Kategoriarkiv: News

Uma Obscura 2023 – what a blast!


Thank you everyone who made this epic weekend possible! It was simply beautiful. World class performances and an audience that are not just spectators, but participants, creating the Uma Obscura experience!

In the words of Entropy: ”Uma Ubscura is a family reunion with your chosen family, a sanctuary and creative space for all of us that are used to not quite fitting in. Here we can express, explore and grow.”

In 2024 Uma Obscura will celebrate 10 years. But if we count the preceding event ”Sunset Park” that transformed into Uma Obscura in 2014, then we will celebrate 15 editions! We hope to see you then, because Uma Obscura is the community we form together as we transform reality and celebrate the alternative subculture scene.

Uma Obscura is the world in your eyes, seen through our lens. The festival lasts two days. The memories are forever. You Are Not Alone.

First bookings out!


We now release the first bookings for Uma Obscura 2023! We are proud to present a great line up for this year’s festival. First out we welcome back the EBM/futurepop-pioneers COVENANT, who return to Umeå after 10 years! We welcome legendary dancer ARIELLAH all the way from US, UK based bands AUGER and MEMENTO MORI and finally we have decided to unleash the MORLOCKS!

Save the dates October 13-14 and see you at the Uma Obscura festival in Umeå, Sweden!

Thank you for 2022!


What can we say – but THANK YOU – to all participating artists, dancers, performers, artistic leaders, participants, crew and volunteers, partners and of course all of you who came to experience Uma Obscura 2022! This was a total blast!

We hope to see all of you again sometime in the future…

Obscura Light

As you all know, Uma Obscura 2020 had to be post-poned and hopefully the festival will return in 2022 in it’s full glory.  Still, we will keep giving you the Uma Obscura experience in 2021!

On October 16 we are proud to present Obscura Light, featuring a variety of high class alternative music and art! We are proud to present live: Rået, Ljustörst and Robin Lilja! Also there will be an art exhibition by JAQ Studios.

We are happy to finally be able to welcome a live audience to Idun theatre in Umeå.

Sub Showcase – online event featuring Ninedee


The future of Uma Obscura is not yet set but on may 29 we bring you an online event with the awesome band Ninedee! This event will be part of a national online event that in itself features a series of various events.

Many club and festival organizers throughout Sweden have come together to co-create the program with the support from SUB – Riksförbundet För Subkultur (the Swedish national network organisation for subcultures)

You can see the stream for free at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXCWAswR0WVRZZRcRQNQFgQ

And you can read more about the event here:
showcase.subkulturer.se

And the official Facebook event can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/258845479310173/

The Uma Obscura experience online

Donna rivjärn (press), Jätten. Foto Jaq studios. Courtesy of Jätten.

Although the true festival experience of Uma Obscura is hard to broadcast, we have some artists who have all done the second best thing to playing live, that is streaming/live recording their sets or other contributions.

Jätten was scheduled to play at Uma Obscura before the pandemic broke out. One performance was planned to be togheter with Donna rivjärn. But since the festival was postponed, they decided to instead record the DJ-set they had planned and publish it online during one of the days of the festival.

The mix consists of 30 minutes of westcoast electrofunk (or as people used to call it in Los Angeles, “workout music” beacuse of all the huffing and puffing ). The lyrics by Donna Rivjärn are inspired by their harsh situation as temp workers during the pandemics and also the tension that comes out of not being able to be close to other people.*

Jätten och donna rivjärn: The uma obscura-mix 2020:
https://www.mixcloud.com/DJ_Vaenlig/donna-rivjärn-jätten-dj-set-for-uma-obscura-2020/

Also Two Witches did a live stream and interview on Saturday, April 4, the same day they were supposed to be playing at Uma Obscura:
https://www.facebook.com/167374843332778/videos/1575314359301063/

 

Uma Obscura – postponed

It is with a heavy heart that we hereby announce that the festival Uma Obscura will not be held 3-5 April. We hope to be able reschedule and ask for your patience as we consider our options along with each and everyone involved.

