Raphael Rogiński presents Plays John Coltrane and Langston Hughes feat. Amirtha Kidambi

Back in 2015, broad-minded guitarist, composer, performer, improviser and academic Raphael Rogiński set his sights on the jazz scene, interpreting works from legendary saxophonist and bandleader John Coltrane, and adding his own compositions to texts from Langston Hughes, one of the leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance. It's this material Rogiński will draw from on this special Unsound Kraków 2024 performance, a modern deconstruction of the US civil rights movement's sounds, words and expressions that's rarely been more relevant.

Straddling free improv, electronic music, avant jazz, Indian carnatic music and noise, bandleader and composer Amirtha Kidambi works to subvert the mainstream narrative, offering an anti-hegemonic alternative that supplements her political activism, challenging white supremacy, capitalism and colonialism. She's collaborated with a diverse range of artists, such as Mary Halvorson, William Parker, Lea Bertucci, Robert Ashley and Matana Roberts, and heads up Elder Ones, the incendiary protest group who've released an acclaimed run of albums on the Northern Spy label. The band's last album 'New Monuments' appeared earlier this year on Helsinki's We Jazz imprint, and documents dissent in the face of global conflict, nodding to Black American liberation music, hardcore punk, Indian classical sounds and harsh noise.