Roskilde music festival 2012 gets resounding approval from reviewers

 ROSKILDE, Denmark, July 9 (Xinhua) -- The 2012 edition of Denmark's Roskilde Festival, one of the biggest in Europe, closed Sunday with music critics and reviewers here saying the event delivered a host of sterling² performances and a crop of upcoming stars.

In all, 200 bands mainly from Europe and the U.S. performed a variety of musical genres³ on seven concert stages over the course of the four-day long event.

Leading performers included legendary⁴ U.S. rock star Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, British alternative rock group The Cure, Icelandic singer-songwriter Bjork, and Danish hip-hop sensation Malk De Koijn.

"There has been a good mix of bands, old and new, big and small, and of various genres. It has been a good program," said Ole Rosenstand Svidt, sub-editor of Gaffa, Denmark's leading music magazine.

A veteran of 12 Roskilde festivals, Svidt said to Xinhua that the festival program 2012 was superior to last year's as it featured more big names on the main, Orange concert arena⁵, which can hold 60,000 spectators.

That arena was packed to capacity Saturday when Springsteen set the evening alight with such hits as "Dancing in the Dark" and "Twist and Shout," and delved⁶ deep into the rock and folk music tradition that has made him a musical superstar for over four decades.

Svidt said Springsteen's non-stop, three-hour long set was the signature performance of this year's festival: "Even though a lot of people have seen him before, as he has played several shows earlier in Denmark, most will go home thinking he was the main name this year."According to an April report by Danish newspaper B.T., Roskilde Festival paid Springsteen 11.5 million Danish kroner (around 1.9 million U.S. dollars), to play at the festival this year. The sum corresponds to around 30 percent of the event's 40 million kroner (6.6 million dollars) budget for 2012, an amount Svidt believes was "worth it," given Springsteen's "crowd pleasing" performance.

Other stars of the festival included The Cure, who entranced the audience through a hypnotic, two-hour set Thursday, their deep chords echoing in the long, summer twilight⁷.

Moreover, world music lovers were treated to afro-pop by blind, singer couple Amadou and Mariam from Mali, and to salsa music from Ruben Blades of Panama.

"This year, world music took its final steps out of its niche⁸ (at the festival) and on to the Orange stage, where Amadou and Mariam played Sunday," wrote Kristoffer Hegnsvad, music critic for Danish national newspaper Politiken, on Monday.

He said the festival had matured to the point that festival-goers can hear artistes from around the world perform on the main stage, "in a mash-up of genres and nationalities.""That is the sound of music without boundaries, and the best part of the musical experience that the festival provides," Hegnsvad added.

Among up-and-coming musicians, Svidt pointed⁹ to Canadian blues¹⁰ singer Cold Specks¹¹, and to U.S. soul and blues quartet Alabama Shakes, as the festival's best newcomers and the names to watch in future.

This diverse program helped attract nearly 80,000 festival guests, many of whom pitched their tents at the festival campsite near the town of Roskilde, some 35 kilometers west of the Danish capital Copenhagen.

The festival was fortunate this year to avoid the heavy, summer rain showers that often plague the event. Neither did violent disruptions or incidents mar¹ the event, which is famous for its peaceful and friendly atmosphere.

However, one male audience member, identified by Danish police as a 20-year-old Swedish man, died of a presumed, accidental drug overdose early last week, during the warm-up stage of the festival. That marked the second year running that a festival guest has died at the event, after a 35-year-old German woman fell to her death from a high tower on the festival premises¹² in 2011.

Created in 1971, the Roskilde Festival was initially¹³ known as the Roskilde Sound Festival, and its first edition featured just 13 performances over two days. It has since been run by the non-profit Roskilde Foundation, with all proceeds going to support music, culture and humanitarian¹⁴ causes. The festival made a profit of 19.6 million kroner (around 3.2 million dollars) in 2011, which it donated to charity.

1 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

2 sterling   

adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑)

参考例句：

• Could you tell me the current rate for sterling, please?能否请您告诉我现行英国货币的兑换率？
• Sterling has recently been strong,which will help to abate inflationary pressures.英国货币最近非常坚挺，这有助于减轻通胀压力。

3 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

4 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

5 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

6 delved   

v.深入探究，钻研( delve的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She delved in her handbag for a pen. 她在手提包里翻找钢笔。
• He delved into the family archives looking for the facts. 他深入查考这个家族的家谱以寻找事实根据。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

8 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

9 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

10 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

11 specks   

n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Minutes later Brown spotted two specks in the ocean. 几分钟后布朗发现海洋中有两个小点。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• Do you ever seem to see specks in front of your eyes? 你眼睛前面曾似乎看见过小点吗？ 来自辞典例句

12 premises   

n.建筑物，房屋

参考例句：

• According to the rules,no alcohol can be consumed on the premises.按照规定，场内不准饮酒。
• All repairs are done on the premises and not put out.全部修缮都在家里进行，不用送到外面去做。

13 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

14 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。