Keynote & More Speakers!
We're pleased to announce that musician Rhoda Dakar is the latest speaker to join the line-up for Wide Days. She is a leading figure in the Two-Tone scene and she fronted the Bodysnatchers before joining The Special AKA and co-writing the hit Free Nelson Mandela.
Dakar, who continues to record, will be in-conversation as part of a special session hosted in partnership with the charity Help Musicians Scotland. She is also set to DJ following the live showcases, for which free tickets are available via the Wide Days here.
“Rhoda Dakar was an instrumental figure in what was one of the most important musical movements for a generation,” says Wide Days founder Olaf Furniss. “We are looking forward to hearing about her career from past to present, and then hearing her DJ set in the evening.”
This is echoed by Claire Gevaux, director of Help Musicians Scotland. “We’re delighted that someone with the gravitas and experience that Rhoda has will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Wide Days convention,” she says. “Rhoda’s varied career path will be of great interest to an audience that is always eager to hear from the broadest spectrum of the industry and something that Help Musicians Scotland is keen to support.”
Dakar is one of several speakers to be added to the Wide Days conference line-up in the past fortnight. The Streaming To Success session sees the addition of Richard Leach, general manager of Indie Mixtape, a diverse collection of playlists hosted on Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer. The session, which will be moderated by Record Of The Day’s Ruth Kilpatrick, also features Toni Malyn (EmuBands), Ceri Dixon (Rubyworks Records) and Matt Henry (Beggar’s Group).
Meanwhile, the New Label Models panel moderated by Radio Scotland’s Nicola Meighan, sees Malena Wolfer (Believe) joined by Snowhite Records & Management’s Desi Vach (who heads Germany’s independent label association, VUT), AIE Group’s Sarah Stam and the return of popular Wide Days speaker Scott Cohen (The Orchard).
Other additions to the programme include Robyn Kennedy (Reservoir Media), booking agent Colin Keenan (ATC Live), Sarah Kiely (Open House Festival), Stuart Fleming (PRS), Iain Scott (The Dome & Boston Music Room), Ross Livingstone (EmuBands), Jamie Gilmour (Rightsbridge), Jeff Thompson (Off Axis), Jonny Patrickson (Eventvrite), Vic Galloway (Radio Scotland), Louise Stanners (Musicians’ Union) and Nick Roberts (Electric Fields Festival).
View all the speakers here.