Kunsthal Aarhus and VoxHall have the pleasure of inviting you to a couple of special musical experiences in November. The second is with Iranian artist Sote on the 27th of November 2024.

Through his electro-acoustic soundscapes that fuse complex electronic music with traditional Iranian instruments, Sote relates to Iran's bleak socio-political reality and human condition. Sote has played in Aarhus during ALTER festival 2022. It will be dark and beautiful when Sote returns to Aarhus with his new album Sound System Persepolis (Diagonal Records, 2024).

In the wave of exciting electronic artists emerging from Iran, Sote, aka Ata Ebtekar, is undoubtedly one of the most prolific and interesting. His special ability to combine complex electroacoustic structures and microtonal progressions with hypnotic polyrhythms and Iranian folk musical elements makes him a unique voice on the international scene of electronic music and sound art. He is also widely recognized, and has over 30 years released music on leading companies such as Warp, Sub Rosa, Opal Tapes etc., just as he has performed on e.g. Berghain, Unsound Festival and Cafe Oto. He also helped founding the mythical electronic festival SET in Tehran and created many sound installations.

In his music and sound art, Sote explores abstract musical forms as criticism and reflection on Iran's social and political reality, and the human and mental condition that comes with it. His music challenges the listener with unpredictable progressions that contrast moments of fleeting melodic beauty with painful dissonance and jarring noise. And the contrasts in his works have only intensified in recent years, to process the enormous amount of frustration, anger, confusion, powerlessness and fear that he and the rest of the Iranian population have experienced.

Sote describes his latest synth-heavy album Sound System Persepolis (Diagonal Records, 2024) as follows:
"Its brutalist vibrational polyrhythms make it impossible to stand still, its directive to move standing in contrast with the more academically rooted computer music and sound art that has explored the same sound synthesis techniques used on the album. It's not for the faint hearted. Strap yourselves in!"

Book your free ticket here.