SHARPE Festival 2023
“At Sharpe, we could feel the passion in every little aspect. The creative energy that is hosted within the walls of Nová Cvernovka and the energy and passion of people behind the event, literally made the air vibrate.” To give you an idea, the organizers chose this particular reaction of Luxembourg Radio 100.7 as a reflection of their mission.
Music festival & conference
The festival combines public performances by promising Slovak and international artists of various genres with a conference where music professionals from all over Europe meet, learn from each other and discuss the latest topics from the music industry in panels, workshops, presentations, and networking sessions.
What you can hear
Mainly from dreamy indie, heavy doom-sludge, jazz and world music influences, electronic minimalism or avant-garde and experimental music.
On Thursday, the award-winning duo Lash & Gray will open the festival in a special line-up with Robert Balzar on bass, Marcel Kóňa on drums and a string trio. Electronic producer FVLCRVM will follow with his AV SHOW. The evening will also be closed by the recent winner of Radioheads Award for electronic record of the year 2022, Blame Your Genes, with a live set and musical guests.
Friday program will present young Slovak talents such as Meowlau X Val, Small Town Life or Krstní otcovia, with a fresh debut, and singer Laura Weng will also join the band in the premiere. Among the foreign names, the avant-pop band Hope (DE) will perform, which continues after SHARPE as an opening act on the European tour of Depeche Mode. Also, the occasional ninja rapping in English and Japanese Shao Dow (UK), singer Marí (DK), the Nordic duo Lake Jons (FI) and Stéphane Clor, who in his work combines classical stringed instruments with electronics and his own artistic work.
Saturday line-up will be opened by the singers Greyshadow (AT) and local Karol Mikloš, but jazz fans will definitely enjoy themselves, e.g. at the concert of Magra (DE), electronics at the concerts of the Ukrainian duo Krapka; KOMA, sophisticated guitar riffs at the band Vojdi, Izzy and The Black Trees (PL) or Cloudsurfers (NL). There will be no shortage of electronic genres either – in cooperation with the resident party Nočná, the freshest names from contemporary industrial techno will be at the festival.
You can find the entire program in the clear timeline.
Conference & workshops
This year there will be workshops focused on starting a music career, how to take care of mental health and networking activities and panels with experts from Europe. A practical workshop with Bastl Instruments is also prepared, where participants will learn to assemble their own synthesizer The Kastle 1.5 Synthesizer Kit. Important guests of the conference are the long-time British music manager Stephen Budd (co-founder of Africa Express with Damon Albarn) and Vlado Meller, who after emigrating to the USA built a career as a producer and is behind the mastering of music icons such as Céline Dion, Linkin Park, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and others. Representatives of festivals such as Primavera Sound and Mad Cool in Spain have also confirmed their participation, Le Guess Who? in the Netherlands or Colors and Ostrava (CZ).
The novelty of the showcase festival is the festival application.
