March 24. Talk with Juan Antonio Vázquez, new open calls and much more! #69

Summary 👇 

  • Editorial. Easter, Babel Music XP and LiveMX
  • Talk with Juan Antonio Vázquez, (Mundofonías, Transglobal World Music Chart, LíMUR, Mil Mundos…)
  • Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects
  • Open calls: Ntwala Oh Yeah!, Premio Andrea Parodi, So Alive Music Conference, Visa for Music, Mercat de Música Viva de Vic
  • Meet me at ✈️

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Hello, how are you?

I hope well. I am. Starting the week prior to Babel Music XP, that will take place from 28th to 30th of March. The dates for this year’s event in Marseille coincide with Catholic Holy Week. In Spain, it’s a time of vacations and/or processions, with many traditions, such as those related to food. During mourning days, meat is not eaten. A typical dish during this time is “potaje,” made with chickpeas, spinach, and desalted cod. And, of course, plenty of typical sweets, like “torrijas,” which are stale bread from previous days soaked in sugar, milk, and cinnamon, then fried in olive oil.

In terms of music, during the processions, sometimes brass and percussion bands play. Other processions are silent. In some places, devout believers sing “saetas” as the images (which are statues on an adorned pedestal, carried on the shoulders of faithful believers) pass by. Saetas are verses sung a capella, about the suffering of Christ and the Virgin Mary. Sometimes they also have social or political criticism, including it subtly. Here’s one sung by Mari Nieto de Vigüela.

Whether you’re religious or not, a procession in Spain in a city with a tradition of them can be a very powerful experience that I recommend.

But this year, I won’t be able to attend. I’ll be in Marseille from Wednesday to Sunday of next week. We call it “Resurrection Sunday.”.

As I write these lines, I am waiting for the outcome of the first call for proposals from LiveMX, a grant initiative under the framework of Music Moves Europe. We from the European Folk Network, of which I am part of the board, have applied. And the publication of the results is imminent. I am very anxious about it because, if we succeed, we will carry out a spectacular project. The second call for this grant is announced for May 2024. The objective of this LiveMX project is “to help the sector develop and strengthen its skills, abilities, processes, and resources to adapt and thrive in such a dynamic industry.” And it is focused on three specific topics: Music export, Live Music venues, and Digital circulation and engagement. The conditions of this grant are very good. You can check the details at https://livemx.eu/. I hope to bring good news in next month’s edition regarding the application of the European Folk Network.

In this edition, for the first time, I feature a specialized journalist as the protagonist. Juan Antonio Vázquez has been promoting world music through media outlets for over 30 years. You may already be familiar with some of his activities, but here he shares with us the vision behind his work and how he has created initiatives from scratch when necessary.

I remind you once again that this newsletter is open, free of charge, to content of relevance for the global community involved in one way or another in world musics. Contact me if you have something to share. And if you are coming to Babel Music XP, see you there!

Enjoy the read!

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82 


AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:

JUAN ANTONIO VÁZQUEZ. Specialiced journalist (Mundofonías, Transglobal World Music Chart, Mil Mundos…)

I have Juan Antonio Vázquez very close at hand. However, that doesn’t make him any less interesting, and he is the first person I interviewed here with his profile, that is to say, whose main activity related to music is media dissemination. His career is very long and prolific. If you don’t know yet, I’ll tell you that I work with him on Mundofonías, and he is also one of the three administrators and founders of the Transglobal World Music Chart. Mapamundi Música also started with him. Juan Antonio also has other initiatives in which I do not collaborate, such as the program Mil Mundos, which he hosts on Radio Clásica, one of the channels of Radio Nacional de España (Spanish National Radio). And, as I mentioned in the previous edition, he has just launched LIMúR, of which I am one of the panelists.

Juan Antonio is one of the people with the greatest commitment and generosity in everything he does regarding world music. I hope delving into his trajectory and vision is of interest to you.

While you read the interview, I invite you to listen to Mil Mundos radio show. All the editions are available here 📻

Mapamundi Música: Why do you do this? Why are you engaged in the dissemination of world musics?

Juan Antonio Vázquez: I’ve always been drawn to and interested in folk music, authentic music that arises from the people. These are the kinds of music that have been generated by communities and, at the same time, have served to build community. They were there before musical tastes became generalized. In other words, they were music for everyone, not just for fans of a particular style, because they reflected the feelings and wishes of the people. I say “the people” in this case, instead of “peoples,” in plural, because those feelings and wishes, those sorrows and joys, those experiences and concerns are universal, common to everyone, to anyone. They belong to the people, wherever you may be.

In the world we live in, the tradition of the planet’s cultures has largely been broken, and connectedly, there’s been a consolidation of the cult of particular musical tastes, fostered by the music market to sell its products, and also by the need for self-identification of followers of a particular style or artist. We’ve moved from a time when communities cultivated their music without conceiving that someone might not like it, because it was intertwined with their daily lives, to a fragmentation where identities and communities are no longer built based on coexistence or proximity, but on gregarious identification.

Given this situation, one might think that the appreciation for so-called world music is just one among the various musical tastes one can choose from. Hence the origin of the label “world music” as a “file under” category, so that this music has a specific and differentiated location in record stores where fans can find it. But appreciating this music can be more enriching than just being a follower of a musical style: it can help one discover that, as it arises from the people and those common, universal drives and feelings, it can therefore be felt as one’s own, if one allows it. And from that sense of connection, one can enjoy even more the infinite diversity and richness of its forms and expressions.

When does this magic happen? For me, certainly, it’s not when one tries to dress up, sweeten, simplify, or “make accessible” these folk-rooted music, by coating them with the already known and overused formulas and aesthetics of commercial music. This doesn’t mean advocating for a purism that is scandalized when the codes of traditional music are transgressed. On the contrary, when such transgression, experimentation, or blending is done from the heart, from an honest desire for creation and exploration by musicians, the results can be marvellous and open up new musical universes. This has constantly happened throughout history, with musicians traveling from one place to another, carrying the names of instruments and musical styles from one end of the globe to the other, learning from here, drawing from there, and incorporating all of it into their music.

So, my stance is, let’s say, belligerent, in the sense that it takes sides in that latent war between music and attitudes that arise from the common (albeit expressed in its enormous diversity), the authentic, the alive, the honest, as opposed to disposable music, designed as a mere product, manufactured for mere consumption, to pass the time, and meanwhile, nothing happens in your life. Yes, of course, beautiful non-musical things can happen while you listen to it: you can fall in love, a couple can kiss, but nothing worthwhile on the musical plane.

MM: Which do you consider are the values in the international community that deals with these musics?

JAV: This community brings together people with very diverse interests. Some are there just to sell their product, but the very characteristics of these musics that I mentioned before, and the way they can serve to forge bonds between very diverse people, mean that among those of us who dedicate ourselves to them, there are more people with open and supportive sensibilities than in other sectors. Values like fighting against racism, sexism, wars, climate catastrophe, global inequality, or in favor of indigenous peoples, impoverished communities, and the defense of cultural and linguistic richness abound. In other words, they end up being political stances, against injustice and uniformity. These common points also generate a certain feeling of affinity or brotherhood among those of us who are involved in these musics in one way or another.

MM: When did you begin to make it? I mean, which was your first experience?

JAV: My first forays into radio were, oh, back in 1986, doing internships at a generalist station, although I started introducing music that wasn’t very common on those airwaves, mainly Iberian folk. Shortly after, I started doing my own programs on free radios in Madrid, like Onda Verde, where for several years in the 90s, I did the program “Insospechópolis.” Also in the early nineties, I wrote my first reviews and articles in the press, in the magazine Música Global.

MM: Explain the following steps, how has your career developed, what else have you done?

JVA: My first professional experience in radio (meaning, getting paid) was at Efe Radio, the radio service of the Agencia Efe, an important news agency. For over four years, between 1994 and 1998, I produced the program “Levando Anclas,” which was broadcast on many Spanish municipal stations and also, for some seasons, in Latin America and the United States. I had submitted a demo to make a program called “Con Efe de Folk” (With F for folk). They didn’t like the idea, but they liked how I did it, so they proposed I make a program “with all kinds of music.” Over time, I managed to dedicate the weekend editions to roots music from around the world.

At the same time, I continued to collaborate with different magazines, such as World Music 1, Popular 1, Tierra, Rock Sounds, Batonga!, Ritmos del Mundo, Interfolk… I also remained involved in the world of free radios, doing political programs, but never neglecting musical ones, like “El Embolao,” with Rafa Ruiz, which started on Onda Latina and continued on Radio Resistencia, a libertarian station, in the authentic sense of the word, that we set up from scratch as an assembly collective. From the marvellous experiences of those times, emerged much of the inspiration for the book published years later by the writer and, at the time, comrade-in-waves, Conchi Moya: “Sin Pedir Permiso” (Without Asking Permission).

In 2001, I started doing “Mapamundi”… The name rings a bell, huh. It was on Radio Círculo, the station of the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. At first, I did it alone, but in 2006 Araceli Tzigane joined, that’s you, kind interviewer. Basically, it’s the same program we’ve been doing until now, 23 years later: two hours a week with the most wonderful music from around the planet. Only, since 2009, the program changed its name to “Mundofonías,” when it started broadcasting on Radio Exterior, the international channel of Radio Nacional de España (RNE). The reason for this change was that, at that time, we began to organize live music activities, promoting concerts and musical cycles, so when we entered the state public radio, we preferred to differentiate both endeavors using different names.

On Radio Exterior, “Mundofonías” aired between 2009 and 2012. It was a pleasure to develop our work there, thanks to the support of colleagues in the house like María Eulate, whose program “Travesías” we had started doing a small weekly section on, and Josefina Benéitez, who was the director of Radio Exterior at the time. In November 2012, without prior notice, a new director, whose name I prefer not to remember, decided that our program should not continue. It was the time when institutional promotion of the so-called “Marca España” (Spain Brand) was desired, and according to him, this consisted of playing exclusively Spanish music. Our arguments to defend the continuity of the program seemed convincing: what better “Marca España” than having a quality and reference program dedicated to music from around the world, like those you can find in prestigious similar radio services, such as Radio France Internationale or BBC World. Or that our program was the most demanded to be broadcast on other stations, based on the collaboration and exchange agreements they had signed with RNE, and some of them had indeed signed to be able to broadcast our program…

But no, there was no way or reason that could work. But we didn’t want to stop doing “Mundofonías.” So we contacted the stations that were already broadcasting it, under those agreements with RNE, to offer it to them for free as an independent production, and they all said yes. Thus, “Mundofonías” continued, airing on Radio UNAM in Mexico City, as well as on other university stations in Latin America; on Multicult.fm in Berlin; on free radios, like the Galician Rádio Filispim, etc. Shortly after, we returned to the airwaves of Radio Círculo in Madrid and, since then, we have continued to add stations, up to fifty currently, in eighteen countries. Our philosophy since leaving Radio Exterior has been to offer this content as a free and public service for non-profit stations, by prior agreement: cultural, associative, community, educational stations…

MM: Please, explain each of the activities you are currently developing. The radio shows, Transglobal WMC… anything else?

JVA: Apart from “Mundofonías,” whose evolution I’ve already explained in broad strokes, I continue to do programs on Radio Nacional de España since those years. On Radio 5, I host a program about the history of words, languages, etymologies, and things like that: “El Palabrero,” which has been on the air since 2012. And I’m also on Radio Clásica, also on RNE, where I’ve been hosting various music programs since 2016, such as “La Ruta de las Especias,” “A la Fuente,” or the one I currently present, “Mil Mundos.”

In 2015, together with my colleague from “Mundofonías,” Araceli Tzigane, and Ángel Romero, a promoter of reference portals like World Music Central, we launched the Transglobal World Music Chart, a monthly album list compiled from the votes of a panel of disseminators that we’ve always aimed to make as diverse and global as possible, with members from most regions of the world. At the same time, the goal was to democratize the possibility for artists and labels to promote their albums. So, we implemented a completely digital and free procedure so that anyone, from anywhere in the world, could send us their works, and these would be immediately distributed in digital format to the panelists for evaluation and taken into account for voting. In this way, we aimed for only the quality of the album, the musical work, to be taken into account, without economic outlay or physical distance being an impediment.

From the very beginning, we perceived a great interest in the professional community of these musics, which we are proud of because it is, again, a project driven from scratch, based on what we believe has been a very good idea and, of course, on the effort we’ve put into it. We have managed to bring together a prestigious panel of over 60 disseminators from all continents and collaborate with the international fair WOMEX in designating the best labels of the year, which is always commemorated at its closing ceremony. This has been happening since 2017 when WOMEX invited us to collaborate in this designation, which until then was only done based on the results of the World Music Charts Europe.

With that dissemination tool in hand and the prestige gained, from the Transglobal World Music Chart, we decided not to stand still and launch new initiatives, such as the Transglobal World Music Festival Awards or the Transglobal World Music Hall of Fame… and more to come!

