Reeperbahn Announces Australia As Country Of Focus For 2019 Festival

Germany's Reeperbahn Festival has its sights set on Aussie talent for its 2019 event and local musos should be very excited about it. 

The festival, which will take place in Hamburg between 18-21 September 2019, has announced that Australia will be its country of focus for next year's event. 

SOUNDS AUSTRALIA will work with the festival to "see an increased opportunity for building relationships with key music industry networks and showcasing more talent throughout Germany and Europe," which will be done programs like through APRA AMCOS’ SongHubs, which will bring together German and Australian musicians to create new music together. 

Acts like The Temper Trap, Methyl Ethel, Dean Lewis, Jen Cloher and more have previously showcased at Reeperbahn, which have has "resulted in a number of business opportunities and relationships with German and European labels, managers and artists..."

"I am thrilled and super excited to have Australia as our partnering country in 2019," said Reeperbahn’s head of music programming Bjørn Pfarr. "Worldwide, they are definitely only one of a handful of countries with such an impressive amount of outstanding talent."

"The list of bands and artists with a huge diversity of musical genres coming out of Australia that venture into international careers is absolutely impressive," adds festival director Alexander Schulz. 

"This is in no small amount due to the ever vibrant live scene of the country and also the outstanding work of SOUNDS AUSTRALIA, the governmental support program that helps emerging Australian artists at a certain level to gain professional international experience. The annual AUSSIE BBQ is a highlight event at Reeperbahn Festival... and we are proud to announce Australia as the focus country 2019!"

"SOUNDS AUSTRALIA will be marking 10 years of Australian music export in 2019, so we cannot wait to be able celebrate this milestone in Hamburg with an even bigger presence of Australian music as the 2019 Reeperbahn Festival focus country," said SOUNDS AUSTRALIA's Glenn Dickie of the announcement.

"The Australian profile at Reeperbahn Festival has grown very quickly over the last four years in particular, so it is the perfect time to capture that momentum and turn the volume up!”