For its 12th year, OBEY Convention is gearing up for a four-day long festival filled with experimental and open-minded music that they say will push boundaries. Aiming to incite curiosity in the City of Halifax from May 30 – June 2, 2019, OBEY XII will be celebrating the onset of (actual) spring with new ideas.
Those newly announced to this year’s lineup include NYC’s Kelly Moran (for her Canadian premiere), 75 Dollar Bill, UK’s Guttersnipe, Toronto’s Just John & Dom Dias, Mary Jane Leach (with an ethereal take on NYC downtown aesthetics), violinist Laura Ortman of Vital White Mountain Apache, Finnish-born Glaswegian Cucina Povera, Strange Froots, Soeur Acéphale, Dregqueen, Sanaz Nakhjavani, Bridget Moser, Slaylor Moon, Nick Schofield, Maskara and Tamsaianka. These artists are joining the already-announced DJ Haram, Eartheater, Tomoko Sauvage, Justice Yeldham, Mich Cota, Debby Friday, Korea Town Acid, The Brodie West Quintet,
and OBEY’s inaugural composer-in-residence Nicole Rampersaud.
In addition, the festival will be hosting a handful of local artists, including Frail Hands, Zamani, LizBrain & Doug, Tandra, Taral Naik, hieroglyphic Mi’kmaq poet Michelle Sylliboy (in a special collaboration with Lindsay Dobbin & Johnny Spence), Layia, dancer and choreographer Cavell Holland and DJ Dentata.
Also announced are this year’s EverySeeker Symposium participants. Antiguan-Canadian poet Tanya Evanson will be presentig her videopoem Bothism, Iranian Hadi Milanloo will be
lecturing on the rights and representation of women instrumentalists in Iranian classical music, and locals Nikki Alex Basset & Elyse Moir will be launching a collaborative zine titled Resilience Resonates.
Ensuring no events or performances overlap, OBEY Convention’s organizers say they’re also putting a priority on accessibility and are organizing this year’s festival to take place as one cohesive celebration.
For more information on the lineup and the schedule (to be released April 18), visit the OBEY Convention website HERE.
A limited number of Festival Passes are on sale now HERE.