A week ago, musician Sophie Hunger was offended by the exclusively male programming of the Ticino festival “Moon & Stars”. This event is not an isolated case. Female artists remain largely underrepresented at music festivals in Switzerland.
A few days ago, musician Sophie Hunger denounced on Twitter the exclusively male programming of the Ticino festival “Moon & Stars”.
Describing the message as controversial, festival director Dani Büchi explained that it had not been possible this year to book a musician who would attract between 8,000 and 10,000 spectators. “If less than 8,000 tickets are sold, the festival incurs losses… We do not offer a global program, but a series of individual concerts. Each must function independently”, he defended himself in an interview given to the ATS. And to add: “In this league, there are unfortunately very few musicians. The market is extremely limited”.
Tour d’horizon
What about the programming of other festivals in Switzerland? We have analyzed the 2022 headliners of the main musical events held in Romandie: Estivale Open Air, Rock Oz Arènes, Palp, Caribana, Festi’neuch, Le Chant du Gros, Paléo, Montreux Jazz and Zion under the stars.
The posters of the main Romandie festivals in 2022.
Although these events are all different in terms of their size and the offer they offer, female artists remain generally under-represented. If we only look at the headliners, the percentage of women is between 6% and 33%.
To give a scale, festivals such as Paléo and Sion sous les étoiles have 6% female musicians, the Palp Festival 20% and Festi’Neuch nearly 33%.
Rare female artists
For Michael Drieberg, director of Live Music production and organizer of Sion sous les étoiles, the controversy initiated by Sophie Hunger is a false debate. “We would all like to have more female artists on stage and we are actively looking for them. Already, they are much less represented in the music industry and it is difficult to find an artist capable of filling a gauge of more than 10,000 places. Generally, we fight over them between festivals and they are often already taken”, explains the organizer.
“If we go to another extreme, we have stars like Adèle or Rihanna who are unaffordable in French-speaking Switzerland and who prefer to represent themselves in events with greater capacity”.
What about the question of quotas in festivals? “I find it ridiculous and I don’t think music should be classified. We have to show the public what they like. And if this year it’s predominantly male, then the programming will be predominantly male,” he replies.
Look for diversity
A false excuse for the body promoting contemporary music in French-speaking Switzerland, the FCMA. The women who drain the public exist, but the reflexes to get them are not yet present.
“It is certain that there is a structural problem, with access to the scene and to the market which is more difficult… But it is still curious to still find so few women in 2022”, underlines its director Albane Schlechten. “I believe that the mission of a festival director is to seek this diversity. We must extend our field of action, make an effort to seek them directly from labels or agencies, wherever they are” .
>> Read also: A “Pink Notebook” for more equality in the world of culture
At European level, several festivals have signed a charter aimed at greater parity in the music industry, via the initiative Keychange. This is the case of Primavera Sound, a Barcelona event that manages to offer complete gender parity in its line-up. In Swiss, the Incredible Agency engages in particular with female artists.
>> See the interview with the Swiss artist Flèche love on the subject:
![Flèche Love, Swiss-Algerian singer-songwriter, analyzes the under-representation of women in music festivals [RTS]](https://i1.wp.com/www.rts.ch/2022/06/08/20/39/13158941.image?w=960&h=540&ssl=1)
Adaptation web : Sarah Jelassi
TV subject: Mathieu Lombard