Soil Biographies

What hidden lives lie buried in the ground?

Soil Biographies is a sensory sound performance in which two versatile artists, Louis Vanhaverbeke and Farida Amadou, engage in a musical dialogue with soil. Together, they create a ritual performance about the subconscious, growth and hidden life. About the ground beneath our feet, and the voices rising from it.

Following a period of mental turmoil, theatre maker Louis Vanhaverbeke found solace in farming. Contact with soil became his way of staying literally connected to the world. Farida Amadou, an acclaimed bassist on the international improvisation scene, approaches sound as a physical force. Her practice is rooted in attentive listening and embodied presence, where grounding is not only a connection to the earth but also a way of connecting to oneself and to others through sound.

Together, they build a playground in which the soil becomes both set, instrument and co-performer. They unearth hidden feelings, lost objects, discomfort, comfort and everything that usually remains beneath the surface. Between beauty and filth, a breathing and spellbinding landscape of sound and transformation emerges. The soil becomes a source of sound, whilst sounds make the soil vibrate.

Soil Biographies is not a conventional narrative, but a musical love triangle between Farida, Louis and the earth. A performance that invites the audience to listen, to dig for what lies hidden within our bodies, and to ground ourselves together.