio production. Parents can play, too.
It’s only rock ‘n roll
The Monsters a kickass live “band”: http://www.voodoorhythm.com/83-artists/monsters.html from Switzerland set every stage on fire. They are the masters of the mix between 60s garage punk, wild teenage trash rockabilly and primitive rock’n‘roll. The band was formed in 1986 in Bern during the youth revolution in Suisse. Their music and certainly their live performance raises the roof.
ADVERTISEMENT“We learned during the time of the youth revolution how to keep on going, if you want to reach a goal you have to run from one point to another. If you haven’t learned that in this time of the youth movement you have not understood anything. Each one of us not only musically advances step by step, we want to achieve something in our life. We do not just want to sit down and watch TV, We wanna do things and produce,” says lead singer Beat Man Zeller, who also plays and records as Reverend Beat Man.
The Monsters may have been around for a long time and while they do nothing new, albeit brilliantly, they are no stick-in-the-mud musos. They are all for Nuits sonore’s diversity and innovation.
“The “Nuits sonores” festival is more than only techno, electro and dance music. Here you can discover all sorts of music and find the rhythm which makes you groove,” says euronews’ man braving the dancefloor, Wolfgang Spindler.
