In collaboration with the USINA Festival, Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg will invite a delegation of European music industry professionals on Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 01 to (re)discover and connect with Luxembourgish artists and professionals from the Rock/Pop/Electro/R’n’B/Hip-Hop genres. In addition to the USINA Festival at Neischmelz, further programme activities will take place at the 1535 Creative Hub in Differdange and CCRD opderschmelz in Dudelange.
During the two Focus days, the guests will have the opportunity to experience showcase performances, meet the players of the local music landscape and thus get to know the creative potential of the Grand Duchy in the field of music. The programme will also include a pitching and a speedmeeting where local musicians and professionals will have the opportunity to present themselves and their projects directly to the international delegates.
Short program overview (more details to come):
Friday, May 31 – Welcome Reception & Showcase @ 1535 Creative Hub
Saturday, June 1 – Pitching & Speed Networking Session @ CCRD opderschmelz | USINA Festival with CHAiLD, C’est Karma, Bartleby Delicate, Ryvage, Culture the Kid, CRO, Joris, English Teacher and Kids with Buns.
About the USINA Festival
USINA is a two-day collaborative festival organised by the Dudelange Town Council, De Gudde Wëllen, and den Atelier. The festival features a diverse artistic line-up of both local and international artists, spanning across music, theatre, dance, and visual arts. Discover the full line-up here.
Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg and the Like A Jazz Machine festival have been working closely to promote the Luxembourgish jazz scene for some years now. On May 10 and 11, Kultur | lx will invite a delegation of international professionals to discover the Luxembourgish acts featured at the festival.
Like A Jazz Machine will be presenting the not so new newcomers Jambal and LINQ, who are bringing a breath of fresh musical inspiration to the local scene, as well as saxophonist Maxime Bender’s collaboration with producer Napoleon Gold. The festival will also showcase the result of three residencies, that are a strong feature of the festival: the collaboration of the vocalist Claire Parsons with the drummer Ziv Ravitz and the guitarist Eran Har Even; On the Edge, a new project by the trumpet player Daniel Migliosi with his brand-new quintet; the gathering of Pascal Schumacher, Greg Lamy, Marc Demuth and Jeff Herr, four names that are known on the Luxembourgish jazz scene. To finish on a high note, Michel Meis and his project Kolibri will make the audience dance until the end of the night!
As for every Focus organised by Kultur | lx, the invited delegation will have the opportunity to (re)discover these artists and take part in networking activities to meet professionals, promoters and jazz artists from Luxembourg. Among other things, Kultur | lx will organise a speedmeeting session on May 11 to allow Luxembourgish and international delegations to exchange on future touring possibilities and collaborations.
Discover the full line-up of the festival here.
This year’s festival season kicked off with a bang in the Netherlands: The Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival (ESNS), Europe’s largest live music showcase event, took place in Groningen from 17 to 20 January. Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg was actively engaged in promoting artists, networking, and participating in various conferences to gain insights into the future trends of the industry. A delegation of professionals from Luxembourg (including den Atelier, de Gudde Wëllen, Kulturfabrik, opderschmelz, Rotondes, Beast, Cooperations, Them Lights, Konektis Entertainment amongst others) also attended the showcase festival to foster connections, engage with industry experts, and explore emerging talents. Two Luxembourgish artists stood out in the packed festival line-up: CHAiLD and C’est Karma.
On the opening night of the festival, CHAiLD wowed the international audience with a phenomenal performance at Simplon UP. With his appearance at ESNS and Reeperbahn Festival in September last year, CHAiLD has played both of Europe’s major showcase festivals in the space of just four months. This underlines his growing prominence on the European music scene.
C’est Karma (selected by Luxembourg’s public radio station 100,7) took the stage on Thursday in front of a packed house of delegates and fans at VERA, a legendary venue that hosted bands like Nirvana, U2, Sonic Youth and Soundgarden in the 1980s. As is common practice at showcase festivals, each performance at the ESNS is limited to a maximum of 40 minutes. In this short period of time, C’est Karma was able to completely captivate the audience and allow them to lose themselves in her fascinating musical cosmos. The performance was recorded by the German public TV channel WDR and is set to air on their renowned program Rockpalast on the 18th of March 2024.
Playing at ESNS not only means playing at the festival in January. Acts that play at the festival also take part in the ESNS Exchange programme. ESNS Exchange facilitates the booking of European acts at festivals outside their home countries and works with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), export offices and local media (the Luxembourgish partner is 100,7) to generate significant media exposure for these artists. This way, ESNS Exchange aims to give a boost to the international careers of European artists.
