At the invitation of Koen Vanmechelen, Portuguese electrofolk musician OMIRI (Vasco Ribeiro Casais) spent the past year travelling through the city, looking for the people who make Genk what it is. He met more than 150 people from Genk – from bakers to barbers, from gymnasts to youth workers – and captured their rhythms, voices and stories in sound and image. From these encounters, a musical remix of the city is now taking shape, built on generosity, diversity and shared stories. With Genk as its score, stage, archive and living instrument.
On Saturday, 5 September 2026, Casais will bring the result to life in the heart of the Nieuwe Kempen neighbourhood (Genk-Noord): a sixty-minute musical and visual portrait of our city and its people. Some of them will join him on stage that evening, including Nektaridoo, hip-hop duo The Twins, Lara Koyuncu and several Genk choirs. A fragment from MijnGenk, about the closure of the Zwartberg mine, will also feature, mixed with a rap by Chaz. The production is created in collaboration with C-mine.
OMIRI Genk brings together imagery, electronic music, local voices and musical traditions to create the folk music of Genk today – entirely in the spirit of Never Alone, LABIOMISTA’s central theme for 2026.
“Through immersive video projections of field recordings, mapped onto historic buildings or staged with local performers, Casais transforms each concert into a site-specific tribute to the community, blending tradition with personal stories and cutting-edge sounds.”
Praktisch
Zaterdag 5 september - 20u30
Nieuwe Kempen 6
Beperkte capaciteit - inschrijven verplicht
