Ibrahim Alfa Jnr. & feeo (with introduction from Phoebe Beckett Chingono)

Presenting a double bill of vanguard techno producer Ibrahim Alfa Jnr. and vocalist and producer feeo at Ormside on Thursday 27th August, with an introduction and accompanying film programme from Phoebe Beckett Chingono.

Ahead of carnival weekend celebrations and commemorations, we welcome two artists whose practices channel experiences of blackness via the collapsing and re-contextualisation of diasporic music idioms.

Welcoming Ibrahim Alfa Jnr. to Ormside for his first UK show in a decade. A 90s veteran of UK techno, Alfa embodies resilience, having overcome serious health issues and systemic obstacles over the past few years. In response, his newest work ‘Infinite Black Inside’ (FO) tenderly serves fractured pulses and bass-heavy experiments, drawing on a full spectrum of radical Black music and a lifetime of experience. Free Jazz meets footwork, techno and dub – filtered through Alfa’s own lens to form a sonic imprint entirely his own, imbued with hope.

feeo is the solo project of London-based artist and vocalist Theodora Laird. Working across electronics, written word and performance – feeo investigates the feedback and tension between personal and political story. In her 2025 debut album ‘Goodness’ (AD93), feeo explores opposing forces of darkness and lightness, delivered via static hum, tape drones and whispers of dance music forms. On the 27th feeo presents a new solo performance at Ormside – her first London show since headlining ICA in February of this year.

Joined by British-Zimbabwean anthropologist, curator and cultural producer Phoebe Beckett Chingono, who presents an introduction to the evening at Ormside – curating and assembling a rotating film programme framing the performances. Exploring the convergence of black experience and digital media, the programme positions Black techno music within a broader context of Black British techno-cultural production. It draws upon the notion that cinema might amplify what techno music does to the body – altering time, expectation and scale without explicit explanation.

Phoebe Beckett Chingono works across the June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive (JGPACA), iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts), and the London Community Video Archive (LCVA). Her practice spans archival research, ethnographic methods, choreography, and community-based media. Her research explores value, semiotics, and mediating practices, particularly from imperial ‘margins’ in the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa.