Priya Ragu most-booked act on ESNS Exchange 2022

Swiss-Tamil artist Priya Ragu is the most-booked act of 2022 on Eurosonic Noorderslag’s (ESNS) European talent exchange programme.

ESNS Exchange boosts the international careers of European artists and facilitates the bookings of acts on festivals outside their home countries and generates extensive media exposure for these artists in cooperation with Euroradio, export offices and local media.

Last year’s Exchange tallied 357 shows by 149 acts from 30 countries at 86 festivals in 28 countries, with Ragu landing 11 bookings through the programme.

The singer-songwriter was followed closely by Ukrainian rapper Alonya Alonya, Irish singer CMAT and British rock band Yard Act – all of whom secured 10 bookings.

“The results of ESNS Exchange 2022 are in no way inferior to the pre-pandemic figures”

Also in the top 10 was Belfast-based punk band Enola Gay with nine bookings, English singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone (8), Netherlands-based psychedelic band Altin Gün (7), Ukrainian electro-folk band Go_A (7),  the Faroe Islands’ Joe & The Shitboys (7) and UK outfit Wet Leg (7).

The five festivals that booked the most ESNS Exchange acts in 2022 were Germany’s Reeperbahn festival (23 bookings), the UK’s The Great Escape (23) Belgium’s Pukkelpop (18), Hungary’s Sziget (11) and Spain’s Primavera Sound (11).

“The results of ESNS Exchange 2022 are in no way inferior to the pre-pandemic figures,” says ESNS in a statement. “This gives us a very positive outlook on the future of ESNS Exchange.”

Since 2003, the programme has helped 1,852 European artists from 35 countries to play 879 shows.

ESNS is due to make its in-person return this month, between 18–21 January in Groningen, Netherlands. Registrations for ESNS23 are available at via https://esns.nl/tickets/.

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