TEL AVIV, Israel—  Still, many do not know that the nation is a highly developed country with a representative democracy and boasts a modern and progressive lifestyle with thriving scenes for music, film, interactive development, design, visual art, technology, and the performing arts.

 

This March, the 250,000 people expected at South by Southwest (SXSW) will discover the latest Israeli exports. Israel plans to make a big splash at SXSW in Austin, Texas from March 9 – 18 with 7 bands, 30+ tech start-ups, a 30-foot wide tradeshow booth café—all culminating in an all-day Tel Aviv Beach Party in Brush Square Park across from the Austin Convention Center. The nearly 75 Israeli creatives and innovators are traveling over 7,000 miles to join the throngs who flock to SXSW to shape and discover brands.

 

Buzz bands J. Viewz, I.U.D.M, Acollective, Yael Kraus, My Sweet Canary Ensemble, and DJ Erez Ben Ishay along with over 30 tech start-ups such as AnyClip, Brandsforce, Crazedigital, Dopa Music, InstruMagic, JamStar, Kaltura, LivinGrid, Pops, Rounds, and Serendip Media will travel halfway around the world to showcase a sampling of the vibrant Israeli scene for global entertainment industry leaders, influencers, and fans assembled at SXSW 2012.

 

Monday through Thursday, meetings, deals, demos, and talks will be taking place at i: Made in Israel’s 30-foot wide “Beachside Café at the Tradeshow” which will feature tables with coffee service, an idea bar for demos by the Israeli start-ups/bands/dignitaries, and an enormous hand-painted mural by Fuzzy Popcycle. Meetings can be scheduled through iMadeInIsrael.mobi (a smartphone and QR code optimized site developed by Walking Papers Media) or arranged on the fly.

 

 

i: Made in Israel is throwing a SXSW Official “Tel Aviv Beach Party” complete with live sets by Israeli bands, drinks, Israeli snacks, umbrellas, loungers, cabanas, and seaside activities like Matkot – a paddle/ball game played along the Mediterranean shoreline. There will also be beach-themed giveaways and special guests. For those without an official badge, a limited quantity of required, ‘special access’ wristbands will be released via social media and iMadeInIsrael.mobi and distributed at a time/place TBA during SXSW.

 

Seven bands will be performing: From electronica to pop, indie to rock, contemporary to metal, the industry can discover Israel’s premier bands—J. Viewz, I.U.D.M, Acollective, Balkan Beat Box, My Sweet Canary Ensemble, Yael Kraus, DJ Erez Ben Ishay, and special appearances by local artists Mother Falcon, et. al.

• Acollective—Formed in 2008, Acollective is a 7-piece band and social movement. Since 2009 they have toured and lived between Israel, France and the UK, quickly earning a local following and a reputation for show-stopping concerts, wherever they are, with a mesmerizing live experience, a mayhem of whisky, sweat, and a seemingly infinite arsenal of genres and musical instruments - mixing up boogied-folk, electronic-jazz and a Middle Eastern-bluesy twang. Official Showcase: March 14, at 8:00 pm at The Loft; Unofficial: March 16th at the Tel Aviv Beach Party. www.joinacollective.com

• Balkan Beat Box—The band built their reputation on a Mediterranean-inflected, globalized electronica sound as well as explosive live shows. Brimming over with handcrafted beats and samples, their latest album Give was conceived of as a smaller, more introverted album, with a harder-edged, electronic sound. The songs and their subjects are also kind of darker and more political. Official Showcase: Friday, March 16 at 12:45 am at Speakeasy. www.balkanbeatbox.com

• DJ Erez Ben Ishay—Characterized by his unique taste in electronic music and his love for funky Latin beats, DJ Erez Ben Ishay has created a fresh niche style in the House music genre. A staple of Tel Aviv’s night life scene, he has played at the Tel Aviv Gay Pride & Montreal pride 2011, as well as other major venues in Amsterdam, New York, São Paulo, Las Vegas, Quebec City, and more. Unofficial Showcase: March 16th at the Tel Aviv Beach Party. www.facebook.com/dj.erezbi

• I.U.D.M.—Seven-piece I.U.D.M. is one of Israel’s most successful metal-rock bands, earning multiple platinum and gold albums, reaching number one for a variety of singles. I.U.D.M’s success has paved the way to sharing stages with international acts such as Rage Against the Machine and Metallica. Official Showcase: March 14 / 10 pm / The Loft; Unofficial: March 16th at the Tel Aviv Beach Party. www.iudmband.com

