Summer is back, it’s back Beaches Brew! The XI edition of festival is scheduled in Marina di Ravenna from Tuesday 4th to Thursday 6th June: a journey around the world open to all – entry is free as always – which starts from the beach of one of the most iconic beach resorts on the Romagna Riviera, a journey dedicated to discovery through music and its infinite variations.
Born in 2012 at Hana-Bi from the synergy of the Bronson team with a pool of curators divided between Holland and the United States, and established over the years among the essential boutique festivals of our country, Beaches Brew today represents an authentic point of reference for the experimentation and new sounds on the Italian and international scene: King Gizzard, Courtney Burnett, Big Thief, Khruangbin, Comet is Coming, Neutral Milk Hotel, Ty Segall, The War performed on its stage, often for the first time in our country on Drugs and Elijah Wood.
Here is the complete program of the three days of music in Marina di Ravenna, as always divided between the two stages of the Beach Stage (on the beach, facing the sea) and the Roof Stage (under the Hana-Bi canopy).
Tuesday 4 June
7.30pm Meril Wubslin CH presented by Bongo Joe – Roof Stage
8.30pm Cyril Cyril CH presented by Bongo Joe – Roof Stage
9.20pm Ustad Noor Bakhsh PK Italian debut – Beach Stage
10.15pm Yalla Miku CH presented by Bongo Joe Roof Stage
11.20pm Etran De L’Aïr NE – Beach Stage
00:20 DJ Fitz UK DJ set
Wednesday 5 June
7.30pm RYF IT – Roof Stage
8.30pm Baby’s Berserk NL/CA Italian debut – Roof Stage
9.20pm University UK Italian debut – Beach Stage
10.15pm Lambrini Girls UK Italian debut – Roof Stage
11.20pm Special Interest US Italian debut – Beach Stage
00:20 Cemento Antico IT dj set
Thursday 6 June
7.30pm IchBinBob IT – Roof Stage
8.30pm Pö GH/FR presented by Nyege Nyege – Roof Stage
9.20pm Kabeaushè KE Italian debut – Beach Stage
10.15pm HiTech US Italian debut – Roof Stage
11.20pm Aunty Rayzor NE presented by Nyege Nyege – Beach Stage
00:20 DJ Cami Layé Okùn CU dj set
A total of 18 artists from 11 countries
18 artists, 11 different countries around the world (Niger, Pakistan, Cuba, Kenya, United States, Canada, Switzerland, Ghana, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom), 7 national debuts for a line-up that best reflects the project’s transversal, inclusive and boundary crossing research approach, through the different contemporary sound directions: rock will act as a counterpoint to the No Wave glam of Special Interest from New Orleans blues contaminated with the rhythms of African music by the Nigerians Etran De L’Aïr; the sharp punk of the English Lambrini Girls, among the most interesting protagonists of the Brighton alternative scene, will be joined by the dreamlike sound of the phenomenal Ustad Noor Bakhsh, Pakistani master of the Benju (keyed zither typical of Baluchistan) who at seventy-eight has become a case globally thanks to his debut album Jingul, released last year by the British Hive Mind Records; the standard-bearers of Detroit ghettotech (a genre that emerged in the Nineties as a fusion between the underground techno of the Motor City and mainstream rap) HiTech, whose debut Détwat was included among the best records of 2023 by two reference magazines such as Pitchfork and The Fader, will share the Hana-Bi stage with the surprising English quartet University, which combines emo, punk and hardcore in an almost mystical alchemy; the enthralling New Wave Disco of the Baby’s Berserk collective, divided between Toronto and Amsterdam (his self-titled debut was released in September by the Berlin-based Toy Tonics), will compete with the explosive pop of the Kenyan Kabeaushé, capable of fusing psych-soul, gospel, trap and freak funk to give life to live performances bordering on ritual experience; and again, the beat-based electronics between Afro and tribal influences of IchBinBob (aka producer Bob Nowhere, born in Manchester to Italian parents) will meet the incendiary electro-dance of RYF, among the most intriguing discoveries of Bronson Recordings, released at the beginning of April with the new album Deep Dark Blue featuring Moor Mother and Skin; finally, the Latin-American influences of the Cuban selector Cami Layé Okùn, with her Afro-Caribbean funk, will be the perfect complement to the post-dubstep and garage DJ set of Cemento Alleanza (alter ego of the producer Alessandro “ToffoloMuzik” Zoffoli, also to be released in 2024 by Bronson Recordings) and to the groove of DJ Fitz, the unmissable guest on the closing night of the festival.
Double presence at Beaches Brew in 2024 for Nyege Nyege, a collective founded eleven years ago in Kampala (Uganda) to support the music of African artists, which organizes events, residencies, festivals and manages two record labels: Aunty Rayzor, producer, will present at Beaches Brew Nigerian who fuses powerful hiphop beats with Afrohouse, using both English and the native Yoruba language, and the French-Ghanaian Pö, a multifaceted artist who will bring to Marina di Ravenna the unprecedented sound universe of her debut album Cociage (Hakuna Kulala, 2023), between ghostly ambient, post punk and a cappella polyphony.
There will be three artists from the Bongo Joe house, label born from the record store of the same name in Geneva, at Hana-Bi to present Yalla Miku, an ensemble that unites musicians from Africa and protagonists of the fervent Swiss music scene in an electrifying mix of traditional instruments (Moroccan gnawa, guembri, krar ), house, electronica and krautrock grooves; Meril Wubslin, a Lausanne project founded by Christian Garcia (Velma) with Valérie Nideroest (Toboggan) and David Costenaro (Vitas Gerulatis), which fuses blues, folk, post-rock and dub in a hypnotic amalgam, and the duo Cyril Cyril, formed by brothers Cyril Yeterian and Cyril Bondi, who skilfully explores the Eastern, African and Western musical tradition through guitar, drums and synth, creating a psychedelic atmosphere capable of ranging from folk to rock.
To enrich the Beaches Brew musical program, again this year a moment of in-depth analysis and networking dedicated to the issues that animate the world of international music: Against the Stream: How Music Streaming Platforms Have Changed the Music Industry is the title of the panel that Wednesday 5 June at 3pm will see artists, journalists and professionals as protagonists on the Hana-Bi beach, an open discussion, moderated by Valerio Bassan (author and digital strategist, signed by D di Repubblica), on the new distribution models, on the opportunities and challenges presented by these new practices. Among the guests confirmed to date are Gaia Ponzoni, Marketing and communication specialist of Believe MAST (Music Artist Services Team) and Michal Parizek, editor-in-chief of the Czech magazine Full Moon. Confirming its free entry event format, the eleventh edition of Beaches Brew is presented by the Bronson Cultural Association with the support of the Municipality of Ravenna – Department of Culture and the Emilia-Romagna Region.
Marina di Ravenna is easily reachable from Ravenna thanks to a convenient bus service, departing from the railway station square. There are many accommodation options on site, from bungalows to numerous campsites, hotels and guesthouses: more information on travel and accommodation, as well as all the updated info on the line-up, on the beachesbrew.com website and on the festival’s social channels.
