The story
Samso Festival in Samso
Samso Festival held its first proper edition in 1990 on the small Danish island of Samso, home to around 3,700 residents, and has grown into what is affectionately known as Denmark's cosiest festival. Held each July in week 29 and reached by ferry from the mainland, it programmes pop, rock, folk and electronic music with a particular strength in singer-songwriter performance, mixing Danish acts with occasional international names.
Roughly 500,000 kroner and a lineup headed by Michael Learns to Rock and folk singer Poul Dissing launched Samso Festival's first proper edition in 1990, a year after local associations on this small Danish island first organised to bring it into being, and three decades on it has earned a reputation as Denmark's cosiest festival, an informal title that reflects both its intimate scale and the specific character of holding a music festival on an island of only around 3,700 permanent residents.