Recap: Electrum Up To Date Festival is one of Poland’s most important electronic music festivals, where you can find an intimate atmosphere and interesting quality artists not booked because of their social media reach.

What was the trigger to create the festival and to choose Białystok as its setting? 

I was born and raised in Białystok and I was lucky enough to witness the Polish clubbing boom back in the early 2000s, when our local club – Metro – was one of the leading venues in the country.

I’ve been DJing ever since, growing my passion for the culture, surrounded by the right people. This led to a vision of having a bigger gathering around electronic music in Białystok, which sounded unreal back then. I guess our enthusiasm for the culture and the need to share our love for the music were triggers powerful enough to create the festival in our hometown, that didn’t feel as peripheral, as it feels today.

How do you see the curation of the program of the festival as it’s known for its quality and not social media hype? 

The curation of such a festival is an ever-morphing process. We’re proud of the trust that we’ve built among the audience, but there are many factors that contribute to a successful festival – line-up being the key one.

We try to strike a balance between the exploratory aspect of the program and the recognition of the audience’s expectations. On top of that, the final result should lead to a great party experience, regardless of the status of the artists invited.

ExUTDF’s participants are mostly very aware of the music they’re listening to so that gives us lots of space to work with, however, the times are changing and the festival audience in general tends to pay more attention to the excitement that comes with the whole experience.

What we try to do is difficult to sell on social media. That is why there are a lot of challenges ahead, especially since the festival focuses not only on the music/party aspect, but also on many awareness campaigns.

How do you see the future of the festival and its continuation? 

In my opinion, the Polish scene is going through a time of great re-set. The aftermath of COVID and e.g. Russian invasion on Ukraine is still noticeable. The inequalities are still growing, but Electrum Up To Date Festival is not going anywhere. We will stay true to our core values and we will not jump on the hype train to start growing again. We are taking the balanced way, be it in terms of our environmental responsibility or in terms of the responsibility for the scene.

Hey Guiseppe! It’s great to have you here! Please tell us more about your trip here and what triggers you to come multiple times to the Up-to-date Festival … as we know it’s not your first and last time 😉 Why are you always happy to visit and will always come back?

Ciaooo Keyi Magazine team, thanks for inviting me here. What I can say, Up To Date Festival is an experience of community, and true love for the sound, but also a discovery of always rich programs, where you touch different qualitative electronic music styles, all that good is between ambient to punchy techno.

It is not just having fun and going to a festival, it feels like a moment of reflection for the Polish community and all the guests, where you identify with this sense of belonging you feel in the air, you gather and meet like-minded passionates.

It is a top-class production, Bialystok people did bring avant-guarde that is widely appreciated and got all of us forever 🙂 My loyal presence is the translation of a long-lasting friendship and high estimation for this work. My yearly cure to survive in Berlin 😀

Who are your favorite artists in the line-up? Which acts were most exciting to you? Which artists surprised you this year?

Oh, I have to say some of the artists I represent were on the line-up, Lake Haze and Pink Concrete, of course, they excited me 🙂 It was his first live act for Lake Haze, around midnight after a storm, properly giving the electro breaks spin to the stage, and then Pink Concrete in the morning, under the sun with his bright sound, everyone was smiling, oh that was a vibe…! Overall, as usual, I liked the running order selection and discovering new artists, in particular, I was thrilled by the insane live sets from specialists like Carrier (Shifted), and Colin Benders.

As the Scene Clubbing Heritage project, you arranged a lot of discussions and panels around the world and you also took part as a visitor in the panel “Challenges of today’s techno scene through the prism of Business Techno: The Game.” during the Up To Date Festival among respected creatives like Paul Ćinske from the team of Berlin-based iconic club Tresor; musician & promoter Melania. from Bunkai Terepōto and artist of the Granko Agency; Prague-based artist Pink Concrete known from hereandthere / pinkies, and the founder of the Electrum Up To Date Festival & Business Techno: The Game –  Dtekk. What do you think of the discussion and could you bring your perspective on it?

The conference during the UTDF was a moment of unity, an exchange of real thoughts, experiences, and perceptions, and also of mutual strength.

The approach that emerged from the insightful panelists was brilliant and truly captivated my heart. It wasn’t just about respecting their work and their words; it was about the shared commitment to share with no filters, come together and engage in dialogue to improve the landscape we all live in.

These moments help us to nurture this sense of belonging to something bigger which could be the club culture, and to educate the new generations as well; in doing so, we transfer our knowledge, connectivity, and passion into the future.

This is the perspective: to interconnect and create solid scenes where participants collaborate, exchange ideas, and produce, bringing multiculturalism, acceptance, and sustainability through electronic music and clubbing structures.

I am very honored to “push” the Scene Clubbing Heritage community network, and excited to soon bring you news about our upcoming season with panels and club nights in the making.