Saint Ghetto so far / The Story 2008 – 2021
The Saint Ghetto Festival started in 2008 and was intended as a one-off event to bring together music from Paris and Switzerland. The three-day event and the name were so well received that the program group at the time decided to stage Saint Ghetto again a year later, but this time with an international line-up.
Already during the planning it became clear that this would be the Dampfzentrale’s international Music Festival in the years to come. Since then, numerous musical legends and cult figures, as well as newcomers and outsiders, have taken to the stages of Dampfzentrale on a long weekend in November.
Kae Tempest | Coby Sey | Marina Herlop | Divide and Dissolve | Loraine James | Angel Bat Dawid feat. JJJJJerome Ellis | Jenny Hval | Ka Baird | Kìzis | Phelimuncasi | Slumberland feat. Sainkho Namtchylak | Belia Winnewisser | Junge Eko | Inga Huld Hákonardóttir & Yann Leguay | Bully Fae Collins | «Piano Burning» by Annea Lockwood | Valentina Magaletti | aya | L’Rain | Smerz | Light Years feat. Caterina Barbieri, Bendik Giske, Lyra Pramuk, Nkisi & MFO | Lost Girls | Aïsha Devi | Maria w Horn | Lafawndah | Omni Selassi | Jerskin Fendrix | IOKOI | Vanishing Twin | TR/ST | Ghostpoet | Test Dept | Eartheater | Shackleton presents Tunes Of Negation | Kyoka | Jungstötter | Merz | Current 93 | DAF | Anna von Hausswolff | Circuit Des Yeux | Jenny Hval | Lolina | John Bence | Algiers | Hermann Nitsch | Dorian Wood | The Residents | Edward Ka-Spel & The Silverman | Zola Jesus | Gazelle Twin | Buriers | Mick Harris presents Fret | The Bug vs. Dylan Carlson | Ventil | Dillon & Choir | Mykki Blanco | Raime | Marie Davidson | Richard Dawson | group A | Baby Dee | Neneh Cherry & Rocketnumbernine| Bianca Casady & The C.i.A. | Bohren & Der Club Of Gore | Olöf Arnalds | The Space Lady | Wrangler | The Necks | Mohammad | Ben Frost | Triptykon | Dean Blunt | Wildbirds & Peacedrums | Atom™ | Laetitia Sadier | Sudden Infant | Anika solo | Laibach | Sparks | OM | Palais Schaumburg | Merz feat. Sartorius Drum Ensemble | Lubomyr Melnyk | Sensational meets Koyxen | Uz Jsme Doma | Tuxedomoon | Rhys Chatham’s Bern Project | The Legendary Pink Dots | Esplendor Geometrico | Hildur Guðnadóttir | David Maranja & Z’ev | Sven Kacirek | Marc Almond | Anika | Hauschka | Esben And The Witch | Carla Bozulich | Ja Panik | Natalie Beridze | Dave Phillips | The Fall | Charlemagne Palestine | Bobby Conn | Steven Stapleton | Qa’a | Lydia Lunch’s Big Sexy Noise | Die Goldene Zitronen | Ghédalia Tazartès | Little Annie | Cobra Killer | André Duracell | Philippe Petit & James Johnston | Brigitte Fontaine | Pierre Henry | Hermine
Where does the name «Saint Ghetto» come from?
The legendary Parisian neighborhood Saint-Germain-des-Prés served as a reference, as this area on the left bank of the Seine was the melting pot of the most experimental and radical European avant-garde of the post-war period. It was here that the underground principle was invented on the ashes of Dada and Surrealism – with all its facets between music, drugs, dance, painting, film and politics, and thus the fuse of punk culture was lit.
The acronym Saint Ghetto stands for «Saint-Ghetto des prêts» a term chosen by the lettrist Gabriel Pomerand to ironically describe the legendary artists’ and intellectuals’ neighborhood of Saint-Germain-des-Prés as a petty-bourgeois debt hell.
The Dampfzentrale music team liked all these references and so had appropriated the term. Over the past 14 years, Saint Ghetto has had a lasting impact on musical events outside the mainstream in Bern. For next year’s 15th edition (the 2020 edition was fully planned but didn’t take place due to Corona), the festival will now undergo a name change.
Why a name change?
Very few people know the origin of the festival name «Saint Ghetto». Dampfzentrale never bothered much about an explanation and was content to have created a brand that has enjoyed a fabulous reputation far beyond the country’s borders for many years. But it is now high time to discard this combination of two words with dubious connotations.
The new name was announced with the start of the 2022 edition of the festival: Full Of Lava.