The Great Escape 2021

The Great Escape in Brighton is renowned in the UK, and around the world, for being one of the best places to discover emerging music talent. For many acts, a gig at The Great Escape can be a springboard to wider fame and critical acclaim. Audiences are watching acts and hoping to make some new discoveries and get a look at the next big thing. The festival is one of the first in the UK's festival calendar and provides an early opportunity to see a lot of live music all in one place.

Like so much live music since the Covid-19 pandemic struck, The Great Escape finds itself celebrating its 15th birthday online this year. For TGE veterans, at least going online means there will be no need to compete against the British springtime weather with a combination of suncream and gale-proof umbrella. However, this online incarnation of the festival retains its key ingredients: a huge number of acts to see – some already well known, some completely unknown; a packed conference programme for the 3,500 or so industry professionals that visit each year; and guests from all around the world dropping in to catch the music for themselves.

This year The Great Escape will take place 12 – 15 May 2021.

Join us for our two roundtable discussions at the festival: Exploring New Markets and secondly, The Future of International Collaboration.

International delegates

This year we've invited international delegates from across the globe to visit the festival. They are drawn from the music industries of countries including Argentina, India, Nigeria, Ukraine, The Philippines and beyond. We've worked with The Great Escape festival in this way for many years and historically, these international connections have led to a number of projects further down the line, such as Kero Kero Bonito's trip to Indonesia – spotted by our overseas guests in 2016.

Our delegates will be able to access The Great Escape events (conference and artist performances) and join networking sessions online with their peers in the UK.

Meet our international delegates for The Great Escape 2021

Insight into international markets with the British Council

We will be hosting two roundtable discussions as part of The Great Escape which will take place on the Thursday afternoon and Friday morning of the festival.

Our focus for these discussions is international markets – amid the Covid pandemic, international travel and touring has largely ground to a standstill but the music industry is a global marketplace, with networks and exchange between artists and audiences a vital part of the music eco-system.

Exploring New Markets

Thursday 13 May 15.00 – 16.00 BST

Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa have seen fast growth in their music sectors in recent years, both producing global superstars and attracting increased investment from streaming platforms and labels and distribution services. We ask what is the current picture looking like for these markets, over a year into the Covid-19 pandemic? And with huge youth populations that are more digitally connected than ever before, where are the future opportunities for collaboration and exchange?

Hosts:

Katie Weatherall – Music Programme Manager, British Council
Michael Duffy – Music Programme Manager, British Council

Participants:

Shiba Mazaza (South Africa) – Music Manager Mount Makeda (South Africa)
Godwin Tom (Nigeria) – Chief Executive, iManage Africa
Sphe Mbhele (South Africa) – Founder, The Music Imbizo
José Lasses (Venezuela) – Executive Director, Cusica
Claudia Assef (Brazil) - Director of Women's Music Event and WME Award and coordinator at Olido Cultural Centre

The Future of International Collaboration

Friday 14 May 10.00 – 11.00 BST

This session explores international perspectives on how successfully the music sector has pivoted to digital working during the pandemic. We ask how do we keep international relationships, collaboration and exchange alive in the current moment, and what are the benefits and challenges of digital working? Given both the cost and environmental concerns of the effects of international travel, will we see continued digital working across borders, or is ‘being there’ simply too vital a part of the connection to lose?

Hosts:

Joel Mills – Senior Music Programme Manager, British Council
Tom Sweet – Music Programme Manager, British Council

Participants:

Twinky Lagdameo (Philippines) – Co-founder, Elements Music Camp
Rizky Sasono (Indonesia) – National Coalition of Arts / Indonesia Music Conference – KAMI
Alona Dmukhovska (Ukraine) – Co-Founder, Music Export Ukraine
Fahranaz Bozkurt (Turkey) – Programmer, Bozcaada Jazz Festival
Tej Brar (India) – Founding and Managing Director, Third Culture Entertainment

The Great Escape 2021 Playlist

We asked TGE booker Adam Ryan to pick his top UK tracks, inspired by his years with the festival, for this month's Selector at 20 playlist as we celebrate 20 years of our very own Selector Radio show. Check out Adam's playlist.

And to get you in the mood for this year's Great Escape, whether you are able to attend this year or not, take a listen to the festival's official playlist and get a taste of some of the acts performing this year.

Previous years with the British Council at The Great Escape

Great Escape 2019: International Delegation

Meet the international delegates visiting The Great Escape in 201 9

Great Escape 2019: Playlist

Great Escape 2018: International Delegation

ARGENTINA: PAULA RIVERA, DIANA GLUSBERG

AUSTRALIA: MAGGIE COLLINS

BRAZIL: FABIANA BATISTELA, ANA GARCIA, PEDRO SEILER, MARCELO DAMASO

EGYPT: BASEM ABUARAB

GREECE: STEFANOS PAPAGKIKAS

INDIA: VARUN PATRA

KENYA: RIZWAN IBRAHIM

MOZAMBIQUE: JESS WHITE

PORTUGAL: LUÍS MONTEZ SÍLVIA BRAGA

SPAIN: PAU CORBALÁN

THAILAND: PIYAPONG MUENPRASERTDEE

TURKEY: ELIF CEMAL

UGANDA: KEMIYONDO COUTINHO

UKRAINE: VALERIIA PERKOVA

VIETNAM: NGUYEN QUOC TRUNG

Great Escape 2018: Playlist

Great Escape 2017: International Delegation

EGYPT: Amina Abodoma

GREECE: Dionysios Tsonopoulos

COLOMBIA: Gustavo Garci

AUSTRALIA: Travis Banko

VENEZEULA: Maximiliano Manzano Wenzel

BANGLADESH: Nafis Ahmed

ALGERIA: Rachid Briki

INDONESIA: Madrim Djody, Rizka Maulita, Teguh Wicaksono, Sarah Deshita Affandi, Felix Dass

VIETNAM: Nguyen Quoc Trung

MOROCCO: Hind El Ouradi

Great Escape 2017: Playlist

Great Escape 2016: International Delegation

CHINA: Zhang Ran, Jef Vreys, Vincent Chen, Ni Bing, Li Ke, Archie Hamilton

INDONESIA: Robin Malau, Ratih Suryahutamy (Neonomora), Anton Wirjono, Michael Budiman

RUSSIA: Andrey Samorukov, Dmitry Zaretsky, Igor Tonkih

UKRAINE: Sergii Illin, Eugene Kibets, Vlad Malynovsky

VIETNAM: Mai Thang, Quoc-Trung Nguyen

Great Escape 2016: Panel Discussion

Cathy Graham (Director, Music, British Council) introduced the session "Going International" with Julia Payne from the Hub outlining research findings showing the state of play for UK music overseas. They were joined by a panel including Phil Patterson (UK Trade & Investment), Chris Tams (BPI), Paul Bonham (Arts Council England), Vanessa Reed (PRS For Music Foundation), Joel Mills (British Council) and Crispin Parry (British Underground).

Great Escape 2016: Playlist

Great Escape 2015: International Delegation

RUSSIA: Natasha Padabed, Agent, Festival Programer & Music Curator, Sergey Kurokhin International Festival (SKIF)

MALAYSIA: Jia Ping Lee, Program Director

MALAYSIA: Grey Yeoh, Head of Arts & Creative Industries, British Council Malaysia

SOUTH AFRICA: Sibongile Musundwa, Project Manager, Connect ZA

Great Escape 2015: Panel Discussion

We explored the topic of "Independent Music in the Middle East and North Africa" discussing the opportunities, challenges, audiences and how to bring talent through in the region. Journalist Arwa Haider was in conversation with some of the most pioneering, experienced and well-regarded independent music promoters in this region:

EGYPT: Mahmoud Refat, Founder, 100 copies

MOROCCO: Hicham Bahou, Director, L'boulevard Festival

LEBANON: Amani Semaan, Festival Director, Beirut & Beyond

Great Escape 2015: Playlist

Great Escape 2014: International Delegation

BRAZIL: Bruno Natal, Queremos (YCE)

CHINA: Li Du, Deputy Manager, SACOO Culture Communications

CHINA: Karen Liu, City Newspaper Express

COLOMBIA: Manolo Arango, Owner, Breakfast Club (YCE)

INDONESIA: Indra Ameng, Programme Director, Ruang Rupa

INDONESIA: Robin Malau, Founder, Musikator (YCE)

MALAYSIA: Rahul Kukreja, Director, Livescape Asia

MALAYSIA: Adrian Yap, Director/Managing Director, Urbanscapes Festival/Freeform Sdn Bhd

RUSSIA: Gleb Lisichkin, Owner, Kometa Music Agency (YCE)

SOUTH AFRICA: Dominique Soma, Owner, The Unlearn Agency (YCE)

SPAIN: Alberto Ramírez-Soto Hijona, Owner, MUSIC´us (YCE)