In just a handful of years, Belgian electric bass player, improviser and sound artist Farida Amadou (1989) has piloted herself into the maelstrom of the international music scene, working together with towering figures such as Peter Brötzmann, Thurston Moore, Ken Vandermark, Chris Corsano and Linda Sharrock. With her original approach to bass playing she stands out as singular improviser, capable of using her unique vocabulary in a wide variety of contexts. She has been a regular guest in the history of the Summer Bummer Festival and for this edition she will play a duo concert with Heather Leigh for the very first time. Her highly anticipated new solo album When It Rains It Pours will be out on September 6th on Week-End records.

You’re an autodidact on your instrument, but when and where did you pick up the bass guitar for the first time?

I like this question because the answer is quite funny. Before playing the bass, I was playing the guitar, also autodidact. I didn’t know what I was doing (laughs). So about ten years ago, when I was 25 I was a guitarist and I was also playing with a classical guitar player. We had a pop rock band and I saw a bass guitar once when we were rehearsing at her apartment. A friend of her left it there because she was going on vacation and she was afraid to get robbed. I asked if I could try it and that was it.

Were you already introduced to improvised music, free jazz or other kinds of adventurous music?

No, I didn’t know anything about free jazz or experimental music. It was only like two or three years after I started to play the bass that I met people from L’Oeil Kollectif in Liège. My first concert experience with improvised music was Tom Malmendier playing with other people from L’Oeil Kollectif. It was in a squat and I didn’t understand what was going on. I remember thinking “What are they doing?” Afterwards I went up to talk to them and that’s how I got in the collective, because I was very curious about what I had witnessed there. That’s also when I started my duo with Tom and when we started going to Sound in Motion concerts.

Does L’Oeil Kollectif still exist?

Yes, but a lot of the musicians are spread out over Europe. There are new members also so it’s evolving and I think there are a handful of events every year.

Was that the only organization in Liège that was doing that kind of music at that time?

Having young people play improvised music and organizing concerts, that was unique for the city. There were of course organizers, like L’An Vert, who from time to time organized concerts with similar music but L’Oeil Kollectif was the only one with a main focus on improvisation.

Your concert with Tom Malmendier at De Studio in Antwerp in 2016 was the first time I saw you play. The duo was called Nystagmus if I’m not mistaken?

Yes, that’s right. It was named after an eye disease, when the eyes move rapidly and uncontrollably. We thought it fitted our music because it was super rhythmical and nervous. But also, because I love disease names (laughs). I studied speech therapy and I know quite a lot of medical stuff.

But you never studied music in any way?

I went to a jazz academy, but not university level. It was just something I would do only on Saturdays. I did that for two years. But when you arrive on the first year you have to wait before having instrument classes, so I was still trying to figure out how to play by myself. The second year I had a teacher and it was easier of course, also to participate in other classes because I had group classes. That’s how I learned to play standards and how to understand scores a bit.

You are one of the musicians that has experienced the complete Sound in Motion package, meaning you were featured several times in the Oorstof concert series, the Summer Bummer Festival and the Visitations residency. And you released the M.A.N./B.A.N. double LP on Dropa Disc. You’re a great example of what the organization has been working on for many years: supporting talented and ambitious young musicians by giving them exposure and presenting them in an international context. With regard of your international experiences, how do you assess the importance of Sound in Motion?

There’s no doubt that it’s a super important organization and in my opinion, Summer Bummer is one of the best festivals for improvised music in Europe. I also think it could benefit from more visibility because when I talk to people on tour they have not always heard of it. The festival is one of a kind I think. Personally, I’m super happy and honored I got to work with Sound in Motion in all these different projects and it’s nice to see how they keep supporting young artists, like Ornella Noulet recently. She’s a great player!

You have been curating a stage at La Nature Festival in recent years and you have probably done that at L’Oeil Kollectif as well earlier in your career. But this is another level of course.

With the collective I was also being a musician in the organization, inviting people to play with. Our audience was already interested in that kind of music. La Nature is different on many levels. It’s mainly an electronic music festival where people go to just to dance. It’s that kind of festival that’s sold out when there’s not even a line-up announced. Everybody just wants to be there in this beautiful place in nature. For me, it’s kind of political to program free jazz or experimental music at that type of festival because you’re trying to show people that something other than techno and dance music exists. And it’s not a kind of music that people are used to listen to, so you’re going to be judged as a curator by the audience. There’s something really interesting in just showing the people what’s going on outside of their own border. That’s what I’ve been trying to do there.

It’s a great opportunity to let young people experience that kind of music in that context. With experimental turntablist Mariam Rezaei for instance, who was featured in this edition of La Nature, you have an artist that has the potential to speak to a lot of youngsters. She’s bridging a gap between experimental music and popular music.

That’s great to hear and reactions like this give me the strength to continue with it. Because it can be difficult sometimes! I always have a lot of convincing to do, to my fellow curators for instance.

At your first appearance at Summer Bummer with Hanne De Backer and Audrey Lauro, you guys were one of the opening acts. A few years later, you headlined the festival on both days with Steve Noble, Thurston Moore and Peter Brötzmann. What kind of impact did all this have on you?

