For a number of years, only a hand full of artists have represented the singer/songwriter scene in Denmark, however, with a growing interest in co-writing and especially during the last year, a whole new talent pool has made its appearance on the singer/songwriter scene.

ROSA, during the last 4-5 years, has both taken the initiative and offered support for co-writer and Live presentations of singer/songwriters in Denmark and abroad.

The Listening Room Concerts, Acoustic Aarhus/Copenhagen, The Songwriter Seminar - Copenhagen, Song Island - Samsø and Club Junction are just a few of the projects ROSA has either initiated or been involved in over the years.

In co-operation with Christian Ulf-Hansen of BMI in London, ROSA held a co-writing workshop where 6 British/American songwriters (Dean Ross, Marc Marnel Nelkin, Jeff Cohn, Nick Woodbridge, Susan Rickaby and Jamie Hartman) and 6 Danish songwriters (Mikael Ruge Stegger, Jørgen A. Leth, Colm Lynch, Ester Brohus, Marcus Winther-John and Teitur Lassen) lived and worked together the whole week leading up to SPOT 6.0.

The songwriters all worked together though with a starting point where they were paired off one day at a time, to work on both lyrics and composition. Many of the resulting songs were then presented to a live audience from SPOT 6.0's acoustic stage (MBT Scenen) and some have since been recorded by the involved artists with a view to releasing them.

The CD series 'Music from Denmark' has, for a number of years, presented newer Danish music abroad. This year, the CD - 'Songwriters' SPOT', will be a part of the 'Music From Denmark' series. Here, ROSA presents 8 songwriters who performed their own material at the SPOT festival.

Initiatives like Acoustic Aarhus/Copenhagen, Song Island, Club Junction and SPOT 6.0´s acoustic stage, combined with the large public interest these initiatives have been able to create, are clear evidence of the fact that it is not just the involved artists who have understood the importance of the singer/songwriter scene. Even though it is still a connoisseur audience we are dealing with, one can hope that the written and electronic media wake up and contribute to a heightened recognition of the whole singer/songwriter scene.

Conny Jørgensen
Assistant Manager

ROSA - The Danish Rock Council