The Odysseus Festival, dedicated to adventurous music, will move to a new venue next summer at the Cultural Factory Korjaamo, where the event will take place over two days on July 19th-20th. More artist announcements have now been made for the event, and daily tickets are now on sale at Tiketti.
Odysseus Festival, which has quickly risen to become one of Helsinki's key music events in the summer, will be held for the first time at the Culture Factory Korjaamo on July 19th-20th, 2024. The event will spread across all indoor spaces of Korjaamo and additionally to its atmospheric summer courtyard. The program expands with new additions such as Japanese vocalist Hatis Noit, Australian percussionist Will Guthrie's boundary-breaking gamelan ensemble Ensemble Nist-Nah, Mongolian vocalist Enji, Kenyan-born ambient visionary KMRU, Spanish singer-songwriter Victor Herrero, and internationally acclaimed Pakistani benju player Ustad Noor Bakhsh. Domestic additions to the lineup include Mikko Joensuu, The Stance Brothers, Grande Mahogany, AINON, Heta Bilaletdin, Superposition, and Ville Leinonen.
The festival's artistic director, Matti Nives, explains: "The philosophy of the Odysseus Festival is to explore the new and to encounter artists as themselves. At the core of our event is the presentation of the whole without hierarchical distinctions among performers, without dividing them into 'headliners' and 'others.' Many of our star guests might play supporting roles elsewhere, but for us, the music of this festival is what we want to share with our visitors. The moderate scale of Odysseus provides an excellent opportunity for this. Each performer deserves the same font size on the poster, and at the same time, we want to challenge the traditional view of differences between mainstream and so-called 'alternative music.' This music is not only 'alternative' but an important main focus itself, and everyone is welcome to discover something new. The only requirement is curiosity."
Odysseus Festival is organized by the Helsinki-based We Jazz, known for its record label, winter jazz festival, and Digelius record store. In its first years, the event has gained popularity among audiences due to its adventurous program and its "human-sized" event environment. With the move to Korjaamo, the capacity of Odysseus remains at around a thousand visitors per day in 2024.
"Odysseus Festival's programming is admirably non-hierarchical."
– The Wire
Odysseus-festivaali
Helsinki 19.–20.7.2024
Instagram: @odysseusfestival
#odysseus2024
Tickets: Tiketti
Confirmed artists and daily schedule:
Friday, July 19th:
AINON
Heta Bilaletdin
Islaja
Janne Westerlund
Lost Girls (NO)
Oren Ambarchi (AU)
Superposition
Varropas
Verneri Pohjola: Monkey Mind
Ville Leinonen
Willberg + Pekkola + Toivonen
Saturday, July 20th:
Aino Juutilainen
Enji (MN)
Ensemble Nist-Nah (AU)
Ghosted (SE/AU)
Grande Mahogany
Hatis Noit (JP)
Horse Lords (US)
Juho Toivonen
KMRU (KE)
Laihonen & Salmi
Mikko Joensuu
Otto Willberg
The Stance Brothers
Ustad Noor Bakhsh (PK)
Victor Herrero (ES)
Yam Ha
More performers will be announced later.
Image: Hatis Noit, photographer Fiona Garden.