Mario Batkovic at Les Nuits Botanique 12 – 21 May 2017, Brussels

Les Nuits Botanique in the heart of Brussels is a boutique festival with arts exhibitions, arts and musical projects, and an extraordinarily adventurous live music programme. This year, the selection ranges from Yasmine Hamdan to Thee Oh Sees and from a Kele Okereke acoustic set to Fishbach – and Mario Batkovic.

For many decades, the accordion was one of the most popular and yet most maligned instruments in Switzerland. Starting in the rebellious early 1980s, more and more artists began to experiment with various types of accordion in a punk, art rock or singer/songwriter context. Today, it is no longer seen as an exotic extra alongside electric guitars and drums.

Nobody, however, plays the instrument quite like Mario Batkovic. Integrating clicks and breaths and other noises into his style, he rises above and way beyond any kind of musical category. His solo performances are truly breath-taking. Sometimes minimalist and repetitive with a hint of Michael Nyman, at other times sepulchral like a monumental church organ, or again lightly complex like a piece of Maurice Ravel chamber music, Batkovic teases sounds from his buttons and bellows that need to be heard to be believed. Batkovic’s brand new solo album was released in March by the Bristol-based Invada Records, run by Portishead’s Geoff Barrow.

Mario Batkovic
Sunday 14 May, 19:30
Grand Salon de Concert

Les Nuits Botanique
Mario Batkovic
Invada Records