PRESS INFO
“South by South Sonic Serenade”






Soy&Synth is back for its 5th year in 2023 in an expanded supernova form, conjuring up more artists, partners, and gatherings in its colorful bricolage across 5 months of programming.


Once a month from August to October, Soy&Synth will present a series of 3 concerts in multiple venues, featuring 12 emerging Berlin-based musicians and sound artists from multiple south (South East Asia, South American, and African) diasporic backgrounds: from Benin to Brasil, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cameroon, Indonesia and more.


The 3 concerts will be accompanied by 1 discourse session, 1 audio zine as documentation, and 1 final listening + makan wrap-up event towards the end of the year in December.


In 2023, Soy&Synth casts its spell anew. The cosmic threads of collaboration intertwine with it’s sibling L_KW, an auditory collective that wields sonic activism like a beacon of change. Joining this orchestration of experimentation is Midnight Shift, a label and music emissary nestled in both Berlin's bustling heart and Singapore's vibrant pulse. But that's not all—the 2023 spectacle forges fresh alliances with curatorial visionaries Kim Diana Vu of Decolonoize and Nicholas Kelly of Mixtape Menage, broadening hues of perspectives to its sonic palette.


The first concert kicks off on Saturday 26.08.23 at PANKE with Ruffo + HEARTBLOOD and NAARI + Robert Machiri. Following on last year’s well-received format, each performance from every duo will be a novel, improvisational set birthed from the curated Soy&Synth pairing, bringing these usually disparate music artists together for the first time.


As a vehicle for spontaneous musical combustion and magical collaboration, Soy&Synth once again probes the edgiest avant-garde realms of experimental and improvised music, emerging from the rich diaspora tapestry of Berlin, daring to challenge convention and embrace the uncharted.


All sets will be live recorded and mastered in Berlin. A digital album documenting the series containing all sets from those 3 concerts will be co-launched by Midnight Shift and L_KW and made available for free download, and sealed with a final wrap-up listening party broadcast at Refuge Worldwide + streamed at a beloved restaurant location.


Soy&Synth 2023 cheat sheet

  • 3 Concerts:
    • Saturday 26.08.23 at PANKE with Ruffo + HEARTBLOOD and NAARI + Robert Machiri
    • Saturday 30.09.23 at ACUD MACHT NEU with Camila Nebbia + Klaas von Karlos and Elsa M'Bala + Cimot
    • Saturday 28.10.23 at Arkaoda with Marina Cyrino + Trang & David and Oyèmi Noize + M Takara
  • 1 Discourse Session
    • All artists will be involved
  • 1 Audio Zine
    • Documentation of the series in digital visual and audio format online
  • 1 Digital Album Release
    • Co-launched by labels Midnight Shift and L_KW as a free digital download
  • 1 Listening + makan Wrap-up Event
    • Broadcast on community radio station Refuge Worldwide + streamed over shared plates in a communal restaurant setting



Get the latest


Website: soyandsynth.soydivision.berlin/2023

Instagram: instagram.com/soydivision.berlin/






Behind Soy&Synth 2023


Soy&Synth is an independent grassroots event series initiated by Berlin-based Indonesian art collective Soydivision, dedicated to experimental and improvised music practices from Berlin-based diaspora emerging artists in Berlin since 2018.


To facilitate the 2023 edition, Soy&Synth will be again co-organized with L_KW (a sound collective which works with sonic activism) and Midnight Shift (a label and music promotion entity co-located in Berlin and Singapore). Expanding from the previous editions, it will also feature new curatorial partnerships with Kim Diana Vu (Decolonoize) and Nicholas Kelly (Mixtape Menage).


Soy&Synth 2023 is made possible with the generous support from Musicboard Berlin.