It is becoming a habit that a large number of Norwegian acts are invited to play showcases at South by Southwest (SXSW), the industry festival taking place in Austin, Texas every year. This year, a total of 14 Norwegian bands and artists have received an official invitation to showcase during the festival.
The invited artists represent different genres, from world music, extreme metal, electronica, as well as rock and pop.
Brent Grulke, creative director of South by Southwest thinks there is a reason why so many Norwegian bands and artists are invited to this event.
- SXSW is always proud to present the music of Norway. There is no "Norwegian Sound" - Norwegian artists draw from virtually every musical genre and make something distinctive and different from it. It doesn't matter if it's electronic music, psychedelic rock, world, jazz, hip hop, or (obviously) metal, Norwegian acts are masters of innovation and creativity. This year SXSW has 15 Norwegian acts invited to perform at the festival, and I regret that we don't have more. Norway may be a small nation, but its musical art compares to that from any nation."
Those who have been invited so far (with links to myspacepages) are:
Three of these 14 bands and artists will have the possibility to perform at a party arranged by the well reputed Filter Magazine and Innovation Norway. During the planning of this arrangement, Music Export Norway has been an advisor. Filter has arranged these parties for a long time, and they are always popular.
This is the first time Innovation Norway's American office is involved in this kind of event.
- Our involvement is the first step in a long process where we are working to display Norwegian talent, says Antonio Raposo from Innovation Norway's American office.
For an updated schedule of the Norwegian acts at SXSW, see
this page.
