The Swiss celebrating a fabulous Eurosonic 2020!
Wow – all we can say is this: it was over too quickly. What a blast, this year’s Eurosonic! It won’t have escaped those who were there – and perhaps even those who weren’t – that the Swiss, under the banner A Taste of Swiss Music, were everywhere. This, of course, is completely as it should be, what with us being this year’s featured country. We still haven’t quite digested all the hugely encouraging input we received, not to mention the cheese we ate, but one thing is certain: for us, the expedition was a massive success.
Swiss Music Export marked its presence not just with 22 bands and solo artists dotted around the various stages of the festival, but also around 140 business professionals who heartily availed themselves of the manifold networking opportunities on offer. In line with SME’s support of the Music Declares Emergency movement, a sizeable chunk of Swiss participants had travelled to Groningen by train. Many Swiss – and a pleasingly large number of non- Swiss – attendees happily spread the Swiss message by wearing our groovy SME caps.
One of the core attractions of Groningen is the European Talent Exchange Programme launched in 2003. This year, 130 representatives from festivals affiliated to the programme travelled to the Netherlands with a clear commitment to support this venture by booking a number of acts for their own festivals. Black Seah Dahu with seven bookings, Camilla Sparksss with six, L’Eclair and Marius Bear with five, and Emilie Zoé with four, proved to be the most popular of the Swiss acts. 13 of the 22 acts supported by SME were led by women, demonstrating that on Swiss stages, “equal rights, equal voice” is more than an empty slogan.
Amongst the most popular special attractions laid on by Swiss Music Export proved to be the “SayHi! Soundwalks”, allowing small groups of visitors to experience a number of artists in unusual locations, including a museum, and the sitting room in a private house. Our “Focus Country Lounge” was rather pleasing on the eye, even though we say so ourselves, and attracted an excellent flow of visitors. The raclette stall, needless to say, turned out to be a secret hit. AND the Swiss won the official Cheese Contest against the Dutch with a pretty decisive score of 57 : 35 (actually, the Dutch cheeses weren’t too bad either, according to one cheese-loving participant). The official “A Taste of Swiss Music” reception, too, complete with rousing speeches from the Swiss ambassador and our very own Jean Zuber, was very well attended.
Of course, all Swiss artists on the Eurosonic bill did equally well – but some did more equally well than others. Amongst these was Muthoni Drummer Queen whose hotpot of reggae, hip-hop and the sounds of East Africa turned the Grand Theater, the largest Eurosonic venue, into a heaving mass of sweaty limbs; so irresistible was her appeal that the doors had to be locked and the “full up” flag raised. L’Eclair, too, seriously rocked this venue with their irresistible Afro-tinged post-funk. Coilguns and Emilie Zoé at the Vera, Black Sea Dahu at the Forum, and Ikan Hyu all turned in truly great shows. Not forgetting the duo of Sophie Hunger & Julian Sartorius who created a new, experimental and very personal set especially for Eurosonic that no one who was present will forget.
4323 music business professionals from a staggering 52 countries attended this year’s Eurosonic in Groningen. These included 423 media people as well as 390 representatives from a vast array of music festivals. In all, the four-day event attracted just over 42’000 visitors. They were able to choose between 347 live acts from 33 countries spread across 39 stages during the first three days, and another nine on the final Noorderslaag night at the De Oosterpoort Conference Centre.
Thank you, Eurosonic, for having us!
A Taste of Swiss Music
A Taste of Swiss Music – Artists
A Taste of Swiss Music Events
Eurosonic Festival
Eurosonic Festival – Swiss Artists
