 -
It's one of the premiere music festivals in the nation, a four-day extravaganza featuring musicians, singers, and songwriters from around the world, plus industry leaders, live performance, workshops, lectures, and press parties and an unrivaled musical showcase. Get ready for the Austin music scene and escape for a few days of pure song and more...
|
If you're one of the millions of Texans who enjoy great music, there's no better place to be each March than the capital of Texas music, (oh yes, and the capital of the State of Texas), Austin, for the premiere musical event of the American Southwest - South By Southwest.
For nineteen straight years this major music festival has grown to become one of the premiere musical events of the nation, showcasing new and upcoming talent and providing the opportunity for music labels to entertain and enlighten the mass media in an effort to get their assorted label artists recognized. The festival also features film and Interactive segments that make the event appealing to just about everyone.
From a musician and filmmaker's perspective, the festival is a must-attend event, a place to showcase your talent and expose your performance. For the spectator, Austin is the best place to hear and see today and tomorrow's musical stars at venues all across the city, and to view world premiere films. For a week running you can travel from one bar to the next, to music hall to the theater stage, to the city park stage to Sixth Street downtown, and hear a boatload of various music acts and performances and catch one of hundreds of festival film entries.
The music portion of this unique festival, in fact, is not held on a single stage but at various and many venue partner locations across Austin, making the event a one-of-a-kind musical gala. For four nights (at least) - on Austin's famous 6th Street alone - you can sway to classic jazz, get down with the blues, hop to the hip-hop, bang your head with the rockers, salsa to the fussion, and bop with the pop.
At downtown locations and venues all across the city you can hear fresh new talent along with a few stars and standards, from the Dutch, from the British, performers fom Germany, Japan, Russia, the U.S. & Mexico, and other countries scattered across the world.
The New York Times says "South by Southwest is at least three music festivals in one: a wall-to-wall audition for new bands, a place for familiar names to announce new projects and a celebration of homegrown Texas music."
The competition and awards involve a special people's choice category for a great interactive experience. Over 1,300 musical performers in all will take to the many stages of Austin creating a Texas-sized musical event unrivaled in America.
Notable musical artists performing during SXSW this year include special guest Neil Young, Hank Williams III, Bobby Bare, Morrissey, Ian Moore, Beto and the Fairlanes, The Motels, Kris Kristofferson, Darden Smith, Nickel Creek, Beth Orton, Susan Tedeschi, Patrice Pike, Tia Carrera, the Klezmatics, Billy Bragg, Sarah Sharp, Patricia Vonne, Rodney Crowell, Eliza Gilkyson, Roseanne Cash, Josh Ritter, Dashboard Confessional, Dionne Farris, Marty Stewart, Lyle Lovett, The Pretenders, Buckwheat Zydeco, Calvin Owens Blues Orchestra, Ivan Neville, The Chapin Sisters, and over a thousand more.
If your interest includes film as well as music, the SXSW Film Festival (this year Mar. 10-18) will showcase 115 features of which 50 are world premieres, plus 130 shorts that can be viewed at select theaters across Austin. The film festival features a prestigious film panel and includes workshops and a trade show as well.
In the other unique segment of SXSW, the Interactive Media Conference and Trade Show, featuring the latest gaming technology from around the world. Gamers and geeks from across the nation will convene to hear and see presentations on the latest in technology development. The Interactive Trade Show, to be held at the Austin Convention Center, is free to the public.
For a comprehensive and ever-changing schedule of events, activities, parties, screenings and performances, browse through the massive SXSW Web site.
|
