Waves Vienna celebrates 15th anniversary with grand opening show

For its semi-round anniversary, the showcase festival, founded in 2011, is hosting a large-scale opening show at the Volkstheater, featuring big names from the local mainstream pop scene like Christina Stürmer and Josh. Additionally, a songwriting camp will take place beforehand, and an eleventh location will be added to the ten previous year's locations on the Gürtel, as announced by director Thomas Heher in an APA interview.

Waves Vienna: Fresh Talents Along the Vienna Gürtel

From the beginning, Waves has been understood as a platform primarily for fresh talents exploring different musical currents. This year, until October 4th, around 120 acts will share performance opportunities in Gürtel clubs from rhiz and Chelsea to B72 and Loop, and from Cafe Carina to Loft. This time, the new venue is the Lucia, formerly Gürtelbräu. "After a soft opening, it will be fully utilized for the first time with Waves," Heher is pleased to announce.

The festival director is also a founding member. "The idea back then was to establish a networking and exchange platform between Eastern and Western European music production while simultaneously opening a window for Austrian acts to gain international attention," Heher recalls. This has been successful insofar as regional showcase festivals have emerged in cities like Budapest, Bratislava, and Ljubljana.

Spain as Guest Country

The motto "East meets West" still plays an important role, but for some time now, there has also been an annually changing guest country. This year, it's Spain's turn. "A country with a diverse music scene, a great festival scene, and a large market," says the director. It is interesting that there is no hesitation to mix traditional music with pop there: "For example, there are indie bands that work with Flamenco."

As far as genres are concerned, Waves has always been open. "The only thing we exclude is classical metal and jazz in the conventional sense, because we feel that these are very closed scenes," explains the festival director. Basically, they try to invite artists and bands "that stand out from the crowd." There is no fear of contact with mass-market material, as they have, for example, already had the British singer Anne-Marie in the program. "That's absolute mainstream pop, but she played a great show back then." Quality, innovation, and openness are what count.

"A Wild Mix" at the Vienna Volkstheater

The fact that there is no problem with hit suppliers is also shown by this year's Opening Night, which is being celebrated for the anniversary edition at the Volkstheater. There, the musician Oska acts as the host and performs with local stars like Josh., Christina Stürmer, and Yasmo. "A wild mix," Heher calls it. Between the individual songs, there will be short interview segments where the guests will share how they became successful in their respective fields. All participants perform without a fee, as the proceeds go to a newly launched residency program that will enable an Austrian act to stay and perform in the United Kingdom next spring.

A residency lab is already available in Vienna before the Waves opening. Ten local and international acts have been invited to a songwriting camp. First impressions can be seen and heard on October 1st after the grand opening show in the Rote Bar of the Volkstheater.

Regarding this year's lineup, Heher once again promises a "dense and diverse program." This includes Jonny Mahoro with his mix of German pop and R 'n' B, the local Beaks (Heher: "You will definitely hear more from them."), indie-folk from the British-born, French-based Flora Hibberd, or Aggrasoppar - a formation from the Faroe Islands, which is also on the Waves chief's favorites list: "It will be very spaced out" and falls into the stylistic range "between rap, hip-hop, and classic Faroese poems with string accompaniment," as Heher says: "Depending on how they feel at the moment."

Dealing with the Israel-Palestine Debate

Did the charged debate on the Israel-Palestine issue, which has long since reached the music scene and in which artists repeatedly take a clear stand for one side or the other, also influence this year's lineup? No performance has been canceled, says Heher. In principle, he states: "A performance at a concert where one expresses solidarity with victims will never lead to being disinvited from Waves. What we do not tolerate is the call to harm one of the two sides in any way."

Due to the many, mostly unknown names in the program, there is no need to stress, reassures the festival organizer. "Of course, as a visitor, I can engage with the lineup at a high level of detail, but I can also let myself be carried away and simply discover many great things." The short walking distances are helpful: "If I don't like a show, I can be at the next one within a few minutes."

Apart from the concerts, Waves Vienna will once again be accompanied by a conference, which this time takes place around Yppenplatz in the Ottakring district. The main topic this time is physical and digital music distribution as an "indispensable bridge" between artists and the audience. Panels, discussions, workshops, and listening sessions are intended to bring together experts, promoters, label operators, bookers, and artists.

(The conversation was conducted by Thomas Rieder/APA)

(APA/Red)

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