Announcements

Asaf Avidan at Rocanotherworld 2024

Tickets went on sale on the festival’s website

The ninth edition of the Rocanotherworld festival will take place between June 20-23, 2024 in Iasi and will bring together an exceptional international line-up on stage. Asaf Avidan, Om la lună, Robin and The Backstabbers, K not K and Dora Gaitanovici are the first artists to announce their presence in front of the festival audience.

Rocanotherworld 2024 is organized under the sign of balance, harmoniously combining the energy of the performances with the variety and dynamics of related events given to an audience guided by the three defining values of the festival: #becurious, #bedifferent and #beforeothers. Subscriptions have gone on sale online at the promotional prices of Early Bird. 

Rocanotherworld is an exploratory festival of music, art, thoughts, people and ideas, which was born in Iasi in 2016, in memory of Ioan Dan Niculescu, being organized by the Creative Industries Association and Showberry. It represents a collective journey, a state of mind, a celebration of life through (re)connection to values, a cultural effervescence and a shaping of the way of being – curious, different and for others.

Focused on a solo career spanning more than a decade, Asaf Avidan has captivated audiences around the world with an authentic musical approach, soulful lyrics and an iconic vocal timbre that sounds supernatural and familiar at the same time. Over time Avidan ventured into extensive world tours, continuing to release an impressive number of musical gems. In an intimate solo setting, under the umbrella of the Ichnology Solo Tour, the artist carries the stories from the latest album ‘Anagnorisis’, his old hits and his multi-instrumental talent and brings a charming show to the stage of the Iași festival.

The musical journey initiated under the name om la lună returns us in the spring of 2018 to Doru Pușcașu’s rough acoustic poetry project, a sincere and authentic approach to sung poetry, in which the guitar or the piano complemented the lyrics crafted by Doru. In the fall of 2019, Doru was joined by Dragoș Strat, Cătălin Constantin and Adrian Maraloiu, Man on the Moon thus becoming a full band, with increasingly frequent live appearances. Four years after its establishment, om la lunè has become one of the most popular and beloved alternative rock / indie rock bands in Romania, with numerous sold out concerts and a community of devoted fans that is constantly expanding. As they define themselves “Om la lună is a cry. Of great love, fear, loneliness, joy, sadness and rediscovery” that continues to seduce and conquer audiences across the country.

Gathered in 2010 by lead singer and composer Andrei Robin Proca after a solitary week-long journey through the Călimani Mountains, Robin and the Backstabbers describe their music as “melodramatic pop”. They didn’t become a cover band after Paul Simon’s Graceland album, as they imagined at the beginning, but they managed to take the Romanian alternative music scene by storm with their melange of eclectic rock and modernist, cryptic lyrics. “Vladivostok”, the long-awaited epilogue of the “Bacovia Overdrive” trilogy, was released in November 2019 with a concert at the Roman Arena in Bucharest and was preceded by three songs: “From the end of the city, from the end of the ocean, from edge of the earth comes Vladivostok 2” – with a masterful video by Barna Nemethi. From a night on the hill, with the burning village seen in the distance, comes the song “Tarantella (O casa, cândva)” – with a video made by Horia Cojan about the energy portals of the Bucegi Mountains. And from the End of the World and All Things comes “M E C A N I C Ă F I N Ă” – the dance over the ruins and over the memories of the ruins and over the memories of the memories that you will dance too, someday, in another city, in another world.

One of Eastern Europe’s most exciting musical exports, duo K not K (originally known as Karpov not Kasparov) make upbeat electronic music inspired by the game of chess. In the last 8 years, the band has played in 38 out of 44 European countries on club or cultural stages, museums, art galleries but also for important festivals, sharing the stage with sound names like GusGus, Underworld, AltinGun, Poni Hoax and others. The debut LP “Soundtrack for a Game of Chess” was nominated “album of the month” by Vice Magazine and declared “one of the most valuable releases of the year” by Radio Romania Cultural. “The Vocal Edits” (2016) was cataloged as “The best Romanian electronic album” of 2016 by Scena9.ro and “probably the best Romanian album of its kind in the last 30 years” by the blog’s journalists musical Muzici&Faze. The EP “Memory” (2021) was broadcast on BBC 6. After an exciting European and national tour, the duo is preparing the release of a new discographic material printed with oriental flavors.

The Dora Gaitanovici project is an original and bold musical product. Although we could integrate it in the alternative-progressive zone, the influences of “all kinds” make it difficult to fit it exactly into patterns. The public noticed them at Vocea României and at Eurovision, and their song “Ana” was on the 1st place in the Top 50 Viral Romania on Spotify for 3 weeks, which gave them a special invitation on the main stage at Electric Castle. The passion for music, the strength of the interpretations and the exceptional instrumental performance have placed the young artists among the favorites of the audience who love live performances.

A gradual update of the line-up of Rocanotherworld 2024 it can be watched on the festival website www.rocanotherworld.com and on all its social media channels. This year the event takes place between 20 and 23 February 2024, and subscriptions have gone on sale online. Students benefit from discounted tickets, and children under the age of 12 get in for free when accompanied by a ticket-holding adult. People with disabilities and their companions get free access, based on filling out the form online

The eighth edition of the Rocanotherworld festival took place between June 22 and 25, 2023, in the Aroneanu leisure area in Iasi. For four days, the audience in attendance enjoyed concerts, educational games, recreational activities, debates, art installations and much more. Rocanotherworld 2023 had more than 17,000 participants, and the concerts broadcast live online had more than 80,000 views from the audience present in the digital environment. The Rocanotherworld 2023 line-up brought together iconic names of the international music scene such as Madrugada and Warhaus or the emerging project of the French women from Ottis Coeur, with emblematic artists of the domestic alternative such as Subcarpathia, The Mono Jacks, byron, Luna Amară, Moonlight Breakfast, Basska, We Singing Colors, Orkid, HVNDS, Andra Andriucă, Muse Quartet, Zimbru, Coven Clash and Rana. The electronic music scene, Silent Disco and Lounge Area were represented by Mihai Popoviciu, Afgo, Lemon, UFE, Bully, K-Lu, Alien, Andrei C., Cristu and Eduard Draude. The 10 DJs animated the dance floors and delighted the audience with a vibrant mix of electronic beats, drum and bass, soulful and groovy.

Organisers: Asociația Industrii Creative, Showberry