Reeperbahn Festival Showcase presented by Reeperbahn Festival, ANCHOR, Keychange
Selected newcomers, previous winners and nominees of the ANCHOR - Reeperbahn Festival
International Music Awards as well as acts from the Keychange initiative for gender equality in the
music industry can be seen live on stage at Shangri-La! As the largest European club festival and the
platform for the music industry in Europe, we are providing an insight into the Reeperbahn Festival
program, where pop innovators ÄTNA and rap poet Akua Naru, will be presenting new song
material, among others.

Timetable:
7:00 pm - 7:40 pm Akua Naru (USA)
8:00 pm - 8:40 pm Albertine Sarges (DEU)
9:00 pm - 9:40 pm Philine Sonny (DEU)
10:00 pm - 10:40 pm ÄTNA (DEU)
11:00 pm - 11:50 pm EKKSTACY (CAN)

EKKSTACY

The eighties are coming back to life - and not just since yesterday. The hype surrounding the decade
in which completely new production possibilities turned the music industry upside down is almost
unbearable. Oscillating synth surfaces, vocals that alternate between androids and angels,
melodramatic melodies and great pathos - the young Canadian EKKSTACY also understands the
sound aesthetics of that time, but makes something entirely of its own out of it. Marked by personal
problems and profound upheavals, the music of his debut album "Negative" from 2021 is a
magnificently arranged manifesto for our time, full of contradictions and inner turmoil. The poetic
songwriting of Elliott Smith and Bon Iver, of Bedroom and The Drums, whose songs can heal or
crush, was particularly influential for EKKSTACY's style. So much so, that his songs now reveal an
inner duality that remains grandly indeterminate - melancholy and hope, fear and daring oscillate
side by side in fluctuating intensity, plans for the future are forged, only to fall resignedly silent in
the next moment. It is obvious: All the ingredients are present here for what is still an unexpected
up-and-coming talent.

Philine Sonny

Philine Sonny once said in an interview that she makes music primarily to experience live moments
on stage. In 2021, the songwriter from Unna, Germany, appeared on the screens of the indie
community with her debut single "Lose Yourself" - first regionally, then nationally. Thanks to soulful
but never cheesy songwriting, Sonny quickly turned a few heads nationwide and equipped her
dreamy pop with expansive hooks as well as instrumentation that the self-taught singer plays herself
on guitar, bass and piano, sounding equally nostalgic and modern. Underlaid with intimate lyrics
about relationships, family and her very personal emotional world, her new material is also marked
by a special urgency - narratives from her own life that can get close but also simply be wildly fun.
Consequently, 2022's debut EP, also named after her motto "Lose Yourself", made listeners sit up
and take notice.

ÄTNA
Musically almost intangible, notorious for a brilliant stage presence, boundlessly creative, always
reinvented: ÄTNA has managed what many thought almost impossible in these times. From the
underground to one of the most sought-after live acts in Germany, Inéz Schaefer and Demian
Kappenstein released their second album "Push Life" last year and thus finally established
themselves as human motors of innovation that raise local pop music to a new level. They now
create groundbreaking electro-art pop from scratch and continue to set new trends in 2023 with
tracks like the autotune poem "Lonely" or their edit of Nina Hagen's "Gib mir deine Liebe". Musically
and visually, danceability meets detailed songwriting, the courage to break styles meets the
consistent evolution of an idiosyncratic sound, and sensual weirdness meets well-thought-out
production. Winner of the ANCHOR Award in 2020, a much-acclaimed performance at the
Elbphilharmonie in 2021 - what else could follow? Because unpredictability is part of the deal, it's
the same this year: turn on, tune in and get blown away.

Albertine Sarges
The recipe is as unusual as it is effective: progressive bass lines, a skilfully orchestrated art-pop
appeal, a thoroughly natural timbre, unconventional arrangements - Albertine Sarges knows how to
stand out from the bulk of the established pop scene with a feather-light touch. On her debut "The
Sticky Fingers", the Berlin-based singer established a sound that can do both: herald the summer or
the end of a long-term relationship. To capture this spectrum of feelings in catchy songs, the singer-
songwriter stylishly maneuvers between careful composition and playful quirkiness, whose strengths
lie in a self-confident approach to fresh stylistic conflations. Feminism and empowerment, loss and
pleasure, mania and melancholy - Sarges, also known as Ossi Viola, knows how to unite it all, often
within the playing time of a single song. An exceptional artist on her way to finding herself? Those
who want to convince themselves can do so now.

AKUA NARU

She was barely nine years old when LaTanya Olatunji aka Akua Naru came into contact with hip-hop
culture through her uncle. Like other greats of conscious rap, she has always combined her poetic
spoken word with jazz and neo-soul, but was also influenced by church visits with her grandmother,
where she met strong women from her community as a child. Political awareness and interest in
revolutionary ideas from Angela Davis to Malcolm X were awakened here, as was the urge for
creative expression. It was the birth of an artist who likes to step out of line, try new things, dare the
unexpected. She doesn't let anyone tell her what to do as an MC or poet. Rap and R'n'B, jazz and
soul, her biography and the ongoing social struggle against racism all over the world - all these fuel
Akua Naru's music as a representative of a new consciousness for empowerment across all social,
ethnic and cultural boundaries.