Sonic Boom – Aya Metwalli

«Sonic Boom» is the new artist-in-residence programme at Gare du Nord. Eight emerging talents from the worlds of contemporary and experimental music will bring their visions to life through innovative concert formats, sound performances and evenings of musical theatre. Over a period of two years, they will each design and present two evenings in which they can express their individual artistic approaches. Accompanied by the venue’s own discourse format and mentoring programme, Gare du Nord offers a platform for audiences, the scene and artists with this series, thereby opening up space for creative encounters.

«The Whisperer, The Cunning» is a staged concert for voice, electronics, prepared piano, and percussion. It unfolds within a dim, sonorous soundscape — a fever dream in a white room.

Three musicians inhabit the space. The voice, fragile yet defiant, oscillates between human and non-human, saint and serpent. Drawing inspiration from the Quranic description of the Devil as al-waswās al-khannas — «the whisperer, the cunning» — the performance explores the ideas of demonology and otherness. As prepared piano and percussion resonate, they threaten to devour the voice or trail it like a haunting shadow. Here, silence is not an absence but a suspension; the devil is no longer a myth, but the breath held between the notes.

«The Whisperer, The Cunning» is a séance of suggestion, a meditation on fear, desire, and the shadows that live under the skin.

With

Aya Metwalli (composition/voice); Magda Mayas (prepared piano); Julian Sartorius (percussion); Lena Schmid (stage design)

Duration

50 minutes, no break

Prices

CHF 35.-/25.-/15.- (free choice at the box office or in advance)
Free admission applies to persons with residence permit N, F or S. / CHF 5.- students of the Hochschule für Musik FHNW and the Musicology Seminar of the University of Basel / CHF 10.- members Colourkey, KulturLegi and children under 12 years.