And I’ll tell you a secret. Something new is cooking, in this case, at the Iberian level. It’s called LIMúR, acronym for the Iberian Roots Music Chart, an initiative that also brings together great disseminators from press and radio of Iberian music, whose first edition will take place very soon. One of the main inspirations for this project is the Balkan World Music Chart, of which I also have the honor of being a part.

MM: Which are the main challenges for the people that make this work of dissemination as you do?

JAV: The main thing is to maintain integrity, to be true to oneself and not to be influenced (i.e., self-censored) by considerations like “that could be very hard to listen to” or “let’s give people something that sounds more familiar.” That deteriorates the quality of your work and makes what you’re disseminating less rich. Something very important that I have felt (and I know you have too) as a listener to some radio programs that have served as inspiration and discovery has been precisely being able to listen to unique things, music that can change your life. We often receive wonderful messages of that kind about our programs: that’s what gives us life and the desire to continue transmitting. And that is not achieved by making a more banal, conformist, and predictable program.

Of course, on a professional level, it is difficult to find a place, a media outlet where you can do this. Many times, those of us who make these kinds of programs do so voluntarily and with our own means because we consider it necessary and enjoy it. Unfortunately, this is not possible for many people, as the day-to-day occupations and the need to earn a living in other endeavors make it unfeasible. In my case, it is wonderful to have the opportunity to develop this dissemination work also in a conducive, open, receptive, and curious environment, such as that of Radio Clásica, with the program “Mil Mundos” (A Thousand Worlds).

Speaking of my field of activity, which is radio, it’s clear that this kind of outreach work isn’t very feasible on commercial stations. Only stations with a commitment to public service and of a public nature are able to host such initiatives. Access to culture for the people is a right. And even more so when it concerns the culture of the people themselves, as is the case with these musics. Therefore, in a world shaped by economic interests and market whims, it’s public institutions that must ensure this right is effectively upheld. It’s not a frivolous expense, as some proponents of uniformity and general dumbing down argue: it’s about giving back to the people what belongs to the people.

It’s also about contributing to making the world less ugly, in these times when exclusionary identities seem to gain ground through lies and manipulation, financed by powerful economic interests alien to the common good, ranging from religious fundamentalism to xenophobic far-right, which essentially represent the same thing: the denial of what these musics represent as something universal, common, for everyone, for anyone.

MM: Anything you want to add will be welcome.

JAV: Well, I just want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to reflect on these matters in your wonderful bulletin. And also, of course, to congratulate you on this initiative and your valuable work as a promoter and disseminator of the musics we love.

 

Thank you very much, Juan Antonio!!!


BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS 


  • Mundofonías: the three favourites of the month are Little Bundles of Joy by Bipolar Bows, Ousoul by Tarek Abdallah & Adel Shams El Din and Him, her, it, and three by 3Peoplemusic.


  • The annual chart of the Balkan World Music Chart of 2023 was released at the end of February and this is the top 20:

1. Adam Semijalac: Ode Dite
2. Almir Mešković and Daniel Lazar: Family Beyond Blood
3. Dobrila & Dorian Duo: Pile Šareno
4. Damir Imamović: The World and All That It Holds
5. Lenhart Tapes: Dens
6. Altin Gün: Aşk
7. Petroloukas Halkias & Vasilis Kostas: The Soul of Epirus Vol. II
8. Times New Román: Jól Élünk
9. Saîdê Goyî: Jinê
10. Lakiko: What to Do, How to Live?
11. Danijela Pražić: Đe Duor
12. Dunja Knebl & Adam Semijalac: Moje Srce Se Reskoli
13. The Cyclist Conspiracy: Mashallah Plan
14. Mehmet Polat Quartet: Embodied Poetry
15. Giorgos Mavridis: Folk Songs and Tunes from the Region of Drama
16. Kristo Rodzevski: Black Earth
17. Zvezdana Novaković Zven: Čaralice
18. Marta Kolega & Dunja Bahtijarević: Pjesme
19. Christos Kaliontzidis: Maçka Radif
20. Michalis Kouloumis / Miriam Encinas / Tristan Driessens: Music for Shepherds and Sultans

Here is Adam Semilajac’s album. It’s one of my favorite albums of 2023, and I could say, of all time. It’s also available for purchase in digital edition for 7 euros on Bandcamp.


Do you have a call of interest for our community that you want to share? Let me know asap.


OPEN CALLS 

This section is open for news. It is free of charge. You can let me know if you have any open call of relevance to the community.


  • Ntwala Oh Yeah! 

    NEW IN THE NEWSLETTER.
    The call for proposals is open until Saturday, 30 March 2024

One year ago, in this edition, I shared some words with A’mosi Just a Label, a musician and music curator of the event, about the first edition of this event.

It is an itinerant meeting between the performing arts, music, dance, literature, visual srts, and spoken word, more book launches, networking, workshops, talks and tourism. The edition of 2024 will take place in Luanda, Angola, on June 28th, 29th and 30th.

I will share some relevant infos from their call:

  • Our calls are addressed to 15 local artists and 10 from abroad for showcases.
  • April 20th is the announcement date for the selected artists.
  • Participation incentives for artists will be agreed as things go along.
  • We as festival, shall provide local transport, catering services for all and accommodation only for the foreign artists.
For questions: kononosoularts@gmail.com
https://www.instagram.com/ntwalaohyeah/
https://www.facebook.com/Ntwalaohyeah


The registration is free, and the deadline is 9th May 2024.

The finals of the 17th edition will be held in Cagliari, Sardinia in autumn 2024.
Applications must be sent through the format found online on the website. Contact for questions: fondazione.andreaparodi@gmail.com.

Some more useful data: “The prize for the Winner includes concerts and performances in some of the partner music festivals in their 2025 editions, such as European Jazz Expo (Sardinia), Folkest (Friuli), not forgetting the very same Premio Andrea Parodi 2025.

In addition to the aforementioned, the winners will be entitled to a € 2,500 scholarship. Whereas the winner of the Critics’ Awards will have a professional videoclip of their competition song produced, offered by the Andrea Parodi Foundation.”Check the website for more information.


According to their communication, “So Alive Music Conference is a Balkan focused music conference & showcase festival. The aim of So Alive is to bring together artist and industry leaders and create an inclusive space, inspiring dialogue about the state of the Balkan music scene. So Alive is open to young artist, established performers and music mavericks.

It will take place from 2 to 4 of October in Sofia. The information on the website about the conditions they provide to the artists is almost nothing. Ruth Koleva explained to me that “We provide accommodation, catering, up to 200€ for travel costs. The restrictions that apply is that artists should be connected to the Balkan  region.”  The application has to be done in Gigmit. If you don’t have an account, the free option is enough to apply.


Its 11th edition will take place from 20 to 23 of November in Rabat, Morocco. All the conditions and the process of application are clearly explained on their website. The application is for free. Visa For Music covers the transfer to/from the airport for selected artists and provides accommodation for a maximum of 6 group members. Visa For Music offers a stipend in Moroccan dirhams on the day of the concert and does not cover artist fees. They don’t cover any other expenses.

In the announcement of to their call they explain that: “We expect an exceptional edition and believe this event will continue to be a vital catalyst for promoting musical diversity and strengthening ties within the global music industry.”


Right now, to access to the conditions you need to login. You can create an account for free. Once inside, you can read the conditions. About the selection of the proposals, they explain that:
“The artistic direction picks around 60 proposals based on the following selection criteria:
· Priority is given to a premiere of a show or a new album.
· The artist/band’s own identity, artistic risk, and trajectory.
· The strengthening of the management firm.
· The selling power and economic and technical viability.
· The explanation of the project’s objectives (target programmers, territorial scope, etc.) and the importance of its presence at MMVV to achieve some or all of these objectives.
Proposals of all styles and musical genres can be submitted, except for classical music.”


 

MEET ME AT

If you happen to attend these events, drop me a line. If you are not, they can be interesting for you too in any case.


WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS 

Mapamundi Música is an agency of management and booking. Learn more here. Check our proposals at our website.

We also offer you our Mundofonías radio show, probably the leader about world music in Spanish language (on 50 stations in 18 countries). We produce the Transglobal World Music Chart with our partner Ángel Romero from WorldMusicCentral.com.

Feel free to request info if you wish. For further information about us, get in touch by email, telephone (+34 676 30 28 82), our website or at our Facebook.

February 24. Talk with Robert Browning, the man who shaped the world music scene in NY, Juan Antonio Vázquez presents LIMúR and much more! #68

Summary 👇

  • Editorial
  • Talk with Robert Browning, the man who shaped the world music scene in New York
  • Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects 
  • Open calls: WOMEX, So Alive Music Conference, Visa for Music, Mercat de Música Viva de Vic, MUM, BIME Bogotá
  • Juan Antonio Vázquez introduces LIMúR, the Iberian Roots Music Chart
  • Meet me at ✈️ 

➡️ This is the link for subscription

 

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Hello, how are you?

I am well. I am writting this letter from home. In this meantime, since I sent the previous newsletter, I travelled to Barcelona and Paris for concerts by Ali Doğan Gönültaş, to Brussels for a meeting of the European Folk Network and to Granada for concert by Vigüela.

But this picture was made in Madrid, af the Café Barbieri a few days ago, with Patricia Álvarez, dancer and researcher and one of the persons with whom I talk more and more deep. It was her birthday. Our conversations are about many things, like the situation of the arts in Spain and in the world, the colonial approach to the world musics and the daily struggles of those of us who dedicate ourselves to these things.

Another lengthy exchange of ideas is the one you have below. Well, it has been more of a generous donation from Robert Browning, sharing his 50 years of experience producing world music concerts in New York. He mentioned that he is writing his memoirs. I hope they become public. For now, you have a fascinating read already.

In this edition, I’m also presenting, as almost a world exclusive, Juan Antonio Vázquez’s new and exciting initiative: LIMúR. You have all the details explained below.

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.
Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82 

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:
ROBERT BROWNING, founder of the World Music Institute in New York and independent promotor of world music

I stole this picture from his Facebook profile. My guest today is a crucial figure in promoting the music of world cultures, and his personal story is fascinating to me. It illustrates how events unfold, unplanned, to eventually create a life journey that has produced an immense amount of beauty and learning.

In the interview, we delve into many aspects of his career. As key points, he has been a concert promoter of world music in New York since 1976. He co-founded the World Music Institute with his partner Helen in 1985, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to world music. He left the organization in 2011, and since 2014, Helen and Robert have continued organizing concerts under the brand Robert Browning Associates. During his time at the World Music Institute, they organized over 1500 concerts. Add those from before and those from after…

You can find more details in the About section of their website.


 The personal background 

Mapamundi Música: What is your personal background? Did you have any connection to music before? I have read that your father was a banker, you were born in Singapore, and you always had a particular love for the music of India, Spain, and Greece. Do you know why? It’s interesting because I also loved world music since I was a child, although I had almost no access to it, only occasionally when something like Mori Kante or Ofra Haza played on television…

Robert Browning: I was born in Singapore in 1941. My mother left on the last British passenger ship to leave the island before the Japanese invasion. I was a few months old and my mother was pregnant with my sister. My father was taken as a prisoner by the Japanese and spent 3 years working on the Burma/Siam Railway. My mother rented a flat north of London which we had to move out of in 1945 when the German sent a V-1 that destroyed the next-door building. We returned in early 1946 and my father was liberated and came home. Later that year we went to Shanghai where my father resumed his work with the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. In 1949, when Mao came to power we left for Hongkong and thence to England. I was then sent to boarding school (10 years!) The school was in the precincts of Canterbury Cathedral (founded by St Augustine and chartered by Henry VIII). Music was important – we had an orchestra, band, and choral society. Early on I learned violin but soon gave up and taught myself the rudiments of guitar (this was the early years of Rock ‘n’ Roll and Skiffle). In 1959 I started doing an engineering apprenticeship with De Havilland Aircraft and studied electrical engineering at college. I tired of this when my father died, and in 1963 went to art college to study painting and kinetic art.

I met Helene, my wife and partner, on a visit to Greece in 1972. In 1974 I came to New York and soon after, we married. I started working with a friend, Geno Rodriguez who had studied with me at art college in London. We (Helene and I) really had very little idea what we were getting into when we started this journey. My experience in the fields of folk and traditional music was limited to watching and listening to artists like Harry Belafonte, fado legend Amalia Rodrigues and Pete Seeger on BBC TV; listening to records of Indian classical music, blues and flamenco artists; and occasionally (when I could afford it) going to concerts that ranged from Indian masters Bismillah Khan and Imrat Khan to the National Dance Company of Senegal, Red Army Chorus and flamenco groups such as Zambra de Madrid. In addition, I would sometimes visit coffee houses where British folk artists such as Bert Jansch, Maddy Prior and Martin Carthy would be performing. In the 1960s and early 70s I had slowly added recordings of Caribbean, Arab and African music to my library and I had been an attentive listener to Alan Lomax and other folklorists on the radio.

