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.
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.
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.
STRASBOURG MUSIC WEEK is a Euro-regional event of professional meetings and emerging musical discoveries aimed at creating links between the region and its four border countries: Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Belgium. From 16 to 19 May 2023, the festival will offer conferences, round tables, workshops and friendly professional moments, combined with showcases throughout the city allowing the discovery of some twenty artists from Strasbourg and elsewhere.
Kultur | lx has been invited to present its functioning, its missions and the support offered to music professionals during the conference: “La connaissance des marchés – structuration et financements” (Knowledge of markets – structuring and financing) alongside Mobiculture (France), Empowork culture (Belgium) and Touring Artists (Germany). The conference will take place on Tuesday, 16 May, at 3.30 pm in the Auditorium of MAMCS. Three Luxembourg artists have also been programmed for the STRASBOURG MUSIC WEEK, one of them at the PELPASS FESTIVAL which starts right after Strasbourg Music Week on 18 May.
MAZ
16/05 at Le Wagon Souk
C’est Karma
17/05 at La Péniche Mécanique
Culture the kid
18/05 at Pelpass Festival
If you’re a musician or a band looking to showcase your talents on a bigger platform, then you’ll want to keep track of the application deadlines for various showcase festivals happening across Europe and beyond. In this article, Kultur | lx provides an overview of upcoming festivals and their application deadlines. Whether you’re an emerging artist or an established act, these festivals offer a great chance to showcase your music, connect with industry professionals, and potentially reach new audiences.
PIN Music (Macedonia)
30 November – 2 December 2023
Application deadline : 15 April 2023
PIN is Macedonia’s first and only international music conference and showcase festival. It is a part of the renowned Taksirat Festival. The conference aims to enrich the local music sector by bringing together professionals from all around Europe to share best practices, knowledge, and connections. With a small daytime capacity of a few hundred attendees and evening shows that attract a few thousand, PIN offers the perfect platform for musicians and music professionals to network, make lasting connections, and develop their skills.
Apply here
SHIP Showcase Festival and Conference (Croatia)
14 – 17 September 2023
Application deadline: 30 April 2023
SHIP is a brand-new 4-day music festival dedicated to discovering new European and Croatian music, taking place in the city of Šibenik across several venues. During the day, a music conference will take place with panels and networking programs in order to facilitate idea exchange and serve as a hub and incubator that connects Croatian and European music professionals. During the night, the city will become a stage for numerous genre-neutral performances ranging from classical music to the latest developments in electronic music and everything in between.
Apply here
SO ALIVE Music Conference (Bulgaria)
19 – 21 October 2023
Application deadline : 30 April 2023
SO ALIVE is a Balkan focused music conference & showcase festival. It provides a unique opportunity for artists, music industry professionals and fans to meet, network and further their careers from the up-and-coming artist to the seasoned music industry veterans. By applying to play at SO ALIVE, you also have the opportunity to participate in the Sound Ninja Songwriting camp that will take place during the conference. The songwriting camp will be led by award winning producers and songwriters from the Balkans.
Apply here
Waves Vienna (Austria)
7 – 9 September 2023
Application deadline : 31 May 2023
Waves Vienna is the annual music showcase festival and conference that covers the entire Central and Eastern European region and takes place in Vienna in September. While the live programme features a wide variety of national and international acts, the conference offers a diverse discourse programme with panels, keynotes, workshops, master classes, and many networking opportunities.
Apply here
MaMA Festival (France)
11 – 13 October 2023
Application deadline : 31 May 2023
MaMA is a music festival and convention held in Paris that provides a platform for international music industry professionals to network and showcase their work. The event offers a gateway to the French music market and brings together major and independent players from all sectors of the industry, including producers, promoters, record labels, publishers, and media. MaMA features live performances, conferences, workshops, speed meetings, networking opportunities, and more in a unique and friendly atmosphere located in the vibrant Pigalle and Montmartre neighborhoods of Paris.
Apply here
Iceland Airwaves (Iceland)
2 – 4 November 2023
Application deadline : 15 June 2023
Iceland Airwaves is a renowned music showcase and industry festival that brings together promising musicians from Iceland and around the world. Every November, Reykjavik becomes a hub of non-stop music and a four-day conference. The festival offers a diverse range of venues, from tiny record stores and art museums to nightclubs and large-scale venues, showcasing emerging talents and forward-thinking international acts.
Apply here
Reeperbahn Festival (Germany)
20 – 23 September 2023
Application deadline : 11 August 2023
From 20 to 23 September 2023, the Reeperbahn Festival programme will be combining a diverse line-up of new, international talent with the thematic diversity of a progressive music marketplace. All kinds of events are waiting to enthral and inspire fans, journalists and industry professionals across a multitude of venues. Since its début in 2006, the Reeperbahn Festival has developed into one of the most important gatherings for the music world and shows how a superabundant musical line-up can be allied with music business interests and civil society engagement.
Apply here
Live at Heart (Sweden)
30 August – 2 September 2023
Application deadline: Not listed
Live at Heart is a showcase festival, a music industry conference, a creative startup conference and a beloved city party, taking place in Örebro, the heart of Sweden. The festival showcases around 100 signed and unsigned artists in a vast variety of genres on +10 different stages, all in the center of the city.
Apply here
VIVA SOUNDS (Sweden)
1 – 2 December 2023
Application deadline: Not listed
VIVA SOUNDS is a club festival that takes place on the first weekend of December in Gothenburg. With over 40 live shows featuring artists from around the world, the festival takes place in 10 venues that are all within walking distance of each other. The festival is open to anyone interested in music, and also features an intimate music conference with excellent networking opportunities for professionals working in the indie circuit.
Apply here
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.