On Whit Monday (June 6th) there will be a special event at the Tanzbrunnen in Cologne: a festival with an all-female cast. Carolin Kebekus came up with the idea for the “DCKS Festival”. The comedian doesn’t even pretend to have an exorbitant knowledge of music – she just noticed what more and more people have noticed in recent years: that at most festivals it is mainly bands in which only men play. Instead of just getting angry about it, she decided to do something. The DCKS Festival now features No Angels, LEA, Mine, Annie Chops and Luna, and there will be various talks, including with Judith Holofernes and Hazel Brugger. (All information at: https://dcks-festival.de/) Of course, the busy person continues her actual work: On April 28, the new season of the “Carolin Kebekus Show” starts on ARD.
How did this festival come about in the first place?
We always collect very different topics for “The Carolin Kebekus Show”, and this was so obvious. I also know a lot of female musicians and a lot of stories, and when we researched we came up with this curious four percent share of women in the “Rock am Ring” line-up at the time. At first we thought: That can’t be! But it was like that. That’s absurd, so we made a piece about it. So the play on words came up that we should organize “Ring am Rock”, a festival with only women’s bands. And then the joke became reality. Except that the event is now called “DCKS Festival”. DCKS stands for “The Carolin Kebekus Show”.
Where do you see the reason for the low proportion of women at festivals?
It’s definitely not bad intentions, everyone wants to change something. It’s not like the promoters hate all women and don’t want them on stage. But where do you start? The argument at rock festivals is always: there are no women! People are looking for headliners everywhere, but they just don’t exist, the young women’s band with a lot of live experience that sells an incredible number of tickets. If so, why isn’t it there? Because they don’t get the opportunity to develop anywhere.
So how did you put the line-up together?
Of course there is a lot to think about – are they on tour at the moment, do they even have time? First of all, we wanted to concentrate on Germany – for cost reasons, but also because we already have so much choice here. Many were there immediately: the No Angels, Mine, LEA. There were also a lot of applications, because so many musicians would like to show themselves and get so few opportunities to do so. And by the way, you can book them all next to each other! If you have a female band, you can book one more and another. For real!
How much more will you be involved that day?
I’ll definitely open the festival – with a smashing opening together with the BeerBitches, so get there early not to miss it. And I’ll be there all the time, including the talks, of course. We aim to include other genres, so we have Hazel Brugger with us, but also activist Auma Obama, Barack Obama’s half-sister. I hope there are discussions with people who are in key positions and that we can talk about where the problem arises. Where, for example, are female musicians made great today? Only on Spotify or YouTube or is it still the radio? And who decides what happens where? Is there an unwritten rule that you can’t play too many women in a row? And if so, what year is that from?
I’m a big odds fan. It’s simply important that we put women in the right positions so that everyone can see: it’s possible!
What can we do now, what are your demands?
I’m a big odds fan. It’s simply important that we put women in the right positions so that everyone can see: it’s possible! Just like I had to see that there are women who are comedians and are on stage. When I saw Anke Engelke on the “Wochenshow” I realized: Ah, that’s a job, then I can do it too! We need these role models. For a very, very long time, the situation was very unfair for women, and in order to change that, we simply need a quota. There are enough qualified women. And if this improves the working conditions for everyone, nobody can be angry about it.