The Europavox countdown is one day, one country until 2024! 🌍
As we await the countdown to the New Year, the Europavox crews would like to pay tribute to 2023, a year full of discoveries, encounters and emotions: seven festivals, a hundred more artists in the Europavox family and six Spotlight Prizes, no less! And to round off this crazy year, here’s the Europavox countdown : each day featuring one country. Throughout December, we’ll be sharing anecdotes about European countries and bands that made our year! So join us every day for a dose of fun facts and musical discoveries as we look forward to 2024! 🎉
31. Girl Scout (Rock / Sweden)
In a nutshell : “Joyous indie rock with an air of cool kid nonchalance”
Fun fact : The city of Övertorneå holds world championships for mosquito catching (More infos)
30. MAZ (Hip-hop / Luxembourg)
In a nutshell : “Powerful and uncompromising emo rap”
Fun fact : The country’s official motto is ‘mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sinn’, meaning ‘we want to remain what we are’ (More infos)
29. Lelee (Rock / Slovenia)
In a nutshell : “Fresh post punk with a flavour of the Balkans”
Fun fact : The olm, a blind cave salamander nicknamed “baby dragon”, can live up to 100 years and only breeds one or twice every decade. It is one of Slovenia’s symbols and was featured on Slovenian coins until euros were introduced in the country (More infos)
28. Jann (Pop / Poland)
In a nutshell : “The most anticipated Polish debut this year”
Fun fact : Polish couples that are married for 50 years are awarded a medal (More infos)
27. SKAAR (Electro-pop / Norway)
In a nutshell : “An essential piece of the pop landscape finding strength in fragility”
Fun fact : Norway introduced salmon sushi to Japan: while it is absolutely a Japanese invention, they did not use salmon in the dish until it was suggested by a Norwegian delegation in 1980’s (More infos)
26. Vizelj (Rock, Experimental / Serbia)
In a nutshell : “An experimental sound with punk attitude and club energy”
Fun fact : Mihajlo Pupin, born in 1858 in a small Serbian village, is one of NASA’s founders (More infos)
25. Nina Kohout (Neoclassical / Slovakia)
In a nutshell : “Slovak folk meets modern-day trip-hop”
Fun fact : In Slovakia, if you’re a European student and under 26, you can travel by train for free (More infos)
24. Alina Pash (Electronic, Hip-hop / Ukraine)
In a nutshell : “Music from beyond the conflict”
Fun fact : Ukrainian folk music has inspired many masterpieces, such as the popular Christmas carol ‘Carol Of The Bells’, or ‘Summertime’ : it is often said that George Gershwin, whose parents emigrated from Odesa shortly before his birth, was influenced by the lullaby ‘Oi Khodyt’ Son Kolo Vikon’ (‘The Dream Passes By The Windows’) when he wrote this gem, one of the most covered songs of all time (More infos)
23. Elizabete Balčus (Electronic / Latvia)
In a nutshell : “A cosmic electronic art pop fairy from Latvia”
Fun fact : With over 1 million folk songs, Latvians love to sing, and you can catch over 40,000 performers at the Song and Dance Festival (More infos)
22. YĪN YĪN (Pop, Psychedelica / The Netherlands)
In a nutshell : “A trippy, retro, intergalactic ride through world grooves”
Fun fact : Dutch men are the world’s tallest people, towering at 183cm on average (More infos)
21. Freakin’ Disco (Electronic / Hungary)
In a nutshell : “Go clubbing with a jazz band from space”
Fun fact : Rubik’s Cube was invented in Hungary. So was the ball pen! (More infos)
20. MEULE (Rock / France)
In a nutshell : “A modern psych-kraut trip by three French experimentalists”
Fun fact : France has more Nobel Prize winners in Literature than any other country (More infos)
19. Sans Soucis (Urban / Italy)
In a nutshell : “Conscious songwriting meets R&B and electronica”
Fun fact : 17 is a bad luck number for Italians! This is due to how 17 is written in Roman Numerals: XVII can be rearranged to VIXI, a symbol for “I have lived” – in other words, “I am dead” (More infos)
18. Manna (Pop / Estonia)
