Alyona Alyona Wins Anchor Award At Biggest Reeperbahn Festival To Date

There has never been a more packed Reeperbahn Festival edition in the event’s 14-year history.

More than 50,000 visitors, including 5,900 professional delegates from 55 nations, came to Hamburg, Germany, Sept. 18-21, to witness some 600 concerts by 412 international acts, as well as a multi-faceted conference program covering all creative areas, from music, to film, to art and literature.

The numbers mark another significant rise in attendance compared to the year before, when Reeperbahn Festival’s organizers recorded 45,000 visitors and 5,500 professionals. 

The winner of this year’s international talent competition ANCHOR is alyona alyona, a female rapper from Ukraine. The ANCHOR jury – Tony Visconti, Bob Rock, Peaches, Kate Nash, Arnim Teutoburg-Weiß, and Zan Rowe – attended concerts by all six nominees, who performed at various venues along Hamburg’s Reeperbahn over the course of three evenings. Alyona alyona faced competition from  soul singer Celeste (GB), punk-pop women’s band The Hormones (CN), post punk trio DRAHLA (GB), songwriter Moyka (NO) and dream pop duo Feng Suave (NL).

Jury member Bob Rock explained the jury’s decision: “I got out of my chair, stood up, almost danced and took videos which I actually don’t think I’ve ever done before. I didn’t understand a word she was singing but it came out so powerful. It really blew my mind. And most importantly I would buy her record in a heartbeat.”

Added Zan Row: “Beyond language barriers alyona alyona’s songs were stuck in my head long after I saw her perform. Incredible rhythm, hooks and an amazing presence.”

A highlight of the ANCHOR Award ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 21, was a one-off performance of Jury Duty, with Tony Visconti on bass, Bob Rock on guitar and singers Peaches and Kate Nash, who performed Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream” together with the Kaiser Quartett.

Gender equality took center stage among the many conference topics:  Pitchfork editor-in-chief Puja Patel, musicians Kate Nash, Peaches and Reeperbahn Festival CEO Alexander Schulz announced the new goals and catalogue of measures for the second phase of the international gender balance initiative in music at a Keychange 2.0 press conference. Amongst other initiatives, the declaration of intent, the so-called 50/50 pledge to offer gender-balanced programs by 2022, will be extended from festivals to many other organizations in music, such as labels, venues, radio stations, orchestras and conservatories.

Sustainability, environmental protection and alternative sources of energy was also talked about a lot on panels.

Pollstar reached out to Reeperbahn Festival managing director Alexander Schulz and conference director Detlef Schwarte after the event. “With its 2019 edition, the Reeperbahn Festival has further reinforced its claim to be the most important European marketplace for the music industry. This is supported not only by the renewed growth in the number of trade visitors to almost 6,000 professionals from 55 countries, but also by the balanced representation of the central sectors Live, Recorded and Publishing. The effectiveness of our platform for initiating and closing deals has been confirmed to us from all areas,” said Schulz.

Added Schwarte: “We are also satisfied that almost all of our new content impulses were successful. This includes the launch of the new Film & Future conference line in cooperation with Horizon European Film Market of the Berlinale and the serious treatment of the topic of gender equality in music, which took place through almost a dozen very different individual events. The diversity of the Reeperbahn Festival 2019 with its approximately 1,000 events was reflected in the nomination field of our competition ANCHOR: With alyona alyona from Ukraine, the jury honoured a very worthy winner.”

Both men are now looking forward to our Reeperbahn Festival’s international activities, which will take the team to North America, China and Africa in the coming months in order to network the international music industry and open up new market entry opportunities for artists and small and medium-sized music companies.

Tickets for next year’s 15th edition, Sept. 16-19, 2020, have already gone on sale. Following this year’s country partnership with Australia, the focus next year will be on Denmark. 

The first artist already confirmed is worldwide sensation and Pollstar Hotstar Tash Sultana.