João Almeida (1997) is a Portuguese trumpeter, improviser and composer based in Lisbon, Portugal. In recent years, he has collaborated with some of the most important musicians in the national and international music scene, such as Albert Cirera, Gabriel Ferrandini, Hernâni Faustino, Pedro Alves Sousa, Marcelo dos Reis, Rodrigo Amado, Ernesto Rodrigues, Guilherme Rodrigues, Gonçalo Almeida, Ricardo Jacinto, Nuno Morão, Angélica Salvi, Susana Santos Silva, Yaw Tembe, Ricardo Martins, Norberto Lobo, João Lobo, Abdul Moimême, Álvaro Rosso, Rodrigo Pinheiro, Yedo Gibson, Pedro Melo Alves, João Valinho, João Carlos Pinto, Mariana Dionísio, Maria do Mar, Peter Evans, Péter Ajtai, Mia Dyberg, Fred Lonberg-Holm and Brandon Lopez. He is part of groups such as GARFO, PEACHFUZZ, Chão Maior, Lucifécit, Medusa Unit, Rodrigo Amado Refraction Quartet, LUMP and AL!. He played in festivals and venues such as Teatro S.Luiz, Teatro do Bairro, Capitólio, Salão Brasil, Hotclube de Portugal, Sala Porta-Jazz, Zaratan, Café Dias, Sociedade Guilherme Cossoul, Galeria Zé dos Bois, Centro Cultural de Belém, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Culturgest Lisboa, Casa da Música, Outfest 2019-2021, Guimarães Jazz 2020, Festa do Avante, Festival de Jazz de Robalo, Quebra Jazz, Teatro ACUD, Madame Claude, LOOPHOLE and has toured through Europe. He’s also a part of Association Robalo, CARA PODRE and Colectivo Coração de boi, releasing music, organizing concerts, festivals and events.

Felipe Zenicola is a Brazilian electric bass player, composer, sound designer and producer based in Lisbon. Born in 1981 in Rio de Janeiro, Felipe started playing the electric bass at the age of 15. Coming essentially from a rock background, in 2000 he started drawing interest for experimental music, free jazz and free forms of improvisation. Few years later, supported by the exponential growth of Rio´s exploratory music scene, Zenicola was able to deepen his research towards improvisation and different ways of handling the instrument.
In 2010, together with Marcos Campello and Renato Godoy, Zenicola started Chinese Cookie Poets, one of the most acclaimed experimental music bands in Brazil. The CCP experience, mixing improvised and previously composed material in a mostly fierce sonic environment, was key for consolidating his unique playing known today for mixing extended techniques, a heavy, frantic and cathartic way of dealing with the bass strings, low ambient/drones, minimal ostinatos and complex rhythmic patterns: a blend which makes him a very singular voice in the electric bass language today. Since 2014 Felipe has been collaborating regularly with Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, with whom has released two albums so far: Botafogo (Bocian/QTV) and New Brazilian Funk (PNL). After moving to Lisbon in 2019 Zenicola was able to broaden even more his spectrum of collaborations. Some of those new partnerships include the quartet Anthropic Neglect, with portugueses João Valinho, José Lencastre and Jorge Nuno and the trio Baiaku, with Brazilian brothers Yedo Gibson and Marcio Gibson. For the past 15 years Zenicola has collaborated in several projects, records and concerts with great minds from different sonic planets and parts of the globe, such as Zbigniew Karkowski, Yoshihide Otomo, Negro Leo, Paal Nilssen-Love , Julie Kjær, Tetuzi Akiyama, J-P Caron, Frode Gjerstad, Arto Lindsay, José Lencastre, Marcela Lucatelli, Cadu Tenório, Lars Greve, Ava Rocha, Jards Macalé, and Bill Orcutt.

Balázs Pándi (born 6 August 1983) is a Hungarian drummer and journalist. He has worked and toured with various acts from all around the world including Venetian Snares, Otto von Schirach, To Live and Shave in L.A., The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and Zu. He also played drums for the Blood of Heroes project. Since 2009 he has frequently played drums live with Merzbow, and they have released three live records together. They headlined the experimental stage at the Scion Rock Fest in Tampa, Florida in 2012. More recently, he and Merzbow have performed as a trio with Mats Gustafsson. They released Cuts in 2013 on RareNoise. For the follow-up Cuts of Guilt, Cuts Deeper (2015), they were joined by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. Balázs started an electronica-metal-breakcore project with Bong-Ra called Wormskull in 2010 (their first album “Sound of Hell” was released in 2011). Most recently he joined the Italian experimental instrumental band Zu. His current projects include Italian doom band Obake, Metallic Taste of Blood (featuring Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree, Eraldo Bernocchi of Obake and Jamie Saft), and Slobber Pup (Saft, Joe Morris and Trevor Dunn). From 2012 he started to play solo shows on selected festivals under his own name.