In a nutshell : “Manna can be both – mysterious dark-pop queen or mainstream mumble-rap princess”
Fun fact : Estonia is more than 50% forest, but the entire country is covered in wifi hotspots. Even in the woods! (More infos)
17. Lowly (Electronic / Denmark)
In a nutshell : “Encouraging tunes to listen to on one of THOSE days”
Fun fact : Denmark became the first country to legalise same-sex unions in 1989 (More infos)
16. čuvarkuća (Rock / Croatia)
In a nutshell : “No one can resist the power of flowers”
Fun fact : The Dalmatian is from the Dalmatia region in Croatia, and was bred as a hunting dog (More infos)
15. Ada Oda (Pop, Punk / Belgium)
In a nutshell : “A fresh new post-punk band made in Brussels and singing in Italian”
Fun fact : The saxophone was invented by a Belgian named Adolphe Sax (More infos)
14. Ana Lua Caiano (Electronic, Traditional / Portugal)
In a nutshell : “Old rhythms with new beats”
Fun fact : J.K. Rowlling was living in Porto when she wrote Harry Potter’s first book, and it is said that she took inspiration from the local students’ cloaks to imagine Hogwarts uniforms (More infos)
13. Bipolar Feminin (Rock / Austria)
In a nutshell : “A captivating blend of sound and expression”
Fun fact : Austria is one of the world’s most eco-friendly countries – about 63% of waste is recycled and most of the electricity comes through the use of renewable energy sources (More infos)
12. Bulgarian Cartrader (Pop / Bulgaria)
In a nutshell : “Chilled melodies to warm your soul”
Fun fact : Bulgarians nod to say no and shake their heads for yes (More infos)
11. Aoife Nessa Frances (Pop / Ireland)
In a nutshell : “Poetry of the soul rooted in Irish soil”
Fun fact : Ireland is the only country in the world to have a musical instrument, the harp, as its national symbol (More infos)
10. ZIMBRU (Rock / Romania)
In a nutshell : “When sentimental rave goes to synth heaven”
Fun fact : Romanian Gymnast Nadia Comăneci was the first to ever score a perfect ’10’ in the Olympics and won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze, all at the age of 15 (More infos)
9. Melenas (Rock, Pop / Spain)
In a nutshell : “A hypnotic motorik-driven all-girl band from Pamplona“
Fun fact : On New Year’s Eve, Spanish people eat 12 grapes during the last 12 seconds of the year, one grape per second which in return will bring good luck for the next 12 months (More infos)
8. Kamaniu Silelis (Pop / Lithuania)
In a nutshell : “Poetic songs, that turn heartbreak into something beautiful”
Fun fact : If you are visiting someone’s home in Lithuania and you think of a tune, then don’t whistle it out loud because it summons little devils! (More infos)
7. Lakiko (Neoclassical, Folk / Bosnia and Herzegovina)
In a nutshell : “Spiritual Balkan folk meets classical standards”
Fun fact : Bosnia and Herzegovina is the country that has more waterfalls than Italy, France and Germany combined (More infos)
6. The Smallest Creature (Rock / Cyprus)
In a nutshell : “90s style alt-rock with a melodic flair”
Fun fact : Cyprus enjoys around 320 days of sunshine a year (More infos)
5. JFDR (Folk, Pop / Iceland)
In a nutshell : “A delicate Icelandic singer-songwriter going solo”
Fun fact : There are a hundred words for ‘wind’ in the icelandic language (More infos)
4. Amelie Siba (Pop / Czechia)
In a nutshell : “Warm indie pop and thought provoking distortion”
Fun fact : The world ‘robot’ was created by the Czech artist Josef Čapek (More infos)
3. Danai Nielsen (Pop / Greece)
In a nutshell : “The dream pop version of Besson’s ‘5th Element’”
Fun fact : It is against Greek law to wear high heels when you go on a tour of ancient sites (More infos)
2. Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys (Rock / Germany)
In a nutshell : “A South African, Berlin hybrid of pop noire and grungy folk”
Fun fact : The Walkman was invented in Germany (More infos)
1. Suistamon Sähkö (Folk, Techno / Finland)
In a nutshell : “A love letter to Suistamo land, where the summer sun never sets”
Fun fact : Finland has the most heavy metal bands per capita in the world (More infos)
