hcmf// 2025: Hidden Gems

In a festival packed with World and UK premieres featuring the cream of the new music scene from across Europe and beyond, it’s all too easy to overlook some of the festival moments that will shape the sounds of tomorrow. hcmf// Artistic Director Graham McKenzie is on hand to steer you through the unknown and dig deep for those ‘hidden gems’! 

Mingo Rajandi is a powerhouse! An unapologetic champion of low notes, her new work Lady Sapiens – for three double basses and the rarely seen ‘serpent’ (a low-pitched early wind instrument developed in the Renaissance era, named for it’s long, conical bore bent into a snakelike shape, made from wood with an outer covering of leather or parchment) – is performed by a hand-picked ensemble of Rajandi’s closest collaborators.

Drawing inspiration for the piece from a book of the same name that Rajandi has often returned to, the composer rages against societal divisions where even musical instruments are placed into rigid categories of masculine or feminine, and where playing instruments like the double bass or serpent is rarely seen as feminine. 

Commissioned by Ha Concerts (Belgium), Jazzkaar (Estonia), and hcmf//, Lady Sapiens feels like the composition Rajandi has been steering towards throughout her entire career — one that might just elevate her artistic standing to a whole new level!

What do we know of Milkweed? Enough and nearly nothing. They are a duo. They use voice, guitar and banjo. Part oral tradition. Part future folk. Often referred to as ‘slacker-trad’. Championed by The Quietus. Afforded 4 stars by The Guardian for their latest album, where the longest track is 97 seconds. 

Milkweed is a hardy, flowering perennial, toxic to many species, including humans. hcmf// was once referred to by The Wire as a ‘hardy perennial’. Perhaps destiny has brought us together. If hcmf// is to be truly experimental, then we simply had to programme Milkweed. One not to miss! 

I have a confession to make. I’ve always struggled with saxophone quartets! It has never been amongst my favourite instrumentation, so when I announced that I had programmed the Saxtronauts there was a sharp intake of breath throughout the hcmf// team. But the Finnish quartet really are reinventing the genre with an array of projects that push the possibilities of the instrument to places previously unimagined.  

This year’s concert is a gentle introduction to the Saxtronauts for the hcmf// audience and vice versa. A chance to get in at the ground level and get to know each other. It is a beautiful, shimmering spectacle of Baltic and Nordic voices! But it is also the starting point of a shared journey between the festival and the quartet, where future editions will present the ‘cosmic’ side of their work. As the Saxtronauts say, ‘The saxophone is their tool for exploring the universe’…. 

Wassim Halal self-describes as ‘one of the strangest’ Darbuka players. Maybe? But what about his music, compositions, ideas!  

His sound world is built around percussive grooves, improvisation, and the particular sonorities of his instrument. Halal is also an illusionist. Close your eyes and open your ears, and you will swear that there are instruments on stage that are simply not there, such is his range.

His collaboration with Swiss contemporary music Ensemble Contrachamps is on the surface a strange one, but on stage and in the studio, a joyous experience. An extremely rare opportunity to hear master Darbuka player Halal in the UK. Highly recommended! 

Carolin Pook is a German-born violinist, composer, improviser and drummer, and a long-time regular on both the European and Brooklyn/New York scene. Her work is often described as post-modern sound architecture. Her presence at hcmf// this year is an inspired choice by Moers Festival Artistic Director Tim Isfort – the co-curator of XN, a collaboration between Moers Festival and hcmf//. Moers Festival x hcmf// – XN (X perimental N counters)

Working with four amazing UK-based innovators across three days, Pook will create a suite in situ, a live perspective on sound and improvisational instincts, moulded into a cohesive group identity. A fascinating proposition to close this particular edition of XN.