Ukraine’s musical squad conquered the biggest Austrian showcase festival Waves Vienna

The most prestigious event of the contemporary music industry in Austria, Waves Vienna, represents all the genres of contemporary music, from dream-pop to rock and rap. The annual festival takes place in late September as a part of the INES (The Innovation Network of European Showcases), an international network of eight biggest showcase festivals in Europe. "East meets West" is the festival's slogan which reflects its concept to ensure the interaction of the maximum actors of the European music market. Each year, the festival organisers focus on two countries. In 2019, they are Sweden and Hungary.

Ukraine was represented by a truly diverse lineup. A female rap sensation Alyona Alyona, who from Baryshiv teacher turned into the headliner of domestic and international music festivals in virtually a year, was among them. Singer and songwriter Sasha Boole, from Chernivtsi, has already been touring around Europe. In 2018, he joined Me and That Man band, a side project by Adam Darskyi from legendary Polish band Behemoth. Tik Tu band (from Ternopil) and band [O] from Masterskayalabel residents (from Kyiv) will add a piece of psychodelic sint-pop and dance rhythms of indie-electronics.

On 27 September, the Ukrainian delegation also joined the Waves Vienna Music Conference to network with their foreign counterparts and share experience under the festival activities.

9th years in a raw, Waves Vienna Music Conference gather local and international music experts, organisers, label founders, musicians to discuss the current challenges of the sector. This year's topic of the conference is "Promoter's Moral Duties, the Challenges Entering Asian Music Markets, and Women in Live Music Production".

The conference held "Meet the Ukrainians!" event hosting the participants and organisers of the festival.

"On the event's eve, I felt that it would be one of the popular events at the Waves Vienna. People from the industry were curious about our artists and the musical market. European countries are eager to work with Ukraine, and we take steps towards each other," says Serhiy Cane, the Ukrainian musical journalist.

Ukraine's integration into the professional platforms and networks is among the strategic directions of the Ukrainian Institute. There are already first results, according to Iryna Prokofieva, head of programmes at the Ukrainian Institute: "The Ukrainian musicians were welcomed warmingly. Sasha Boole sang for an encore, the audience did not let him go and sang with him. The [O] band were great, the guests danced to the last with the music journalists and bookers of other showcases. Alona Alona also assembled a full hall and dispelled with her speech the myth that Ukrainian-language rap is incomprehensible to foreign audiences. The first Ukrainian delegation of Waves Vienna proved itself worthy and looked very strong among the participating countries."