Le Guess Who? is a Dutch

music festival A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

featuring different music genres: from

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

and others. This festival was founded by Bob van Heur and Johan Gijsen. It has been hosted in the city of

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

since 2007.

History

During four days in mid November, Le Guess Who? takes over the city center of Utrecht with over 200 performances in pop venues, theaters, churches, galleries and warehouses. Satellite events with music, film, visual art, photography and markets appear at cafés, hotels, restaurants, wharf cellars, the central square and the hidden corners of the city. Stages are the music venues of Utrecht (

TivoliVredenburg The TivoliVredenburg is a contemporary music complex located in Utrecht, Netherlands. The venue consists of five halls designed acoustically for a specific music genre. Along with its hall, the venue also features an "amateur stage" and a cafe. ...

, De Helling, EKKO, dB's, etc.), but also theaters, clubs and the main churches of the city (like for example the

Dom Church St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht, or Dom Church (), is a Gothic church dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, which was the cathedral of the Diocese of Utrecht during the Middle Ages. It is the country's only pre-Reformation cathedral, but ha ...

and Jacobikerk). The line-up consists of acts that rarely perform in the Netherlands or acts that have their first show there. The first edition in 2007 only featured Canadian acts but nowadays the festival has many international acts that make an appearance. Le Guess Who? celebrates diversity and inclusivity, focusing on artists that feel the urge to explore and expand the boundaries of certain genres and it features non-western sounds,

, folk, ambient, drone, avant-garde, modern composed, as well as contemporary pop and rock culture, and many blended forms of these genres. Since 2015, one or more guest curators present a part of the festival program. Previous curators include

Devendra Banhart Devendra Obi Banhart (born May 30, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Texas and raised in Venezuela and California. In 2000, he dropped out of the San Francisco Art Institute to pursue a musical career. ...

, Shabaka Hutchings and

Moor Mother Camae Ayewa, (born November 19, 1981) better known by her stage name Moor Mother, is an American poet, musician, and activist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is one half of the collective Black Quantum Futurism, along with Rasheedah Phillip ...

(2018);

Perfume Genius Michael Alden Hadreas (born September 25, 1981), better known by his stage name Perfume Genius, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Hadreas's music explores topics including sexuality, his personal struggle with Crohn's disease, dome ...

, James Holden,

Grouper Groupers are a diverse group of marine ray-finned fish in the family Epinephelidae, in the order Perciformes. Groupers were long considered a subfamily of the seabasses in Serranidae, but are now treated as distinct. Not all members of this f ...

Shabazz Palaces Shabazz Palaces is an American hip hop group from Seattle led by Ishmael Butler a.k.a. Palaceer Lazaro (formerly Butterfly of jazz rap group Digable Planets). Much of Butler's work as Shabazz Palaces has been made in collaboration with multi ...

Jerusalem in My Heart Jerusalem in My Heart (JIMH) is a live audio-visual performance project, with Montréal-based producer and musician Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (co-owner of The Hotel2Tango recording studio in Montreal) and Montréal-based filmmaker Erin Weisgerber. Jer ...

and

Han Bennink Han Bennink (born 17 April 1942) is a Dutch drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured him playing soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, trombone, violin, banjo and piano. Though perhaps best known as one of the pivotal figu ...

(2017);

Wilco Wilco is an American Rock music, rock band based in Chicago. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo after singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently during its fir ...

, Savages,

Julia Holter Julia Shammas Holter (born December 18, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, composer, artist, and academic, based in Los Angeles. Her work has received critical acclaim and incorporates elements of art pop, chamber pop, baroq ...

and

Suuns Suuns () is a Canadian rock music, rock band from Montreal. It was formed in mid-2007 when vocalist and guitarist Ben Shemie and guitarist and bassist Joe Yarmush got together to make some beats which quickly evolved into a few songs. The duo w ...

(2016);

Sunn O))) Sunn O))) (pronounced "sun") is an American drone metal band formed in 1998 in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. The band is known for its distinctive visual style and slow, heavy sound, which blends diverse genres including doom metal, ...

(2015). The last edition of the festival took place November 7–10, 2019 and the curators were

Fatoumata Diawara Fatoumata Diawara (, born 21 February 1982) is a Malian singer-songwriter currently living in France. Diawara began her career as an actress in theatre and in film, including ''Genesis'' (1999), '' Sia, The Dream of the Python'' (2001) and ''T ...

Iris van Herpen Iris van Herpen (born June 5, 1984) is a Dutch fashion designer known for fusing technology with traditional haute couture craftsmanship. Van Herpen opened her own label ''Iris van Herpen'' in 2007. In 2011, the Dutch designer became a guest-mem ...

& Salvador Breed,

Jenny Hval Jenny Hval ( , born 11 July 1980) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter, record producer, and novelist. She has released nine solo albums, two under the alias Rockettothesky and seven under her own name. In 2015, Hval released her fifth studio album, ...

, The Bug, Patrick Higgins and

Moon Duo Moon Duo is a psychedelic rock band from San Francisco, California formed in 2009 by Wooden Shjips guitarist Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada. History Their debut album ''Mazes'' was released on Sacred Bones Records in 2011. The band's style is i ...

