Desire Marea

Part of Take Me Somewhere Festival 

Desire Marea’s voice is a culmination of many South African voices; a mouthpiece for a choir of spirits and entities. The South African artist’s second album On the Romance of Being - an album of the week at The Quietus and a New Music Fix album at BBC 6Music – was released on Mute earlier this year, and is immersed in the communal, ceremonial and healing qualities of music, sonically taking in post-gospel, spiritual jazz and the ancient music of the Nguni and Ndau peoples.

Desire’s 2020 debut album, was one of Rough Trade’s Albums of the Year and BBC 6Music’s Album of the Day. The album traversed electronic genres in an introspective exploration of modern love and loss, drawing in fans from across the globe, including Grace Jones, who went on to invite Desire to perform at her Meltdown Festival at London’s Southbank Centre.

Before their solo career, Desire formed beloved Joburg collective FAKA with creative partner Fela Gucci. FAKA toured the world extensively; made their American debut scoring for Telfar at NYFW; achieved icon status by partnering with Versace to soundtrack their S/S 2019 menswear show and were featured in the Vogue World 100 and Dazed 100 lists.

ACCESS 
This is a sound based gig. A limited supply of Subpacs (wearable vests that convert sound to vibrations) are available at the box office.