The coming year will certainly have a lot in store for CHAiLD and C’est Karma.
As the anticipation builds for the Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) 2024 festival in Groningen, Netherlands, music enthusiasts and industry insiders alike are gearing up for a spectacular showcase of emerging European talent. Scheduled from January 17 to 21, the event promises a platform for 294 artists to captivate the audience of 4,000 delegates and around 40,000 visitors.
Young rising electro pop artist and singer-songwriter CHAiLD will join C’est Karma on the line-up of the 2024 edition of ESNS. Influenced by the likes of Troye Sivan, Sam Smith, Julia Michaels, and Mø, CHAiLD has crafted a distinctive pop style that integrates his Italian roots, creating a sonic journey that resonates with authenticity. Beyond his musical prowess, CHAiLD is a generational voice for the queer youth, offering a channel for self-expression through his evocative melodies.
Artists who perform at Eurosonic will also be included in the ESNS Exchange Programme, which helps European acts to be booked at festivals outside their home countries and gives them extensive media exposure in collaboration with the EBU (of which radio 100,7 is a member), export offices (including Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg) and local media.
More information here.
After a first edition of the Contemporary Music Focus that took place in September 2022 in the frame of the Festival 33,7, organised by United Instruments of Lucilin and the Kulturfabrik, Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg is happy to join forces with the Philharmonie Luxembourg from November 17th to 19th on the occasion of their rainy days festival.
The programme, curated by the Luxembourgish composer Catherine Kontz, will put light on composers such as Albena Petrovic, Roby Steinmetzer, Marco Pütz, Catherine Kontz, Nik Bohnenberger, Camille Kerger, as well as Ivan Boumans. Ensembles such as Ars Nova Lux, United Instruments of Lucilin, Noise Watchers Unlimited as well as the Trio WAS+ will share the stage with the London-based Langham Research Centre and the Belgian Ensemble Ictus.
During these three Focus days, Kultur | lx will invite a delegation of professionals from contemporary music festivals and ensembles located in numerous places in Europe. These invitation programmes play a significant part in fulfilling Kultur | lx’ mission to promote and foster the identification of Luxembourgish artists on the international level. On the one hand, the international guests will have several occasions to see the works of Luxembourgish composers and musicians during the three festival days. On the other hand, the Focus will consist of several exchanges and network moments, notably through a speed meeting session during which Luxembourgish artists and professionals will have an occasion to meet the international delegation invited for the event. These meetings are crucial for the establishment of contacts and synergies to further help the identification and circulation of the Luxembourgish musical creation on an international level.
About rainy days
rainy days is a festival dedicated to new music. For four days, the event will feature numerous insights and perspectives in different compact formats that can satisfy experts as well as curious people who want to get a first impression of the current state of today’s musical creation – aesthetic experiences for the here and now, as well as nourishment for your own personal memory!
This edition is dedicated to the topic of memory, that is quite tackled in the arts nowadays. The concerts, performances, installations that are presented during the festival are building ties, in their own way, sonic histories, tales, memory fragments and memory snippets extending from Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff to composers from the emerging new music scene.
Since 2016, Lët’z Arles has been bringing a bit of Luxembourgish creation to the Rencontres d’Arles. As an association that supports and promotes photography and artists linked to Luxembourg, Lët’z Arles offers each year to artists a complete creation and diffusion device. From July 1 to September 22, 2024, Luxembourg photographer Michel Medinger will be exhibiting at Chapelle de la Charité, curated by Sylvie Meunier.
Born in Luxembourg in 1941, Michel Medinger gradually developed a regular photographic practice. A self-taught photographer, he has experimented with a number of techniques: B/W photography, darkroom work using his own chemistries, cibachrome and Polaroids, creating a very special world for himself. An avid collector of objects, he uses these techniques in strange compositions filled with irreverent humor. His photographs, sometimes on iconoclastic subjects, are imbued with a sense of humour and poetry. Beyond his studio, he draws on objects from his everyday environment to construct his compositions and photographic tableaux, like a cabinet of curiosities. By obsessively staging them, with a penchant for surrealism, he introduces a singular narrative and relationships of scale. Michel Medinger leaves nothing to chance.
His work has taken the artist all over the world. He has exhibited his Polaroid Masterprints in Beijing, and taken part in exhibitions in Luxembourg, France, the USA, Denmark, Russia, Poland and Japan.
