Every two years, the Danube Office Ulm/Neu-Ulm invites you to the International Danube Festival. For ten days, there is a hustle and bustle on both sides of the Danube bank when international artists and guests from all countries along the Danube come together at the festival of encounters. The international cultural programme offers a sophisticated mix of different artistic directions – whether music, dance, literature or exhibitions, the Danube countries present themselves with their cultural ambassadors.
Where young Europeans meet, create something new together, friendships develop and prejudices are overcome: The word “encounter” is omnipresent at the International Danube Festival Ulm/Neu-Ulm. The idea of the festival is to bring people together from the ten Danube riparian states, but also from all over Europe and the world. Cultures meet, communicate, connections are made and resentments are broken down. This begins with guests of the Danube Festival who perhaps make friends over a glass of wine, continues with political decision-makers who meet here on the Danube, and extends to artists from distant Danube countries who rehearse together and perform on stage. Numerous formats at the Donaufest promote precisely this: Young people meeting on the banks in Ulm and Neu-Ulm and presenting to the audience what is possible together.
THE INTERNATIONAL DANUBE YOUTH CAMP – “EUROPE IS US”.
“Working together, I could see that we are closer in thinking than we might think,” reports Tim Basler from Waldshut, participant of the International Danube Youth Camp 2018 in Ulm and Neu-Ulm. For the seventh time, young people from the Danube countries will meet at the International Danube Youth Camp from 30 June to 6 July 2022 in Ulm and Neu-Ulm. They come from Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova – so far, the Danube is the main thing that connects them! Under the motto “Europe is us”, the young people acquire qualifications and knowledge during the project that go far beyond the usual school education. Above all, this includes awareness and knowledge of their own historical and cultural origins. Through the transfer of knowledge about culture, history and current lines of development in the countries along the Danube, about the coexistence of different ethnic groups in Eastern Europe, the young people are enabled to understand and shape current and future developments. The aim of the youth camp is for the young people to acquire the skills to conduct dialogues with each other and to meet at eye level. What wishes and dreams do the young people have? What moves them? What is close to their hearts? What have they worked on together during the days on the Danube? Visitors to the final presentation on Tuesday, 5 July 2022 at 6 p.m. can experience the answer to these questions on the Neu-Ulm stage of the Donaufest. With the performance “Orient on the Mordexpress”, the young people devote themselves to historical events and personalities of the Danube region and find a new narrative of common ground in which different views and mutual understanding are not mutually exclusive.
Presentation Don@u-online project, Edwin-Scharff-Haus, Neu-Ulm, Monday, 4 July 2022, 2 p.m.
Final presentation “Orient im Mordexpress”, stage Neu-Ulm, Tuesday, 5 July 2022, 6.00 p.m.
DANUBE.YOUTH.EUROPE
Perspectives for the Danube Region
The Baden-Württemberg Foundation, together with the State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg and the Danube Office, invites you to the event “Danube.Youth.Europe”. In line with the “European Year of Youth”, young people from the Danube region will be the focus of the lectures and plenary discussions. In the afternoon, the focus will be on interactive exchange and thematic dialogue in the context of cross-border and intercultural encounters. You can participate in various workshops and discussion rounds related to the Danube Region and the topics of youth participation, climate protection and environmental education, networking, the Rom*nja minority, digitalisation or art and culture. In the evening, there will be an opportunity to network with all participants. The event is aimed at all interested participants of the Danube Festival, especially young people and actors from civil society. We look forward to rediscovering the diversity of the Danube region with you!
Edwin-Scharff-Haus, Neu-Ulm, Wednesday, 6 July 2022, 9.30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
DONAU.POP.CAMP
After four successful donau.pop.camps in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018, the international music project has become a permanent institution in Ulm and an integral part of the International Danube Festival. For eight days, the participants come to Ulm for the music – and you can feel it every minute. They rehearse together, jam, write songs and talk about lyrics and culture. They eat together, exchange ideas, play concerts and get to know the cultural scene in Ulm and Neu-Ulm in their free time. A unique project that shows how music can connect and overcome borders.
Taking part this year are:
– Rainbow Head (DE)
– Whitepaper (DE)
– Roadstring Army (DE)
– LUVVER (SK)
– Innerglow (BG)
– Marley Wildthing (AT)
A cooperation project of popbastion.ulm, City of Ulm Cultural Department, Stadtjugendring Ulm e.V. and
the Donaubüro gGmbH.
