By Joëlle Koorneef
There’s quite some things in this city we, as students, can call our own. There’s the beautiful university buildings, common house Elliott, and all of our campuses. They’re our little safe spaces that we can create our own community in. But, sometimes we need to break away from our bubble and mingle with the locals of Middelburg. Stukafest aims to bring locals and students together by showing how amazingly cozy our campus locations can be and how amazing the student community is. Stukafest means student dorm festival and is organized all over the country. On the 21st of February the carnival is coming to (our) town!
Korte Delft 5 has been an amazing host to many memorable gigs. On the 21st of February they will host Gita Buhari. Her mix of soul, jazz and blues will ease you into a night of various music performances. Another legendary house, but a very different atmosphere: during the night of Stukafest, Bagijnhof 1 is the place to be for some nice amped-up trashy guitars. Whereas most bands will perform some kind of toned down acoustic set in a cozy setting like this, Creepy Karpis will guarantee to break the house down. If you like upbeat garage rock with a The Orwells-vibe and vocals that sound like they came from a The Growlers album, definitely visit B1.
If you’re not in it for the bands you can come to B5 and enjoy ‘Toe Dan(s)’, a theatre production from NNTWEE. NNTWEE is the youth platform of Noord Nederlands Toneel. For Stukafest they’ll perform a theatrical introduction to their newest show ‘Carrousel’. Just around the corner is B19, host to VICTIM VICTIM. VICTIM VICTIM is a Rotterdam-based producer who makes dark ravepop. If not for her electronic beats and ice-cold vocals, you would want to check out her very interesting aesthetic.
This year there will also be an act in our very own common house: Elliott. Here you can find the art project Performing actions that are ultimately useless – A workshop. Just across the street is Isings, a special location for two very special musicians and filmmakers Bright Blue Gorilla. In the 90’s this free-spirited married couple from L.A. sold all their belongings except for their guitars and came to Europe to make music. They travel all over the world and now they come to stop in Middelburg. For an interesting performance by the happiest hippies you’ll ever meet, stop by Isings too.
After a night of intimate performances, you need to blow off some steam. Luckily there’s the afterparty, or Stukafeest, in De Spot. It starts at 23:00 with dj Etienne Manuhuwa. The duo Yakumo has played on Glastonbury (!) this year, but now it’s De Spot they promise to bring into a ‘tropical hypnosis’. With analogue synths and mixing desks they turn organic African rhythms into techno beats. Nadav Dagon is the second international act of the evening. He’s flying in from Israel with his drum kit. He’s played underground clubs in Tel Aviv and festivals in many different countries, where he often plays his drums in the middle of the crowd, making it a 360° experience.
There will be three rounds of performances in each room. You can choose to buy separate tickets for each round (€4,50), a pack of three rounds (€12,-) or the combination pack of all three rounds and the afterparty for €15,-. Afterparty tickets separately are €4,- in advance or €5,- at the door in De Spot. Ticket sales will kick off towards the end of January on campus and online. Follow the Stukafest Middelburg Facebook page for more information.
Joëlle Koorneef, Class of 2018, is a Literature & Antiquity major, from Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands.
