What we saw… c/o Pop 2022
Germany’s got talent… and lots of it. Here is Europavox’s selection of the key bands and voices at this year’s C-O Pop Festival in Cologne, Germany’s prestigious showcase event.
Nestled in Cologne’s Ehrenfeld district, a multicultural neighborhood where boutique shops sit side-by-side with kebab stores, clubs and cultural centers, an array of international musicians and top music industry brass assembled for another extended weekend of conferences and performances.
This year’s C-O Pop Festival and conference had one eye very much on the future, highlighting the talent of tomorrow with conversational topics tackling the important points affecting the modern industry.
c-o Politics
Taking place across the various stages and halls at Herbrand’s event space, this year’s c/o Pop conference provided a fresh mix of networking events and panels, putting the future of music, talent, and technology at the very forefront.
Photo : Frank Schoepgens
Amidst interviews with influential talents that are reshaping contemporary cultural narratives – including talks with German rap star Xatar, cult-media stars El Hotzo, and the hit team behind the prominent Machiavelli Podcast – c/o Pop centered its dialogue on media and technologies that are influencing modern music.
How does the Tik-Tok algorithm work; How has modern journalism been reshaped through social media; How to deal with hate speech in your community; What are NFTs; How can platforms work to be more inclusive? All of these questions, and more, were tackled during the conference.
The indies and newcomers also had opportunities to elevate themselves, thanks to a selection of on-site initiatives. GEMA’s New Talent Workshops provided a platform to help new artists establish themselves, while VUT Indie Days Cologne was on hand to help empower independent players within the industry, thanks to a series of workshops on artist mentoring, international export strategy, and much more.
c/o Pops
Either artists have had time to practise more due to the pandemic, or the quality of music has increased beyond our expectations. Nonetheless, the quality of music on offer at c/o Pop festival 2022 was above and beyond the norm.
Europavox artists Friedberg, Sirens of Lesbos, and Smoothboi Ezra helped open the festival on Thursday to much acclaim. On Friday night, Belgian hip-hop band Glauque’s performance at Artheater [which sadly clashed with other Europavox favorites La Jungle] was a showcase full of raw emotion and powerful dexterity. The band’s intense delivery of their portfolio of Francophone pop, rife with synth leads and electro beats, was made all the more spectacular thanks to singer Ma Clément’s charged performance.
Speaking of electro, French duo ATOEM turned a few heads when they took to the stage with a studio’s worth of modular synths, keyboards, drum machines, and guitars. The current trend of bands featuring two-guys and a bunch of studio gear is becoming ever more popular, with the likes of Digitalism, BICEP, and Disclosure reshaping the contemporary sound of electronic music. ATOEM will easily find themselves on this list of distinguished artists soon enough, as the production duo’s warm and cleanly processed sound design, along their a steady stream of beats, whipped up the crowd into a heady rave early on in the night.
Photo : Philipp Pongratz
Taking on Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld, was the divine Berlin-based singer-songwriter May The Muse, aka. Désirée Dorothy Mishoe. Backed by just a guitar player and producer, the soulful R&B singer was able to envelop the full room with her rich and heartfelt vocals, finishing her set with a soft take on Moderat’s ‘Bad Kingdom’. All in all, not bad for an artist still to release her debut album.
Another charming discovery made late on Friday night were German melodic synth-pop duo WEZN. Indeed, singer’s Maischa elfish getup, pointy ears included, reflected the band’s spirited sound, that lends itself to the likes of Grimes, and London Grammar with a sound lost in its wistful abandonment.
Frauen Power
Overnight, the entirety of Ehrenfeld opened up, as the streets were converted into open markets and the people of Cologne descended upon the neighborhood to partake in carnival frivolities. DJs and bands were not hard to find, with performances taking place in shop fronts and hair salons, sound systems lined up and down the high-street.
Photo : Monique Kuesel
With another full calendar of performance set-out throughout the day — with free admission for everyone — the one thing that really stood out was the caliber of female artists.
One such example manifested itself in the form of the Ukrainian R&B and hip-hop band Fo Sho, consisting of sisters Betty, Siona and Miriam, and backing DJ kachevniki, who was only able to smuggle himself across the border and cross country the day before their performance. With several shows lined up on the Saturday alone — including a stand out performance in a local kebab shop — the hip-hop trio (albeit limited to a duo, due to an illness within the ranks) made many new fans during the festival, shaking audiences to their core with their stirring R&B songs, including a rallying rendition of political anthem ‘You Cry Now’.
Preceding the Femtastic talk at the Urania Theater, Berlin singer-songwriter Novaa teased the audiences with tracks from her as yet un-released new album ‘She’s A Star’, that further embraced her trademark, feminist subjects in her soft and intimate style.
Swiss-Tamil singer Priya Ragu rocked Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld, with her full-stage backing band. Still riding the wave of success that was 2021’s damnshestamil, the modest sized-singer made an enormous impact with hefty stage presence and control of the audience.
One the festival’s standout performances fell upon the giant talent of German soul singer — and accompanying band — Salomea. Evoking the energy of Erykah Badu, alongside a band that has the swagger of The Roots, the German spiritualist-jazz-hip-hop singer owned the audience, dictating the energy of the room with her celestial and soulful spirit. Fitting that the Cologne-based musician and music lecturer was the one to shine the most in her hometown. Indeed, Salomea’s messaging of collectivism and empowerment really embodied this year’s festival, showing that not only does Cologne have talent, but also a voice we should embrace.
Photo : Lenny Rothenburg