Well of course I was very happy with all this happening, but the most important thing I remember is having a super good connection with Thurston and Peter, the music was really beautiful. But also, off stage this connection felt really good. You know, sometimes when you are young and you play with big names people are already excited before the concert starts, but it’s another thing when the music is also happening. Sometimes, when I think back at it, I can’t really believe it happened because I have tons of respect for the music of Steve, Thurston and Peter. And by the way, I will be playing in duo with Peter’s son Caspar this summer.

You played with him at Cafe OTO during a memorial festival for his father. On that same event, you played with Heather Leigh in a quartet with Zoh Amba and Hamid Drake. At Summer Bummer, you’ll play with Heather again but this time as a duo. What do you expect of it?

Heather is one of those people I had an almost instant connection with. We were both so happy to finally meet each other because of course I knew who she was and she knew who I was and we started talking on the spot. The concert at Cafe OTO was really amazing with all the musicians. So, I’m excited about what’s going to happen now because I have a really good feeling about this. I honestly have the feeling that Heather is going to be the kind of musician that will stay in my life. Not that we will be touring each year or whatever, but I’m sure she will stay in my life because we have such a great connection and friendship already.

You have a new solo record coming out in September: When It Rains It Pours. What can you already tell about it?

The new recording is on vinyl with one side of it recorded two years ago and the other side three months ago, so there’s a big gap. Usually when I’m recording something I’m so excited to put it out because I think sometimes in improvised music it’s all moving so fast. Since I’m playing with a lot of different people, there’s always a new input and I feel like I’m changing very fast. So, I kind of always want to have a picture of the moment. There have been some important changes in my personal life and the part that was recorded two years ago feels like a picture of the period before those changes. I thought it would be nice to mix those two pictures of me together. Of course, there’s still that same vocabulary but I feel like it’s also different.

When I play, a lot of similar things tend to come back and I usually tried to push against it but I realized it’s also just who you are, things that are always coming back. I decided a while ago to just accept those things, it can maybe be a drone or a melodic pattern. With this in mind when I was touring, I kind of built my album concert by concert. The piece that is called The End Of is based on something I composed on the guitar initially. The album is going to be released on September 6th on Week-End records, an amazing label from Cologne.

You seem pretty selective of your releases, there’s not a ton of Farida Amadou albums available. Why is that?

You can put that in perspective because when I mention to people I once released three albums in a year, that is considered a lot. I would say I’m careful though. Not everything has to be released because I also enjoy recording things just for myself to see if there’s something interesting or not. Sometimes it’s something I want to keep to myself. Also, recordings have to sound good, it’s not only about the music. I want to give the audience the best quality, on stage and on recordings. For instance, it’s really difficult to make a live recording sound good. That’s why I’m so super happy with the live recording of the concerts with Thurston Moore and Peter Brötzmann. You can hear a lot of details.

I remember you telling me when I bought your first solo album, almost warning me, that the music on that album was not something you did anymore.

(Laughs) I might still be telling that to people but actually, when I listened to the cd again I was surprised of how I liked it. It’s actually not that bad!

You have been touring internationally for a few years now. What has struck you the most in a positive or a negative way compared to your experiences as a performer from Belgium?

I have been on the road alone a lot and unfortunately, I have had many bad experiences with how random people in the street treat you. I’m pretty much used to it, but it also happens sometimes with organizations or people from festivals. I don’t like using big words but I would say there is sometimes a difference of treatment, maybe because I’m black. I used to not say anything about it but now I’m just saying no. If somebody’s treating me or communicating with me without respecting my boundaries, I won’t play at their event.

People sometimes seem to think that you will accept anything as a musician because you need the money. In the beginning I never really thought about it, but it can really hurt when people or organizers do that to you. It’s something you wouldn’t accept in your personal life, so why would you accept it as a professional? It’s important to take care of yourself, even if that means you have to say no to a gig or a festival. On a positive note, in Belgium, I hear a lot of people complain about the conditions for musicians. But the artist statute is something we should be grateful for. Not to have to do a job you don’t want to do and being able to focus on your music is something really special.

To finish off, what have you been listening to or reading that you would like to share?

A singer-songwriter from Chicago and her name is Kara Jackson. I’m a huge fan of hers. She was doing poetry first and then she started playing the guitar. She also plays banjo. Her songs are really beautiful, maybe because of her being poet. Her album has a funny title: Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? Musically it’s really strong and also funny in a sarcastic way. I saw her play at the Botanique in Brussels last October I think. I was just like a little girl, really right in the front looking at her with big eyes. At the end of the concert I said hi and I was shaking (laughs).

I’ve been reading a lot of different stuff, mostly psychology and feminism. But I would say my favorite writer now is a French writer named Paul B. Preciado. He’s a trans man and writes about the condition of trans people in society now. He’s trying to explain how maybe ten years from now, looking back, we would have trouble to understand why it was such a big deal. Sometimes it’s not easy to read because it’s very nerdy and also philosophical.