MM: What motivation did you have to start? I have read that initially, you had an art gallery, and some South American musicians asked if they could perform there. Was it so, in a somewhat casual way?

RB: Geno invited me to work with him the Puerto Rican Forum, an organization that provided find jobs and educational programs for Latinos. He (Geno) had been offered the ground floor space of their building in Lower Manhattan as an art gallery. We presented exhibitions of photography, mainly by young up-and-coming artists. Within a year, the Forum found itself in financial trouble and had to close by the end of 1975. Thankfully, Geno had built a relationship with some of the staff at the National Endowment for the Arts, in particular with poet and Jazz critic, A.B. Spellman who ran the Expansion Arts program. It was the $12,000 grant that we got from that program that enabled us to open the Alternative Center for the Arts on East 4th Street. This was a 3,500sq ft ground floor space in a co-op residential building that was to become our home from 1975 to 1980. It was raw space, so we spent three months renovating – building walls, covering all existing walls with new sheetrock, erecting lighting, plastering and painting. All this was done by Geno, Jan (his wife and our publicity director and graphic designer) and myself with a bunch of friends. Our English friend Bill Bowles was a major help; he and I had worked together on carpentry jobs and artworks in England in the early ‘70s.

The space was ready for our first exhibition in October 1975. We had no intention of presenting concerts at that time; this was an exhibition space and our goal was to give an opportunity for artists who were not necessarily hip and did not have much opportunity to exhibit their work in the frenetic climate of Soho where it was who you knew that counted. Our first exhibition featured 10 Japanese artists, all of whom were working in New York at the time.

 The first concerts  

It was during our second exhibition that we started presenting concerts. This exhibit featured the work of four Huichol (Indigenous Mexican) artists. These were large yarn paintings (brightly colored yarn embedded in beeswax on plywood panels) of a psychedelic nature. These artworks caught the eye of Jorge Link, an Argentine-American who was driving a van at the time. It turned out that he played music of the Andes with a group called Tahuantinsuyo (the Inca name for their land). Within a few weeks we set up a concert for the group. We borrowed folding chairs from the Peace Church on nearby Washington Square. The concert drew an audience of some 150 and that was the beginning of the next 46 years of presenting concerts.

MM: On your website, you mention that the Alternative Center for International Arts, founded in 1975, was dedicated to exhibiting the work of artists neglected by the established gallery system. Why were they neglected? From an outsider’s perspective, I could imagine that a place like New York would have been very eclectic in its concert offerings during those years. In the early decades of the 20th century, so many wonderful artists emigrated from Europe (I think of many recordings made in the 1920s by emigrants, for example, those released by Canary Records, or the referenced klezmorim like Naftule Brandwein or Dave Tarras, but they are a drop in the ocean of many examples).

RB: The Alternative Center for International Arts, founded in 1975, was dedicated to exhibiting the work of artists neglected by the established gallery system. Why were they neglected? Essentially, the gallery system was a bastion of capitalism. While there were, undoubtedly, some that were dedicated to the artists they represented, many were in it because they could make a lot of money out of whatever was fashionable at the time. Thus, many artists who did not fit the bill of being “fashionable” were unable to make a living out of their art. Of course, this has always been true in the artworld where most of us had to have jobs to support our art. Similarly, in the music world, if you did not in with one of the established categories – classical, rock, pop, folk, or jazz, it was not easy to find outlets, either for performance or recording. Record stores did not begin to have “world music” sections until the early 1980s.

One of the first organizations to offer concerts and dance parties in New York was the Ethnic Folk Arts Center, later known as the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, established in 1968. In the early days we often worked with EFAC to promote some of the Balkan, Jewish and Eastern European artists that they worked with. Some of these included Epirot Greek clarinetist Pericles Halkias, Klezmer artists Andy Statman, his mentor Dave Tarras, and Armenian American ‘ud player John Berberian. In 1980 we had to move from our Lower East Side venue to a space in the newly fashionable Tribeca area (the triangle below Canal Street.) Again we renovated the new space ourselves, putting in new walls (sheetrock) and track lighting. We renamed it the Alternative Museum.

According to the website of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance,“Founded in 1968, the Center for Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD) assists New York City’s immigrant communities to sustain their distinctive performing arts traditions and promotes cross-cultural understanding by sharing these art forms with audiences across the city.” 

Peter Rushefsky is currently its Executive Director. You can read the interview I made with him in this previous edition.

 

  The organic growth   

MM: How has the public evolved during these years? I’ve learnt that, by 1985, you had to find a new, bigger place. And you founded, with Helene, the World Music Institute. So it seems like you succeeded with this venture. Did you imagine when you started that you would have such success?

Robert Browning: By the mid 1980s we were presenting 60-80 concerts each year. These varied from avant garde jazz, “new music”, blues, flamenco, Irish, Arab, Persian, Kurdish, Indian, Japanese and Chinese to music of the Andes, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil. Audiences were beginning to get too big for the venue (capacity 200) so we often had to present artists for 2-3 performances. We were getting a lot of press by this time in the NY Times, Village Voice and Time Out which helped to increase our audience considerably. With larger audiences it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep people from leaning against artwork on the walls and, after a Friday night concert we would often have get to the gallery early on Saturday morning to repaint sections of the wall.

  The birth of the World Music Institute   

By 1985 I felt that it was necessary to separate the visual artwork from the musical performances. I left the Museum in 1985 and, in the fall of that year, Helene and I incorporated as the World Music Institute. We did not have a space but we would rent concert halls and alternative spaces for concerts depending on audience expectation. We rented a small office from a friend, bought our first computer and were ready to go.

MM: And how has the offering evolved? You have been active since before the concept of world music became something like a standard.

Robert Browning: When we started presenting concerts at the Alternative Center (Museum) we were open to present all forms of music, from jazz, gospel and blues and new music to folk music of the Americas. We were looking for artists who wanted to share their art, share their vision. At that time, downtown Manhattan was becoming a haven for musicians from around the world – professional and amateur, traditional and experimental. As Robert Palmer, music critic with the NY Times wrote,1976: “Where else can one hear a soloist who plays pre-Columbian Mayan, Aztec and Toltec instruments, an Indian‐African‐jazz fusion group, traditional music from the Andes, and some of the most progressive young musicians from Brazil, in addition to contemporary chamber music and jazz?”  Within a couple of years, we were adding more world music, particularly music of India, but also music from Japan, the Arab world, Ireland and Eastern Europe. By the time we had moved (in 1980) to Tribeca, the new center for the arts in Lower Manhattan, we had established a home for music from throughout the world. I don’t think I am looking for anything different now. Of course, in contrast to the early years when some of the artists we presented were essentially amateurs, those we present now have nearly all established themselves as important ambassadors of their traditions.

The World Music Institute opened in September 1985 with the Festival of India, a three-concert series that featured flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia, the late santur player Shivkumar Sharma both accompanied by table master Zakir Hussain, sarodist Buddhadev DasGupta, vocalists Girija Devi and Ajoy Chakraborti and Carnatic artists Mahapurum Santhanam and Lalgudi Jayaram. We rented a 900 – seat hall for the festival and, despite a hurricane glancing New York that weekend we drew capacity audiences. Of course, without considerable financial support from the Indian government, this would have been impossible. On a visit to India I had been hosted by the late Dr. Vijay Kichlu, a vocalist and teacher who ran the Sangeet Research Academy in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and who had chosen the artists for the festival. We had no private funding but had been awarded grants from the National Endowment to the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Besides the Festival of India, our first offering was an eighteen concert series entitled Voices of the Americas featuring blues, gospel, Native American (Mohawk) chants, Haitian vodou, Cuban lucumi, music of the Andes, Cajun and Zydeco, and folk music from the Appalachians, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico. This series took place at a landmark venue in Greenwich Village known as the Peace Church. We drew audiences varying from 60 to 300 for these events and received considerable press in the NY Times and Village Voice. These two events, the Festival of India and Voices of the Americas heralded the beginning of what was to become Americas primary outlet for world music for twenty-six years. From thenceforth we presented 40 – 60 concerts every year in New York and arranged U.S. tours for artists from all over the world. We rented concert halls throughout the city for these events including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, City Center as well as many smaller venues.

According to the website of the World Music Institute“After the retirement of the Founding Director of 26 years in 2011, WMI entered an era of transition with some management and personnel changes until 2015, when under new leadership a small, committed team continued and expanded on the original vision of WMI’s founders.”

Nowadays Gaby Sappington is the Executive Director and Brice Rosenbloom is the Artistic Director.

 

MM: Do you think the quality of artistic proposals has improved, gotten worse, or transformed into something different?

RB: With respect to the quality of artistic proposals it’s difficult to make judgments. I have always chosen who I present carefully. I’ve spent a lot of time learning about their traditions and have tried always to be respectful. For the most part I have worked independently and have not relied on the opinions of promoters. I did, however, make friends with a number of ethnomusicologists and with musicians such as Zakir Hussain, Palestinian ‘udist Simon Shaheen, Egyptian ‘udist Hamza El Din, Gambian kora player Foday Musa Suso, Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, Cambodian multi-instrumentalist Sam-ang Sam, Irish fiddler Kevin Burke. These and many others helped me on my way through territory that I was not so familiar with.  Of course, one makes mistakes. I remember, in the early days, an Aboriginal group from Australia that was being promoted by the Australian government. While the members of the troupe – dancers, didgeridoo players were all great, the (white) director of the troupe was both pompous and patronizing and the show was like a tourist promotion.

  The challenges   

MM: In general, what do you think are the main challenges currently faced by the scene or community working with world music?

RB: A major problem for presenters in the US is the cost. Not only do we have to bring most artists here by air, but we have to obtain visas. This has become more and more difficult. Back in the 1970s and early 1980s we were able to obtain visas by delivering a petition directly to the visa office in lower Manhattan. Thus, we were able to talk directly with the responsible officers and show them sophisticated publicity material. Usually, the visas would be issued based on the evidence that we submitted that the artists were important bearers of their traditions. This all changed in the late 1980s (due probably to some fraudulent petitions). Over the years it became more and more difficult and costly, especially after 9/11/2001. The difficulty of obtaining visas has led, over the past twenty years, to a considerable reduction in international performers coming to the U.S.

MM: I have also read some anecdotes about artists behaving oddly, arriving three hours late, or creating complicated situations in hotels. Do these things still happen, or is the world of world music more professionalized, also in this sense? 

RB: In all our 46 years of presenting music we have rarely experienced artists behaving oddly or arriving late for soundcheck. There were times when the start of a concert might have to be delayed because artists got caught up in New York’s notorious traffic jams, but for the most part we were able to start concerts on time.
Yes, we’ve had the occasional hotel problems. There is an amusing story associated with the group’s visit to New York. We housed them for a few nights at a moderately priced midtown hotel. I was at our office on the Saturday morning they were due to perform when I got a phone call from the very distraught hotel manager-  “You must do something about this group – they are wandering around the hotel corridors with nothing but towels on and are helping themselves to soap and chocolates from the chambermaids’ trolleys – Mr. Browning, my guests are all complaining and some are wanting to move to another hotel – please do something”. I called Syed Hashim, Khansahib’s manager/friend and explained the situation. Whereupon Bismillah Khansahib assembled his party and gave them all “a good ticking off.” There were no more shenanigans!

MM: What were you looking for in artists when you started? And what are you looking for now?

RB: I was always looking for authenticity. I was not interested in shows that had been assembled purely for the American and European market. But, at the same time, I wanted concerts that were both entertaining and didactic. Since, for much of the audience, the music they were hearing was new, it was important to give some educational background. However, I did not want the audience’s experience to be compromised by an onstage “teacher”. So we settled for program notes written by scholars to give the audience a background for listening. A major problem of course was language. As an Englishman, I was well aware of the difficulty English speaking people had with learning/understanding a foreign language. In many European countries bilingualism or even multilingualism is the norm but in the US it is mostly limited to Latinos. Where possible, we provided printed translations of songs. However, so much Asian music relies to a large extent on improvisation and so this does not always work. Early on, when presenting Indian classical music we mostly presented instrumental music but, as audiences became more sophisticated we were able to present vocalists, particularly as audiences began to understand that most texts in Indian music are fairly short; the art of vocal music being in vocalization, in playing with the sound of words.

Above all, when selecting artists for our concerts, both in the early years and today, I am looking for soul, but also for excitement. They say that “music sooths the savage beast”. This is true but it can also engender powerful emotions.

MM: When you left WMI in 2011, you said the reason was, “Because I am tired, and it’s time for me to leave.” But I don’t see that you have stopped. Do you want to add anything regarding why you left?

RB: I was tired when I retired from WMI in 2011. After 2008 things had become very difficult. The world financial slump had a major effect on the arts in the USA. Funding became more difficult to obtain, many sources dried up altogether. In most of Western Europe government subsidies for the arts were far greater than in the US. During the height of WMIs existence, in the early 2000s, government funding (National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the arts) together provided around $100,000/annum in grants – less than 4% of our annual budget. More than 55% came from ticket sales and the balance from private foundations and individual contributions. After 2008 we were forced to literally halve our budget, reduce our staff and cut back considerably on the number of concerts we presented. I was 70 years old. My board of directors was totally unable to raise the necessary funds to continue. Only two members of my board were actively supporting me with funds. Yes, it was time for me to leave! Helene, my wife cofounder and partner was ready to continue for a further few years, but the board of directors decided to fire her after a year in the interest of economizing. They preferred to hire a new Executive Director and add an assistant. The combined income of these two was more than double the salary that I had been taking!

It seemed to me that, after an extraordinary period of expansion in the arts, things were closing in, we were approaching a new “dark age”. Added to this I was tired of battling with my board of directors. Two members of my board had given generously over the years and the board chairperson had given generously of her time but the bulk of fundraising for the organization was still in my hands, and I was never very good at the fundraising game. So, I decided it was time for me to leave. However, after a few years, I felt the need to get back into the fold because, as I looked around, it seemed that there was far less traditional music being performed in New York than there was in prior to my leaving WMI. While I realized that times had changed, it was more difficult to get visas, young people were rarely going to concerts, etc.

After a rest period of 3 years, in 2014 I was encouraged by friends to begin presenting concerts again. I was able to get grants from the NEA and NYSCA to help launch a new series of concerts of traditional music. We decided to present most of these at Roulette, a newly opened 400-seat theater in Brooklyn. Since our rent-controlled apartment is in Brooklyn, Roulette was a very convenient venue.

 In current affairs 

MM: What plans do you have for the medium term? I found the schedule on the website until April. Do you have anything planned for later?

RB: Currently we are scheduled to present concerts through April of this year. I’m not sure how long we will be able to keep going. We are waiting to hear if we will have National Endowment funding for next year. Whether we will be able to continue to present concerts is largely dependent on that and if ticket sales this Spring are enough to pay off our current deficit.

MM: I am writing to you from Europe. For many musicians here, both of European origin and immigrants from other backgrounds, the idea of performing in New York is like a dream. So, I ask you, how do you choose the artists you program? Do you have the possibility to bring artists from other continents, only to perform for your programming, or do they have to be already on tour with visa issues resolved?

RB: During my time at WMI we were presenting 50- 80 concerts each year. In the early years most of the artists were based in the US. Occasionally we would present artists from abroad who were touring the US at the time. Often, we would organize a series of concerts based on a particular theme. One of the earliest series was entitled Voices of the Americas. It featured blues, gospel, Cajun, Native American and country music from the US as well as musical traditions of Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Argentina, and the Andes. Another series was entitled Music around the Mediterranean which featured music from Spain, Italy, Greece, North Africa and the Levant. All the musicians were based in the US. I chose the musicians because they were all respected masters within their communities and, for the most part I enjoyed their music. I relied, of course, on expert opinion from my advisory board composed of ethnomusicologists, scholars and highly respected musicians from each tradition.

I no longer can afford to bring in artists from abroad, but if an artist has the required visa I am open to presenting them in New York. However, in the current financial climate I cannot take the risks of presenting artists just because I like their work. I need assurance that they will bring in an audience of at least of at least 150 – 200. Without the free promotion that WMI had for many years in the press and electronic media this is not easy. So, it is essential that artists who wish to tour the US have a guaranteed visa before I can consider presenting them.

MM: I read that when you were at WMI, you formed a consortium with entrepreneurs from other cities. Do you maintain that network or something similar today to make the concerts you organize possible?

RB: When I was at WMI, in the early 1990s, I formed a consortium with entrepreneurs and college presenters in cities throughout the US which we called World Music America. These included UCLA, UC Berkeley, Santa Barbara, Stanford U (all in CA), UT Austin TX, MSU, Ann Arbor (Michigan), the Wexler Center, Columbus; OH, World Music, Boston MA; UMass, Amherst MA; Cleveland Museum of Art, OH; and a few others that I can’t remember now. This proved to be an important investment from the mid 1990s to 2007. WMI organized a number of tours during this period including The Gypsy Caravan featuring 35 Gypsy musicians from Spain, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Macedonia and India; Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Pakistani qawwali maestro; and a number of smaller tours by artists from West Africa, Greece and India. After 2005 it became increasingly difficult to maintain this consortium so we gave up touring. However, we maintained connections with many of the venues, and if bring artists in for a concert in Brooklyn I will help them to get gigs in other cities.

 Visas, one of the main headaches… 

MM: I read that in the time you left WMI, visas were one of the main headaches.

Robert Browning: I dealt with the visa issue partially above. Essentially, since 9/11/01 it has become increasingly difficult and costly to obtain visas. Prior to 9/11 it was a relatively easy process. In the early years I was able to petition for artists directly and the costs were minimal. As time went by, and WMI became more financially stable we began to use an agency (Tamizdat) to petition for visas. Until a few years after 9/11 the costs were still reasonable but over the past 20 years it has become increasingly expensive. The average petition costs at least $2,500 and, since the process can take a considerable time (months!) it may be necessary to ask for premium processing which has just been increased from $1,000 to $1,750. Thus, the whole process may cost more than $4,000. For more information about the new costs and timeline I suggest to go to this website of the Arts Council of North Carolina. There is no doubt that it is both expensive and complicated. It is no wonder that, over the past 20 years the number of visiting artists from Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia has diminished considerably.

MM: How do you come to know new artists? Do you actively search, or do they contact you, or do you have an established network of managers or bookers that you rely on…? What is the process for you to hire an artist?

Robert Browning: I learn about new artists in various ways. I subscribe to Songlines, and for many years I also subscribed to Folk Roots, a magazine out of UK that ran for 50 years, from 1979 – 2019. I also subscribed for many years to the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM). Much of my learning about world music came from members of SEM, many of them teaching at universities throughout the US. But above all I have learned by listening to records and by talking to prominent musicians to learn more about their traditions and who the most respected members of their tradition are. I do have an established network of managers and booking agents that I often refer to. Many artists contact me directly or are referred by other artists or agents. Once I make a decision to hire an artist for a gig I negotiate a fee. In the past I would rent hotel accommodation for the artist but that is no longer financially possible. Once I receive a signed contract, and I am assured that the artist has the necessary visa and travel documents I will begin to promote the concert.

 The importance of all this 

MM: Do you think it’s important for people from economically developed regions of the world to have access to the art of other cultures? If so, why, and what does it bring to them?

RB: It is very important that people in economically developed regions of the world have access to other cultures. We learn from each other. The major problem today is that Western (Euro-American) culture has become so dominant that other cultures have a hard time competing. We (Americans and Europeans) impose our values on others to such a degree that other cultures are unable to compete without compromising their own. It is important that we listen to the music of other cultures if only to bring a greater understanding between us. As we listen to and absorb the arts of the non-Western world, perhaps it helps us to be a little more tolerant of other cultures. And, for artists from Asia, Africa, Polynesia etc., the ability to share their traditions with the Western world helps in some small measure to bridge the gap between our cultures and gives them economic opportunities (or should do!).

Bismillah Khan (1916-2006) was an Indian performer of shehnai. He has been mentioned by Robert a couple of times in the interview and now I invite you to read the rest of this magazine while listening to this beauty.

Thank you very much, Robert!!!


BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS 


  • Mundofonías: the three favourites of the month are Junnosuke Uehara, Washu oneya, Kisaburo Umeya’s Japanese celebration melodies, the compilation Merengue típico, nueva generación! [V.A.] and Aguidavi do Jêje’s album named like the band.

 

JUAN ANTONIO VÁZQUEZ INTRODUCES LIMúR, THE IBERIAN ROOTS MUSIC CHART

I often think about the situation of folk music and world music in Spain and also in Portugal. I think about 15 years ago, the Portuguese folk scene was vibrant and very interesting and I think it has been weakening. In Spain and also in Portugal, we have three styles of music declared intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO: fado and Alentejo singing and flamenco. They are appreciated for obvious reasons. But there are many others that are still very unknown at the international level (and almost also at the national level). Artistic creation in these styles does not have many incentives. The circuit is small and precarious. Making a living with them is practically impossible.

Perhaps the new initiative by Juan Antonio Vázquez will contribute to improving this situation. This is the LIMúR and this is how he presents it:

No, LIMúR is not the new revelation of Icelandic pop or a cute little arboreal animal from Madagascar: it’s the Iberian Roots Music Chart.

LIMúR aims to celebrate, recognize, promote and disseminate the highest quality Iberian roots music productions.

We understand Iberian roots music as any musical expression with roots in Iberian cultures made anywhere on the planet, as well as any musical expression with roots anywhere on the planet made by Iberian artists and/or in Iberian lands, Iberian being understood as referring to any territory under Spanish or Portuguese administration, including those located outside the Iberian Peninsula.

LIMúR brings together a team of specialists in roots music in its different aspects: traditional, folk, the so-called world or global music, or styles such as flamenco, fado or any other, with an open spirit to evaluate any record production according to its artistic quality, beyond its musical style.

LIMúR produces every year four quarterly charts and an annual one with the recent albums of the above mentioned characteristics best valued by the panelists, in a unique category that will gather any record production, regardless of its format or the way of edition or distribution.

The panelists of LIMúR include several active professionals from different media, like the national radio stations of Spain (Radio 3 and Radio 2) and Portugal (Antena 2), as well as panelists also from the World Music Charts Europe, Transglobal World Music Chart or from media such as El País. You can already check the website: www.limur.eu


 

OPEN CALLS 

This section is open for news. It is free of charge. You can let me know if you have any open call of relevance to the community.


  • WOMEX. NEW IN THE NEWSLETTER.
    The call for proposals is open until Friday, 1 March 2024

The 30th anniversary of the fair will take place in Manchester, UK, from October 23 to 27, 2024. Probably you are aware. Many critical voices have indicated the difficulty and extra cost that it will entail for many artists who will need a visa for the UK. Apart from that, accommodation prices in Manchester are very high and that will affect us all, so if you haven’t booked yet and are thinking of going, do so as soon as possible.

The submission fee for showcase and film is right now 25 € (the reduced price of 15 ended on day 9th of February). This is the website to apply. WOMEX doesn’t cover any expenses apart from the dinner of the day of the concert and the stage needs.

 


According to their communication,“So Alive Music Conference is a Balkan focused music conference & showcase festival. The aim of So Alive is to bring together artist and industry leaders and create an inclusive space, inspiring dialogue about the state of the Balkan music scene. So Alive is open to young artist, established performers and music mavericks.

It will take place from 2 to 4 of October in Sofia. The information on the website about the conditions they provide to the artists is almost nothing. Ruth Koleva explained to me that “We provide accommodation, catering, up to 200€ for travel costs. The restrictions that apply is that artists should be connected to the Balkan region.” The application has to be done in Gigmit. If you don’t have an account, the free option is enough to apply.


  • Visa for Music.  NEW IN THE NEWSLETTER.
    The call for proposals is open 28th of March

Its 11th edition will take place from 20 to 23 of November in Rabat, Morocco. All the conditions and the process of application are clearly explained on their website. The application is for free. Visa For Music covers the transfer to/from the airport for selected artists and provides accommodation for a maximum of 6 group members. Visa For Music offers a stipend in Moroccan dirhams on the day of the concert and does not cover artist fees. They don’t cover any other expenses.

In the announcement of to their call they explain that: “We expect an exceptional edition and believe this event will continue to be a vital catalyst for promoting musical diversity and strengthening ties within the global music industry.”


  • Mercat de Música Viva de Vic.
    The call for proposals is open until 31 March 2024

Right now, to access to the conditions you need to login. You can create an account for free. Once inside, you can read the conditions. About the selection of the proposals, they explain that:
“The artistic direction picks around 60 proposals based on the following selection criteria:
· Priority is given to a premiere of a show or a new album.
· The artist/band’s own identity, artistic risk, and trajectory.
· The strengthening of the management firm.
· The selling power and economic and technical viability.
· The explanation of the project’s objectives (target programmers, territorial scope, etc.) and the importance of its presence at MMVV to achieve some or all of these objectives.
Proposals of all styles and musical genres can be submitted, except for classical music.”


  • MUM Meeting Music Market. VIII Jornadas Profesionales de la Música en Extremadura. The call for proposals is open until 15 February 2024. 

So far, most of the artists that made a showcase in this event have been Spanish or Portuguese. On the website with the conditions, there is no restriction about the origin of the artist to be elegible apply. But it is only in Spanish. The conditions are reasonably good for the standard of the showcases.

It will take place from 18 to 20 of April in Mérida, a historic city with relevant Roman legacy.


  • Just for Spanish artists: BIME Bogotá.
Call still open for Spanish artists through ICEX until 25th February. More info, here.

 

MEET ME AT

If you happen to attend these events, drop me a line. If you are not, they can be interesting for you too in any case.

  • 22nd of February. Málaga, Spain. For a concert by Vigüela, yeah.
  • 28-30 March. Marseille, France. Babel Music XP

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January 24. Talk with Christian Pliefke, many open calls, update from Nabil Canaan… and -still- happy 2024! #67

Summary 👇 

Editorial

Talk with Christian Pliekfe, from Nordic Notes and CPL-Music

Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects 

Open calls: Fira Mediterrània de Manresa, A to Jazz, Mercat de Música Viva de Vic, MUM Meeting Music Market Extremadura, BIME Bogotá

An update from Beirut with Nabil Canaan

Professional events 💼 

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Hello, how are you?

I am well. I am writting this letter from home. After the trip to the Cyprus Jazz and World Music Festival I haven’t travelled abroad and I won’t until 3rd of February, when I will go to Paris, for the concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş in Au Fil des Voix.

And I started to write this yesterday, Monday 15th of January. The say it is the saddest day of the year. Well, I don’t feel like that. The last days many calls of professional events are been open. I talk about them below. I see how the activity returns after the holidays, and I like that.

This year, three of my artists, three pieces of my heart, are going to release albums: Vigüela, Xabi Aburruzaga, and Ali Doğan Gönültaş. It’s going to be fun. I have already planned many things.

But the truth is that it’s a coincidence that the protagonist of this edition has several record labels. In PIN Conference in Skopje I had the chance to share some conversations with Christian Pliekfe, our protagonist of this edition, and Asya Arslantaş, about who I have talked on previous occasions.

The conversation with Christian was long, and I think it was interesting. I always wonder what has happened in the lives of people like him, who do epic things like creating record labels dedicated to folk. Christian answers all my questions generously. I hope you enjoy it.

I hope this year brings you a lot of satisfaction. I also hope that we can all live our lives and develop them as we wish. Many times I think about colleagues who are in less stable situations than I am, for example, in Lebanon. Nabil Canaan updates us below on the situation of Station Beirut and Shuruq.

I have a little pastime that I started during the pandemic. Surely, many of those reading this also do it. Traveling on Google Maps, searching for areas with Street View or, at the very least, with photos of those spherical views. The pandemic may be over, but I continue to travel to Yemen on Google Maps. What do I want to tell you with this? Well, I hope that one day we can actually go to Yemen. That’s all. Thank you very much for your attention, and I hope you enjoy the content.


 

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.
Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82 

 

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:

CHRISTIAN PLIEFKE, from Nordic Notes and CPL-Music

I stole this picture from his Facebook profile. Christian is the founder of the record label Nordic Notes and CPL-Music. He’s also behind CPL-Music Shop. He also launched FolkGalore, a magazine that led to the production of compilation CDs.
What else? There’s even more. He explains it himself in this extensive interview. I’ve divided the conversation into sections in case you want to jump to a specific part, although in reality, it was very fluid and has both entertaining and potentially useful moments. Without further ado, I’ll let you dive into Christian’s story.

The beginning of his record labels 

Mapamundi Música: When did you begin with the record label or labels?

Christian Pliefke: It was when I was very very young. It was 1992. I had long hair and a lot of piercings everywhere and I was in the punk rock mood.  I worked before in a radio station and then in a youth club and then it became in my mind to start a record label. A friend of mine, a half Finish half German guy,  had always a record company but he was doing it alone and it was very small. It’s called TUG Records, that means transformed underground. And then I joined in 1992 this small record company and then we built it up with some punk rock stuff from Germany and also from Finland.

And all the time till 2005 we formed two more labels for dance music: 9:PM for electronic dance music and also Humppa Records for Finish weird stuff. This was a time that I’m starting to work with folk and world music but with weird… It must be crazi and weird stuff, like a screaming choir of men, their shouting choir was fantastic.
But in 2005 I decide to go my own way because my partner he was more into this punk rock guy, alternative… I was a little bit more conservative so I wanted to focus and spread my mind much more. Then in 2005 I started with Nordic Notes and at the moment I have 180 releases, with different styles of music, mostly from Finland because… I don’t know why but it is how it is.

And in 2008 I started with another label called Beste! Unterhaltung, that means “best entertainment” and it was done for music from my area, from Americana stuff, singer songwriters… and it was with German artists. This is why I decided for a German name. The decision for the name must be very fast but it didn’t catch me totally. Then I started with CPL-Music in 2010, my third label, for all the artists which are not from Germany or from the Nordic area.

About FolkGalore magazine and the shop 

MM: So you have three record labels now.

CP: With Folkgalore I have four but this started as a magazine and then I made compilations for festivals like Rudolstadt or Bardentreffen.

MM: So Folkgalore was first a magazine and later you made a record label for making these compilations. So have four different record labels. And you also have an online shop. Was the shop after or before you started the record labels?

CP: I started with the shop in 2007 with an online shop because, before I started my own record company, I had also a record store with my half Finish partner. It called Kioski. We opened only Friday and Saturday and sold only Finnish music or something like that.

MM: And was it sustainable to open a shop only two days in the week and only for Finnish music in Germany?

CP: In Germany, Fürth, it is near Nuremberg. If you only count the sales of the stuff, of course it makes no sense, but we had our office there as well. This was a small shop, and we had our office behind and our warehouse there. So it was the same price as we had as we rent a normal office. Then we thought it was cool to have small shop and make some special event, like show some Finish movies and out of this shop we make also DJ stuff, we called Soundi-kone, in Finnish, in English it means the sound machine. And we made a Finnish disco. We played this kind of schlager music.. and, yeah, some kind of that.

About the connection with the Nordic music 

MM: So your relationship with the Nordic music is because you had this partner who was half Finnish or is it also because you like especially the Finnish music or is just by chance.

CP: I like this Finnish music and I like the people and also the culture. The Finnish people are so similar to the Franconian. I’m living in the Bavaria area in Germany but in Bavaria we have also split it in Franconian. And Franconians are like the Finnish people. Normally we do not talk that much. We are introverted people and we like to drink some beer and not talk that. And we are happy to sit alone or two people on a table and not 10.  We don’t like too many people around and Finnish people are the same.

MM: But that is curious in you, because I always meet you in a social context with many people. So you have to surpass this tendance of you.  I have been with you with many many people and you do it well. 

CP: You have to be alive sometimes or survive… But normally the Franconians are this kind of people, introverted and a little bit more this “What’s kind of people are these? From Spain? Arg, I don’t like Spanish people”. – Both laughing –

I’m going to take advantage of the Finnish theme to bring here something that Christian produces at Nordic Notes. One of my favorite albums of recent times is ‘Vainaan perua: Satavuotinen sakka’ by Emilia Lajunen. You can listen to this amazing 9-minute track while you keep reading.

 

About how he selects the music to work with 

MM: Thank you for being strong enough to surpass all these tendencies of the Franconians in your person… Then the next question is how you select the albums and artists you work with. We see you have this Finnish connection and also, I feel that, with the time, you are making more diverse things. How do you select the albums or the artists? 

CP: First, it must catch me totally. If I listen to an artist I must produce this special feeling, like these goosebumps. It must catch me somehow and I must be willing to buy by my own an album of this artis. If I see an artist and or I listen to an artist and I think “it’s just okay”, then I don’t want release it. Like these Galician artists (Caamaño and Ameixeiras), these do what I told you. Some kind of this might catch me. It must give me a special feeling and then I say “I will do it”.

MM: And if an artist wants to approach you, if they’re interested to release an album with you, what should they do to call your attention? How is the way that they should communicate with you? Shall they send you an email or a postal letter…?

CP: Email is nowadays enough and few words and a link to some music. It doesn’t need to be music totally ready to be released. It can be a demo tape or something like that and few sentences about what they are doing. This is really enough for me.

MM: And do you need anything else? I mean, when you decide to release an album, do you consider other criteria about the bands? For instance, if they have good pictures, what is their lineup, are these other things relevant for you to decide?

CP: What is really fantastic is if there is a very good picture of the artist, of course, to see how they will present themselves. That’s also very important. And instrumentally wise, I am not a big fan of this saxophone. But, yeah, of course, if they have a good picture and then the music is fantastic and the artists know what they want to present, this is important. And a few good words can catch me very quickly, of course.

About the crisis of the recorded music 

MM: So you have been working in the record music industry since 1992. You have seen all the evolution of the market with the CDs and after that, the crisis and the digital releases and all those things… How have you surpassed all these crises of the industry of recorded music?

CP: Only straightforward, only going straightforward, yeah. Of course, look left and right but not too much behind. The crisis, I think it is for the major labels, as if they are going worser and worser. For me, I’m getting better and better. In 2023, I have had the best year ever. I don’t know why. I have sold so many albums. And, of course, the digital sales are getting higher and higher. But I do not lose any from the physical. And if an artist is also playing a lot of live and he’s working super in the social media, thing um I’m sure that they can sell much.

MM: Do you sell CDs and also vinyls?

CP: Also vinyls and there are some buts there… Every artists are asking for vinyl but mostly, when I focus in the German market, when you have a festival or in the shops, of this folk and world music, if you can sell 200 or 300 copies of CDs, then you maybe sell 20 or 30 vinyls. The CD, in the German area is a must. Also I have distribution partners in the Netherlands, Finland, the UK or in Japan and they are ordering a lot of CDs. What I often say the people who are telling me “no one is buying CDs” and I’m  wondering so… I don’t not see it.

On the other side, what we and what the artist and all this scene must be have in mind is that we have more releases nowadays than in the ’90s. In the ’90s, we had less releases but a lot of CD sales or a lot of physical sales. And now we have many more releases. Why are we thinking we are selling that less of physical?

About the greater ease of recording music in recent decades 

MM: Now if you want to produce an album, I think, if you have the purpose, you do it. In 1992 it was not so easy as now. 

CP: Yes. For the studio, to do a 16-track recording, you paid 2000, 3000, 4000 marks, 2000 euros, something like that. And now you have an EP… And now you can make everything alone at home. We have all this on the computer and so on. And this is makes things easier. Then we have a lot of releases coming out.

MM: And don’t you think that it also drives to a lot of frustration for many artists? Because, let’s say, it seems that the first steps are very much easier than in 1992, but to grow after that… Okay, you have an album and, after that, your competence is thousands of other albums. Do you think the situation is better or worse for the music itself? Has it a driven to a better quality or to have the chance to have more quality works in the market? Or maybe it just makes a lot of noise and the average quality has gone down? How do you feel about this?

CP: That is a very good question. I think there are a lot of great musicians, and they have good ideas but when I started, I think they had more feeling to the music. We had not this kind of good recordings with only eight tracks and something like that, that is what we can pay for. The improvisation was much better, I should I say. There were much more better ideas, the music was much stronger than today. Because today you can record at home, everything is cheaper and you can release it by your own. So I think the quality is going down step by step.

About the producing and the listening attitudes nowadays

MM: Yeah.. You listen on Spotify, for instance, the advertisements… They really suck, they say “hey, with this online software you can make a song in five minutes”. Spotify says that to the musicians who listen to it. But at the same time, you know Spotify doesn’t almost give return to most of them, so it’s like wicked, no? Yeah, they explain you can put your dog barking and make some effects and you have a song.

CP: And the main thing is the people who listened to this music they are nowadays also so low in the mind, yeah, so “oh, it’s a nice song”. And then you try to explain, “hey, this musician, for example is an “asshole”, they said bad stuff” but “the song is okay, we can clap our hands, this is super”. This is what Spotify are doing: you can release a song for in 5 minutes if you have a stupid lyric and some clap your hands, and then everything was done.

MM: Yes, this is an interesting debate. Also, how to make commercial music? Sometimes I see artist that are around me, who try to be successful and famous, sometimes they make so complicated songs with so long lyrics. And, of course, it’s wonderful music but you have like seven stanzas with complicated concepts… So I think they have to compete with what you are saying: just music with a very simple lyric and people can just clap so easily. We are very trained in listening, you and me and the people who are going to read this. 

CP: This normal clap your hands three-minute songs, I can’t listen to it. It bores me, so I like, for example… I listen a lot of pop and rock stuff so, Porcupine Tree, or the old Rush albums… I like this complicated. You can sit down in your living room, have a glass of wine or something like that and listen to a song, maybe 10, 15 minutes. This is so fantastic and this is why I can’t understand that people want to have hours of three minute songs to “clap your hands”.

MM: Yeah. I have an hypothesis about this: I think many people they just don’t like music or they are not interested. What they follow is all the other things around to feel they follow someone who is like a profile or paradigma and they really don’t listen.

