For three days Festival Norpas offers events involving emerging and newly created arts. It is held annually in the historic industrial town of Dalsbruk on the island of Kimito, which during the festival becomes a backdrop for meetings and interaction between various disciplines, creators and artists of different countries and cultures. The activity programme also extends to several art centres in Helsinki and Turku, the two largest cities in Finland, which are located close to the area where the festival takes place.
With the support of AC/E, Spain was represented at this year’s edition by performances by the Spanish groups Za! (Barcelona) and Los Voluble (Seville). Both also took part in talks and instrumental and vocal improvisation workshops with other groups.
Za! is a multilayer supersonic orchestra that combines African beats, noise, math rock, vocal-loops, free jazz, analogue electronics, sounds from the shepherds of Tuva, Balinese polyrhythms, Mauritanian trip hop, Dadaism, distortion, dance and drones. The two Catalans have released two albums so far.
Los Voluble have spent more than twenty years exploring the limits and possibilities of musical and audiovisual expression, moving from flamenco to electronic music, in particular a combination that has led them to participate in Sónar Festival, together with Niño de Elche, with 'Raverdial' and in the 18th Seville Flamenco Biennial with 'Cartuja a Rás'.