Hay Festival 2024

Christopher Haworth, Associate Professor in Music at the University of Birmingham, discusses the moral, ontological and aesthetic issues that are stirred by the proliferation of so-called deepfakes in twenty-first century popular music. Typically viewed as a form of audio clickbait, cases such as ghostwriter’s fusion of Drake and The Weeknd prompt us to ask what happens when music produced by deepfakes is aesthetically and culturally valuable. How will the legal and moral issues of ‘voice theft’ be resolved if the results are in the public interest?

Jasmine Jethwa’s new EP, Same Streets But I Don’t See You Around, deals with the fallout of romantic heartbreak. Sometimes gentle, sometimes acerbic, it’s laced with a sense of spirituality and candour. Jethwa is inspired by a fusion of Western and Indian culture, influenced by the personal stories of her south London upbringing, and has a natural command for melody and harmonies.

She wasn’t always set on being a musician, first training in dance, contemporary, jazz, ballet, tap and modern. Then she suddenly changed direction to focus on music, and her deft and tender 2020 debut EP Hurricane garnered acclaim from BBC Introducing, gal-dem, The Independent and more. She’s known for her swaying, folk-tinged acoustic pop songs with a full voice that teems with rich emotion. The dance world’s loss is music’s gain.

Get down for an unforgettable sonic spectacle with the multi-award-winning progressive brass band from London. Part choir, part chamber orchestra, part avant-rock band, Perhaps Contraption creates a unique musical experience, melding elements of jazz, art pop and post-minimalism, infused with choreography and theatricality.

Their intense, exuberant shows are something like John Adams meeting Frank Zappa and Sufjan Stevens in an avant-garde collision; staggering through a fairground – beautiful and astonishing, replete with irregular but irresistible rhythms, big choral harmonies and triumphant horns. Catch them fresh from Glastonbury, the EFG London Jazz Festival, Bestival, Wilderness, Southbank Centre and Latitude.