CP: The  daughter of a friend of mine, she was 22 or something like that. And she’s going to this rock festival Rock in Park we have, and Rock am Ring, this is two times in a year. They’re playing Metallica, Suicidal Tendencies and also some normal rock stuff. And this girl is going there, and I ask her why do you go there, which is your favourite artist. And she said “It is the atmosphere. I don’t know who is playing.” You’re paying €200 and you don’t know which artist is on stage? Come on! While Kiss was on stage, I paid €200 to go as KISS was on stage and not for the atmosphere. I want to see the artist.

MM: I think that is not the music… I mean these musicians put the context or they create, let’s say, a world of concepts and people follow that more than the music itself. I think that’s why the image it’s so important now. 

CP: It is important that we are there and trying to catch these people to think about music, that music is not only a noise coming around, there’s more.

MM: Yes, of course, but I think you need to make an effort also sometimes. And I make this reflection, also, when… I rarely go to a pop concert but sometimes I go to a showcase and there is a band that is pop, other is jazz… whatever. And I feel the pop is so empty, let’s say, of all this content. Pop is what it is, they say what they say in the songs… but in the world music or traditional music, you have all the background, all the complications, all the social things of these people, you know. Also in the world music scene, some famous artists are from places with problems, they claim things about the social situation, the politics and all these things. So that’s complicated also. I think some people don’t want to be thinking about any complicated things. They just want to enjoy a moment only listening to a song of pop about love, about whatever.

CP: It is okay, that is okay… Sometimes I listen to stupid heavy metal songs, really short and noisy and it makes me also happy. But in total it cannot be all that. It is the same when you read the newspaper. A lot of people are reading only the headline and then they start to shout “oh, everything is blah blah”. No. You have to read the complete text, you must read it. There are some information inside. I think all this globalism make them afraid. There’s too much information for them.

MM: Yes, that’s what I mean. To listen to the music requires attention and effort sometimes.  You said about headlines of the newspaper. Also, the news newspapers now are online and, here in Spain at least, you see only the headlines and if you want to see more, you have to be a subscriptor. So you can see many different newspapers and you see the headlines and you don’t read more. 

So maybe the trend of the society is to make less effort and go to the super immediate things. And the things we do have so much content. They are in other languages that you don’t understand, different sounds of the languages and all the background of these people… And you think okay, Tuaregs, for instance. They are there, fighting, crossing borders in places where is Boko Haram or these kinds of terrible things. So maybe people try to escape of these terrible things of the world. So we have to compete with all this sometimes.

Finland is well, so far there’s no war, they are okay… But I think we have to understand that it increases the effort for the people and we are in a moment when the effort is not wished. I think people are trying not to make efforts. Everything is so immediate.  And it goes against music.

CP: A small wish what I have is trying to bring normal people into a festival or something like that. My formerly father-in-law asked me what I’m doing, the kind of music, “doing a normal job has much more income… and blah blah blah”. So I took him to a concert to Dresden, because he was from the Eastern part of Europe. I took him to a concert with Maija Kauhanen and Mari Kalkun, to show him how it works what I’m doing. He didn’t understand what I’m doing here. And he got it. You have to work that hard that 200 people are coming to listen to another music which he never heard before, because he’s a guy who listened to Rolling Stones or Schlager, a very easy guy. And nowadays he’s is coming with me to the Rudolstadt Festival every year or to the Bardentreffen Festival. He’s not buying a CD or listening privately that much but he likes the atmosphere, the artists and to see the different cultures.

About how approaching world music reduces prejudices 

I was thinking, maybe if we all in this world music scene have to take one person with us and to get in into these concerts… Sometimes he was also afraid of foreigners, “oh, hell, the refugees and the Syrian people there are bad because they are Islamic…” and something like that. And then he was with me and some of this kind of people and he said “they are not so angry and aggressive people”. No, they are not. Those are only the few people that we are seeing on the newspaper, who killed someone, they fight each other… But the normal Muslims are not aggressive people, they are normal like we are.

Did you enjoy Emilia Lajunen’s tune? Lakvar’s Sabotage and Tradition is one of the latest releases by Christian on CPL-Music/ CPL Musicgroup.

 

MM: Yes, of course, most of the people in the world not aggressive, they just want to make their life…

CP: Right, so this is what he understands right now. And it took maybe one or two years. But the normal newspapers give them this easy information and say “everything is bad and we are so great, and we are Christians, and we are much more than the others…” and so on. And now he understood everyone is nearly the same.

About the support, or the lack of it, in Germany for this kind of initiatives 

MM: So then, for what you are saying, I believe that you consider these kinds of music are very pedagogic also. In Germany, do you have support for these kinds of things? How is the situation now? I have like two kinds of questions in the same topic. First, how is the support for these initiatives like you, who are working with a in a record label of not commercial music. And, second, do you have or is there any specific intention from the government to support the minorities and the culture of the minorities who are there in Germany now?

CP: We have no support. We have to do it by our own. You can have support from the government if you’re doing German music, if you push German artists. But maybe you have seen that in festivals outside from Germany there are not German artists on the way. So we have not this folk and world music scene. The folk music scene died after the Second World War. A lot of these German folk musics when you play them… Suddenly some Nazis come around you if you make this German songs and you must stand there and say “Hey, I’m a German and we make German music but we are not Nazis”. This is why the Scottish and Irish music is very huge here in the market. The Germans want to listen to this Irish and Scottish music because it’s also simple. You must “clap your hands” and the language is understandable. But there’s nothing we can have from the government. For German artist we have some institutions. If you want to record an album you must fill out a lot of paper, then you get some money, as I have done this with a German artist called Gankino Circus. And they are trying so many years to go out from Germany and they are open to do it…

About the attitude of German artists regarding investing to export 

But the next hard thing is that Germans are not willing to spend that much money in their own. So, for example, go to Womex, to apply to Womex or go as a visitor, you have to pay the entry, the flights… And then, the German says “oh, it’s so expensive, if there’s not coming out one gig, then, no, I don’t want to spend that money”. That’s what they have in mind, they don’t want to push and power by themselves.

MM: Okay, maybe it is because they don’t need to export. Because we, Spanish in Womex, for instance, there is a Spanish stand but we have to rent the tables and we have to pay the expenses. We are not supported in that way. Some regions have a specific support. Not me. My company is in Castilla-La Mancha and I can apply, but so far I haven’t got support.  You know, there are many Spanish people in Womex. We are overrepresented, I think, because we have to export, because our national market is very limited for this kind of not commercial music. Maybe in Germany your artists don’t need to export because they have enough market inside.

CP: Not really anymore. Of course, the pop and rock music, they are independent, they are a huge market. But in the folk and world music it is so small… We have an institution called Deutscher Musikrat. They support classical music and jazz. And we try to tell him we have also folk music or world music but they don’t have this in mind. They just have jazz and classical music. This is a very long way and to explain them that there’s a lot of other music on the way. For example, this this Galician duo, they’re going on stage, they are acting of stage was fantastic… The Germans folk musicians are going on stage like they are, so they not change their clothing, they’re going on stage with socks and sandals… So, we are sitting in front of you, we have to see you one hour or more… Please take another clothing… They don’t understand.

About the presence of the artists on the stage 

MM: Well, in Spain it was like that some years ago. I think not Galicia. Galicia has always gone a bit more progressing but yeah the folk bands in Spain, they were a bit like that before. But with the time I have seen it in my own life. I mean, in 10 years it changed. Now they are taking care a lot about what they do on the stage but 15 years ago it was like that. They were performing as if they were making the rehearsal, the same clothes. They didn’t make any other decision of the image. So maybe it’s a matter of time. But the risky thing is that, for what you are saying, there your national scene is very limited, they are not making investment for exporting, so I think the folk music from Germany has not a lot of future… 

CP: The thing is that we have to work hard on it. I’m working with two German artists, and one is willing to do and go out and do a lot of things. And the other one is very okay in the German area but they don’t have this idea to go out. They are thinking “German language, no one is going understand this”. Yeah, right, of course but when I go to Womex, for example, I don’t understand the 90% of what they are singing. But it’s the music. And then I try to explain them that the language must be an instrument, it must fit into the music. Then, you like the music and afterward when you catch them, then you can read or translate it or something like that. But the first thing is that you catch the people with everything, not only the instruments: with the stage, with the language or something like that. But mostly the Germans they are happy to play there and they are angry and sad and say “everything is shitty outside and no one wants to have us”. But they don’t go out… And if I tell them that we have to make the booklet in two languages, in German and in English, they ask “why in English?”.

Now I’m working nearly worldwide so, of course you want to go out. I don’t want to stay only in Germany, but some of them don’t understand it.

About Christian’s future plans 

MM: Oh, my God, I hope many of them will read this interview with you me. They have to learn. And Christian, which are your plans for the near future?

CP: This is a good question. I don’t know, really. Maybe I will restart also a little this booking stuff because I have done it till 2016. I have also booked some of artists and then I stopped with them because booking is so boring stuff and I had a lot to do with my label and also make the promotion for the albums and working with publishing as well… But after the corona thing, a lot of agents stopped working and we have less and less people who like to do this job and sometimes I was thinking, maybe for two or three from my label, I can help a little bit if I restarted booking stuff. And the rest, let’s see. I’m looking forward in a positive way and I try to figure out the best for the artists. That’s all what I can do.

MM: Do you want to tell anything else for the interview?

CP: Yeah. Only love peace and harmony: this is what we need.

Thank you very much, Christian!!!

 

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BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

  • #1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in January 2024 is: Batsükh Dorj’s Ögbelerim: Music for My Ancestors
  • Mundofonías: Favis 2024. You can discover the 21 favourite albums for Mundofonías in 2024 and listen to the two special shows about them, here.
  • Mundofonías: the three favourites of the month are Petroloukas Halkias & Vasilis Kostas’ The soul of Epirus vol.II; Adam Semijalac’s Ode dite and Jan Wouter Oostenrijk’s Travelling east

 

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Do you have a call of interest for our community that you want to share? Let me know asap

OPEN CALLS 

This section is open for news. It is free of charge. You can let me know if you have any open call of relevance to the community.


  • Fira Mediterrània de Manresa
    The call for proposals is open UNTIL 18TH JANUARY

It will take place from 10 to 13 of October of 2024. The call for artistic proposals is open until 18th January at 12 am. In the previous edition I talked more about this. And this is the official website for the application.


  • A to Jazz. NEW IN THE NEWSLETTER
    The call for proposals is open until 9 February 2024

This will be the second edition of this showcase, that is part of the Upbeat Plataform.

It will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 4th of July.
All the details about the application are available here. It is addressed to European emerging artists in world music. Check the website to learn what they mean with “emerging”, as the conditions to fulfill are very clear.

Eligible participants are legal residents (regardless of their origin and country of birth worldwide) of one of the eligible countries: All EU countries, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Georgia, Armenia, Tunisia, Ukraine.

They offer a budget of 500€ (contract & invoice required), hotel accommodation for 3 nights (3-4-5 July 2024) in double / triple rooms, full access to the festival area, conference, networking sessions and delegates data base and video recording of the showcase performance.


  • Mercat de Música Viva de Vic. NEW IN THE NEWSLETTER
    The call for proposals is open until 31 March 2024

Right now, to access to the conditions you need to login. You can create an account for free. Once inside, you can read the conditions. About the selection of the proposals, they explain that:
“The artistic direction picks around 60 proposals based on the following selection criteria:
· Priority is given to a premiere of a show or a new album.
· The artist/band’s own identity, artistic risk, and trajectory.
· The strengthening of the management firm.
· The selling power and economic and technical viability.
· The explanation of the project’s objectives (target programmers, territorial scope, etc.) and the importance of its presence at MMVV to achieve some or all of these objectives.
Proposals of all styles and musical genres can be submitted, except for classical music.”


  • MUM Meeting Music Market. VIII Jornadas Profesionales de la Música en Extremadura. NEW IN THE NEWSLETTER. The call for proposals is open until 15 February 2024. 

So far, most of the artists that made a showcase in this event have been Spanish or Portuguese. On the website with the conditions, there is no restriction about the origin of the artist to be elegible apply. But it is only in Spanish. The conditions are reasonably good for the standard of the showcases.

It will take place from 18 to 20 of April in Mérida, a historic city with relevant Roman legacy.


  • Just for Spanish artists: BIME Bogotá. NEW IN THE NEWSLETTER

Call still open for Spanish artists through ICEX until 25th February. More info, here.

 


AN UPDATE FROM BEIRUT WITH NABIL CANAAN

I recover this photo from the end of June taken in Ostrava, with Nabil Canaan. The world has changed a bit… Nabil is the founder of Station Beirut and of Shuruq. We talked about this in a previous edition. The news that has been coming in and the threat situation in his region have led me to stay in touch with him from time to time, and recently he told me the following:

The situation in the region is disturbing. We came to start our autumn/winter season in October, but had to cancel everything, partly out of respect for the tragedy barely 200km from Beirut, but also for security concerns. We are now (re)planning again to restart late January.

