Musical exchanges and lots of talent was the recipe for a successful version of Aarhus Calling 2021 in september during SPOT Festival
The professional venue at The House on Ryesgade made the physical frame of the sixth edition of the songwriter and producer Mecca, also known as Aarhus Calling. Since the beginning in 2015, Aarhus Calling has been curating a program consisting of producers and songwriters from all over the world to participate in Aarhus during SPOT Festival. And it’s both the A-list as well as twelve unknown talents who get to spread their musical visions during the stay.
As so many other things, the annual music camp had to call it quits in 2020 but that only made the 2021-edition even more wanted and sought after. And here, a few weeks after, Creator and CEO at Aarhus Calling, Rewan Riko, really sees how much it meant for the camp to be in motion again.
“The atmosphere was unique, people were almost euphoric and the feeling of unity, which often occurs on day two, was there from the very beginning. All the participating musicians and producers just melted together in a very constructive way”, says Rewan Riko.
Talents from TikTok
The young talents at Aarhus Calling were, as always, a big part of the camp and this year’s twelve selected talents also showed that the level of talent just gets higher and higher each year – primarily because there has been created a culture revolving around songwriting and production, as explained by Rewan Riko.
“All the participants at Aarhus Calling are an equal part of the camp, and it has almost become a movement around commercial songwriting and production in Denmark – which is our focus point. There’s a great deal of understanding of how you work with songwriting and producing and as an organizer of the camp, it makes me proud that Aarhus Calling has moved things forward and that we’re able to present such gifted new talents to the more experienced people from the business, especially those from abroad,” tells Rewan Riko.
A new thing in this year’s search for talents was the platform TikTok, which focuses on the musical elements in short video formats. And a campaign on TikTok turned out to be the right place to discover the new talents – there are many skilled young people out there who just need a chance to work with their talent but doesn’t have the tools yet.
One of the talents who won the TikTok-contest and a spot at Aarhus Calling, was Siri Worsøe who also won the ‘AC21 Best Talent Song Award’ together with two other talents, Samuel Ledet and Marie Foged. Beside the award, the three of them also won a trip to the UK where they have the opportunity to work even more on their talent.
TikTok showed that recruiting talents online in the digital age is worth a shot, and Aarhus Calling will definitely be on the platform again next year.
Successful results
Everything needs to get into gear again and the possibilities for traveling were a bit difficult for some of the intended guests from abroad. But luckily, it didn’t make That much of a difference, as the forces that showed up in Aarhus were, as always, on top. Amongst the professionals, who lent out their skills for some days, were producer and songwriter Benjamin Lasnier, who has made beats for Justin Bieber, and the English songwriter and artist Jasmine Thompson – just to mention a few.
And as always, a lot of music was produced during the stay in Aarhus. With so much talent at one place, it was almost inevitable and hopefully we will also be able to hear some of the results on the playlist in the nearest future.
“Songs have been made which will definitely be cut, so it’s just to keep an eye out”, says Rewan Riko.