Vulvaverse bridges traditional metalheads and queer pioneers

Rotterdam band VULVA is the organiser of Vulvaverse, a Rotterdam festival for the experimental side of hard music. It focuses mainly on musicians, artists and speakers who are usually not or too rarely seen on stage. With a strong focus on people of colour and the queer community. The fourth edition will take place on 4 October at WORM.

But on Friday 3 October, there will first be a free pre-party at Roodkapje, featuring blackened death-sludge by Rotterdam band Lijkschouwer and anti-fascist dungeon-synth by Segadeath.

The festival itself takes place on 4 October at WORM, with Lebanese artist ghenwa (noiré) abou fayad first on the programme, followed by the thrash-punk of Haarlem-based band Traumatizer. Headliners this year are Australian doom metal band Divide and Dissolve and Ugandan-French electro-hip-hop duo MC Yallah and Debmaster. The evening will be closed by DJs YoungWoman and DJ Shahmaran.

Made up of Kim Hoorweg and Nadya van Osnabrugge, VULVA garnered fame in 2022 with the song Kill The Baby. An indictment of the anti-abortion debate. The music video in particular led to Parliamentary questions in conservative-Christian quarters. While previous editions have focused on bodily autonomy as their theme, this year Vulvaverse shifts the focus to caring for each other within a community. The aim is to learn together and to heal through loud music.

Suicide prevention

As every year, this edition has a social focus. In cooperation with the 113 Suicide Prevention Foundation, Vulvaverse this time pays attention to myths surrounding suicide and what to do when someone close to you is thinking about suicide. Edith Huinck, an expert on suicide prevention among young people, will talk about this important topic. Furthermore, visitors can get make-up done by make-up collective Tovertrutten and there is a market where young makers can show their work. Here, visitors can, among other things, have their clothes screen-printed live.

Cover photo: Divide and Dissolve by Yatri Niehaus