Dedicated to promote and ensure the export of Luxembourgish artists abroad, Kultur | lx joined forces with the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival to organise SPARK – Jazz from Luxembourg. This small festival aims to put light on Scottish and Luxembourgish jazz scenes, and will take place from March 24th to 26th at the St-Brides Centre in Edinburgh (UK).
The Festival will feature projects by leading Luxembourgish and Scottish musicians, like Tele-Port and AKU! on March 24th, and Dock in Absolute and Dave Milligan Solo on March 25th.
SPARK also seeks to favour artistic encounters by reviving some existing collaborations and ties between Luxembourgish and Scottish musicians, but also by creating new synergies. This takes the form of two- or three-days residencies, during which musicians will be able to work and create together. The results of these collaborations will be presented on March 25th and 26th.
Marc Demuth and Konrad Wiszniewski, whose collaboration was largely acclaimed in the press some years ago, will return in a quartet setting, whereas Michel Meis will continue his companionship with David Bowden, whom he met in the frame of Criss Cross Europe. Last but not least, willing to develop the career of young jazz musicians from Luxembourg, the trumpet player Daniel Migliosi will start a brand-new collaboration with the pianist Pete Johnston, in a trio with Andy Robb (bass) and Dough Hough (drums).
For more information: https://www.edinburghjazzfestival.com/
The production HEAR EYES MOVE. Dances with Ligeti by Elisabeth Schilling will be presented as part of the Festival ” On (y) danse aussi l’été ! “, at the invitation of Isabelle Martin-Bridot, director of Les Hivernales – CDCN d’Avignon and with the support of Kultur | lx, the TROIS C-L – Centre de Création Chorégraphique Luxembourgeois and the Ministry of Culture. This programme completes the Luxembourg selection for the 2023 Avignon Festival OFF.
Created in 2020, HEAR EYES MOVE. Dances with Ligeti choreographically interpretes all 18 Etudes pour Piano by renowned composer György Ligeti, which is unprecedented to date. Devised for 5 dancers and accompanied live on piano by Cathy Krier (ECHO Rising Star), HEAR EYES MOVE. Dances with Ligeti is envisioned as a dance-concert concert-dance full of captivating multi-sensorial imagery.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Ligeti’s death in 2023, the show will resume its international broadcast, and will be performed on the Hivernales stage from Sunday 9 to Wednesday 19 July in a version adapted to the conditions of the Festival, notably with an audio recording by Cathy Krier whose piano cannot be accommodated on the Hivernales stage.
Have ever two forms of art entered a closer and more intricate relationship than music and dance? But how does music actually move? How does dance sound? And where do these sounds and movements meet, once they are liberated from their purported duty to mimic or mirror, to illustrate, to produce an atmosphere, to provide a backdrop, or even to merely coexist, in neat separation?
The Hungarian composer György Ligeti said of his virtuosic Études pour piano that in the process of composition “tactile concepts were almost as important as acoustic ones”. The movements and developments of music, in other words, are not merely a matter of hearing but of sensation, they come to be felt “as a tactile form, as a succession of muscle tensions”. Through these forms and successions, Ligeti’s pieces thus behave like “growing organisms”, and it is following this line of thought that the choreographer Elisabeth Schilling has created an unprecedented take to choreographically interpret those Etudes pour piano. Treating dance and music as contiguous forms that grow alongside and into each other, Elisabeth has produced, together with five dancers and the pianist Cathy Krier, a dance-concert and a concert-dance full of captivating multi-sensorial imagery.
Biography
Elisabeth Schilling is a dancer and choreographer. In close collaboration with an international team and across various collaborations, she develops transdisciplinary projects between movement, design, visual arts and music, making the disciplines dance among themselves and with each other.
We have thus tasked ourselves with making contemporary dance happen in established dance spaces as well as in unusual places. Accordingly, our productions tour European metropolises as well as more rural areas, black box theaters as well as museums, galleries, concert halls, historic buildings and public spaces. Dance is thus, almost in passing, rendered accessible to a new public.
