Tired of getting lost on the musical map? Would you love to show your music to the world, but don’t know how? The fourth annual Czech Music Crossroads international showcase festival, taking place on 17–18 July 2016, just before the Colours of Ostrava festival in Dolni Vitkovice, could help you. For the very first time, it offers an opportunity for Czech artists, focusing on world music, folk, jazz and new acoustic music, to apply for the showcase regardless of released albums or length of professional experience. An expert jury, “The Magnificent Seven,” together with the leaders and organizers of Czech Music Crossroads, will add this band to the showcase program. The band will then have the opportunity to show their art and music to an exclusive and carefully selected audience of international experts.
You can submit your applications before 20 January 2017 to bands.crossroads@colours.cz. The application must consist of the following: three songs in MP3 format; a short profile; contact information; and links to your web, YouTube or Bandcamp pages. Representatives of all registered groups receive accreditation to Czech Music Crossroads. The name of the selected group will be publicly announced in early February.
Czech Music Crossroads is continuing its efforts to present quality music from Central Europe and, once again, to represent the best of world music, folk, jazz and new acoustic music from the Czech Republic as well as from Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Czech Music Crossroads will be attended by a number of international personalities and experts representing the most prestigious festivals, major media and booking agencies. There will also be a number of Czech organizers, journalists and media representatives. The program will include panel discussions led by internationally recognized expert Peter Dorůžka and so-called speed-dating, where foreign experts provide registered candidates with personal consultation on their strategy and artistic growth.
In only four years of existence, Czech Music Crossroads rose to being known as a respected European music platform.
“It’s the most valuable musical event you have here, since it aims to help you understand how the market works and offers useful advice and tips,” wrote the world-renowned expert Gerald Seligman
“We are very pleased with the positive feedback we got from last year’s guests, and with the considerable international response. Almost as if to prove my point, after folks from Hungary, another group of organizers for the prestigious WOMEX fair became our Polish colleagues in Katowice. Thanks to that, doors will open for Czech musicians to previously hard-to-reach options. Indeed, the successes of Clarinet Factory and Ponk, capitalizing all the excellent contacts and experiences from Crossroads, are proof of that,” the main organizer, Petra Hradilová, said.
The expert jury of The Magnificent Seven, led by the main director of the Colours of Ostrava festival, Zlata Holušová, will choose three bands from the Czech Republic (plus one from the group of applicants). The selection of the three bands from Poland, Hungary and Slovakia will be left to our foreign colleagues.
Czech Music Crossroads will be organized once again by the Colours of Ostrava festival with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, the City of Ostrava and in cooperation with the Moravian-Silesian region.
https://www.facebook.com/czech.music.crossroads/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVrcyuQGVdOEXQMGdMFTViQ
Anna Mašátová,
