A German with synthesizers and a Ukrainian frontwoman open Hamburg with a song they recorded together: Ukraine at Reeperbahn

Ukraine has been named Guest Country of Honour at Reeperbahn Festival — the Hamburg event that introduces the industry to new names every year. The festival itself runs from 16 to 19 September.

The organisers announced this in their preview of the opening night.

The opening ceremony is on Wednesday, 16 September. This year it moves from the Operettenhaus to Schmidts Tivoli and will run for about seventy minutes. Admission is by invitation only.

Who will speak about Ukraine

The opening address about the guest country is given by SCHILLER — the German electronic musician Christopher von Deylen. The choice is no accident: the organisers say plainly that he will draw on his own experience of numerous tours and wartime encounters.

At the heart of his appearance, the announcement says, is the desire for freedom among people living in extraordinary circumstances, and their determination to hold on to creativity and self-expression despite danger and uncertainty.

“In his opening address, electronic visionary SCHILLER will present this year’s Guest Country of Honour — Ukraine,” the festival’s announcement says.

Straight after the address, SCHILLER and Julia Sanina, frontwoman of the Ukrainian band The Hardkiss, will perform their joint song My Silence. It was not written for the occasion: the track came out last year and made it onto SCHILLER’s album Euphoria.

The rest of the ceremony is built around the theme the festival has made its headline for the year — “Forever Legit?”. The question is whether the creative and music industries remain culturally legitimate at a time of deep social and technological change.

Why this is not a “support” slot

The evening will be hosted by the Austrian-American television presenter Yasmine Blair. Opening speeches will come from Björn Böhning, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance, and Carsten Brosda, Senator for Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, while festival director Detlef Schwarte will set the tone of the conversation.

In other words, the Ukrainian theme sits not in a charity block but in the part of the programme where the festival talks to politicians and the industry about its own future. Apart from My Silence, there is only one live music number in it — a performance by the Dutch singer-songwriter Dotan.

Reeperbahn is above all a stage for new names: four days, hundreds of concerts in Hamburg’s clubs and an industry conference alongside them. Guest Country of Honour status means that for those four days German and international audiences will look at the Ukrainian scene as one they have something to learn from.

Earlier we counted how many Ukrainian names are in the programme of the anniversary Amsterdam Dance Event — another big week where our scene has its share of the line-up this autumn.