We started bookings in Europe but even those are on hold for now, as they are supposedly “anti-semitic” events… We will continue our cultural activities as this is part of addressing the historic ignorance and propaganda. I will be monitoring the situation to manage Station’s venue programming, our Shuruq label activities and our marketing/booking services.

We have a role as cultural actors to provide some light in these dark times, whether it is inspirational, informational or simply a safe space to come together and envisage a brighter horizon ahead together.”

I didn’t want to fail to share it with you. I will keep in touch with Nabil and I hope he will be able to retake all his plans soon.

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PROFESSIONAL EVENTS


  • Babel Music XP. Marseille, France. 28-30 March 

The program for 2024 edition is published on the website. The accreditation for delegates is available and the price now is 130 euros for the three days. The booking of stands is already available too, from 500 euros.


MEET ME AT

If you happen to attend these events, drop me a line. If you are not, they can be interesting for you too in any case.

  • 2 February. Festival Tradicionarius. Barcelona. Concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş.
  • 3 February. Paris, France. Concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş at Au Fil des Voix.
  • 7 February. Brussels, Belgium. Meeting of the board of the EFN.
  • 9 February. Granada, Spain. Concert by Vigüela 😍
  • 28-30 March. Marseille, France. Babel Music XP

 

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WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS 

Mapamundi Música is an agency of management and booking. Learn more here. Check our proposals at our website.

We also offer you our Mundofonías radio show, probably the leader about world music in Spanish language (on 50 stations in 18 countries). We produce the Transglobal World Music Chart with our partner Ángel Romero from WorldMusicCentral.com.

Feel free to request info if you wish. For further information about us, get in touch by email, telephone (+34 676 30 28 82), our website or at our Facebook

Do you like our newsletter? Tell us! 

 

16 laying the ground for excellence

On this day like today, 27 December, 16 years ago, the first concert under the Mapamundi Música brand took place. I have told it many times but I will repeat it. It was a concert of the trio Cherno More, with Wafir Shaikheldin and the brothers Nasco and Ivo Hristov, in Sevilla la Nueva (Madrid province). So it’s our birthday.

What I don’t know if I’ve told you is that I couldn’t go. I registered Mapamundi Música as a brand, taking over the legacy of the radio programme Mapamundi, which Juan Antonio Vázquez had been doing since 2001 (the programme was renamed Mundofonías in 2009 when it joined RNE’s Radio Exterior). I was registered as self-employed and issued the invoices in this way. But I was also working with an employment contract in a training company and I left at 6:15pm. I wouldn’t have been on time for the concert…. It broke my heart.

For a while I was working as an employee in that company and carrying out a lot of activities on the side, as a freelancer, working non-stop. Until I took the not easy decision to leave an indefinite contract with very good conditions, in a very constructive job, in order not to go through more moments like that, to be where my heart was asking me to be and to be able to focus on developing what was already both my passion and my profession. With Juan Antonio’s support, I left that company at the beginning of 2009. The company went bankrupt in 2016. I still have friends from that company.

In September 2015 I created the limited society Mapamundi Cultural, which would allow me to do many more things, such as being a partner in projects for the European Union.

I am still working like a mule but every day I feel that I am going one step further towards my mission. Soon I will announce something very important that I am working on, which will help me to continue on this path with an even firmer step. In the meantime, I invite you to visit my website where you can find information about my artists and the 66 editions of the monthly newsletter, with news and interviews with personalities from the world of music.

I only have left to wish you a good end and beginning of years, may 2024 be generous to you and thank you for reading this far 🥂

December 23. Talk with Arlette Hovinga (That Jazz Girl), TWM inductees in the Hall of Fame, open calls… #66

Summary 👇 

  • Editorial
  • Talk with Arlette Hovinga, or “that jazz girl”
  • Transglobal World Music Hall of Fame: inductees in 2023 + Festivals Award
  • Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects 
  • Open calls: Fira Mediterrània de Manresa, Folkherbst, Budapest Ritmo
  • Professional events 💼 
  • My highlights of the year
  • Meet me at ✈️ 

➡️ This is the link for subscription


Hello, how are you?

I am well. I am writting this letter from home. I have finally almost two months without flights. My next flight will be to Paris, for the concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş in Au Fil des Voix.

One of my latest trips was to Skopje, for PIN Conference, where this picture with Antonis Antoniou (Monsieur Doumani, Trio Tekke, Buzz’Ayaz) was done. We met after many years, first in Skopje and the following week, in Limassol, in Cyprus, for the Cyprus Showcase of Jazz and World Music.

Today, 22nd of December, is the day of the Christmas lottery in Spain. I hear the TV of the neighbours. There, the kids from the school of San Ildefonso take the little balls from the lottery drum and sing the numbers. Every year on 22nd of December. It’s kind of the official opening of Christmas time. But I never buy tickets. I think I’ve already won the lottery.

On the 27th of December Mapamundi Música will be 16 years old. Every year there has been progress. In the year of the pandemic I lost my assistant Sherazade, whom I never got back. But I was able to keep the company alive. After that, other new people have arrived and with others we have strengthened ties and I have faced more and more demanding challenges.

2024 is going to require the best of me and I will be accompanied along the way.

I hope this last newsletter of the year will be of interest to you. My last protagonist has shown great generosity in her answers. Indeed, like all of them. This year I have had the opportunity to talk to a lot of people and share their reflections, struggles and missions. I believe that over the years this newsletter has become more useful and deeper. I hope you share my feeling. If you do, you can forward it to anyone you like. And remember that if you have content or news of interest to the international community working in one way or another in relation to world, roots, traditional or heritage music… contact me.

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.
Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82 

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:
ARLETTE HOVINGA, OR “THAT JAZZ GIRL”

I think this is the first time I bring an interview with a publicist to this newsletter. I find the viewpoint of this role within the constellation of professionals very interesting. In particular, this specific publicist also has a book, called How To Build Relationships In The Music Industry, which I am currently looking forward to getting my hands on. It’s available from a number of online shops, easy to find and order.

She is Arlette Hovinga. I took this portrait from her Facebook profile. On her website you have a brief biographic information.

I met her in February 2023, when she contacted Mundofonías to inform us about “Bulgaria’s first-ever world music showcase”, the showcase A To Jazz, a new initiative that would take place within the festival of the same name. The truth is that I got the feeling that she put a lot of dedication into her work, and that she was a very charming person. In December we met at PIN Conference, in Skopje, and we had the opportunity to do this interview.


Mapamundi Música: Please, introduce yourself.

Arlette Hovinga: I’m Arlette Hovinga, I am from the Netherlands, I’m 32 years old and I am a PR manager and publicist in jazz and World music. I serve a number of festivals, mostly in Summer, and artists for their tour promotions and new releases as well.

I work in all of Europe, which is kind of special for a publicist normally; I guess many of us work in like, for example, the GAS territory, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, or only in their own country. For the Netherlands unfortunately that doesn’t really make a lot of sense, we’re really small and while we have a couple of good publications for jazz and world music there aren’t enough to really justify invoicing someone. And because in the Netherlands we get taught multiple languages in school, I speak reasonable German, I understand Spanish and speak a little bit of French, I understand that too, and English is my second language. So it’s relatively easy for me to converse and to communicate with journalists in other territories across Europe. And I think it keeps my job really interesting and really versatile.

MM: And you are specialized in jazz and also in world music. And there are not so many people specialize in world music. You work with these two different styles. I feel there are a big differences between world music and the other styles. Which are the particularities that you have to face when you work for something of world music or traditional music?

AH: At the end of the day, promoting an artist or a tour or a release or a festival… it’s about the story, you know. And world music is such a broad term that I’m not sure it really covers what it is. Because Africa is a continent, not a country, so what people call African music, as far as I’m concerned, is like a container of different things, but it’s not a thing in itself. It’s kind of saying, “well, okay, you know the Dutch and then the East Germans are the same people”, which is also not true, and we should grant the same privilege, I think, to people from other countries. It’s much like world music could also be from Latin America or it could be from Spain as like incorporating flamenco, or it could be from the Balkans too. I think it’s more important to tell an artist’s story than it is to focus on whatever world music actually means. And, honestly, also as a Western European white woman I’m not really sure if I am the one to redefine the genre in itself, because I don’t come from such a background and I think that those who created and those who are part of this diaspora should be the first to redefine that story if if that’s what they want and if that’s what they need.

“For us as publicists, it’s our job to tell the story, the individual stories, and place it in a in a context that is understandable for journalists”

For us as publicists, it’s our job to tell the story, the individual stories, and place it in a in a context that is understandable for journalists without really saying “well, this is world music”, for example, or ethnic music, or global music or however you want to call it. I mean I work in jazz and world music because this music resonates with me because I really feel it. And it’s something that that makes me feel something and that makes me explore new worlds and new ideas and I love that. I love these these genres and I love these artists and I love the way that it makes you learn new things. And it changes your perspective on a lot of different cultures and different ideas. And that’s beautiful.But I don’t think that the main thing is to present world music as world music. It’s the same as with jazz. If I say “hey, this is jazz” to someone who doesn’t normally write about jazz, oftentimes the first association will be “oh, this is like, you know, bebop or something”. And jazz is so much more than that, just like world music is so much more than… you know, the pamplets that a lot of cultural journalists that don’t really engage in these genres would immediately associate it with. So, that direct association stands in a different place, not necessarily higher or lower, but in a different place. Then is my role as a publicist to sell this music and enlarge my artists or my festival’s audience, I think.

MM: I totally agree with you in this because for instance, I think, in Spain, if I say something is world music they imagine some black people jumping. There are like different prejudices or preconception of what it is, so I feel, as I also work with world music, I feel that the difference with the other genres is that you need to explain also the historical background, the social background, the cultural specifications… of this artist. I think, that’s the key, maybe, to explain and it gives us also the opportunity of having a a storytelling about this, that other styles of music don’t have. So you have to focus on these ideas too, when you have to make this storytelling.

AH: Absolutely.

MM: And how do you make this comparing with jazz? Because I think jazz is like more abstract.

AH: Why is it more abstract, you think?

MM: Because jazz is not so imbued with the traditions and world music comes very from the traditions of the people.

AH: I think that in the minds of a lot of people, especially people who don’t really listen to jazz, it is definitely traditional music. And it’s elitist music in the minds of a lot of people. I don’t think that, I think that jazz is freedom. And jazz is a a genre that is very much alive and that changes and grows and expands, which is what makes it so interesting, because there’s a lot of different ways to make jazz, just like there’s a million different ways to make something that could be perceived as world music music.

“An artist really needs to think about who they are and they really need to think about where they come from and what their music stands for, what they stand for as an artist.”

I think that these different perceptions that we get, especially when you’re promoting a tour and you’re relying on, well… I mean, regional or local media, you don’t always have the luxury of working with journalists who are really into the type of music that you’re presenting and I think that, like you said, world music and also jazz give us opportunities for storytelling. And I think it’s our professional duty to do that properly. And if we can master that, that makes us better at our jobs. But it also really gives artists a better chance at telling the story. That also means that an artist really needs to think about who they are and they really need to think about where they come from and what their music stands for, what they stand for as an artist. Especially now in times where, you know, inclusivity and diversity are basically keywords for every snazzy funding campaign that you can have, we have to think about this a little bit differently. Because, on one hand, of course everybody should be in favor of inclusivity and everybody should be in favor of diversity. But I do notice that a lot of times, for example, for artists from the Balkans where I work a lot, Eastern Europe, where I work a lot, it doesn’t do them any favors. They have to find other ways to explain themselves, because there’s a discrepancy there. that, I think, doesn’t always swing East, if that’s the politest way I can put that, probably.

MM: So, when an artist or a record label or a manager asks you to work for them, what do you need from them? What do do you ask them to give you?

AH: It depends on if it’s a tour or an album but, definitely, music, obviously, preferably also a live video… Something recent. All materials always need to be recent because I’ve seen artists been announced through potos, for example, that have lineups from seven years ago on it and that’s usually not the promoter’s fault, because they’re really busy. I do marketing for festivals as well and there were years where I wrote and translated up to like 300 bios for one festival, like 150 artists in Dutch and English. And we don’t have time to rewrite and research every artista, so everything that you deliver has to be up to date, it has to be current.

I need a biography that tells me what your music sounds like and what your story is. I don’t care if you went to Juilliard, to be honest, because the fact that you’re professional enough to reach out to a publicist or to build your team to have a manager, for me says that, at least, there is something good about your music. But I what I want to know is what it sounds like and what I can expect to feel when I listen to it. And I think that that’s one thing that musicians often overlook. I know that you know it’s great that you got into this prestigious school and you worked like… you studied under these famous people. But that really doesn’t tell me much about who you are.

