Cheering, hustle and bustle, disco ball: For the 20th birthday, the organizers of the Cologne convention are not only focusing on the next generation in terms of music.
The children of the music publishers’ meeting Midem in Cannes and the former New Music Seminar in New York (which set standards in terms of content in the 1980s) are also growing up. Exactly 20 years old is the “Convention Festival” c/o pop, which emerged from the ruins of Popkomm in Cologne, before Popkomm, which had moved to Berlin, went in and out of existence there again without orientation.
According to an internal survey, there should be around 60 of these hybrid events made up of industry, discourse and newcomer meetings in Europe alone. From the Sonar in Barcelona to the adrenaline-pumping Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) in October (18th to 22nd October 2023) to the “emerging markets” in Central and Eastern Europe with the Tallinn Music Week (TMW) or in late summer Bucharest hotel fair Mastering The Music Business taking place (September 5th to 7th, 2023). Regionally very different mixtures of public and specialist events. And (cultural) politics usually gets involved. A dazzling scenery that has been tried and tested in Cologne for decades and has always been varied. From Robbie Williams, who raced across the Rhine on a water scooter to his performance on the roof of the Olympia Museum, to bar stool debates in the punk rock bar.
There was a lot of fun from all these years over the last long April weekend, which ended with the football tournament “c/o pop cup” on the Astroturf field of the former railway club ESV Olympia Köln on May 1st . According to this definition, sport also clearly belongs to the “pop” genre.
1. A festival full of energy
In the extensive concert list, the Italo revue by the Crucchi Gang (new album “FELLINI”) around Francesco Wilking and Sven Regener was the “establishment”. The rest were largely young, unknown and energetic. The longest line was in the three-way booking of the local live music hall with room 90, Domiziana and Ski Aggu. Wild eclecticism between new rap and dressed up fashion madness.
2. Continuous encounters
Concentrating on the back quarters of the Ehrenfeld district proved to be a compact matter of short distances for industry people and music fans alike. Encounters in constant cycles without taxi alarms and appointment stress. The central Venloer Straße was closed at the weekend. Dozens of shows took place, some of them for free – in rustic rock’n’roll bars like “Em Drügge Pitter” or in the established Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld, where the ARD radio station “Cosmo” presented non-English music like the Brazilian rapper Emicida.
3. There’s always magic in the air
With 1,600 trade visitors and 36,000 fans at the festival, the organizers were able to report a “sold out” record. Since the whole thing stretched over five days up to the football tournament, there was only seldom any dumb jostling or Ballermann atmosphere. Even the newly installed job festival “Music People”, where record companies, publishers or agencies go to the next generation show, seemed quite casual. After the surprise appearance of the fabulous magician duo Siegfried & Joy on the festival mile, we could speak of a wild mix.
4. Rap with Schiller vibes
The rapper OG Keemo was able to greet his numerous fans in an unusual stage twine. In the “Depot 1” of the Schauspiel Köln, which is outsourced from the city, the Mainzer kicked his rhymes in the stage design of the Schiller and Goethe colleagues. Shakespeare’s “King Lear” is currently playing in “Depot 1”. High culture and street culture celebrate a happy clash.
5. The roller disco is back
A subtrend that can also be observed in other cities: roller disco like in New York in the 1970s is celebrating a brightly colored comeback. At c/o pop, the good old roller skate disco on four rubber rollers with retro and new sounds was then called “Skatejam Rollerdisco” and was properly celebrated on the festival Saturday.