At the same time, an important part of our work consists in different formats of creative learning, audience engagement and development. For each production, we develop an accompanying framing programme for various audiences, ranging from specifically devised post-performance discussions with the audience to accompanying workshops, symposia and catalogues.
And that’s a wrap on ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) 2023! MAZ, Francis of Delirium, and TUYS, all made Luxembourg proud through their performances throughout the Groningen, Netherlands-based showcase festival. For Francis of Delirium and TUYS, this was their first live-and-in-person event at ESNS after being presented digitally the past two years due to the pandemic. MAZ on the other-hand (selected with Luxembourg’s public service radio station 100,7) made his ESNS debut.
“It was an honour to be at Eurosonic this year,” said MAZ. “I’ve played a lot of showcases around Europe over the years, yet everywhere you go, ESNS is always talked about as ‘the spot to be,’ so I was really glad I was chosen to perform.”
We kicked off the festival week on Wednesday, January 18th with a late-night News Café session featuring psych-pop band TUYS, who have been part of the ESNS Exchange program for a couple of years now. Playing at ESNS not only means playing at the festival in January. Acts that played at the festival also are a part of the ESNS Exchange programme. ESNS Exchange, the European Talent Exchange Programme, was introduced in 2003 to make the ‘exchange’ of European artists across Europe possible on a greater scale than ever before. An initiative of ESNS, ESNS Exchange facilitates the bookings of European acts on festivals outside their home countries and generates extensive media exposure for these artists in cooperation with Euroradio, export offices and local media (our local media partner is 100,7). This way, ESNS Exchange aims to give a boost to the international careers of European artists.
Yann Gengler (Bass and singer) of the band mentioned they “had the chance to play at least three ESNS Exchange festivals last year through the program (Iceland Airwaves, FOCUS Wales, and Reeperbahn Festival). It was an amazing experience to perform shows and get to meet new artists and professionals in various markets.”
We continued on Friday with three more shows. Francis of Delirium performed a few songs to a packed Plato Records Store performance in the afternoon followed by their official ESNS showcase at the mythical and sold out VERA. The band’s two shows arrived off the back of their live performance last year at ESNS’s Music Moves Europe Talent Awards, of which the band was nominated.
“We got to come up to Groningen to perform at the awards ceremony, however due to the pandemic the city was completely shut down, so we didn’t get to perform in front of an audience.” Lead singer and guitarist Jana Bahrich mentioned. “So it was really exciting to be at ESNS23 this year and to see the city buzzing with the eclectic mix of acts playing around the city.”
MAZ finished the musical portion of the week with a full house of fans and delegates at the Grand Theatre Main, a strong performance that Dutch public broadcasting company, RTV Noord, gave an “11/10 (!).”
WHAT THE MEDIA ARE SAYING
“It’s the weekend and everyone feels [the enthusiasm], because there is plenty of dancing and jumping. Also by this reviewer.’ His verdict: 11/10 (!).” – RTV Noord
“Francis of Delirium ripped through an impressive show of 90s inflected alt-rock with all the fervour and grit of a teenage nightmare.” – The Line Of Best Fit
“…[Francis of Delirium] showed some real emotion in ‘Quit Fucking Around’ that really clicked. Bahrich is only 21, there is still room for growth. What she has already said makes us look forward to more.” – HUMO
“At the Grand Theatre, MAZ delivered an energetic show and wowed the room with an epic performance. His rhymes came as if from the flint. His stylistic jumps from rap to metal to emo kept one on edge. We are curious how things will continue for our famous rapper.” – 100,7
We’re kicking off 2023 with one of the most exciting showcase festivals of the year! MAZ, Francis of Delirium, and TUYS, are all headed to ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag), which is set to take place live-and-in-person from 18-21 January, 2023. Francis of Delirium and TUYS both were presented digitally during the festival’s online conference the past two years due to the pandemic while MAZ (selected with Luxembourg’s public service radio station 100,7) will make his ESNS debut. This will be a unique year in that it’s the first time ESNS has confirmed three Luxembourgish acts at the annual event (in years past only two were sent).
