14/02/2026 – 19:45
STUK
Due to unforeseen circumstances the long awaited Belgian live debut of أحمد [Ahmed] – the quartet of Pat Thomas (piano), Seymour Wright (alto saxophone), Joel Grip (double bass) and Antonin Gerbal (drums) – and the planned book release and conversations by In vitro and Echoes of Dissent (KASK School of Arts) will be rescheduled to another date.
STUK, Sound In Motion, In vitro and Echoes of Dissent regret the cancellation of أحمد [ahmed] and apologise for any inconvenience, but hope to welcome you on 14 February for the concert and lp presentation of 1984 – the brand new trio of Mariam Rezaei (turntables), Sakina Abdou (saxes) and Kobe Van Cauwenberghe (guitar) – and an exclusive show by @xcrswx the superb duo of Crystabel Riley (drum/human skin) and Seymour Wright (alto sax).
Your tickets stay valid. If you would still like a refund, please contact ticket@stuk.be.
Timing:
Soete Zaal
19:45 doors
20:00: @xcrswx: Seymour Wright – Crystabel Riley
21:30: 1984: Kobe Van Cauwenberghe – Mariam Rezaei – Sakina Abdou
1984 brings together three restless experimentalists, all born in that hauntingly symbolic year: saxophonist Sakina Abdou, turntablist Mariam Rezaei, and guitarist/composer Kobe Van Cauwenberghe. Following a residency at STUK (March 2025), a concert at the Summer Bummer Festival (August 2025), and a three-day recording session at the Dropa House studio (September 2025), the trio now presents its debut LP, ‘The Forward Process’, via the Dropa Disc label.
Inspired by a passage from Ursula K. Le Guin’s ‘The Dispossessed’ and by Zooid, the unique harmonic intervallic system of Henry Threadgill, 1984 translates dystopian echoes into vibrant, utopian noise. The trio composes and plays complex, collective, and dreamy music in which every element moves independently yet remains interconnected.
@xcrswx is the duo of Crystabel Efemena Riley (human/drum-skin) and Seymour Wright (saxophone) both also working with digital, analogue and ANDROID technologies – live and in the studio. Together they create sound works, and ideas that they explain, are to do with: “a span of human traditions, technologies and applications from the menstrual-bloody origins of cosmetics through evolution of reeds/drumskin ritual/musics, to Samsung and Audacity tools and attachments, Crunchyrolls and sub-woofer succulence.
It’s committed, collaborative work that draws on decades of other association (past and present: X-Ray Hex Tet, Maria & The Mirrors, GUO, أ د [Ahmed], XT trios with Anne Gillis and RPBoo) and glamour/talent, clean-beauty, smart-boards, teaching-teams, stages, studios and solos, but in terms of what comes out is a sui generis, exciting, radical, extreme, tender, physical and fresh synthesis, of beats, layers, and patterns of raw and polished sound”*. “It’s like free jazz improv happening in another room while bone rattling subs are piped straight to your brain. Think something like Chris Corsano and Peter Brötzmann in one ear, with Mika Vainio and Eleh in the other.”
أحمد [Ahmed] brings heavy rhythmic music based on repetitive patterns and swinging syncopations. A powerful punch in the stomach that subsequently transitions into a deep feeling of ecstasy. The foundation for the quartet is the music of Ahmed Abdul-Malik, a now deceased New York bassist and composer who introduced Arabic and East African influences into jazz music. His thoughts and melodies shine through in the music of أحمد [Ahmed], which is formed by some of the best European improvisational musicians: Pat Thomas (piano), Antonin Gerbal (drums), Joel Grip (bass), and Seymour Wright (alto sax). Their albums — released from 2017 to the present — are unparalleled journeys that excel in technique and endurance. But أحمد [Ahmed] is a band that you really have to see live, and now you can do so for the first time in Belgium during Artefact Sound.
