Ireland the focus for Eurosonic 2012

It has just been announced that Eurosonic Noorderslag, Europe's major music conference and showcase festival, is going green in 2012. The festival has long provided Irish acts with a fantastic opportunity to get noticed in the industry and come home with some invaluable contacts - now Ireland has been selected as the focus country for next year's event.

The news comes only one week after the Irish contingent stormed The Great Escape Festival in Brighton and Hot Press, who have extensively covered each Eurosonic and our participating artists' progress over the past five years or so, are hoping that we can repeat that success in The Netherlands.

Peter Smidt, Creative Director of Eurosonic Noorderslag, explained the decision to highlight music from the Emerald Isle: "Ireland has a long and strong music tradition and has been influential to modern rock, punk and pop music. Ireland and RTE 2fm, in particular, have brought many great artists to Eurosonic Noorderslag from the start.

"Lots of Irish artists are making great music and are very successful worldwide. Enough reasons to put the focus on Ireland in 2012 at Eurosonic Noorderslag."
Music From Ireland, a project run by First Music Contact in partnership with Culture Ireland and IMRO, played a large part in championing the country for selection.

It all means the spotlight will firmly be on us in Groningen between Jaunary 11-14. Over the years, artists such as Imelda May, Delorentos and Fight Like Apes have all returned from Eurosonic with great contacts and concrete gig offers. For bands who wish to avail of this fantastic opportunity, registration is now open, with the Early Bird rate available at [link]www.eurosonic.com[/link] until June 2011.

Last year Hot Press reported live from the festival, bringing you all the latest on the Irish front and acts from further afield, so stick with [link]www.hotpress.com[/link] as we look forward to Eurosonic 2012.

The countdown begins here...