Spirit Music Festival
Kasheme Listening Lounge
Neugasse 56, 8005 Zürich
Sa, 13. Juni 2026, 16:00
Panel mit Ken Bugul, Jean D’Amérique & Aliyeh Ataei
(Panel in English and French moderated by Pablo Assandri)
We welcome three celebrated authors from Senegal, Haiti and Iran, known for their powerful explorations of post-colonial identity and the female condition, political violence and marginalized communities, and the psychological impacts of war and living on the border. All three of these authors are connected to the literary and arts scene in Zurich, i.e. they were or are currently writers-in-residence of the residency programme of Literaturhaus Zurich and the PWG foundation.
Ken Bugul
The legendary Senegalese author Ken Bugul (the pen name of Mariètou Mbaye) is best known for her groundbreaking 1982 debut novel, “Le Baobab fou” (1982), about a young Sengalese woman’s experience in Belgium. The "mad baobab" of the title serves as a metaphor for the narrator's roots, ancestral connection, and enduring resilience. The highly subversive book disrupted African literary norms at the time, allowing a Muslim and African woman to speak with radical frankness about female sexuality, addiction, and mental health.
Jean D’Amérique
The multi-talented Haitian author Jean
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Spirit Music Festival
Kasheme Listening Lounge
Neugasse 56, 8005 Zürich
Sa, 13. Juni 2026, 16:00
Panel mit Ken Bugul, Jean D’Amérique & Aliyeh Ataei
(Panel in English and French moderated by Pablo Assandri)
We welcome three celebrated authors from Senegal, Haiti and Iran, known for their powerful explorations of post-colonial identity and the female condition, political violence and marginalized communities, and the psychological impacts of war and living on the border. All three of these authors are connected to the literary and arts scene in Zurich, i.e. they were or are currently writers-in-residence of the residency programme of Literaturhaus Zurich and the PWG foundation.
Ken Bugul
The legendary Senegalese author Ken Bugul (the pen name of Mariètou Mbaye) is best known for her groundbreaking 1982 debut novel, “Le Baobab fou” (1982), about a young Sengalese woman’s experience in Belgium. The "mad baobab" of the title serves as a metaphor for the narrator's roots, ancestral connection, and enduring resilience. The highly subversive book disrupted African literary norms at the time, allowing a Muslim and African woman to speak with radical frankness about female sexuality, addiction, and mental health.
Jean D’Amérique
The multi-talented Haitian author Jean D’Amérique works prolifically as a poet, playwright, novelist, and rapper. His acclaimed debut novel, “Soleil à coudre” (2021), captures a childhood stripped away by gang violence in Port-au-Prince. It is a lyrical, raw, and dark tale that explores the brutal realities of growing up in a contemporary Haitian slum through the eyes of a young girl.
Aliyeh Ataei
Aliyeh Ataei is a highly distinguished Iranian-Afghan writer and women's rights activist. Her novel “In the Land of the Forgotten” (2021) describes a life between Iran and Afghanistan, one marked by resistance, a search for identity and constant confrontation with social norms. She is currently a fellow in the residency programme and will be staying in Zurich until July.
https://www.writers-in-residence.ch/
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Spirit Music Festival 3rd Edition
11 – 14.06
„The strange is not elsewhere. It is embedded in what we thought we understood.“
— Mark Fisher
Spirit Music Festival is back for its third edition. Four days of art, music, literature, and film at Kasheme Listening Lounge, Neugasse 56, Zürich.
A pop-up exhibition in three different rooms, live concerts and DJ sets, a round table with writers Ken Bugul, @jeandamerique and @aliyehataei.official, film screenings at @riffraff.houdini curated together with @showtime_filmfestival , and on Sunday an Afrofuturist dinner by Ken Bugul - a performance in itself (rsvp only).
We open on Thursday with the vernissage of an exhibition that asks what happens when the familiar starts to feel like it’s holding something back.
With works by Dharmendra Prasad (India), Jso Maeder (Switzerland), @melgugelmann (Switzerland), Michael De Veil (USA), @santiagolouridoanzola (Colombia) and Wayne Reddiar (South Africa).
From Friday to Sunday the exhibition and Kasheme open at 12:00 - come for coffee, drinks, and socialising.
Thursday 11 June — Vernissage
18:00 Vernissage & Apéro riche
18:00 DJ @mumbikameri
21:00 @siselabonga (concert)
22:00 DJ @r.typhina
Friday 12 June
12:00 Exhibition opening
18:00 DJ Misterioso
18:30 Nuhue (CO, 2026) by Santiago Lourido — film screening at Kasheme
21:00 None Of Them (concert)
22:00 DJ @jean.fonceee
Saturday 13 June
12:00 Exhibition opening
16:00 Round table with Ken Bugul, Jean D’Amérique & Aliyeh Ataei
18:00 DJ J’Peux Tim
18:30 Neptune Frost (RW/US, 2021) by Anisia Uzeyman & Saul Williams — Showtime Festival at RiffRaff
21:00 @jeandamerique & Bit-Tuner (concert)
22:00 DJ @ka_raba
Sunday 14 June — Closing Day
12:00 Exhibition opening
12:00 @lovevolv Sun Radio Omniversity
13:50 West Indies ou les nègres marrons de la liberté (MR/DZ/FR, 1979) by Med Hondo — Showtime Festival at RiffRaff
17:30 Om Shanti Om (IN, 2007) by Farah Khan — Showtime Festival at RiffRaff
18:00 Afrofuturist Dinner by Ken Bugul (reservation required)
20:00 DJ Pambelé
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