MAKING MUSIC IN TIMES OF AUTHORITARIANISM. FILM & TALK WITH MISSISSIPPI RECORDS FOUNDER, ERIC ISAACSON + BHAJAN BHOY (Solo Set)

MISSISSIPPI RECORDS PRESENTS : A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF MUSIC (during times of authoritarianism)

A visual and sonic presentation by Eric Isaacson (Mississippi Records)

A slideshow / lecture / film presentation from Mississippi Records founder Eric Isaacson telling a story of global music scenes that struggled and endeavoured during periods of authoritarianism. This is a timely and compelling interweaving of people and places, of past and present, of making and sharing music in very troubling times. It’s the story of how the powerful interests try to control music and how people fight back, nimbly evading systemic repressions by puritans, corporations and tech lords alike. Making wide, bold swings, this show, covers music from Ethiopia, North Korea,Kenya, the USA and beyond, while drawing on Eric’s colorfully described, personal experiences of the fascist creep.

Eric is known for his humbly comical, singular style and for his ability to revitalize audiences through digging up buried treasures from the global music underground. He has an intuitive and captivating way of finding the kinks, idiosyncrasies and soulful stories in the histories of under-acknowledged punk, gospel, soul, blues and roots based music from around the world. Eric has previously constructed and internationally toured three other mind-altering presentations, but never one as timely as this — a must-experience sampling of audio and visual folk art.

This whirlwind presentation of archival film, sound clips and images avoids political grandstanding, instead emphasizing vital anti-authoritarian stories of resistance through samizdat music distribution.

Eric Isaacson is the founder of Mississippi Records and many other small esoteric record labels such as Cairo, Pyramid and Velvet Ramp. Over the past twenty- three years he’s released over 390 records and 165 mixtapes of DIY music from around the world. This catalog includes punk, African guitar griots, Greek criminal underground music, deep country blues, Gospel, Folk, Estonian classical music, Soul, Spiritual Jazz and much more. Eric conceptualized, designed the covers, edited, worked with artists and their ancestors, wrote the liner notes, assembled and mailed these records out. For its first seventeen years Mississippi Records operated with zero internet presence, released no digital music and ran a cash only record store in Portland, Oregon. The company refused all press inquiries and never appeared on social media. Even with these limitations, Mississippi managed to sell over one million records. Beyond releasing records and running a retail shop, Eric has traveled with presentations like this for the past twelve years. These performances all champion DIY culture and try to expose the exploitative nature of the mainstream music industry.

BHAJAN BHOY

“Together, the last three releases show Bhajan Bhoy hitting his stride” (Antonio Posic / The Wire magazine / October 2026)

Saggar has been releasing music as Bhajan Bhoy since the turn of the decade. He has maintained a prolific output spanning post-punk, free jazz, psych and drone. His latest album “Electrisol” (released 16 October on Feeding Tube Records (USA) and Cardinal Fuzz (UK)) has received considerable press and radio attention and finds him at his most diverse and whimsical, drawing from psychedelic folk and kosmische electronics, dubsiwse production and shoegaze textures, with luminous ambient melodies hanging hovering over a deep, rhythmically charged low end that call to mind the exploratory spirits of Cluster and Dub Syndicate.

www.bhajanbhoy.bandcamp.com

Presale/door prices adjusted: our events are set up by volunteers in favour of supporting DIY touring acts, but it is getting ever more risky to plan and book events – please support the community and buy your tickets early! Presale closes 18.00 on day of the show.