festival
Successful restart: Thousands celebrate world music in Rudolstadt
Visitors sit in the courtyard of the Heidecksburg at the concert of the group Light in Babylon from Istanbul (Turkey) at the Rudolstadt Festival. Photo: Martin Schutt/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
For thousands of music fans, the Thuringian province once again meant the world this weekend: for the first time in two years, visitors and international bands met again at the Rudolstadt Festival.
Folk, ethno-jazz, traditional songs or experimental music: what it claims to be the largest festival for world music in Rudolstadt, Thuringia, attracted thousands of visitors again at the weekend after a two-year Corona break.
For the 30th edition of the Rudolstadt Festival, an average of more than 20,000 visitors came to the small Thuringian town every day since Thursday evening, as the organizers announced at the end on Sunday.
“We have shown that the artistic diversity and the international appeal of the festival are unbroken,” said festival director Petra Rottschalk, summing up the event positively. In view of the uncertainty caused by the consequences of the pandemic and the political and economic situation, this was a successful restart. Even if the festival was not sold out for the first time in years and the number of tickets sold in advance was even limited.
Flight and train cancellations and corona diseases
According to the organizers, problems were also caused this year by flight and train cancellations and cancellations by artists due to corona diseases. It paid off that artists had rebooked flights and trains weeks ago in order to follow
to catch the partial travel echo, it was said. So there was only one concert cancellation, which could be compensated. In addition, three workshops had to be cancelled.
More than 150 bands, street musicians and solo artists from around 40 countries performed in Rudolstadt over the weekend. There were around 300 concerts on the numerous stages and podiums distributed in the small town, including well-known bands such as the Russian group Pussy Riot and the Goran Bregović Wedding and Funeral Band. The country focus this year was on “Tito’s heirs” and thus on the successor states of the former Yugoslavia.
World Music Prize Ruth
This year, the Ruth World Music Prize went to the Cologne carnival and music association Humba and the Berlin author and journalist Christoph Dieckmann. The award, endowed with 5,000 euros for bands and 2,500 euros for individuals, was presented on Saturday in the Heidecksburg courtyard. With Humba, the association’s services to an urban and diverse festival culture, which at the same time set political impulses for an open society, were honored. Dieckmann received the award for his journalistic work.
The next Rudolstadt Festival will be held from July 6th to 9th, 2023. The country focus is then dedicated to Cuba.