Maz Univerze
Stepping Up – Ee Portrait vum Maz Univerze
Directed by Céline Schlesser, produced by Kinoshi Studio 2026
Born into a Luxembourgisch-Hungarian family, Maz Univerze (Thomas Faber, 1999) is from a small town in Luxembourg. While growing-up Maz felt as if his future was paved for him – something he, from the get-go of his music career, rebelled against. At the same time he admits “Je n’arrive pas trop à écrire sur ce qui n’est pas en relation directe avec moi” (interview by Rosario Ligammari, Tageblatt 17.3.2025). It is clear throughout Maz’s work, that the conjunction of both rebellion and the influence of lived experiences is vividly articulated. This includes Maz’s perception of gender and how he decides to explore and portray relationships. In Over, he says: “Love is art, mine is abstract / Sex is art, a beautiful aspect (…) I need to write my mind you can read the lyrics of this univerze that I am fucking building”. Maz challenges the status quo; challenges his small-town upbringing and loudly advocates for his own personal transition into a state of carelessness, where the societal pressures of adulthood are gone. His reincarnation into what he truly wants to be (arguably, as he states himself a Baby Vampire) illustrates this. He regains his own agency; agency he lost during childhood (as also exemplified by his latest release Little Prince).
Text: Cosimo Suglia; Curation of the webpage: Cosimo Suglia, Céline Schlesser, Sonja Kmec (upload 15 October 2026)
The biography on his website continues with an array of juxtapositions. “It took a while for his beautiful, yet gory poetry notes to escape his bedroom drawer; for the pride flag to appear between metal posters.” Contrast dominates his musical persona. The lyrics of his songs are “gory”, aggressive, lyrics that bite and are pugnacious, as is tradition in rap as well as metal. They are however, at the same time, insightful, revealing vulnerability, hurt and uncertainty. Weakness, or rather what society deems as “weak” for MAZ becomes strength. In Eyeliner, for instance, MAZ says: “That threatening feminine-masculine elegance steppin’ in, see these haters sweatin’ and Tremblin’, say my make-up is unsettling like they’re on a bad trip of ketamine, sorry sounds Like your life is damaging” – the breaking of traditional gender values becomes a threat, a means to fight back against those who keep defending said traditional values. Blurring gender is than not only used for self-expression, but also as musical drive, as a form of resistance. A point all the musicians represented in this project make.
Text: Cosimo Suglia; Curation of the webpage: Cosimo Suglia, Céline Schlesser, Sonja Kmec (upload 15 October 2026)
It also makes sense then, that MAZ’s choice of musical genre is a juxtaposition. Emo-rap (in Eyeliner he says: “well baby it’s emo season”) is a contrast in itself. While the main driving force of emo (or post-hardcore) is, as the abbreviation suggests, emotions often associated with sadness and aesthetics that do not shy away from being overly feminine (make-up, for instance), rap exudes aggressiveness and violence, and falls in traditional (often toxic) masculine patterns. While both genres are present in the Luxembourgish music scene (I’d argue here that bands like Eternel Tango could be categorized as partly emo-rock, for instance, and for rap, many instances could be named, such as Bazooka Brooze), the genre of emo-rap is surely uncommon. Especially for Luxembourg, although some international mainstream instances exist as exemplified by German raper Casper on his album XOXO.
Text: Cosimo Suglia; Curation of the webpage: Cosimo Suglia, Céline Schlesser, Sonja Kmec (upload 15 October 2026)
In 2017 Maz first gained public attention, especially through live performances. He left the 2017 Screaming Fields Festival as winner in the category of “Best Live Performance”. Later that year, Maz opened for the French rapper Sofiane at the Atelier. In 2018 Maz published his first album, titled Immortalisation; followed by the EPs Sleepwalker (2019) and Upside Down (2022). In collaboration with Adriano Selva (better known as Chalid) Maz published his single Night Call in 2024, and submitted this song to the Luxembourg Song Contest, unsuccessfully. The following year he was back with his second album Little Prince and touring extensively, in Luxembourg and abroad. In 2022 and in 2025 Maz performed at one of the biggest European festivals, back to his roots in a way: the Sziget Festival in Hungary.
Text: Cosimo Suglia; Curation of the webpage: Cosimo Suglia, Céline Schlesser, Sonja Kmec (upload 15 October 2026)
