New European Songbook

The New European Songbook is a multi-platform co-production from the ORF, BBC and EBU and celebrates the new music arising from a continent in flux.

Europe is a continent of many voices. It boasts many different cultures that make up a rich, diverse and varied society. The migration movements of the past years have added even more variety to the European cultural landscape. People from Africa, Asia and the Arab countries have brought cultural influences from their home countries to Europe and have mixed them with their new environment. This development has best been expressed in the form of music where fascinating new styles have evolved. Seven European countries (Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland, Portugal, England and Scotland) brought “old” and “new” Europeans together for producing a new song, each accompanied by an artistic video concept. A collection of European diversity in film and music was created. Disregarding the newly commissioned songs the film includes the background stories of the artists. Featured artists include the former Austrian Eurovision Songcontest winner Conchita performing with Basalt, a group of Syrian musicians whose promising musical career in Damascus was destroyed by war, and, finding themselves by fate reunited in Vienna, reformed the band.