Slovenia on Waves

Each year, the festival, whose motto is “When East Meets West”, spotlights two selected European music scenes, providing these countries with an exceptional opportunity for international promotion and networking. This year, the focus is on Slovenia and Belgium. Thus the festival will host nine Slovene music performers or groups, and a range of round tables and discussions will centre on the theme of Slovene musical creativity and the Slovene music industry.

Waves Vienna is a festival engaged in the promotion of the European music and club scene, one of the most important elements of new sounds. The festival’s venues are primarily the most important Viennese clubs, but of course there is no lack of open-air concerts. Waves Vienna attracts numerous musicians, agents, music publishers, concert and festival promoters, media and businesspeople from the whole world. In its second edition last year, the event activated 13 venues and was attended by over 10,000 visitors and more than 500 delegates from 30 countries, as well as 139 musicians from 27 countries. The festival revolves around the genres of electronic music as well as pop and rock by independent producers. It strengthens networking and musical exchanges with selected international partners, centred around a high level of participation by representatives from Western, Central and Eastern Europe. This year, 80 Austrian and international acts will appear on 12 stages over a period of four days. The Slovene focus, which is entitled Slovenia on Waves and has been prepared by SIGIC (The Slovene Music Information Centre) and its Austrian partners in collaboration with the Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture and SKICA (The Slovenian Culture and Information Centre) in Vienna, includes nine groups and performers:

COMA STEREO
IAN GREEN
IT'S EVERYONE ELSE
KILL KENNY
MILK DRINKERS
NEW WAVE SYRIA
N'TOKO
THE TORONTO DRUG BUST
WEREFOX

Amongst the guest artists appearing at the festival are some recognised international names, including CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy), Iceage, Múm, Skream, The Electric Soft Parade, Japanther, Charli XCX, Mmoths, Girls in Hawaii and Kate Boy.

An important part of the festival is the associated music conference, which, with lectures, discussions, round tables and workshops, attracts a diverse range of music professionals from all over Europe. The popular music of Slovenia, the focus nation of this year’s festival along with Belgium, will therefore also be presented at numerous round tables dealing with the Slovene music sector and cultural scene, as well as its business aspects. At a thematic meeting during the conference, professional participants from Slovenia and elsewhere will have an excellent opportunity to establish new business contacts and initiate cooperation. During the time of the conference, which is organised by MIKA (The Austrian Music Information Centre), there will be three presentations of the Slovene music sector, addressing the topics: Slovene music and the music scene in general, the music market, and opportunities for cooperation with the Slovene music participants.

WAVES VIENNA AND SLOVENIA IN FOCUS IN BRIEF:

• The festival Waves Vienna is the first club and showcase festival in Vienna and the only festival of its kind in Austria.
• The Waves Vienna Music Conference is the largest conference of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe.
• Waves Vienna concerts present numerous types of electronic music as well as pop and rock by independent producers from all over the world, including both established groups and emerging new talent.
• A feature of the festival is networking between Eastern and Western Europe.
• The target groups of the festival and conference are music users and professional participants from music scenes of the central European region, including Germany, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria.
• The cooperation and partnership between institutions and festivals from these regions establish a professional network that is useful and effective for all of the delegates of the Waves Vienna Conference.
• The number of visitors to the festival Waves Vienna 2012: 10,800 (representing a 35% increase in the number of participants in 2011).
• The number of conference delegates in 2012: 517 professional participants from 29 countries (representing 97% growth compared to 2011).
• Planned Slovene events at the conference Waves Vienna:
- three presentations (lectures) focusing exclusively on the Slovene music scene,
- tightly focused, professional networking with delegates from Slovenia as well as other countries,
- professional meeting and networking with all of the delegates and presentation by the Slovene group,
- appearances by nine Slovene music groups.

Slovene performers at Waves Vienna 2013: http://youtu.be/ckEzBYxZHMc
More information about the festival can be found on the website: www.wavesvienna.com.
A short video about Waves Vienna 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0CWo94hnT0.
A brief TV report about Waves Vienna 2012 (Zeit in Bild, in German):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak3RqkUOde0.
 

With the support of MINSTREL project