More info on each of the artists can be found here.
Discover the schedule below.
TUYS | Wednesday 18 January
23:35 – 00:15 at News Café
Francis of Delirium | Friday, 20 January
20:45 – 21:30 at Vera
12:50 – 13:10 at Plato Record Store
MAZ | Friday, 20 January
21:30 – 22:15 at Grand Theatre Main
ESNS, the key exchange for emerging European music talent, is thrilled to welcome its visitors back to Groningen in The Netherlands. The festival remains one of the most important events for emerging artists each year, who have the opportunity to perform in-front of a selection of 4.000 delegates and around 40.000 visitors. The organisation also helps to stimulate and push the circulation of European music across the continent and beyond.
Artists who perform for Eurosonic are also added to the ESNS Exchange programme which helps to facilitate the bookings of European acts on festivals outside of their home countries and generate extensive media exposure for them in cooperation with the EBU (of which 100,7 is part of), export offices (including Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg) and local media. As part of ESNS Exchange, Luxembourgish acts Francis of Delirium, TUYS, and Klein, all of which have been part of the recent ESNS Exchange program, were able to perform at festivals like Reeperbahn Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, FOCUS Wales, Maifeld Derby, and most recently all three at Iceland Airwaves.
Luxembourg was the guest country at this year’s Bridge Festival in Athens from 16 to 18 December. Over three days, Luxembourg authors Elise Schmit, Tullio Forgiarini and Tom Reisen read and spoke about their translated books into Greek, their œuvre and writing practice, the diversity of Luxembourgish literature and multilingualism, together with the curators of the festival programme, the writer Christos Chryssopoulos and Pascal Seil (curator, CNL), as well as the translators of the books. Elise Schmit’s „Stürze aus unterschiedlichen Fallhöhen“, Tullio Forgiarini’s „Amok“, both of which got translated by Vakxikon Publications, and Tom Reisen’s „Les Bulles“, translated by World Books, were presented.
View this post on Instagram
The Luxembourg Embassy in Athens organised a reception in a convivial atmosphere which allowed for further exchanges with the Greek literary and cultural scene.
Kultur | lx’s translation support and such exchanges contribute to and stimulate the circulation and visibility of Luxembourg literary works.
From November 3 to 5, Luxembourgish acts, KLEIN, Francis of Delirium, and Tuys, descended into the beautiful town of Reykjavik for the first Iceland Airwaves festival since the pandemic. Kultur | lx has been planning their first iteration of “|lx finest – Sounds from Luxembourg” at Airwaves since the festival’s bookers saw KLEIN perform at Eurosonic back in January 2020, so it was a particularly special moment to see fans (new and old), along with a local and international industry (made up of bookers, managers, labels, and media), fill the venues of the three showcasing acts.
Each group had the opportunity to play a first slot on days 1 and 2 before the “|lx finest” showcase event, which took place on the third day at IÐNÓ (with a capacity of 350 people). The showcase was preceded with a networking reception for professionals attending the conference and included a small Luxembourgish delegation, made up of artists and festival bookers, as well.
One important feature of the festival’s conference is the wide range of international media present. The reaction on the shows, particularly for Francis of Delirium (who already have had a banner year), was among the strongest of any Luxembourgish presence at a showcase festival to date. Some of the top music blogs in the world covered the bands’ shows, with Stereogum proclaiming “Francis Of Delirium proved to be one of the most impressive revelations of the whole weekend…These were visceral, invigorating performances, some of the best of Airwaves 2022” while Loudersound said “when TikTok discovers Bahrich’s perfectly-pitched adolescent angst anthems, she’ll be flying.”
As one of the world’s most extraordinary new music showcases, Iceland Airwaves ended up having one of the strongest and most diverse bills in the festival’s 20 plus year history, including Arlo Parks, Amyl & The Sniffers, and Metronomy. With Iceland’s natural wonders often claiming the title “the greatest show on Earth”, Iceland Airwaves was one-of-a-kind offering and Kultur | lx was very proud to be part of it.
