Dissonanze 2008 Photo Diary

Our photographer and roving reporter Matt Cheetham discovers Rome’s festival gem, Dissonanze.

Dissonanze festival, held annually in Rome, is one European festival that is beginning to draw the attention of electronic music heads around the world on to the historic Italian city.

Held over 2 nights in the awe inspiring Palazzo Dei Congressi, the festival line-up is one of the hardest hitting line-ups I've seen in a long time. No time for fillers or warm-up artists, it was only the very best right from the start.

The venue was split up into three performance spaces including a massive main room with a 50 metre high ceiling that held about 8,000 people.

There was also a seated theatre for 600 people that hosted ambient, audio-visual and live band performances.

The third space was an outdoor stage on a terrace at the back of the building.  It held about 3,500 people, had a great soundsystem and performances went on until 4am, three things you'd have difficulty finding at any city festival in the UK.

The main room artists were the cream of the crop from the techno, house and electro club music world alongside bass focused artists such as Pinch and Switch.

Friday night saw Switch and Pinch joined by Cobblestone Jazz, Booka Shade, and Loco Dice.

After great performances from Yacht, Prefuse 73 and Caribou, Friday night on the terrace saw the festival drawing on its cultural heritage and presenting an Italo disco showcase featuring pioneers of the sound Danielle Baldelli and Alexander Robotnik alongside the new talents of Francisco and Rodion.

A heavy night on the vodka meant much of Saturday was spent recovering, but when in Rome it's a shame not to see at least some of the historical sights. With the daytime free to recover and enjoy the city, the festival is a perfect excuse for a weekend away.

Of course the food in Italy is some of the best in the world so we felt pretty stuffed by the time we got to the Palazza for the second night of the festival.  Luckily we were there from the start to catch amazing performances from Canadian electronic dub maestro Deadbeat starting the night on the terrace.

A hypnotic ambient set from German electronic pioneers Cluster was a perfect performance with which to relax into the evening in the seated theatre.

The crowd which the festival attracted was remarkably diverse; from young to old with each artist from the spectrum of sounds presented attracting their own type of fans.

A great performance from Munk that married his ethereal soundtrack to hypnotic morphing visuals was followed on the terrace by the Bug featuring guest vocalists  that introduced Rome to some of the best dubstep and grime the UK has to offer.

The different spaces the venue provided and the ease of access to each of them made a refreshing change compared with other festivals. If your energy beans were running low you could go and sit down in the theatre and still experience some of the finest contemporary music on offer. This time it was Fujiya & Miyagi.

The special presentation on the terrace on day 2 was Brasilintime.  A performance that featured legendary drummers alongside some of hip hop's finest beatmakers in an exploration of the connection between hip hop and Brazilian musical styles.
Established legends Maomo and Tony Allen (above) played alongside the emerging legend that is Madlib (below).

The show, a 3 hour journey in Latin percussion and hip hop beats, was a truly unforgettable experience.

Back in the main room the temperature was rising thanks to Erol Alkan doing his thing on the CDJs.

Up next, Detroit took over the house with a live show from Model 500 featuring Mad Mike alongside Juan Atkins.

Finally a DJ set from Carl Craig, including classics that many of his productions have become, closed the festival to a packed main room.

The production standard and the curation of the venue and line-up drew obvious comparisons to Sonar. Everything about the event was produced, presented and executed to perfection. If they carry on like this, Dissonanze is a name that should be appearing on festival schedules for music fans all over Europe, not just Italy.

Published: Thu, 22/05/2008

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