Suoni per il Popolo returns with 26 years of experimental sound

The Suoni per il Popolo festival returns for its 26th edition running June 16 to 28, showcasing experimental music as a communal act of celebration and survival.

This year's theme, "Radical Joy," centers on a transcendent and collaborative celebration of life through sound — increasingly necessary in times of turmoil. The festival spotlights local and international practitioners who treat sound as a living, breathing practice, from avant-garde jazz and free improvisation to global rhythmic constructions and immersive multimedia spectacles.

Saxophonist James Goddard, who performs as skin tone, spent a decade on the organizational side of the festival — as board member, co-director, and stage manager — but 2026 marks his first year with no official role. "It's quite a relief, although I think they used it as an excuse to book me more. I'm playing too many shows, I think," he said. As an improviser, Goddard's practice explores race and power dynamics through a speculative, non-hierarchical lens, treating free improvisation as a tool for self-understanding and collective healing.

Collective creation and communication are essential to Suoni's identity, and free jazz and improvised music have been the festival's lifeblood since its founding. "Before Suoni, Montreal was not so much a destination for experimental music of that variety," Goddard noted. This year's edition honors that legacy with the second annual Get Free! mini-marathon on June 23 at Casa del Popolo, featuring local, national, and international combos plus a DJ party with Dutch punk legends The Ex behind the decks.

The festival emphasizes what they call Liberation Music — music that defies and often obliterates genre conventions. The experimental synth ecosystem of local duo Jardin botanique, the meditative ritual of Hajia Maa's Secondsight, the global rhythms of Sunken Cages, and the bike-based instruments of Abdul Lateef demonstrate the festival's adventurous curation on June 19 at Casa del Popolo. Calgary's Jairus Sharif brings his belief in free improvisation as collective healing across ecstatic jazz, folk, ambient, and noise on June 24 at Casa del Popolo, alongside art rock trio Dahl collaborating with video artist Guillaume Vallée.

International performers include Dutch punk legends The Ex, Stockholm's Ellen Arkbro performing on the pipe organs of Sacré-Coeur-de-Jésus, and the guitar duo of Bill Orcutt and Wendy Eisenberg. The Ex's Andy Moor will present a rare evening of rebetika songs with composer Yannis Kyriakides and Quatuor Bozzini on June 23 at La Sala Rossa. Local hero Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem in my Heart) will celebrate his Constellation debut with French multi-instrumentalist Frédéric D. Oberland on June 27 at La Sala Rossa, and will accompany fellow Lebanese-Canadians Wake Island (Philippe Manasseh and Nadim Maghzal) to push Arabic contemporary music further while defying media stereotypes — particularly relevant as Lebanon remains under siege.