NAMM Musikmesse Russia (September 14 – 17), the international musical exhibition, concluded last week, welcoming over 12,000 music industry professionals and music lovers to the show’s thematic pavilions.
Now in its sixth year, the show attracted Russian and international manufacturers and distributors of musical equipment and accessories, a wealth of thematic programming and events, as well as over 12,000 visitors to Moscow’s Sokolniki Center.
For the first time, the trade fair presented five pavilions dedicated to different product groups, including Guitar World pavilion dedicated to guitars and accessories; Drummers United presenting drums and percussion; DJ & Electro World featuring equipment for electronic and club music; Keyboards World showcasing keyboards, acoustic musical instruments and accessories.
The new format of the exhibition, as organized by product category, was highly appreciated by participants and visitors. “We are glad about our decision to participate in the show with a separate pavilion,” said Esinori Sasaki, General Manager of Yamaha Music. “At the beginning of a new season, it’s important for us to gather all our partners to communicate about marketing and new products. As a one of the leading manufacturers, we feel our responsibility and choosing events, where we can support musical industry most effectively. Certainly, NAMM Musikmesse Russia is a very important event for us”.
Yegor Krundyshev, owner of Inspector Guitars, a Russian manufacturer, also reacted positively to the changes: “At the exhibition our guitars received the attention of both dealers and professional musicians. The audience of visitors completely justifies our expectations – 90% of visitors are professionals [and] we got many prospective contacts. It’s great that this year the show is featuring a separate guitar pavilion – it’s really ‘hot’ here with all the concerts, master classes and guitarists parties at the stands and on stage.”
More than 140 well-known brands were represented including Yamaha, Pioneer DJ, Pioneer Professional Audio, A & T Trade, Asia Music, BAM, Blastbeat DrumShop, CONTENT MusicMag, Di-Sound, Inspector Guitars, LTM, Lutner Spb Inc., MAGMA MUSIC SA, MBOX – Organ Salon, MuzTorg, Piano Victory, Proaudio Systems, Yerasov Music Corp., and others.
The strategic partner of NAMM Musikmesse Russia was Yamaha, and the company presented in a separate pavilion known as the Yamaha Weekend Hall which featured the company’s musical instruments for trial, as well as many top musicians. Tommy Aldridge, the legendary drummer and rock musician known for his work with Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Motörhead, and Whitesnake, conducted a master class and autograph signing session for fans. American trumpeter Alex Sipyagin and his quartet presented a world-class jazz performance on Yamaha instruments and a master class for trumpet players.
In total, more than 250 master classes, educational sessions, festivals, open lessons, finals of competitions, drawings, performances and autograph sessions were held for four days of the exhibition, drawing crowds through Sokolniki. Each pavilion presented its own busy agenda of events on stage and at the stands of the participants:
The DJ & Electro World pavilion presented sets from popular residents of Moscow clubs, DJ’s of dance radio stations: DFM and Megapolis. On Friday, visitors got the hot party “DJ Accelerator PRO # 4” – the final of the contest among the best graduates of the radio and DJing school UMAKER. On Saturday, the DJ & Electro Stage, which itself was a real media show from Euroshow, featured the master class of the world famous DJ Zardonic from Venezuela. The best schools, including the DJ Groove Audio School and the school of DJs and producers SoundInstructor, conducted master classes and workshops from their best teachers and students, including DJ DJura, Kartin Kittyx, Sairtech, Ksanti and many others. Each day, Pioneer Professional Audio demonstrated the possibilities of its professional acoustics with the best dance tracks of the year at DJ& Electro Stage.
The Drummers United Pavilion, which already managed to prove its success last year, brought together almost all famous Russian drummers, including Mark Mironov, Dmitry Gorelov, Dmitry Frolov, Rustam Gabitov and many others. Meinl invited one of the most sought-after drummers of the Czech Republic, Milos Meyer, who impressed visitors with his skills and energy. Each day, the drum stage was alive with a skills competition, resulting in a finale for Drummers United 2017. The finalist received prizes form the sponsors of contest: 64 Audio, MuzTorg and Agner.
The Guitar World pavilion hosted daily master classes, autograph signing sessions, and performances of renowned foreign and domestic musicians including Santa Cruz, Mavrin, Legion, Magellanic Cloud, Troll Oppression, Artery, Pranayama, G9, Crowe, Deform, Theater Shadows, Digimortal, ATAVA, Rada & Ternovnik, Modem, La Scala and many others.
The Keyboards World pavilion welcomed piano players from the Moscow conservatory and Music Centre to demonstrate new musical instruments from the Russian piano masters.
For educators, NAMM Musikmesse Russia presented a variety of valuable learning opportunities including an educational session from the guitar festival Guitarplayer Party; the International Conference “Music Education in the 21st Century;” the final of the II International open competition “Media Music;” and direct video conference with Professor Li Higgins, the President of the International Society of Music Education which is dedicated to non-traditional music teaching methods in schools.
For the second year, the International Methodical Choir Assembly CHOIREXPO 2017, a joint project of the Organizing Committee of the Moscow City Comprehensive Youth Education Program, the Education Department of Moscow, NAMM Musikmesse Russia, and United Information Portal Music Festivals, took place at the trade fair. The workshop of the choirmasters and seminar sessions of the assembly gathered over 1,500 specialists this year. Famous Russian and foreign conductors, choirmasters, and teachers, including Vladimir Minin, Milan Kolen (Slovakia), Hristo Krotev (Bulgaria) and others, held seminars and roundtables. At the end of each lecture day, visitors of CHOIREXPO could witness performances of the best youth, professional and church choirs.
The Grand Band Show also returned this year to welcome the best bands from all over Russia in a competition format. Bands who competed were awarded in several categories, including the “Best Professional and Amateur” in Brass Bands, Pop, Jazz, and Orchestras of Folk Instruments. In addition to the concert program of the festival, visitors could see the colorful parade of the orchestras along the central alleys of the Sokolniki Culture and Exhibition Center. Master classes of domestic and foreign experts in orchestral and instrumental genre took place within Grand Band Show. Erika Neidlinger, a famous conductor from the U.S. conducted a master class. On Sunday, September 17, the central square of the Sokolniki Park turned into open air stage of a spectacular show “The Battle of the Orchestras,” which became a beautiful finale of the NAMM Musikmesse 2017.
In addition, visitors of the NAMM Musikmesse Russia could visit parallel show – Prolight + Sound NAMM Russia, dedicated to professional media-equipment for entertainment, integrated systems and creation.
NAMM Musikmesse Russia, its pavilions and programs were supported by strategic exhibiting partners: the Blastbeat DrumShop co-organized the drum pavilion Drummers United for the second time; Pioneer became a sponsor of DJ & Electro World; and the radio stations Maximum and DFM became the general radio partners of the exhibition. MF Group and Euroshow served as technical partners of this year’s exhibition. The pair built and equipped the Drum, Guitar and DJ & Electro Stages, which featured concerts, master-classes and contests. Online billboard KudaGo became the general partner for promotion of the show.
NAMM Musikmesse Russian will return to Sokolniki Center on September 13-16, 2018. For more information, visit https://namm-musikmesse-russia.ru.messefrankfurt.com/moscow/en/visitors/welcome.html
