This was NORDEN 2022

Great concerts, enthusiastic visitors, exciting readings and completely new topics - and twelve days of almost nothing but good weather: The NORDEN Festival looks back on an all-around successful fourth edition on the Königswiesen! 35,000 visitors came to the idyllic festival site on the Schlei during the twelve days of the festival. Far more than in 2021.

"We are very happy with this development," said on Sunday (September 11) Manfred Pakusius, who together with his partner Marno Happ organizes the festival since 2018. And the Schleswiger*innen have taken the festival to their hearts: The especially cheap early bird festival passes for the NORDEN Festival 2023 were sold out within a few hours, as were the 500 early bird tickets.

The special concept of the festival, which the organizers tailored especially for the area on the banks of the Schlei, was successful again this year: Hand-picked artists* and bands from Northern Germany, Scandinavia, Poland and the Baltic States, as well as from the Netherlands for the first time this year; readings in the Culture Tent and in the newly created Atrium; artistry, circus shows, performances and comedy in the newly built Manege im Park. All this in an artfully designed area, which unfolded its full magic only after nightfall, when trees, the typical NORDEN huts and the symbolic animals of the festival were illuminated. Uncounted are the cell phone photos that were snapped especially of the new, colorful, five-meter-tall jellyfish at the end of the wooden path.


                                       (c) Maike Keller

Nordic female power this year came from the fantastic Norwegian trio I See Rivers, from the cheerful, groovy Lithuanian punk band ShiShi, the Swedish rock tube Linn Koch-Emmery, who bravely sang against the steady rain, and last but not least from the exhilarated, energetic singer Cäthe from Hamburg. Unforgettable highlights on the Schleibühne stage were provided above all by the Dutchmen from The Cool Quest, the Hamburg old-timers Die Sterne and, on the last Saturday, the superbly performing musicians of the band Husten around the charismatic singer Gisbert zu Knyphausen. But there was also plenty of good-mood music that turned the audience into a jumping, dancing crowd: Guacáyo, La Mano Letal, Bubbeli, I-Fire and, most recently, EUT created a party atmosphere at NORDEN.

The topics of environment and sustainability have been a focus at NORDEN from the very beginning. For example, there is only reusable tableware at the festival, which is washed at a central station. Greenpeace and other environmental organizations have their own booths, and the electricity comes from renewable energy sources. Now the organizers are taking a further step towards inclusion and accessibility. For the first time, mobile induction loops were used, making it much easier for deaf or hearing-impaired people to understand the readings. Some events were simultaneously translated into German sign language. There was also cooperation with the Schleswiger Werkstätten, supported by the Rotary Club of Schleswig-Gottorf. A highlight was also the reading by Julius Werner & Manuel Zube ("Manni sucht das Weite"): "Here, inclusion is not only lived, but also celebrated. And that's exactly how I perceive it here at NORDEN," said author Julius Werner. The topic of inclusion is to be explored further in the future.

The visual arts were given a whole new status at the festival this year. This was represented by the art market at the canal, where regional artists* could present (and sell) their works. "Art has made its entrance. We had two great exhibitions on the Königswiesen!", Manfred Pakusius was pleased.

But what would NORDEN be without the numerous workshops. With great enthusiasm, the public made, among other things, beautiful flower wreaths, built musical instruments and at the Kulturschlachterei from Rendsburg, one could let off steam creatively with artists* from the region.

The culture tent was bursting at the seams with readings by great writers, such as Feridun Zaimoglu ("Bewältigung") and Susanne Matthiessen with her second Sylt novel, and Lucy Fricke, who read from her bestseller "Die Diplomatin" (The Diplomat) and reported on the oppressive background. In the cinema tent, too, there was sometimes not a free seat to be found, among others at the screening of the film Jimi's last Blues.

Advance sales for the NORDEN Festival 2023 are already in full swing. In the online store of the festival, about 2,000 regular festival passes are still available at a price of 99 euros. New in the offer are the family festival passes by popular request. NORDEN is increasingly becoming a festival for children; the offers go far beyond the giant air cushion. From Friday, September 16, 300 limited weekend tickets in the popular hardcover format will be available for all three festival weekends in 2023 at Liesegang in Schleswig. And so Happ and Pakusius hope that they will be able to report "Sold out!" on some days next year.

Last but not least, the all-around peaceful, communicative atmosphere in the audience and among the entire, always friendly, helpful young team of the festival must be emphasized. They are the soul and the figurehead of the festival!