POLISH PREMIERE

Following acclaimed collaborations such as Agua Dulce with percussionist Laura Robles and Mapambazuko with Congolese guitarist Titi Bakorta, Peruvian-born artist Alejandra Cárdenas, performing under her own name as Ale Hop, presents her most personal work yet: A Body Like a Home. This album marks a profound departure from collaboration into solo introspection, weaving autobiographical soundscapes that explore trauma, recovery, and love.

Comprising 13 songs and 15 poems, A Body Like a Home channels intergenerational scars—from colonialism, racism, domestic violence, and alcoholism—into music that oscillates between brutality and tenderness. At its core is Cárdenas’s voice, part witness, part confessor, layered over electric guitars, electronic textures, the haunting violin of Mexican musician Gibrana Cervantes, and a rich tapestry of field recordings—from rainfall and whispered conversations to broken glass and archival protest footage from Peru. The album’s first single, Motherland, is a searing testament to the cyclical legacies of colonial and domestic violence, yet threaded with resilience, love, and faith.

Accompanying the album, a chapbook of poetry extends the sonic narrative. Five poems are recited on the record, creating a dialogue between sound and text, where the body becomes both archive and landscape, and trauma transforms into ritual and memory. Tracks such as Evangelinaand the title piece A Body Like a Homeembrace spirituality and belonging, while others, including Early Road and Going South, incorporate Peruvian folklore into vivid, intimate vignettes. Ale Hop (Alejandra Cárdenas) began her career in Lima’s underground music scene in the 2000s. Her practice spans live performance, albums, multimedia projects, and research, merging the physicality of sound with raw emotional states. She creates dense, immersive sonic layers using an intricate repertoire of electric guitar techniques. Recent collaborations include Agua Dulce with percussionist Laura Robles, Near and Remote Activation Practices with sound artist Tatiana Heuman, and Mapambazuko with Congolese guitarist Titi Bakorta. Her work has been showcased at festivals and institutions worldwide, including UNSOUND, MUTEK, Sonic Acts, CTM Festival, Taiwan C-LAB, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and Somerset House Studios, and released on labels such as Nyege Nyege, Buh Records, Karlrecords, and Superpang.

This concert offers a rare opportunity to experience A Body Like a Home live – a sonic memoir of pain, resilience, and profound intimacy.

https://alehophop.com/