Donausalon, Monday, 4 July 2022, 7.00 p.m.
Stage Neu-Ulm, Thursday, 7 July 2022, 6.00 p.m.
IDF FACTORY
It is the idea of overcoming borders and discovering new horizons that is behind the encounter project IDF Factory. 2022 will present four formations on two evenings, bringing to the stage not only their own repertoire but also the result of rehearsal days in Cluj, Ulm, Belgrade and Vienna.
Nordir (DE) meets Astro Générale (RO)
On the first evening, guitar-heavy wave from the edge of the Carpathians meets indietronic made in Ulm. The Romanian formation “Astro Générale” is one of the hottest newcomers in their home country and is looking forward to their first live concert after the long, involuntary break. Together with the Ulm-based formation “Nordir”, which has been expanded from a duo to a trio for this occasion, the sounds of the two bands interweave into a sound-painting synthesis of the arts. The great intersection of the formations are their reminiscences of the 1980s – the sound of the New Romantics and the edgy synth pop of that era.
Donausalon, Tuesday, 5 July 2022, 8 p.m.
Bullet for a Badman (RS) meets Downers and Milk (AT)
The second Factory unites top-class formations from Belgrade and Vienna: Bullet for a Badman and Downers and Milk. The Downers blend the atmosphere and earthiness of Americana with indulgent elements of chamber pop and the intensity of post-punk to create darkly radiant folk noir. The Belgrade formation has dedicated itself to the strongly rhythmic Afrofunk, but also likes to embellish it with a dusty “Tarantino touch”. In their jazz instrumentals, they do not shy away from gritty guitar sounds. We are happy to open the doors to both formations with the “Factory” and are looking forward to the result of this Serbian/Austrian fusion.
Donausalon, Thursday, 7 July 2022, 8 p.m.
VIENNA MELANGE VOL. 4
YASMO, MIEZE MEDUSA, SIGRID HORN, MONOBROTHER AND ELIAS (AT)
“Talking brings the people together”.
For the fourth “Wiener Melange” at the Donausalon we have put the “word” in the centre: spoken, rapped, sung. We were able to win Yasmin Hafedh aka Yasmo as curator, an artist who is one of the most important and powerful-voiced lyricists in the Austrian cultural canon. In 2018, she became the first female artist to be nominated in the Amadeus category Best Hip-Hop/Urban, performed at the opening of the Wiener Festwochen and now sits next to Burgtheater directors on TV. She curates, hosts and prepares an eloquent evening of mixed doubles: Yasmo has invited the book author, pioneer and institution of the Austrian poetry slam scene and her hip-hop band “Mieze Medusa & Tenderboy”, who won the protest song contest in 2007. This success was also recorded in 2019 by singer-songwriter Sigrid Horn, who tells dialect stories between foggy grey and kaleidoscopic sky blue with her delicate voice. The radio station FM4 describes Monobrother’s album “Solodarität” as a lyrical as well as a musical star hour of Austrian hip-hop. And further: “Monobrother’s pen bites the postmodern individual’s needle with relish.” The fourth member of the group is the book author and slammer Elias Hirschl, who was Austrian poetry slam champion in 2014 and has since presented his fifth novel. Since 2020 he has been writing and speaking together with Antonia Stabinger, Berni Wagner and Leopold Toriser for the radio play series “Das Magische Auge” on Radio FM4. Together with the rapper Selbstlaut he forms the music duo “Ein Gespenst”.
Donausalon, Wednesday, 6 July 2022, 7 p.m.
You can find the complete programme of the Donaufest 2022 online at www.donaufest.de/programm and the programme booklet as a PDF for download at www.donaufest.de/programm/programmheft.
You can find much more information and news at www.donaufest.de.
The international Danube Festival Ulm/Neu-Ulm
Every two years, the cities and countries along the Danube are united in Ulm and Neu-Ulm – for a summer festival of encounters with around 150 events, most of which are free of charge. This year, the international cultural programme once again offers an authentic showcase of Danube cultures, a sophisticated, multi-faceted and lively mix of different artistic directions and formats: Music from classical to jazz, Balkan beats, world music, folk and pop, literature, theatre, dance, exhibitions, events for children and families as well as encounter projects – framed by exchange in the fields of politics, society and the environment.
