Blue Bird Vienna

Blue Bird Vienna is a club festival hosted by VSA (see below) presenting various styles and flavours of contemporary songwriter music.

Its held in late November in Vienna, Austria and started in 2005.
For this year's edition see: or
VSA

The Vienna Songwriting Association (VSA) was founded in 2004 by Daniel Adam Smith with a
group of journalists, musicians and independent music promoters.
A Nick Drake tribute night at Porgy & Bess to commemorate the 30th
anniversary of the songwriter’s tragic death, entitled “Fruit Tree”, gave
birth to a new music and culture network in Vienna.
Seventeen acts from all over the world performed a marathon six-hour
concert to a sold out Porgy, leaving the audience hungry for more.
In addition to pleasing the crowd, over 3,000 € was raised for the
registered British charity WAR CHILD (www.warchild.org).
Motivated by this success, a number of people from different professional
fields of the music trade agreed on the need for music events in Vienna that
foster new talent and a variety of aesthetic approaches. This seemed only
possible outside the established music industry, as it can hardly be
considered a profitable venture.
A Kulturverein was established. The new platform gradually started to take
shape. Klaus Totzler, renowned music journalist with Austrian TV (ORF),
became the driving force behind the project and was eventually elected
chairman of the VSA after Daniel Adam Smith stepped down as Chairman.
Little by little, various pieces fell into place, and ideas materialized.
VSA is now supported by the Vienna Arts Council (MA7) and the SKE music
fund (www.ske-fonds.at) for fostering local talent. Gradually a group of
sponsors and partners was persuaded to join the ambitious cause
(Bösendorfer, Ottakringer, ORF, Raiffeisen, Tipp3, Universal Music,
HAUSderMUSIK, FM4 etc.).
Since the spring of 2005 The Vienna Songwriting Association has been
hosting “VSA PRESENTS”—a monthly concert night at “Kulturgasthaus
Vorstadt”.
In May 2007 the VSA was appointed curator and producer of “Live on Stage”
a new event series in the multimedia museum HAUSderMUSIK
(www.hdm.at).
VSA has successfully hosted and promoted shows as part of both “ORF -
Lange Nacht der Museen” and “ORF - Lange Nacht der Musik” in 2006 and
2007.

The Blue Bird Festival first “took flight” in November 2005. The idea was to
gather a number of eclectic artists and bands from various parts of the world
—musicians who give the songwriting craft a new spin, be it through their
narrative, their new styles of orchestration and line-up or other innovative and
experimental approaches. `

It remains a predominant aim to invite artists who have never before
performed in Austria.

One of Vienna’s premier live venues, Porgy & Bess has been the “nest” of
Blue Bird right from the start. The club in downtown Vienna is by far the city’s
most elegant location, with the atmosphere of a stylish little theatre. The club
has a capacity of 500 seats and offers backline and technical equipment of
the highest international standards, including both Bösendorfer and Fazioli
grand stand pianos, AV projections, etc. .

Over the years we have successfully worked with highly rated international
acts like Sandy Dillon (USA), Ed Harcourt (UK), Psapp (UK), David Kitt
(IRL), Flotation Toy Warning (UK), Syd Matters (FRA), Ai Phoenix (NOR),
Garish (A), Boy Omega (SWE), Nikki Sudden (UK), Richmond Fontaine
(USA), etc.

On the home front VSA was a vital contributor to the rise and growth of
talents like Clara Luzia, Son of the Velvet Rat and Paper Bird, who since their
first shows with us have achieved acclaim beyond the Austrian music scene.

The release of the double CD compilation "Between The Lines - songs
from the blue bird diaries" on EMI Austria on November 9th marked the
project’s third anniversary — not bad for a “baby bird”.

joe streibl(picnicproduction)

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