We have all been hard at work to prepare for a spectacular celebration of the subcultural arts this spring and this has been a tough decision for us to make. Nonetheless, it is the only viable option. Although we do not (yet) fall under the regulations currently limiting events, a substantial portion of our performing acts will most likely not be able to attend and if we were to hold the festival under these circumstances, it would not be the festival we planned for.

The spread of the Corona virus is currently affecting people from all over the world, in a myriad of ways and to an extent that we cannot yet properly gauge. One vital purpose of culture is to have different people meet and engage. In a time where people are now discouraged from meeting each other, culture will be heavily impacted – perhaps moreso from the cure than the disease. The actions taken by Swedish government are to protect public health and we will support the collective effort to reduce the damage done by the virus.

However, culture has another vital purpose and it is to inspire hope in humanity. This is the mission we will never abandon. Whether there will be an Uma Obscura later this year or not, rest assured that the heart of the festival will continue to beat to the sound of what is wondrous and dark, the macabre and beautiful, and to every other tone in the diverse orchestra of alternative subcultures. Together with you, our dear audience, we will keep spirits high despite anything and everything.

We do not stand alone as a cultural event impacted by the spread of the Corona virus – several have cancelled or postponed their events before us and we expect even more to follow. The consequences will be dire and it is our hope, together with our fellow arrangers, that we will be supported throughout the crisis. Culture is not a luxury and it is not a triviality – it is a force on its own that breathes life into our bodies. Without it we would be only almost human.

Again – we do hope that we will be able to bring you Uma Obscura 2020 later this year and that it will be as close to our vision and your expectations as possible. For now, we would like to thank everyone for their work so far with the festival. Without the outstanding people rallying to the cause of this unique festival for alternative subcultures we would not even have a postponed festival to mourn.

We also wish to thank each and everyone of the artists who have shown great support and understanding throughout the process of trying to work out a solution to postpone the festival. We also thank all our partners and volonteers for their support and understanding. We stand together in firm resolution to try to make this edition of the festival reemerge.

Rest assured, we will keep you all updated on whether the festival is to be postponed or cancelled entirely. Our goal is to postpone the festival but there are many factors in play here, as you can imagine. We will also get back to everyone who has bought tickets with an option for a refund or – if we can postpone the festival – an option to keep your ticket. This may take a week or two.

Until then we ask you to lend us your patience and to pick up the pieces with us. Listen to the music you were looking forward to. See if the artists have published online any of the works you were dying to see. Find showcases of the dancers who were going to perform. Why not write them something supportive, or buy some of their artwork if possible? Above all, remember to let those fantastic creators know that you are finding comfort in them! They need you now as much as you need them.

Until we all meet again
With love,
Uma Obscura

The program is out!

The program folder and the time schedules for the festival are out now and can be found in the menu under ”program 2020”.

Also, for those of you who are concerned about if Uma Obscura will be affected by the Corona virus, we have included an information section that can be found through a link on the program page.

Four dance workshops to challenge your body and mind


We have released four dance workshops for this year’s Uma Obscura! They are tought by experienced dancers from the scene, namely Dud Muurmand and Ida & Maxx.  There is something for everyone we believe and also both for beginners and more experienced dancers.

How about Gespenstertheater – or ”how to dance like a ghost” or a Dark Viking workshop where you learn to dance with a big cape or skirt in a mix of modern day’s Tribal Fusion together with ancient Ghawazee dance and Balkan Fusion – with a huge medieval Viking kick!

Find more in the workshops section!

Art Obscura challenging your mind


Art Obscura continue to evolve and this year we welcome new artists to the line up, namely Dan Pålsson and the Cygne Noir photo exhibition and Olof Röckner, who explore different aspects and variations of the human skull as a symbol.

There will also be more skulls, as Hanna Rindeskog returns with her collection of skeletons and surrealism, and we also welcome back Anna Windseth with her art inspired by nature, animals, myths and fairytales.

This and more at the Art Obscura. The exhibitions will be open on both Friday April 3 and Saturday, April 4 this year and as usual there is free admittance during the day program!