The U&D in Würzburg

On the diversity, music and idea behind Umsonst und Draussen in Würzburg 

Heavy metal blares from the speakers, the scent of crêpes and curry wafts into your nose, crowds of people move from stage to stage, small children play amongst the art installations and piercing stalls. You leave the metal fans behind and stand before a small school band, to your right people are eating papadam and flammkuchen. Finally you reach the small stage, a young woman with a guitar stands right at the top, you're curious and sit down with your friends on the picnic blanket and listen attentively to the gentle sounds whilst in your peripheral vision people are joyfully spilling beer over their neighbours to rock music. You are happy. You are at Umsonst und Draussen in Würzburg. 

This or something similar could have been a visit to this year's U&D in Würzburg. A long-awaited return after two dreary years of social distancing and dance bans. The festival in Würzburg stands like hardly any other in the region for an infinite diversity of music, people and experiences. But where does this diversity come from, which surely doesn't just stem from my personal impression? A brief conversation with Ralf Duggen, the co-founder of U&D in Würzburg, about the idea behind and the diversity at the festival. 

How did you come to music and how did Umsonst und Draussen in Würzburg emerge from that? 

Ralf Duggen: Both actually go hand in hand. I came to Würzburg to study around 1982-83. Originally I'm from Aschaffenburg and had already started working in the field of sound engineering there. From time to time I helped bands with set-up and breakdown and also managed bands in the broadest sense. But when I came to Würzburg, I was a bit shocked because the music scene in Aschaffenburg back then, as I later realised, was very active. Whereas in Würzburg… Well, I came to the big city and thought there was quite a lot going on. Ultimately, though, it wasn't as I had imagined. 

How did the idea for Umsonst und Draussen come about then? 

Ralf Duggen: At some point I was at an event in Würzburg called "Jugendzentrumfest", which was basically similar to U&D. That is: open-air, free admission and bands from Würzburg. But the festival wasn't particularly successful, so later I thought to myself about what might be the reason and what could be done differently. My ideas were, for example, to have the bands play shorter sets and to shorten the changeover times so that perhaps people wouldn't leave after the second band. Besides, I knew about Umsonst und Draussen, which wasn't invented in Würzburg, and because the name "Jugendzentrumfest" wasn't particularly cool, I then proposed my ideas and my concept to the city – more specifically to Hartmut Emser. As the city youth officer at the time, he was my contact person and is thus also something like the second founding father of the whole thing. And that was then the trigger for *laughs* the whole business I've been dealing with for about 35 years or so. 

Who puts together the diverse programme? 

Ralf Duggen: The programme team is responsible for that. We were seven people this year. Normally the association consists of over 100 members, each of whom, as so-called ordinary association members, can participate in the programme team, provided they have the desire and time to review all applications. Additionally, this year for the first time we made the decision to bring in external people who are not in the association and whom we think can complement the programme group. On the one hand, that was Daniel Peter, photographer and concert promoter at Immerhin, and on the other hand Eva Wienczny from the band Hundreds. 

What was the motivation for supplementing the programme team with two external people for the first time? 

Ralf Duggen: That's part of an attempt to make the whole association somewhat more open and permeable. The desire to open up is definitely there, including to some extent in the programme and the programme team.

What does diversity mean at a music festival like Umsonst und Draussen? 

Ralf Duggen: One aspect is stylistic diversity. At U&D I have the impression that we're relatively broad-based here. Of course there are also things that don't play such a huge role for us like schlager or cover bands. The other aspect is that of gender equality. On this I can say that we've never had a women's quota. Nevertheless, I think we've always had a relatively high proportion of female artists. The fact that women are generally underrepresented in the music industry definitely plays into this and probably opens up a completely different discussion.

Does this diversity arise deliberately or from the dynamics? 

Both. One aspect is that we all in the programme group have a broad view of different genres and additionally each person listens to different music. The other happens through the process when we create the programme. At the beginning we have many applications and sort them roughly. At the end we look at what genres we have and consider which areas are covered and where perhaps something is still missing. It's not written anywhere that there must be something from every genre, but we all pay attention to it and give each other hints when we notice something.

What made U&D so diverse? 

On the one hand, more stages were added, which enabled more diversity. On the other hand, it was important to me from the start that at a music festival not only music is represented. There are other art and cultural directions that, in my opinion, should also be shown, albeit in reduced form. Bringing all of this together, that's an eternal conviction of mine. Things like children's theatre, readings and other theatre – all of that has always had a place at U&D. 

To the final question of whether Ralf Duggen misses or regrets anything in all the years since he has been organising Umsonst und Draussen in Würzburg, he answered as follows: "I believe that audiences used to actually listen more. We often have quiet bands towards the end of the event day, on the one hand so that people can wind down, on the other hand so that residents aren't disturbed. And I seem to remember – such things are always deceptive – that people used to listen more and today it's more: I'm standing here with a beer in my hand and five friends and the fact that music is playing doesn't bother me and the fact that I'm disturbing the music, I don't notice. I regret this development. But that could also be deceptive."

So perhaps next time eat less flammkuchen and sip less Aperol and enjoy the music with more attention, or simply give both equal weight. After all, U&D exists above all to represent the Würzburg music scene, since 50 per cent of all artists come from Würzburg. And even though the diversity of U&D doesn't come from nowhere – theatre, food offerings, jewellery stalls and much more deliberately make up the great diversity of the festival, music is nevertheless at the forefront. Whoever brings an open ear for unfamiliar, loud or quiet sounds might find the festival provides them with a new earworm or two – or perhaps an ear piercing. Anything is possible at U&D Würzburg. In that spirit: See you next year U&D Würzburg. See you! 

Celine Seeger