As part of the Schall&Rausch festival produced by the Komische Oper Berlin, Musicboard Berlin has commissioned a work from Kabeaushé. The pop artist, who lives in Berlin and Nairobi and was awarded a Musicboard residency in Berlin in 2022, will perform their gig theatre production »Hold on to deer life, there’s a blcak boy behind you!« at SchwuZ on 16 and 18 February 2024. In the production, Kabeaushé brings musical material to the stage that was created during their residency in Berlin.
Since 2023, the Komische Oper Berlin has been organising Schall&Rausch – Festival for brand new music theatre taking place in the former Kindl brewery and its surroundings. The festival is all about joyful experimentation, the exploration of pressing contemporary issues, and pop-cultural glamour, aiming to provide a glimpse of a possible future for the genre of music theatre. For the second edition of the festival in 2024, Komische Oper Berlin is once again collaborating with Musicboard Berlin. The cooperation promotes interdisciplinary exchange and encourages diverse and exciting connections between pop music and music theatre.
»HOLD ON TO DEER LIFE, THERE’S A BLCAK BOY BEHIND YOU!«
As part of the festival, Musicboard Berlin and the Komische Oper Berlin are teaming up for a gig theatre co-production, commissioning work from an artist funded by Musicboard Berlin. Gig Theatre – that’s performance and concert, gig and theatre performance, getting up close and personal with the artists. At the 2024 edition of the Schall&Rausch festival, taking place from 9 to 18 February around the KINDL-Areal in Neukölln, Musicboard alum Kabeaushé will perform their gig theatre work entitled »Hold on to deer life, there’s a blcak boy behind you!« at the SchwuZ Queer Club. The artist wrote the album of the same name during their residency in Berlin in 2022, released by Berlin label Monkeytown Records in November 2023. On two dates – 16 and 18 February 2024 – the extraordinary pop artist will present their new material with a theatrical, glamorous, and energetic performance.
Kabeaushé once described their music as »the complete opposite« of the hardcore leftfield electronic sound of their then labelmates on Kampala-based Nyege Nyege Tapes. And at the time that was true: the Kenyan polymath’s sound on their debut album ›The Coming of Gaze‹ was fiercely and single-mindedly focused towards giddy pop rush, old school party hip hop upfulness, clean sounds, gentleness, bounciness, positivity and joy. The current album ›Hold on to deer life, there’s a blcak boy behind you!‹, on the other hand, exudes more rawness, weirdness, and rave energy. Influenced by the Nyege-Nyege vibe and their exposure to radical music at festivals around the world, Kabeaushé’s unbridled energy stands out in the new material, which is immediately apparent anytime their alter ego »the Shé« takes the stage. Anyone who’s seen a Kabeaushé show will get it instantly. Their sets are far more than just performance, they’re a celebration, a communion, a party in which the audience gets what they give, and »the Shé« emerges. Their modern pop intensity – which is nonetheless deep, sublime, and original – can also be experienced in the gig theatre work »Hold on to deer life, there’s a blcak boy behind you!«.
Kabeaushé: »Hold on to deer life, there’s a blcak boy behind you!«
Gig Theatre at Schall&Rausch Festival by Komische Oper Berlin
Friday, 16 February 2024, 9:00 p.m. (premiere)
Sunday, 18 February 2024, 8:00 p.m.
SchwuZ Queer Club, Rollbergstraße 26, 12053 Berlin
A co-production of Komische Oper Berlin and Musicboard Berlin
Tickets for both performances can be purchased via the Komische Oper Berlin website.
Download press release (pdf)
