News Festival
Acts, Awards and a Podcast
Artists with more than one message
The first is delivered by the guys from Frittenbude, who are becoming increasingly irritated by the status quo. The current record doesn't entirely abandon the criticism concerning the ignorance of society, but according to the album's title, the songs take a warmer approach, merging electro-punk with indie or hip-hop and reflecting on the past - "Rote Sonne" is the club in Munich where for the trio everything began.
Apache 207 has only just emerged, but his ingenious videos have already cracked the million view mark after only a few days. Seemingly out of the blue, the rap-reformer has created a totally unique style, somewhere between hip-hop, house-hooks and R'n'B, a mix others would have taken decades to produce. Apache only needs "2 minutes" and is already writing the master plan for the future of German rap.
Then there's Asa. The Nigerian-French singer-songwriter with the balsam voice has returned after a five-year break and recently reappeared online with the single "The Beginning". Her instrumentally ingenious soul pop is more atmospheric than ever and evokes a strong desire for her new album with an inspiring spirit of optimism.
This should also be the case with Tamikrest soon, having released "Kidal" a good two years ago. Named after their home region in northeastern Mali, the group was on everyone's lips with this record at the latest and has since become part of the Tuareg's musical cultural heritage alongside Tinariwen. Live, the mix of desert blues and their own unique spirituality is very touching.
You could probably say the same about Mokoombas' pan-African style. The six-man group from Zimbabwe not only crosses soukous with funk, reggae and pop in a superfluid way, they also sing in English, Tonga, Nyanja, Ndebele and Shona with a passion that can move even the most cheerful audience to tears – especially live.
Sugar MMFK puts on a completely different show on stage and makes use of piano and an unusual delivery with his aggressive melodic street rap. Nevertheless, the Bonn local's beats reliably push each amp out of the trunk and bring biting social criticism in the same flow without shying from confrontation.
This has never been the case with HATARI before. With pumping industrial beats, BDSM aesthetics and a pronounced tendency towards transgression, the three Icelanders have been causing a stir ever since their appearance at the Eurovision Song Contest – and are widely celebrated on the net for their award-winning performances. Who would have thought that criticism of capitalism would resonate from such local stages?
All further confirmations at a glance:
Lubomyr Melnyk | L'aupaire | BaBa ZuLa | Nathan Ball | Mathea | Gianni Mae | EASY LIFE | alyona alyona | Dennis Dies Das | Chef'Special | POMME | Drama | Tallies | MIN t | BLICK BASSY | BAZZOOKAS | The Entrepreneurs | CHARLOTTE | BEA1991 | Sam Tompkins | Mae Muller | Onejiru | Marina Kaye | Monumental Men | Devarrow | Say Sue Me | William Prince | Joey Stylez | Midnight Shine | Gunner & Smith | Lingua Nada | Hello Delaware | Les Deuxluxes | The Bland | Penny Police | Evvol | Ed Prosek | The Flavians | Rýk | Blood Child | Salvia | Fräzer | Astral Swans | Zaki Ibrahim
Thinking about music culture - and writing
This is what all shortlisted nominees for the International Music Journalism Award do every day. Around 200 German, English and French entries were judged with eyes and ears by our jury. And wow! From audio reports to texts, videos and multimedia: there was a wealth of creative journalistic work entered, definitely not to be missed by music nerds and culture enthusiasts.
What exactly attracted attention in international music journalism during the last 12 months can already be seen on our shortlist.
On September 20ththe award ceremony for The Year's Best Work Of Music Journalism and The Best Music Journalist Of The Year 2019 will take place during the Reeperbahn Festival.
Radio Reeperbahn
Our programme Reeperbahn Festival Container has successfully completed its first editions at ByteFM and, like the podcast, will continue on a weekly basis. From now on we will inform you about upcoming issues of both formats in our newsletter.
The latest issue of the podcast focused on the arts programme on the Heiligengeistfeld, which once again appears in the most unusual colours and shapes. While last year the legend graphic-designer Klaus Voormann joined us with his world-famous cover artworks, this year we are entering the fourth dimension. Sound luminary Matthew Herbert, who has worked with Björk, Ennio Morricone and the Avalanches among others, will present the interactive virtual reality installation "A Symphony Of Noise". Author and producer Michaela Pňačeková tells us what visitors can expect from the installation. Christina Schäfers, who is responsible for the Arts programme, was also interviewed beforehand about the individual highlights.
The next radio show of the ReeperbahnFestival Container with the theme "Venues & Clubkultur beim Reeperbahn Festival" can be heard tomorrow at 12 o'clock via webstream at ByteFM at www.byte.fm and via UKW at 19 o'clock at 971XFM in Hamburg.
Turn on, tune in, watch out!