10 Aug 2012
New Zealand artists are taking to the stages of major European music and culture festival, Sziget, in Budapest, Hungary until 13 August.
Sziget, held on an island on the Danube in the middle of the city every year, attracts an audience of 400,000 and was awarded Best European Major Festival this year.
New Zealand contemporary dance company Spinning Sun will perform their work Shine Lady, which brings to life images of female divinity, and explores the cycles of human life. New Zealand bands Electric Wire Hustle and the Black Seeds will also perform at Sziget. They join a lineup that includes international headline acts, Snoop Dogg, Korn and The Roots.
Creative New Zealand supported Spinning Sun’s appearance at Sziget. Their invitation to attend was the result of a performance of Shine Lady at the Australian Performing Arts Market in Adelaide earlier this year.
The director of the Sziget Festival, Fruzsina Szep, was also in New Zealand earlier this year as part of Creative New Zealand’s Te Manu Ka Tau programme.
This programme brings international presenters, curators and festival directors to New Zealand from the theatre, dance, music, literature, visual arts, and craft object sectors to experience New Zealand works and meet with artists, curators, managers, publishers and directors.
Says EWH drummer, Myele Manzanza, of the Sziget Festival: “Glastonbury last year was crazy. Trying to navigate through the mud and perform to a population of punters equal to Wellington city was an experience in itself. To be able to take our music to Eastern Europe to an audience double that is surreal.”
For more information on Sziget, go to:
http://www.sziget.hu/festival_english
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