WHAT THE MEDIA ARE SAYING :
STEREOGUM
Iceland Airwaves Made Its Real Deal Return For 2022
“Francis Of Delirium proved to be one of the most impressive revelations of the whole weekend. First with a set at Gamla Bíó early in the evening on Friday, then again at Iðnó on Saturday, the Luxembourg group brought a heavier, grungier interpretation of their early material to Iceland. These were visceral, invigorating performances, some of the best of Airwaves 2022 — and a promising glimpse of whatever Francis might pursue on their debut album.
LOUDERSOUND
“The real joy of Airwaves, however, is stumbling upon artists you’ve never previously heard of … such as Francis of Delirium from Luxembourg, fronted by vocalist/guitarist Jana Bahrich.”
“Performing at Gamla Bió the following evening, Francis of Delirium impress too. Louder elected to check out the trio after hearing 2021 single Quit Fucking Around on the festival’s smartly-curated Spotify playlist, and it’s a highlight, alongside 2020 single Circles, in a charmingly ragged set which calls to mind ’90s indie rockers Pavement, Belly and Arlington, Virginia’s Tsunami. When TikTok discovers Bahrich’s perfectly-pitched adolescent angst anthems, she’ll be flying.”
“Bright young guitar-pop out of Luxembourg. One of the two best singalongs of the festival.”
PASTE
15 Bands to See at Iceland Airwaves 2022 (Francis of Delirium)
“Paste hailed Francis of Delirium the indie-rock project of Luxembourg-based musician Jana Bahrich, as the Best of What’s Next in 2021. Bahrich’s sound splits the difference between Smashing Pumpkins and Caroline Polachek, as she told us at the time, ‘merg[ing] this grunge, ‘90s, guitar-driven stuff with more pop melodies.’”
ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag), the key exchange for emerging European music talent announces the first acts for its 37th edition line-up – the first physical edition after two fully digital editions. The organisation is thrilled to welcome its visitors back to Groningen in January 2023.
The first batch of artists have been selected in cooperation with NPO 3FM and European national radio broadcasters – collaborating within the EBU (European Broadcasting Union). Emo-rap artist, Maz, has been selected in collaboration with Luxembourg’s public service radio station 100,7.
Eurosonic remains one of the most important events for emerging artists of the year, who have the opportunity to perform in-front of a selection of 4.000 delegates and around 40.000 visitors. The organisation also helps to stimulate and push the circulation of European music across the continent and beyond. Artists who perform for Eurosonic are also added to the ESNS Exchange programme which helps to facilitate the bookings of European acts on festivals outside of their home countries and generate extensive media exposure for them in cooperation with the EBU (of which 100,7 is part of), export offices (including Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg) and local media.
Risen out of the ashes of early 2000’s Metal and Rock influences, MAZ is known for delivering a powerful and truthful message to his audiences with a determination to not only scratch at the surface, but to tear through it and see what lies underneath. With a sharpened musical and visual identity, the young rapper wants to give the voiceless not just a voice, but also an uncompromising vision and thus urging his listeners to drop the self-imposed masks and all other unnecessary superficialities to eventually find their true selves.
Want to join MAZ at Eurosonic? Professionals can apply for financial support to attend via the Kultur lx “Support for mobility, research and career development.” Deadline to apply is Wednesday, December 28th. More details here.
As part of its promotion and touring missions, Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg is joining forces with the Shuffle Festival, organised by neimënster, on November 25th and 26th 2022. This event aims to introduce the Luxembourgish jazz scene through showcases, which will give artists the possibility to present their latest projects. For this edition, neimënster invited emerging jazz bands to join the line-up, as well as artists from abroad in the frame of artistic exchanges.
In order to ensure career development and touring opportunities, Kultur | lx invited a professional delegation from the European Jazz scene to (re)discover the diversity of Luxembourg’s jazz projects. This delegation consists of promoters, label representatives, bookers. These invitations to Luxembourg jazz showcases have existed since 2012 and have presented 53 Luxembourgish projects so far. This gave countless artists the opportunity to have collaborations on the international scale and contributed to the identification of Luxembourg’s jazz scene on the European scale.
