Koko Re-Pitches German Tent Fest

Koko Entertainment is setting up a new company to ensure the continuation of Zelt Musik Festival (ZMF), which was hit so hard by this year’s world soccer tournament that it had to file for bankruptcy.

“The accountant advising the association that ran the event said it was slipping into insolvency and it needed new money if it was to carry on,” Koko director Dieter Boes explained.

The new company is called ZMF GmbH and the joint-managing directors will be Koko co-director Marc Oßwald and Alexander Hanusch, who headed the association that ran the old ZMF.

The 24-year-old event, which takes place in a 3,000-capacity tent (or zelt) and another smaller one used for upcoming acts, will now survive to celebrate its 25th birthday at the Freiburg’s Mundenhof Park.

Boes, whose company also has an interest in Germany’s Rock Am See, Zeltfestival Konstanz, Hohentweil and Southside festivals, as well as Switzerland’s Greenfield, is looking for 14 headliners to fill the major slots June 27th to July 15th and another 40 or so smaller ones.

ZMF has always had a wide-ranging bill including classical shows from Vladimir Ashkenazy, Igor Oistrach, and Nigel Kennedy and jazz from the likes of Herbie Hancock, Al Di Meola, and Bobby McFerrin.

It’s also had the blues, soul and funk of such acts as Maceo Parker, Buddy Guy, De La Soul, Randy Crawford, and B.B. King and the rock and pop of Elvis Costello, The Hooters, Toto, Faithless, and Apocalyptica.

— John Gammon