STEREO NAKED
Stereo Naked is the unique encounter between Pierce Black’s New Zealand double bass and Julia Zech’s delicate banjo. Together, they craft a minimalist, intimate and quirky folk, born in the heart of Cologne’s bluegrass scene. After touring across the whole of Europe – from Ireland to Lithuania – and covering thousands of miles, their third album Upside Down was released in 2024. Critically acclaimed, it was nominated for the German Critics’ Prize and received a warm reception in the UK, notably on the BBC. On stage, their complicity hits the spot: disarming charm, dry humour and hand-crafted songs that tell simple but touching stories. Stereo Naked takes bluegrass off the beaten track and opens it up to a wider audience, without artifice or posturing. It’s raw, sincere, and it works. For their concert at the Polysons Festival, they will be joined by Joon Laukamp and Nathan Bontrager, exceptional partners in crime who enrich their musical world without ever betraying the “bare” essence of the project.
DELI TELI
A retro wind from Athens is blowing across the stage! This colourful quartet dust off laïko – the popular Greek pop of the 60s and 70s – with panache, humour and a good dose of glamour. Under the disco balls, they set fire to the nostalgic rhythms of a troubled era, mixing melancholy, irony and raw joy in a show that is as quirky as it is catchy. A supercharged and retro wind from Athens is blowing across the stage! The Greco-Marseilles of Deli Teli, united around the sacrosanct triptych of bongo, bouzouki and Farfisa organ, revive the forgotten musical hits that used to set Athenian nights alight. With their fiery energy and a hint of Mediterranean melodrama, Deli Teli are a disco version of laïko, with a twist… that’s highly infectious.
COCANHA
The voices of Caroline Dufau and Lila Fraysse, taut as strings ready to vibrate, intertwine in a raw, scorching polyphony. Accompanied by the dry breath of stringed tambourines, the stamping of feet and the rhythm of hands, they weave songs from another time that are yet so relevant today.
Cocanha is rooted in the Occitan language, digging deep into oral memories and bringing out a wild, joyful, indocile femininity. Their music is a hand-to-hand encounter with tradition, a call to dance, to stand up straight, to listen to what is beating under the skin. Between minimal tension and organic power, between the echoes of the countryside and the energy of amplified stages, Cocanha shifts the lines, rekindles the embers. An ancient breath in a new cry.
CARTE BLANCHE TO ZAP MAMA
A Belgian icon with mixed roots, Zap Mama is not an artist: it’s a movement. Since the 90s, Marie Daulne – founder and soul of the project – has been overturning codes, merging languages and making voices the driving force behind a deeply organic groove. Her art is nomadic, borderless and free. A musical polyglot, Zap Mama has imposed an original vocal aesthetic, combining African polyphony, beatbox, soul, jazz and R’n’B. She has collaborated with renowned artists such as Questlove, Erykah Badu, Meshell Ndegeocello or David Gilmore, while cultivating a style of her own that is generous, bold and sensual. For Les Polysons Festival, we’re giving her carte blanche. It’s an invitation to imagine, bring together and improvise. A stage for her to summon her partners in crime, explore new territory, share her singular vision of today’s world of sound. With Zap Mama, exploration is always at the heart of the journey. Expect raw vocals, a body that resonates, a rhythm that pulses, beauty at its best. This concert is a manifesto for music that is alive, cross-disciplinary and profoundly contemporary.
AYOM
Born out of the encounter between Jabu Morales (vocals, percussion) and two Mediterranean musicians
in Barcelona, Ayom is a vibrant collective that fuses Brazilian rhythms with those of Portuguese-speaking
Africa. Their music moves between samba, maracatu, funaná and semba, all driven by a contemporary,
festive and nomadic energy.
At the crossroads of Afro-Latin and Mediterranean cultures, the group offers a deep and danceable
journey, rooted in tradition but resolutely modern. A joyful, organic trance, somewhere between spirituality
and groove.
Distribution
Jabu Morales (vocals, percussion), Alberto Becucci (accordion), Timoteo Grignani (percussion), Ricardo
Quinteira (guitar)
ALFAIA
Carried by Verónica Codesal’s deep, soulful voice, Alfaia combines oud, viola, cello and traditional
percussion to explore the common resonances of popular music from southern Europe and northern
Africa. Rich in reinterpretations and original arrangements, the repertoire revisits traditional songs with a
contemporary, elegant and poetic touch. The group traces an intimate and generous musical map where
borders fade away in favour of a vibrant and luminous dialogue between cultures.
AL’FANAMENCO
Let yourself be carried away by the duende of flamenco and the Arabic melodies of Moroccan chaabi!
Drawing on centuries of shared history, a blended identity and a rich culture that has developed on both
sides of the Mediterranean, the Al’Fanamenco project reveals the soul of these two musical styles, which
no longer hold any secrets from each other. Carried by two singers with strong, subtle voice tones,
Vanessa Diaz-Gil and Laïla Amezian, the songs rub shoulders, cross paths and blossom intensely.
Distribution
Vanessa Diaz-Gil (vocals), Laïla Amezian (vocals), Raul Corredor (guitar), Anaïs Moffarts (double bass),
Adil Benhsain (oud), Romain Duyckaerts (percussion)
Ëda Diaz
Ëda Diaz explores traditional Colombian melodies, experimental pop and electronic productions, reflecting the different parts of her borderless identity. This frontwoman double bass player and singer of Franco-Colombian origin has learned to juggle languages, cultures and rhythms, straddling Paris and Medellín, the town of her paternal grandmother. Her double bass becomes the real link between the two continents, and she combines it with rhythms such as the bolero, the bullerengue, the vallenato, as well as samples.
Éléonore Diaz Arbelaez is part of the generation of Latin singers (Rosalía, La Chica…) who are giving Spanish-speaking pop a new lease of life through their musical experimentation.
Fredy Massamba
Born in a working-class district of Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo, Fredy Massamba stands out for his strong, powerful voice, his commitment to defending African languages and above all, his ability to touch each and everyone’s heart. In Huy, he’ll be presenting his new opus, Trancestral, inspired by the joy of returning to his ancestral roots.
Hilgeum
Three musicians trained at the Korean University of Arts take tradition and unravel it, giving it a new, profound and dramatic form that will leave you breathless. After performing in some of the biggest venues in their native Korea, the Hilgeum trio is coming to Belgium to share its contemporary creations. The group’s music is set against the backdrop of the chaos of today’s world, in which string instruments (gayageum, geomungo and haegeum) try to find a way, a path, an answer.