After ENGLBRT‘s acclaimed performances at the USINA23 festival, where they were spotted by renowned Belgian booker Peter Verstraelen, and their EP release show at Rotondes, the collaborative duo of Georges Goerens and Niels Engel are now taking to the stages of our neighbours in France and Belgium.
Their first show abroad will take place on the 8th of November at the Crossroads Festival in Roubaix (France). The festival was created in 2016 to promote French and international artists and provide a networking platform for professionals.
ENGLBRT’s unique sound, which combines electro, contemporary jazz and well-crafted indie pop, can also be heard on 22 November at De Zwerver in Leffinge (Belgium), when they support Compact Disk Dummies for their sold-out show.
Shortly after the turn of the year, Groningen (NL) will be the place to be for international music lovers and music industry professionals. From 17 to 21 January, ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) will present more than 350 emerging European artists who will have the opportunity to perform in front of 4,000 delegates and around 40,000 visitors. Two acts from Luxembourg are part of the selected line-up. C’est Karma has already been announced on the recommendation of radio 100,7. The musician, passionate activist and pasta lover will be making her ESNS debut. The second act will be announced in the coming weeks.
Artists who perform at Eurosonic will also be included in the ESNS Exchange Programme, which helps European acts to be booked at festivals outside their home countries and gives them extensive media exposure in collaboration with the EBU (of which radio 100,7 is a member), export offices (including Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg) and local media.
More information here.
Sŵn (pronounced: suːn) is the Welsh word for “sound/noise” and also the namesake for one of Britain’s most exciting music festivals with a focus on emerging artists. Sŵn Festival takes place in Cardiff 20-22 October. As part of Kultur | lx’s partnership with the Excite network, DasRADIAL has been chosen to perform at this year’s festival edition on Sunday 22 October at Fuel Rock Club.
DasRADIAL, who released his new single “LIEBES-DRANG” two weeks ago, grows out of the absurdities of our digital age: a being, not man not machine, walks between dream and reality! Musician and actor Max Thommes, who spent 10 years as the drummer in the band INBORN! produced by acclaimed producer Ross Robinson, has been going his own way since 2019, creating a dystopian cosmos with DasRADIAL. After several works for the German State Theatre, he also produced the title track of the Arte documentary “UNTERM_RADAR”. With his electronic beats and sharp-tongued lyrics, DasRADIAL now seeks the symbiosis of art figure and musical live performance.
Excite is a highly-collaborative project between seven partner organisations based across Europe (BE, DE, LU, NO, NL, SE, UK) and leverages a dynamic mechanism to expedite the internationalisation of young artists and music businesses earlier in their careers and development. The delivery model is built around a core of ten partner festivals in their respective markets, with a small number of associated festivals and conferences in different territories – plus a curated stage which took place this year at The Great Escape in Brighton, UK.
More information and tickets are available here.
Each September, the international music industry turns its eyes to northern Germany for the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Europe’s largest club festival and one of the most significant music events worldwide. This year, Kultur | lx once again presented a new edition of its renowned showcase series “lx finest – Sounds from Luxembourg” featuring talented artists like Josh Island, CHAiLD, MAZ, and DasRADIAL.
The festival kicked off on the opening night with a remarkable performance by C’est Karma at the Backseat showcase presented by Fanklub at Grüner Jäger as well as Florence Besch’s performance at the Thomas Read Pub presented by VUT Nord.
On Friday, Josh Island managed record-breaking three performances within four hours on three different stages. His journey began with an acoustic set at the MoPo-Mobil in the festival village, hosted by Hamburg’s tabloid newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost. This was followed by the N-Joy Bus session at the bustling Spielbudenplatz, organised by NDR Radio. Finally, he opened the “lx finest – Sounds from Luxembourg” showcase at Häkken club.
Before the showcase, the networking reception was well received with over 300 registered delegates including, including a small delegation of Luxembourgish professionals and journalists (from among others, Konektis Entertainment, Beast Records, Two Steps Twice, Kulturfabrik, Rotondes, den Atelier, opderschmelz and radio 100,7). Despite numerous concurrent shows on the festival’s packed schedule on Friday night, Josh Island, CHAiLD, MAZ and DasRADIAL all enjoyed large and enthusiastic crowds throughout the night.
On the festival’s final day, MAZ and guitarist Patrick Miranda (frontman of the band Pleasing) delivered an acoustic set at the MoPo-Mobil that left the audience with goosebumps and marked the end of the highly acclaimed Luxembourg program at the Reeperbahn Festival 2023 featuring a total of nine performances by six acts across five venues over four days.