• J. Viewz—This multi-genre electronic project is brought together under the direction of Israel-born and recently Brooklyn-based producer Jonathan Dagan. The new Grammy-nominated album Rivers and Homes recently received some positive attention from NPR and the Wall Street Journal. J.Viewz live act takes multiple forms and in 2011-2012 the band will be touring as a 4-piece ensemble. Currently, their single “Salty Air” is currently featured in the Revlon commercial starring Halle Berry; Official Showcase: March 17 at Karma Lounge; Unofficial: March 16th at the Tel Aviv Beach Party. www.jviewz.com

• My Sweet Canary Ensemble – A performance based on the film “My Sweet Canary”, a musical biography of the life of Rosa Eskenazi – the Greek Jewish vocalist with a rich repertoire of Greek, Turkish and Ladino songs – makes its SXSW debut. Three vocalists will perform Eskenazi’s songs: Yiota Negka from Greece, Mehtap Demir from Turkey and Mor Karbasi from Israel. Official Showcase: March 14 / 7:30 pm / Central Presbyterian Church; Unofficial: March 16th at the Tel Aviv Beach Party. www.mysweetcanary.com

• Yael Kraus – Singer / songwriter from Tel Aviv, Kraus has been the front-woman in the art-rock group “Panic Ensemble,” with seven other musicians lead by Roy Yarkoni. Her most popular project was “Bussa”, a cover-version album of popular Israeli songs, performed in Brazilian Bossa Nova style. The album was released on NMC Music, Israel’s largest music label. After the release of two albums as the lead singer, Kraus decided to move on to create her own material, releasing her debut solo album “Boutique”. Official Showcase March 17 10:00 pm; Unofficial: March 16th at the Tel Aviv Beach Party. www.yaelkraus.com

 

Over 30 tech start-ups will be traveling from Israel to Austin to create partnerships and deals as well as broadened user bases. The nation is ranked 1st for total expenditure on R&D and technology giants such as IBM, Microsoft, Intel, HP, Motorola, Cisco, GE, Google, Alcatel, Samsung, LG, Phillips, Siemens, and Nokia have R&D and regional business centers in Israel. Participating companies are:

• AdventureMob
• AnyClip
• Artizone
• Bites
• Brandforce
• Carmel Ventures
• Conduit
• Craze Digital
• DoAT
• Dopa Music
• Face.com
• Gemini Venture Capital
• haaretz themarker
• Hashtag Art
• instruMagic
• Interlude
• IsraelGives
• Jam Star
• Kaltura
• Live U
• Livingrid
• Macadamia Apps
• Pops
• ROI Community
• Rounds
• S-Curve Records
• Serendip Media
• Shaker
• The Rhodium Group
• Tracx
• Vidit

Additionally, Israel will be featured as part of the Austin International Technology Summit taking place on March 10th from 9am to 3pm at Palm Door. The event is by invitation only and is featuring companies from Austin, Texas as well as 12 countries around the world including Israel. For Israel’s portion, Roee Madai (Israeli Consul for Economic Affairs to the U.S.) will give an overview of the Israeli companies at SXSW and then Jeff Pulver (Internet entrepreneur) and Avner Warner - Director of Economic Development - City of Tel Aviv, will briefly speak. Six Israeli companies will also attend event. Other guests include 80 representatives from the Austin tech industries. The remaining 120 guests are delegates from France, Singapore, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands , UK, Australia and New Zealand, Spain, Brazil, Japan, and Canada.

 

Israel is located in the Middle East, along the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, bordered by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt—at the junction of three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa. Long and narrow in shape, the country is about 290 miles (470 km.) in length and 85 miles (135 km.) in width at its widest point. Here, a significant part of world history was enacted, of which the first thousand years are recorded in the Bible; there, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim cultural, religious and national identity was formed. Today, Israel is a developed country and a representative democracy with a parliamentary system. The economy was recently ranked the 41st-largest in the world in 2008 and it has one of the highest life expectancies in the world with a population is of 7,653,000. Much of the diversity in Israel's thriving culture comes from the diversity of its population. Originating from around the world, immigrants arrived with diverse cultural backgrounds and contributed to the development of Israeli culture, which follows cultural trends and changes across the globe.