Upcoming Queer Music Festival In Leipzig, Germany
Germany’s upcoming Queer Music Festival is sure to be a blast for all those who are able to attend! Orchestrated by Bouygerhl, the Archive for Queer Music, the four-day event starts on April 18 and lasts until April 21 including an arrangement of concerts, club nights, readings, screenings, exhibitions, and more!
Music is a huge part of many people’s lives; it connects us with our community, and like any art form, it can be used as an avenue for self-expression and personal growth. Many are fortunate enough to experience the joy of going to a music festival, but for those in the queer community, making sure those spaces are inclusive and welcoming to their identities can often be a struggle. LGBTQ+-centered music festivals like this one in Leipzig, Germany, can be a great way to ensure that everyone feels like they belong and feel supported and welcome.
“The agenda of the festival is clear,” The Festival‘s website explains, “to provide a platform where musicians from the LGBTIQ+ community can raise their voices in a safe space in order to share their artistic vision with like-minded people and allies, be loud together in a time when silence is becoming more and more dangerous, and be visible in a time when queerness has become the fashion accessory of a privileged bubble, but queer people increasingly have to fear for their safety in public spaces.”
Increasing visibility and support for the LGBTQ+ community, the Queer Music Festival intentionally puts the spotlight explicitly on queer music and artists who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and/or nonbinary, “The focus is always on celebrating and empowering queer identities, queer bodies, and, above all, queer music!” The festival states. “It is about visibility, self-image, and empowerment of LGBTQ+. It is about identity. Because identity is reality!”
The focus of the festival is aimed at newcomers from Germany, with the goal of expanding the wide range of local talent, not only to make the scene visible, but also to show that queer music can be much more than big mainstream players like Kim Petras, Troye Sivan, or Sam Smith.
Line-Up
Concerts
Nils Wanderer, Shaw Cain, Privacy Please, Aphexia, Melvin Hein, Lili Alexander, Babe Blade
Drag/Moderation
Club Night
Olof Dreijer (The Knife), Anka, Æol, Claire, Shit Stirrer
Lecture/Reading
Homopunk History: from the 60s to the present day (Philipp Meinert)
These Girls: A journey through feminist music history (Juliane Streich)
Screenings
The Nomi Song (Klaus Nomi) Hideous (The XX) Peaches Does Herself, Music is my Boyfriend (The Hidden Cameras), Desire Will Set You Free, Wer wär ich heute, wenn ich damals nicht gegangen wär
Exhibition
Fredster, Roxana Rios, Stefan Gunnesch, Paula Biesenthal, Luke Carter, Simon Adam Peter, Kevin Heather Koen, Viyan
Dance Course
Cha-Cha-Cha, Walzer
Program and Tickets
queermusicfestival.de
instagram.com/bouygerhl/
Photo courtsey of Bouygerhl
