“I live music”
Fruzsina Szép is one of the few women to have made it to the top in the music industry: the 38-year-old was program director and artistic director of the legendary Sziget Festival in Budapest for eight years. At university she taught how to put on really good festivals. Today, the Hungarian-born woman lives in Berlin and is in charge of Lollapalooza , which took place in the capital for the first time in 2015.
Fruzsina, what does music mean to you?
The passion for music was practically born in my cradle. When I was still in my mother's womb, she always sang to me and my father played the piano. Art, culture and music were omnipresent in our home. Later, as a little girl, I played the piano with my father, I took dance lessons and went to drama school. So there is a lot that has to do with music and the stage. All of this still accompanies me to this day: I don't just listen to music, I live music. It is as important to me as air. Every morning when I get up I listen to a record, every evening I fall asleep to music. These rituals have accompanied me since I was 16 years old.
What record was it this morning?
The album for the musical “Hair”. Why, don't ask me. That always depends on your state of mind. When you stand in front of your record shelf, you have this seventh sense - a record suddenly just speaks to you.
Were you someone who used to go to concerts and festivals a lot?
Yes, I really enjoyed going to clubs and listening to concerts there. When I was a teenager and even later, my big brother often took me to concerts. He contributed a lot to how my musical landscape developed. He always showed me music that he was listening to. I got cassettes and CDs from him for my birthday. ACDC, The Black Crowes, Radiohead, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Queen. He also made a lot of mixtapes for me. I still have them, they come with me whenever I move. All of this had a huge impact on me. My musical spectrum is very, very wide. I would almost say I am an “omnivore”. I can rock along and headbang, but I also really like the romantic and heartfelt music of singer-songwriters, Portuguese Fado or French chansons.
Was there a concert that you particularly remember?
Yes, I was 18 or 19 back then. The Rolling Stones in Vienna, that was amazing, it still gives me goosebumps today. My brother took me on his shoulders. Or Michael Jackson in Budapest. Crazy, crazy show. Or just recently at Lollapalooza Chicago: Radiohead.
How did you get started in the festival industry?
When I was 18, before I started studying, I took part in a summer project at Lake Balaton. A lifestyle open-air beach club where there were concerts and beach parties every day. I was the head of the information team and was, for example, B. Contact person for the roadies and managers of the bands and DJs. I helped on stage, setting up and laying cables. That's how I got to know this world. I did that for two years, then I got a job offer as an event manager. I worked alongside my studies and realized that my heart belongs to the stage and what surrounds it. During this time I traveled a lot around the world, organized many life events and lived for months in countries like France, Italy and England.
Women in senior positions are also rare in the music industry. Does that bother you?
In general, this doesn't bother me at all. It's usually really great men who are behind the European festivals. But I would be very happy if more women had the opportunity to take on leadership positions at festivals. My feeling is that women are much more far-sighted and much more sensitive about how to organize a festival. In my experience, it is important to have strong women on the team. Because women often have a much greater sense of beauty, of conceptual, creative thinking, of “thinking outside the box”. Sometimes men are so dominant that women don't dare to show and develop their true competence. I would very much like male colleagues to see and use this great potential more and more.
How would you describe your leadership style? Do you perhaps see yourself as a kind of role model?
The bar for me when it comes to performance is very high. But that doesn't mean that I expect the same from my team. But I hope that I set a good example and can show that if you believe in something, believe in yourself, be hard-working and don't let yourself get down, you can achieve a lot. You can only gain respect in a humane way, by saying please and thank you as a boss, not being aggressive or even spreading fear, but still showing strength. Women can be so strong. And: You can still be a woman. I often see that women then become so “masculine”, so hard. I continue to be a woman in everything I do and hope that perhaps I can be a role model for the next generation.
Anyone who visits a festival will have an unforgettable time. But how much work is behind it?
After the festival is before the festival. We've been working on a festival for twelve months and are already working on the line-up for 2017. Especially the four weeks before the festival starts are hardcore techno, stress high 3. The adrenaline is running out of our ears. You can't really put it into words. I then work around 14 and 16 hours a day. 300 to 500 emails come in, you're constantly in meetings, you're on the phone, you're on site setting things up. If you want to work in this industry, you have to have really tough nerves, you have to stay calm, you have to be able to react quickly and not freak out or freak out. During the festival you hardly sleep, you hardly eat, and the phone is constantly ringing. Then, when it's all over, you literally collapse. Some colleagues get something like “festival depression” afterwards.
What feeling should visitors leave the square with so that they say: “That was a really successful festival”?
With the feeling that they would like to come back next year. I'm so glad that today's festivals have so many other cultural aspects besides music. Street art, urban art, food, theater, street theater, opera or circus. Our visitors should go home with positive feelings, with experiences and impressions that were unique to them, that broaden and open their cultural horizons. This goal is the gasoline that powers my engine.
For those who decide at short notice: There are still a few remaining tickets available at www.lollapaloozade.com .
“I live music,” says the director of the Lollapalooza Festival.
