There’s a common misconception that the reactionary forces now sweeping Europe and Sweden don’t really care about culture. On the contrary, art, music, literature and the performing arts have historically always been of great importance to authoritarian movements. These expressions of human imagination and curiosity must be tamed and transformed into something wholesome and useful. Cost-efficient and inoffensive, at the very least.

Yeah, we’re not really any of that. And for that very reason, we’ll keep doing this festival in Malmö for as long as we’re physically able. The effects of gentrification and cultural conformity have struck this city like a plague. But there are still breeding grounds for creativity and artistic dreams. Safe havens for freaks and eccentrics. And once a year we roll out Intonal for their sake. For our sake. An example of what still can be achieved in this city if you don’t listen to sense.

So. What are we going to do about the state of things? Well, we’re going to stick to our guns. Defiantly trying to expose our city to novel voices and expressions. ”I didn’t know what to expect at all, but I f#cking loved it!”, is the best review Intonal ever got. And we get that every year, in some version or another. 

The first drop includes a few champions of percussion. Perhaps most notably Japanese legend Midori Takada, but we’d like to include London’s TSVI in that category as well, although his approach is altogether different. There’s also champions of the deep, like goosebumps-inducing composer Kajsa Lindgren and the lord of broken tape machines, Ian William Craig. And of course we have the dance floor covered, from multiform masters like OKO DJ to hardcore firestarters like Nkisi. 

This first drop is far from a complete line-up, though. Oh no, we’re saving some of the brightest gems for later. But it’s a damn good start, if we may say so ourselves.

Tickets are available on Tickster.

The full line up for the festival will be released on March 17th.

Intonal is an annual festival for experimental and electronic music that has been held in Malmö, Sweden since 2015. The focus of the festival is to offer an international programme of experimental and electronic music covering a wide range of genres, subgenres and unique expressions. Besides established artists within the electronic avant garde and acts bordering towards sound art, a hefty club oriented programme will also present DJs acting within an innovative new scene for dance music. Parallel to this there is also a number of installation exhibitions and artist talks. Out of tradition, a handful of events on the programme will be open to the public and free of entrance.

Intonal 2020 is organized by Inkonst and Inter Arts Center in Malmö, Sweden in collaboration with Mutek & Insomnia through The North West Passage Project, Kontra-Musik, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö Live, S:t Johannes Church/The Swedish Church Malmö, Museum of Movements, ICAS, UpNode Network, Goethe-Institut Schweden, Institut Francais de Suède, with support by The City of Malmö, Region Skåne, The Swedish Arts Council, The Nordic Council of Ministers, Puls/The Nordic Culture Fund, The Government of Quebec, The Roskilde Festival Charity Foundation. Media partners are Crack Magazine, The Quietus & The Wire.