Debates with music professionals
Debates with top-class music professionals such as director of the biggest showcase festival in Europe – Eurosonic – or band booker for Brighton's The Great Escape, editor in chief of the professional music magazine IQ as well as director of Lollapalooza Berlin will be part of the festival program again this year. In Listening Session – a two-hour long debate at Radioactive zone – they will discuss if Slovak musicians can become a success worldwide. Besides three debates in English, a debate with David Koller, Vec and Datra of Rozpor will be taking place in Optimistent.
06. July 2016
Can music help save democracy?
Can music “move the Earth”? In our history, we see the evidence that it can work: For example, The Plastic People of the Universe members incarceration triggered the most significant movement against communist regime, Charter 77, led by Václav Havel, in the former Czechoslovakia. On the other hand, there are a lot of examples of artists supporting totalitarian regimes. Should music deal with social issues? To get involved in social issues does not always pay off: it often results in the decrease of likes on Facebook… Does rock and roll still have revolt to it? What does music freedom look like in Russia? How come that an accident in Bucharest-based music club led to PM's resignation? Did music help bring the divided nations of the former Yugoslavia closer together? What about musicians in Slovakia? These are the themes Russian promoter Semyon Galperin, Codruta Vulcu from Romania, Matjaz Mancek from Slovenia and Jozef Lupták from Slovakia will be talking about. Hosted by BBC Scotland's Vic Galloway.
Will music save Europe?
Editor in chief at IQ Magazine, Gordon Masson, will be leading “Will Music Save Europe?” panel. They say that music is a universal language. The dream about “universal” Europe starts to fall apart… Are programs such as European Talent Exchange Program (ETEP) useful? How does music deal with separatist trends that have already “succeeded” in the UK? The united Europe supports the free movement of musicians; in music industry, there are strongly engaged people such as director of Glastonbury – Michael Eavis – but also many young bands that sympathize with nationalism. Can music beat populism, nationalism and xenophobia? Will it help Europe stay the way we know it? These are the themes Allan McGowan, co-organizer and host at influential music conferences, Fruszina Szép, director of Lollapalooza Berlin and ex-director of Sziget, Ruud Berends, director of Eurosonic festival and one of the representatives of ETEP program and, Táňa Lehocká, promoter and booking agent representing Slovakia, will be discussing.
Listening Session
We selected 12 songs from Slovak bands that will be playing this year's Pohoda and sent them to professionals from abroad. They will share their opinions on them during the listening session at Radioactive Zone. Would Adam Ryan, the band booker for the Great Escape festival, book these bands for his festival? Would Vic Galloway play their music in his program on BBC? Would the charmingly sarcastic Ruud Berends add them to ETEP program? And what are Jeremy Hulsh's (who travels with music and to see music all around the world) thoughts? The passionate debate will be hosted by Vierka and Galager.
Cut to the Blood – totalitarianism and music
Music can do miracles, but, on the other hand, someone came up with the song “Rež a rúbaj do krve” (Cut to the Blood). David Koller, author of initiatives such as “S komunisty se nemluvi” (You don't talk to communists), Datra from antifascist band Rozpor and Vec will be discussing the theme of the relationship between totalitarianism and music.