Shuffle’s line-up
Friday November 25th
Daniel Migliosi 6tet – New Talent
Isis Apache Montero (ES)
Gast Waltzing „Peace, Drugs and Love“
The Aquatic Museum (Claire Parsons & Laurent Peckels)
Dishwasher_(BE)
Saturday November 26th
Arthur Possing 4tet
Jambal – New Talent
Tele-Port
Maxime Bender Universal Sky
Dock in Absolute
Neue Grafik Ensemble (FR/UK)
Conceived as a platform dedicated to exchanges and discoveries, Shuffle will offer the national scene the chance to meet the international delegation, notably through a speedmeeting session that will take place on November 26th. As part of its career development mission, Kultur | lx will also organise a workshop dedicated to the jazz market in France, in presence of French professionals. (Activities upon registration).
In order to show the diversity of the formats and aesthetics featured in the Luxembourgish jazz to the international delegation, Kultur | lx will also bring them to opderschmelz to discover Synaesthesia, a project by the trio Reis Demuth Wiltgen and Emile V. Schlesser created in the frame of Esch2022.
This year, Fifty Lab is inviting the most promising upcoming talents for three days throughout iconic venues in the heart of Brussels. A unique take on the traditional showcase festival, Fifty Lab takes recommendations from some of the most influential Belgian and international musical programmers (i.e. Primavera Sound, Down the Rabbit Hole, Montreux Jazz Festival, Pukkelpop, Couleur Café, and Luxembourg’s very own Siren’s Call Festival). The audience will discover the next musical crushes from all genres and nationalities.
Kultur | lx is proud to be presenting the first Luxembourgish artist at Fifty Lab, MAZ. Risen out of the ashes of early 2000’s Metal and Rock influences, MAZ is known for delivering a powerful and truthful message to his audiences with a determination to not only scratch at the surface, but to tear through it and see what lies underneath. With a sharpened musical and visual identity, the young rapper wants to give the voiceless not just a voice, but also an uncompromising vision and thus urging his listeners to drop the self-imposed masks and all other unnecessary superficialities to eventually find their true selves.
Want to join MAZ Friday, November 18th at Fifty Lab? Kultur | lx is inviting a small Luxembourgish delegation to attend the festival. Professionals can apply for financial support to attend via the Kultur | lx “Support for mobility, research and career development.” More details here.
MAZ at Fifty Lab
Friday November 18th
8:40 – 9:20 PM | L’ARCHIDUC
More information here.
M for Montreal (M pour Montréal) returns for a 17th edition this November 16-19, 2022. Now recognized as Quebec’s most important initiative for indie music exports, the event is renowned as a showcase festival and international conference, taking place every November.
Kultur | lx is proud to be presenting the first Luxembourgish artist at M for Montreal for the first time, C’est Karma. The showcase arrives in the context of a broader Luxembourgish presence in Québec this November. The country of honor at the CINEMANIA festival, Kultur | lx will also be making a presence at the Centre PHI on Thursday, November 3rd, where C’est Karma will also be presented. The event will offer local professionals the chance to meet the team and experience various aspects of Luxembourgish creation, between music, performance and dance (learn more).
With her third EP, “Amuse-Bouche,” Karma’s style is covered in noise/industrial and hyperpop influences. The daughter of two first generation immigrants, and supporters of feminist and LGBTQ+ causes, she approaches music as a tool for social change, also attacking the inaction on the climate crisis and the disparity between the filthy rich and the less fortunate (although she sometimes indulges in more sentimental remarks or mentions her love for pasta).
Join C’est Karma at M for Montreal on Thursday, November 17th at Quai des Brumes.
Thursday, November 17, 4 PM
at Quai des Brumes
4481 Saint Denis St, Montréal
Second show confirmed:
Thursday, November 17, 10:45 PM
at Casa del Popolo
4873 Boulevard Saint-Laurent, Montréal