About

*Where do I come from, where do I want to go, where am I happy, the one I am.*

A good wine owes its unmistakable character to the composition of the soil, the climate and, ultimately, to expert cultivation. One can taste its origin, enjoy its authenticity. Ideally, all of these conditions come together to create a rare, individual bouquet, distinguished by quality.
If we apply similar criteria to a festival, it quickly becomes apparent that a good recipe’s ingredients begin, like wine, with what makes the place so special: the people and the landscape.

The Lower Rhine has always been a vibrant cultural region. For centuries, the hustle and bustle of life have been carried along by the river’s current. The value of hearty hospitality was soon recognized, quickly followed by eager curiosity for the “foreign”. And so it has always been the case that the faraway tells us more about our home than the other way around.

Each year, a village of the Lower Rhine numbering barely 6000 inhabitants extends an invitation to the same number of guests and proffers a subjectively assembled selection of musical performances which are afforded the attention they deserve.

We derive great pleasure, during the course of this August weekend, from listening  to the musical gifts brought from afar by the performing artistes, sharing the experience, in the truest sense of the expression, like brothers and sisters.

niewo 1412523652460 immerda. 

(never where... always there)

The ingredients which give rise to cooperation in this ‘Museum of Small Things’ are curiosity, trust and responsibility. People are the festival’s capital, interacting throughout this weekend – playing and listening to music or working behind the scenes. Not least the many hundreds of volunteers from the village and the whole world who make this unique festival happen.

Today, anno 2011, we are talking about one of the most renowned and established festivals in Europe. The ‘Haldern Pop’ label stands for quality, independence and an accentuated readiness to experiment. Developed over a period of years, the festival’s character underwrites the broad trust which international artists, visitors and media invest in this event as it continues to mature.

Perhaps the ‘Haldern model’ represents the conflation of trust and economic feasibility in a small, yet practicable framework, a pragmatic combination of the regional and the international. In a nutshell, it’s a sense of being at home, both safe and adventurous in spirit, with many a surprise in store for everyone present.

Excitement, quality of life. These are the words we use for this festival and everything which passes through our village and the Lower Rhine in its name, year in year out. A warm, positive and constructive feeling, one we like to store throughout the winter to keep us refreshed.

Haldern Pop