“Do you really expect me to come all the way to Groningen to see some unknown bands from Portugal and Poland?” Eurosonic Noorderslag founder Peter Smidt laughingly recalls the scathing reaction of most journalists, radio DJs and promoters when he first staged a music festival in his native city in 1986. “People called us naïve idiots.”

Smidt doesn’t seem so naïve now. The very first Eurosonic lasted just one night and featured only a handful of Dutch and German acts. Having just celebrated its 30th edition from January 13-16, the renowned Dutch music festival has grown into a multinational monster. Thankfully, it’s a monster with excellent taste in music.
The stats say it all. Totally sold out, more than 42,000 music fans from 40 different countries visited Groningen for the festival this year. A total of 345 acts played 53 venues around the city, witnessed by 425 media and journalists and bookers and representatives of more than 500 festivals. Dan Hegarty and Ian Wilson flew the flag for RTE, as one of 37 major European radio stations covering the event.
Meanwhile, during the day, the De Oosterpoort conference centre hosted various panels, keynotes, interviews and workshops about the latest developments in the music industry. With 4,124 conference attendees, there was a serious buzz around the place as deals were done, contacts were made, and new friendships forged.
Ultimately, though, it’s all about the live music. The festivities kicked off, as always, with the EBBA (European Breaking Borders Award) awards. This year’s Eurosonic got off to a great Irish start with Derry’s SOAK – aka Bridie Monds-Watson – amongst the ten artists presented with an EBBA by Jools Holland at a televised awards ceremony in a city centre theatre.
Unfortunately, the event – which isn’t broadcast live – was plagued by technical problems, with three of the acts forced to restart or repeat their performances. Thankfully, the glitches were effortlessly overcome through the wise-cracking humour of our thoroughly likeable MC and the sheer professionalism of the artists affected.
SOAK had just returned from her Australian tour (which had been cut short by the Perth fires) and was one of the acts who had to play their song again. It proved no problem for the plucky 19-year-old Derrywoman, who gave a stirring second rendition of ‘Sea Creatures’ from her Choice and Mercury-nominated debut album, Before We Forgot How To Dream.
A serious indication of future success, the European Breaking Borders Award celebrate the best emerging artists of the year who have achieved success outside their home country with their first international release. This is measured by sales, radio airplay and live performances at festivals. She follows in some pretty big footsteps, with previous Irish acts to collect the gong including The Thrills (2004), Damien Rice (2005), Dolores O’Riordan (2007), The Script (2009), Kodaline (2014) and Hozier (2015).
The ceremony, which was opened by the European Commission’s First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, saw the Public Choice Award handed to the Latvian indie-rockers Carnival Youth.
The EBBA show also featured outstanding performances by other 2016 winners, including the hip-swivelling Spaniard Álvaro Soler, Stockholm’s genre-bending Seinabo Sey, and Norway’s recipient Aurora – who proved there’s much more to her talents than the John Lewis ad. In the upcoming year the EBBA TV show will be shown by several European public broadcasters. Given the talent on display, it might be a show that RTE or TV3 would consider in future (hint hint!).
It’s a mark of their influence that the EBBAs are a magnet for EU politicians. During the show, Tibor Navracsics, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport said: “Music is one of the most dynamic cultural domains with strong creative and economic potential. With the Creative Europe Programme, which co-funds the EBBA awards, we are making sure that music flows across borders and that young talent finds audiences all over Europe.”
First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans added: “We want to promote and spread our cultural diversity across Europe. The results of this effort, and especially the EBBA awards today, enrich the cultural landscape and the lives of millions, but also bear economic fruit, creating revenue and jobs.”
With the EBBAs done and dusted, the gigging began in earnest. There were more than 50 stages scattered around the city centre, in venues ranging from small and intimate pubs to large and spacious theatres.
Situated right beside each other, Plato record store and Coffeecompany on Oude Ebbingestraat are two small but highly significant venues. Eleven Irish acts made the trip to Groningen this year, and almost half of them played afternoon acoustic shows before facing larger audiences later. These included Pleasure Beach, The Young Folk, Colm Mac Con Iomaire and young Dublin singer-songwriter Craig Gallagher.
A good buddy of former schoolmate Gavin James, this was Gallagher’s first visit to Eurosonic. “I’ve played Holland a good few times supporting Gavin,” he explained, “but this is my first time doing my own shows over here. Eurosonic really only came up at the last moment for me because a big Dutch promoter, based in Amsterdam, is interested in putting on some shows in March and he wanted me to showcase my stuff here. It’s brilliant – going really well.”
A folk-influenced five-piece, The Young Folk are another Dublin act. However, although this was also their first Eurosonic, the band are already a lot better established in Holland than they are on their home turf. “Things really took off for us over here when we were asked to feature in this Dutch reality TV show,” explained singer Anthony Furey. “It was to do with bands trying to make it in the music industry. We appeared on the show and things just took off over here almost immediately.
“So much so that our second album, First Sign of Morning, is actually coming out in Holland next March before being released in Ireland. Eurosonic is definitely a great place for us to play.”
As a former member of The Frames, Colm Mac Con Iomaire is a Eurosonic veteran at this stage. “We would have played here four or five times over the years,” he recalled. “It was always a very important festival for us. Each time we played here there was always a notable increase in our European touring schedule afterwards.”
Other up-and-coming Irish acts who played at Eurosonic included our leading rap collective Rusangano Family, country-rockers The Hot Sprockets, Mullingar trailblazers The Academic, singer-songwriter Marc O’Reilly, fuzzbox indie-poppers Otherkin and HP fave Ciaran Lavery. We managed to catch up with just about all of them for a natter backstage too, so check out hotpress.com for the exclusive video interviews.
Next year’s Eurosonic will take place in Groningen from January 11-14. The focus will be on new music from Portugal. Somehow one suspects that the answer to Peter Smidt’s original question in 1986 will be a resounding “Yes!”

KOVACS

One of the EBBA winners at Eurosonic 2016 was the formidable looking Dutch artist Sharon Kovacs. With her raw and soulful voice, Kovacs creates beautiful, piercing music. Since the release of her debut EP My Love in 2014, her star has been on the rise. Her single (which carries the same name) became an instant hit on 3FM radio, and the station named her their ‘Serious Talent’ in June of that year. This summer, Kovacs performed successfully at Bospop and North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands. She also delivered unforgettable performances in Germany at the SWR3 New Pop Festival and at the Reeperbahn Festival.

The Ten Ebba Awards Winners

Álvaro Soler (Spain)
Aurora (Norway)
Carnival Youth (Latvia)
Christine and the Queens (France)
Kovacs (Netherlands)
Oscar & The Wolf (Belgium)
Robin Schulz (Germany)
Seinabo Sey (Sweden)
SOAK (Ireland)
Years & Years (United Kingdom)