The curtain rises on the 2025 edition of Karel Music Expo, a festival of contemporary rock and songwriting. The September dates kick off at dawn on Thursday, the 4th, with a special opening featuring the music of Nicola Agus on Colle di Sant'Elia, followed by three evenings of concerts at the Lazzaretto with Sardinian, Italian, and international guests. The second round of events, spanning October and November, will take place at the B Flat and the Teatro Massimo: there, audiences will be able to experience the music of maestro and Academy Award winner Gustavo Santaolalla live on October 23rd.
The program
The music begins at 8:30 PM on Thursday the 4th in the internal courtyard of the Lazzaretto, with four live performances scheduled. First up is Black Solanas, a indietronica project created by Valentino Murru and recently released with the extended play "Airports." Next up is Pietro Iannuzzi, aka Indian Wells, a Calabrian musician and author of the recent "No One Really Listens to Oscillators," an album exploring the idea of existential incompleteness. Next up are Berlin's hackedepicciotto, an ambient-drone duo featuring former Einstürzende Neubauten member Alexander Hacke and Danielle De Picciotto, former vocalist of The Space Cowboys. Closing out the evening are Australians Dub FX and Mr. Woodnote, whose decades-long solo careers converge today on the album "Open Secret Society," which blends dub, hip hop, and electronica.
September 5th kicks off at 9 pm with Dodo Q and Dumbo Gets Mad, psychedelic pop by Emilian singer-songwriter and producer Luca Bergomi, who previously collaborated with rapper Marracash. The closing act is Micah P. Hinson, a Native American singer-songwriter and guitarist, a star of the alternative folk scene. This date is part of the tour for his album "The Tomorrow Man," which will be previewed for the Cagliari audience.
Saturday the 6th opens with Pindhar, a trip-hop duo from Milan featuring Cecilia Miradoli and Max Tarenzi (plus a drummer for the occasion), performing their latest album, "A Sparkle on the Dark Water." The following set, by former Bud Spencer Blues Explosion member Adriano Viterbini, sees the artist blending blues, Afro, and ambient music with rarefied and solitary atmospheres. A powerful finale features Goumar Almoctar, better known as Bombino, a Nigerien artist of Tuareg origins. In his music, he blends his culture and language with American-inspired rural rock, featuring legendary collaborators such as Keith Richards and Stevie Wonder, and a Grammy Award nomination for his 2018 album, "Dehran."