. The 14th edition of the festival took place on November 11–14, 2021. It featured Phil Elverum (

Mount Eerie Mount Eerie is the musical project of American songwriter and producer Phil Elverum. Elverum (also of the Microphones) is the principal member of the band, but has collaborated with many other musicians on his records and in live performances. ...

), Matana Roberts, John Dwyer (

Thee Oh Sees Osees is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1997, now based in Los Angeles, California. Originally the solo recording project of John Dwyer, the band has evolved through numerous line-up and name changes since its foun ...

), Midori Takada and Lucrecia Dalt as curators; the initial line-up included SPAZA, Bohren & der Club of Gore,

Black Country, New Road Black Country, New Road (commonly abbreviated to BC,NR or BCNR) are an English rock band formed in Cambridge in 2018. The original founders of the band consisted of Tyler Hyde (vocals, bass), Lewis Evans (vocals, flute, saxophone), Georgia Eller ...

Low Low or LOW or lows, may refer to: People * Low (surname), listing people surnamed Low Places * Low, Quebec, Canada * Low, Utah, United States * Lo Wu station (MTR code LOW), Hong Kong; a rail station * Salzburg Airport (ICAO airport code: LO ...

The Necks The Necks are an Australian avant-garde jazz trio formed in 1987 by founding mainstays Chris Abrahams on piano and Hammond organ, Tony Buck (musician), Tony Buck on drums, percussion and electric guitar, and Lloyd Swanton on bass guitar and dou ...

and Alabaster DePlume.

Programs

First editions

Initially, the festival focused exclusively on bands from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. With the line-up of the third edition (2009) this tradition became less strict and bands from other countries also performed. In 2010, at the fourth edition, the premise of only Canadian

music was completely abandoned and the programmers began to focus on music from all over the world. In 2007 the festival lasted two days, three in 2008, four in 2009, five in 2010, again three days in 2011 and four days in the following years. The line-ups included:

2015 program

2016 program

2017 program

2018 program

2019 program

Satellite events

Le Guess Who? includes several satellite events which take place around the festival in Utrecht, during the main program. Lombok Festival: a freely accessible festival that celebrates the cultural diversity of the Lombok district, initiated in collaboration with various locations, musicians, key figures and residents of this part of Utrecht. During Lombok Festival, various performances and cultural activities are organized; besides music performances, there are exhibitions, poetry readings, lectures, dance performances and special collaborations. Le Mini Who?: a spin-off festival of Le Guess Who?. It turns studios, cafes and art spaces of Utrecht into improvised venues for (mainly) Dutch underground acts to play. Untitled: this satellite event explores the many artistic expressions and perspectives of the artists performing at Le Guess Who?, as well as the exhibitions curated by art and design organizations in Utrecht.

Other projects

In addition to the regular program, Le Guess Who? organizes various free accessible satellite events and education projects. The project Le Feast creates a connection between the city of

and national and international festival visitors, who are guests for a brunch in several local living rooms. The festival recently started an education program with schools, in and around Utrecht, where students immerse themselves in the background of a festival artist and create a visual work, then exhibited during the festival in

. In recent years the festival also became a productions unit that releases music records, live videos and more. Examples are

's live album "

After After may refer to: Literature * ''After'' (Elgar), an 1895 poem by Philip Bourke Marston set to music by Edward Elgar * ''After'' (Prose novel), a 2003 novel by Francine Prose * ''After'' (Chalifour book), a 2005 book by Canadian writer Francis ...

" (recorded during the artist's live show at Le Guess Who?) the audiovisual project of

with a fifteen-piece ensemble from

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, or the collaboration between Circuit des Yeux and the

Netherlands Chamber Orchestra The Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (NKO; Dutch, ''Nederlands Kamerorkest'') is a Dutch chamber orchestra based in Amsterdam. The NKO is part of the ''Stichting Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest'' (Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Foundation), al ...

References

External links

Official websiteDutch Article
on

VPRO The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for ''Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep'', lit. 'Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcaster', nowadays known as ''Omroepvereniging VPRO'') is a Netherlands, Dutch Public broadcasting, public broadca ...

3VOOR12 ''3voor12'' () is a multimedia platform for alternative pop music of the Dutch public broadcaster VPRO. ''3voor12'' had 2 digital television channels (a clip-channel and a concert-channel), different radio channels (ranging from punk and al ...

Review
of 2007 edition on Drowned in Sound
Review
of 2015 edition on

FACT Magazine ''Fact'' is a music publication that launched in the UK in 2003. It covers UK, US, and international music and youth culture topics, with particular focus on electronic, pop, rap, and experimental artists. Having started as a bi-monthly pri ...

Review
of 2016 edition on

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

Announcement
of 2017 edition on

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guess Who? Music festivals established in 2007 Rock festivals in the Netherlands 2007 establishments in the Netherlands Events in Utrecht (city) Electronic music festivals in the Netherlands Indie rock festivals Culture in Utrecht (city)