Quarrels with the city of Zurich – Zurich: Alba Festival canceled – News

The largest open-air concert for Albanian and Kosovar pop music in Europe will not take place this year due to a scheduling dispute.

The criticism of the organizers of the Alba Festival is great. The city of Zurich moved too late with the dates, according to the organizers on Friday morning. Every effort was made to hold the festival at the beginning of September because they didn’t want to disappoint the Albanian and Kosovar community. But the economic risk for an open air that is 100 percent privately financed is simply too great.

The background to the cancellation is the different ideas of the organizers and the city of Zurich regarding the festival date. The city had originally promised the organizers of the Alba Festival a date at the end of September – specifically the weekend from September 22nd to 24th. This date was out of the question for the organizers. An open air at the beginning of autumn at the end of September makes little sense.

Seven weeks of planning is not enough

The organizers wanted to hold the festival in early September, from September 8th to 10th. Last Monday, the city of Zurich gave in and approved the festival to be held on this date. And this despite the fact that the Zurich Knabenschiessen is also taking place on the same weekend.

Too late, says Alba Festival Managing Director Adem Morina. “We have analyzed the situation over the past few days and nights. But you can’t put together a high-quality program in seven weeks.” A serious festival could not be held under these circumstances. It takes a certain amount of lead time to book artists or talk to suppliers.

Nothing less than Europe’s largest open-air event for Albanian and Kosovar pop music was planned on Zurich’s Hardturmbrache – with up to 20,000 visitors. According to the organizers, a festival of joy and conviviality that brings people together, which should make the diversity and beauty of the Balkan region tangible with music and cuisine. “We are very disappointed,” Morina continues. “But we are now concentrating on getting an appointment early for next year and planning the new edition.”

The city of Zurich regrets the cancellation of the Alba Festival, as Mathias Ninck, spokesman for the responsible security department, says. “We only found out from the media a week ago that the organizers did not make the appointment at the end of September and only a few days later approved the date for the earlier September weekend.” So the city did its best.

Cancellation with history

The festival had had problems with the authorities in previous years: in 2021, the then President and Minister for Culture, Jacqueline Fehr (SP), withdrew the permit for the festival a few days before it began. The reasons given were the tense corona situation in Zurich hospitals and the fact that the festival was aimed at a “strongly affected community” in terms of the number of cases. The short-term cancellation caused widespread criticism at the time and brought Fehr a reprimand from the Federal Commission against Racism.