Counterflows Festival has announced its full artist line-up for this year’s edition of the experimental, multi-venue celebration of music. Taking place from Thursday 3-Sunday 6 April, Festival passes, including pay-what-you-want options, are on sale now. 

Designed to be a relaxed experience, Counterflows Festival has no headliners, no scheduling clashes and lengthy breaks for food. Highlights from the bill include a collaboration between Bill Wells and Maher Shalal Hash Baz, American jazz pianist Amina Claudine Myers, Glaswegian poet Nisha Ramayya and Japanese DJ Foodman. 

They’ll be joined by Klein, Vũ Hà Anh, Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh, Yan Jun, Masa Nazzal, Ash Reid, Tran Uy Duc, AngusRaze, The Handover, Weston Olencki and Laura Cocks, Feeo, Brunnera, Uzganic Choir, Akumu, Gyrofield, Nakul Krishnamurthy with Ankna Arockiam and Tom Mudd, and more to be announced. 

The festival, which took some time off in 2024, has promised to reveal more details in February, including information on each individual event, its Sunday fair, discussions, and the Counterflows zine. 

Established 13 years ago, Counterflows has cemented itself as a festival for contemporary music lovers willing to experiment with genre. According to the festival’s site, ‘We aim to keep our activities as open, inclusive, accessible and fun as possible, confronting the often exclusionary and market-driven nature of the music industry. We look to build a non-hierarchal social space to engage with artists’ work, as well as explore their connections to culture, politics, community and activism.’

The 2023 edition of Counterflows took place across Glasgow venues like Civic House, Community Central Halls, The Old Hairdressers and Platform, and consisted of 15 events including live performances, podcast recordings, zine fairs and community hangouts. 

When we interviewed Counterflows organiser Alasdair Campbell, he told us, ‘We see song as fundamental to all music. Counterflows has developed and moved on since these initial ideas and the festival will explore the relationship with song and experimental music in different contexts. Integrity of expression is the key. Everything is deliberate.’ Read the full interview here. 

Counterflows Festival, various venues, Glasgow, Thursday 3–Sunday 6 April.