Serving as a meeting point for European music, Eurosonic Noorderslag is one of the biggest showcase festivals in Europe. It has a proven track record of uncovering many outstanding emerging talents from all over the continent while supporting their break on the international music scene.
The Dutch festival will take place in Groningen from 18 to 21 January: on this occasion, Italy will showcase some of the most promising talents on the local scene.
Discover all the Italian artists performing at ESNS 2023 and check them out in our playlist!
SHUNAJI
SANS SOUCIS
London-based singer-songwriter, producer, and guitarist Sans Soucis takes her name from a childhood nickname meaning ‘carefree’. She has honed a unique style rooted in her Italian and Congolese heritage, transcending any genre boundaries while blending classical Italian songwriting, alternative R&B, and electronica. Her latest EP ‘On Time For Her’ is her most vulnerable work yet, tackling childhood and racial trauma and a search for her identity within Western society.
SLEAP-E
Sleap-e is Asia Martina Morabito, a 20-year-old born in Bologna, Italy. After her exciting debut EP ‘Mellow’ (2020), published by the WWNBB Collective label, her highly anticipated first LP ‘Pouty Lips’ (2022) shows how she gave life to an absolutely new sound, embracing soul, R&B and indie rock.
MARIA CHIARA ARGIRÒ
Maria Chiara Argirò is a London-based artist, pianist, synth player, composer and producer. The Italian-born artist is known for her dramatic atmospheric jazz but is currently venturing into new territories incorporating electronic soundscapes and vocals. She’s lent her skills to indie band These New Puritans, lush jazz troupe Kinkajous and guitarist Jamie Leeming. Freshly signed to Innovative Leisure, Maria Chiara Argirò marks herself out as an exciting new name in electronic, jazz-fusion with her new album ‘Forest City’.
PIQUED JACKS
Piqued Jacks are pure energy, alt-rock band from Italy with an international appeal. Part of label INRI’s roster, their successes include: opening act for Interpol, Balthazar, plays on Virgin Radio, Kerrang! Radio, MTV and BBC Radio and performances at showcase festivals like Canadian Music Week, SXSW and Mondo NYC. Latest album ‘Synchronizer’ (INRI, 2021) was produced by Julian Emery (Nothing But Thieves), Brett Shaw (Florence + The Machine) and Dan Weller (Enter Shikari).
IMEN SIAR
It’s fitting that the Arabic translation of her name is ‘faith’, because Imen Siar has always believed that she was destined to overcome the odds. Born in Milan of Moroccan descent, the 23-year-old singer-songwriter is one of the most exciting artists to emerge in Italy. She embodies a sultry vocal mastery that instantly evokes emotion and captivates whether glittering along high notes cloaked in R&B inflections with twinkling clarity or dipping down into a husky growl enveloped in a pop prowess that is all her own.
72-HOUR POST FIGHT
72-HOUR POST FIGHT is an Italian genre-bending project formed by producers Palazzi D’Oriente and Fight Pausa, joined by drummer Andrea Dissimile and saxophonist Adalberto Valsecchi. The project, unique in the Italian electronic music scenario for its hybrid nature and versatile live format, combines elements of electroacoustic music, downtempo and ambient with jazz, math rock, hip-hop and emo. Their 2019 debut album is a single entity without pauses, constantly challenging rigid genres’ divisions: this attitude is the pivotal point of the project. The second full-length LP ‘NON BACKGROUND MUSIC’ followed in May 2022, emerging as a stunning collection of endlessly listenable genre-horizontal songs.
QLOWSKI
Formed in Bologna in 2016, London based twee punks Qlowski propose an uncommon post-punk sensibility, propulsive rhythms, a modern spin on kiwi-pop and a weird combination of dark punk, noise rock and flower pop. They released their first album in June 2021, produced by Lindsay A. Corstorphine (Sauna Youth, Cold Pumas). It’s a striking, full-blown manifesto, heightening their early post-punk nuances with a poetic and compelling vision that encapsulates words, imagery and noise with the eerie voices of bandleaders Michele and Cecilia.