So I need music, I need live videos, I need a good biography. Previous press really helps, although I always do my own research. As well, tour dates, obviously, if there is any street date that’s 3 to six months in the future, preferably. If there are single releases, as well, it’s helpful to know who’s in charge of digital distribution, so we can communicate about pitches and I can time my pitches together with single releases.

“There are so many artists and it’s really hard to stand out. But if you build a consistent brand, that is relatable to people, people can be very loyal to this brand”

I think all of these, like, basically, an electronic press kit plus plus plus… It’s also because, you know, we talk about storytelling and we talk about visual materials and about videos and all of that… I think that in today’s day and age, there’s so much music out there, there are so many artists and it’s really hard to stand out. But if you build a consistent brand, that is relatable to people, people can be very loyal to this brand because… It’s the same reason for me to work with someone: if it makes me feel something, then I will sign up to work with you and I will probably stay with you until you decide not to be. It’s a better look for both of us if an artist stays with the same publicist and the same team for a number of years, because journalists will notice if you change teams regularly. And, if you don’t, that means that you’re probably a nice person. And to have a consistent team and to be with the same people and to build something together helps you to build your brand. And, the longer you work together, the better you get to know each other as well. So you can sort of design this brand, I guess.For a lot of artists branding is like like commercialism, it’s a dirty word, “I don’t want to sell out, it’s all about the music…”. Yeah, sure it’s all about the music. We’re assuming that the music is great and you’re a superstar but, how are you going to tell people that you’re a superstar? How are you going to actually build your way there? I think social media, you know, Facebook advertising and stuff, they are great tools to help you put butts in seats. And at the end of the day, that’s what everybody wants: we all want you to sell out a room, we all want you to be come back in a bigger room in the same city next time. We all want the same thing.

“Journalists will notice if you change teams regularly. And, if you don’t, that means that you’re probably a nice person. And to have a consistent team and to be with the same people and to build something together helps you to build your brand.”

So, I think that, as someone who has a background in marketing, I think that’s the most important thing for artists before they hire PR is to have a solid online presence that is consistent and that is personal. I don’t only want to see “Hi, I’m playing here…”. That’s great but, how do you feel about playing there? And I think that that’s a part of your journey as an artist that I rarely see on social media but I’d be really interested in that. If you’re like playing like this beautiful venue, take me backstage, give me a video, give me a tour, give me something that makes me feel something. Don’t just send me information that I don’t know what to do with. Give me something that I can relate to, because I will never be on stage at this amazing concert hall. I’m not a professional musician. I play for fun, but… it’s really easy, in my opinión, to make relatable content and to, really, tell a story and… I know that I am guilty of not doing that enough myself but… this is like, you know, going to a painter’s house and seeing that you know, his window sills are blading. It’s a lot harder to do it yourself and I understand that I have it too. I said it in a panel a few days ago, like my social media presence on Instagram is like a crime against marketing, I think. But at the same time, I do understand how it works and I’m so busy doing it for other people… You see this with my first book, as well. I ended up finally hiring someone to help me book a book tour, because I just I I can’t fucking do it myself.I really prefer to spend my time on artists rather than on myself.

But still, seriously, making relatable content is the most important thing and it’s the biggest thing that I am really missing with artists. In the same vein, I meet artists at conferences, I met one yesterday who just said “Well, I hear you’re a publicist and I make pop and rock music. I’m like great”. And before I could tell him that that’s not what I do at all and I cannot be of any help, he spent 5 minutes basically pitching himself but also saying “Nobody wants to work with me” and “Nobody’s hearing what I have to say” and I just thought “hang on, breathe for a moment and if I can give you one piece of advice, always ask questions, don’t just barge in and start like blabbering about how… again, you’re a superstar. I’m sure you’re a superstar. You’re serious enough about your career to come to a conference and to be open enough to talk to people, but ask them questions”. Because he would have known 30 seconds in, that like, okay, I wrote a book about networking and visibility in the music industry, so okay, we can talk about that. But I cannot help you build your career because I have zero connections in. Well, I mean, not zero but not very many relevant connections when it comes to pop music PR. There are people here and in all over Europe who are fantastic at it and I would love to recommend them. But now he just wasted 15 minutes of both of our time, just because he’s so frustrated that there’s no career progress for him. And I I told him “All you do is put out frustration and information about yourself and not necessarily positive information or positive energy and we want this positive energy”.

I want to work with people, like I said, who make me feel something, but also who’s personality makes me feel something because, at the end of the day, audiences are going to be drawn to your energy as well and they’re not going to be drawn to you basically bitching about how nobody wants you. Nobody wants that. No audience member is going to be like “You know what? This guy says all the right things, like, he says everybody sucks”. Nobody in the history of promoting music has ever wanted to do something like that and yet so many musicians… I mean, I understand that it’s hard, okay, I’ve been in the music industry for like 15 years now. I started my first band 20 years ago when I was 13 years old. I get it’s hard. I volunteered for years, I had shitty jobs on the side, I worked my ass off. I really have. I get it’s the same for us behind the scenes. It’s not like we make like tons of money compared to, like, starving artists. We really don’t. But we are also in it for the love of music and we are also in it with an optimistic and positive attitude. And we want the same from the people that we work with.

Some people that, like some of my favorite people actually that I work with, I didn’t start working with until two or three or four years after meeting them and we became friends. We know that we’re on the same wavelength, we really resonate with each other. Peter Dimitrov (editor’s note: see the previous interview with Peter Dimitrov, here) is a really good example of that, like whenever, whatever it is that he asks me to do, the answer is always yes. Because no matter how busy I am, we have such a positive and hardworking and amazing vibe, it’s a fucking party. I can work 14 hours a day with that guy and still feel like I’m having the time of my life. And ideally you have a similar connection with artists, I think. An artist should want the same thing, you should expect me to really work my ass off for you. And  I really want to want to do that, if that makes sense.

So… I’m sorry this is a very long answer but I have a lot of opinions on this.

MM: No, no, it’s wonderful, it’s wonderful. I hope many many artists will read this, really. And I have one more question. How can people find you? Where to reach you? Do you have a website?

AH: Yeah. I have two actually, it’s https://arlettehovinga.com/ that goes to that http://thatjazzgirl.me, which is my PR website. And I have a book’s website: https://arlettehovinga.eu/. There are not so many Arlette in the jazz industry. I Googled Arlette Jazz a few days ago, out of curiosity, and that’s where I am. But I’m on Instagram and Facebook under Arlette Hovinga as well. I have like pages and stuff… that I try to be active enough on, at least. So I’m fairly easy to find. And I think, like the title of my book, obviously is is much longer than I would have liked, so my hashtag is just #howtobuildetc. But at the same time “how to build relationships in the music industry”. Tinder jokes aside, I get a ton of those. It’s not really that hard to find either.

It’s like a 200 pages book. I interviewed more than 60 people in the music industry in world music and jazz but like… Jimmy Bralower is in it, who was like a force of nature, he made the beats for Madonna’s Like a Virgin, he worked with Duran Duran, he did incredible things in his career. Jason Miles is in it, who co-produced with Miles Davis and Marcus Miller on Tutu and a couple of other albums. So there’s a lot of, like different opinions and insights but, at the end of the day, everybody feels the same way about the way that artists approach them and how you should be visible and how what, like the etiquette in the industry is.

And I think that we don’t talk about that enough. But if we would talk about it more, we would have less desperation among musicians and I think, as professionals, we should want, that because it’s very easy for me to sit here and say “Well, you guys are too negative and you don’t understand how hard it is for us”. That’s not what I’m trying to do. I don’t want to, like, wag my finger and say “I am right and you are wrong”. I think that we should be in this together more and we should, from both sides, be a little bit more mindful of, you know, it’s the music industry, it’s not a picnic and it’s also not a sales business: it’s a people business. And I think that more togetherness and more dialogue and more honesty about what we need as people, but also what we want and who we are, could really go a long way.

MM: So it’s a great present of Christmas and now we are in December, so…

AH: And it’s available everywhere, even on Amazon actually!

MM: Yeah, so I hope everybody who reads this will buy it and give it as a present for his or her favorite musician.

AH: I would love that and then also please tell me how you liked it because I love getting feedback on this stuff.

Thank you very much, Arlette!!!

 


 

TRANSGLOBAL WORLD MUSIC HALL OF FAME
Inductees in 2023

The Transglobal World Music Hall Fame celebrates excellence in the world music field. The Hall of Fame includes three categories and these are the inductees in 2023. 

🔸Artists
Zakir Hussain
Natacha Atlas
Valya Balkanska
Alim Qasimov
Choduraa Tumat

🔸Professional Excellence
Antonovka Records / Anton Apostol
Canary Records / Ian Nagoski
Joaquín Díaz González
Visa for Music

🔸In Memoriam
Shivkumar Sharma
Antonis Dalgas
Víctor Jara
Graciana Silva (La Negra Graciana)
Zilan Tigris

You can check the inductees in 2021 and 2022

+ FESTIVALS AWARD

The Transglobal World Music Chart launched a Festival Awards in 2018. Two editions have already been held: 2018 and 2019. In 2020, the Festival Awards was cancelled due to the pandemic. In November of 2023 it is continued and the application of festivals taking place in 2024 is announced. Check the details, here.


 

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS 


  • #1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in November 2023 is: Koum Tara´s Baraaim El-Louz (Odradek Records)
  • Mundofonías: the three favourites of the month are Al Bilali Soudan’s Babi, Zakir Hussain & Rakesh Chaurasia’s ZaRa and Emilia Lajunen’s Vainaan perua: Satavuotinen sakka

 


Do you have a call of interest for our community that you want to share? Let me know asap


 

OPEN CALLS 

This section is open for news. It is free of charge. You can let me know if you have any open call of relevance to the community.


  • Fira Mediterrània de Manresa
    The call for proposals is open 

It will take place from 10 to 13 of October of 2024. The call for artistic proposals is open until 18th January at 12 am. In the previous edition I talked more about this. And this is the official website for the application.


  • 32 Folkherbst at Malzhaus Plauen
    The call for proposals is open 

“The FolkHerbst is a series of music events, as a result of which the only European folk music award in Germany, the Eiserner Eversteiner, has been awarded since 1992.” 

I received the call from them and I have put the pdf here, where you can download it. I will bring here just some basic infos.

The application is for free. The process to apply consist on sending an email to kultur@malzhaus.de by January 15, 2024, including 3 music pieces (preferably videos in good quality, preferably live), along with a press text and a press photo.

The deadline to aply is 15.01.24. The award ceremony will be on 25.01.25. Check the full schedule in the pdf aforementioned.

The participating artists must have their residence in Europe and must engage with folk music in the broadest sense in their musical performances – everything from traditional to crossover is welcome.


  • Budapest Ritmo
    The call for proposals is open until 5 January 2024

All the details about the application are available here. I will bring here just some details:

  • The showcase will take place on days 11 and 12 of April.
  • The artist who can apply must be regional bands (V4 countries, Western-Balkan countries, Eastern Partnership, Baltics, Hungary’s neighbors, from the world music scene.
  • Ritmo welcomes artists focusing on the international market.
  • To apply, the artist has to provide 3 high resolution, quality photos, 3 mp3 files, video links and technical rider.

 

PROFESSIONAL EVENTS


  • Babel Music XP. Marseille, France. 28-30 March 

The program for 2024 edition is published on the website. The accreditation for delegates is available and the price now is 130 euros. The booking of stands is already available too, from 500 euros.


MY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR

It is inevitable to look back over the year at this time of year. This section is very personal and about me. As we say here, once in a while, it doesn’t hurt.

I am exhausted. This year I have travelled more than ever and I have worked on many things.

From the European Folk Network we developed the first European Folk Day, on 23 September, of which I was part of the core team, with Nod Knowles and Eric Van Monckhoven. We got the support of MusicAIRE to do it. Hundreds of people and organisations participated in one way or another and it was really exciting.

In Czech Music Crossroads Spain has been the guest country and Mapamundi Música has provided three bands (Vigüela, Xurxo Fernandes and Xabi Aburruzaga).

At WOMEX I participated in a panel together with Martyna Van Nieuwland and Andrea Voets, about the “intellectual undermining of women”, as Andrea calls it in a very clarifying way. Honestly, since we started working on it, I understand many situations that have happened in my life in a different way. I don’t know if I am happier or less happy, but I am wiser.

I have accompanied Ali Doğan Gönültaş in a year in which we have achieved fascinating milestones, such as his performances on some of the most relevant stages in Europe and we have produced the album Kiğı in physical format, in two print runs, and I do not rule out having to make a third one. And it won an award from the association of the German record critics!!! In the picture (by Jorge Carmona) he is performing at Fundação Gulbenkian in Lisbon.

And of course, continuing with Mundofonías (thank you, Juan Antonio Vázquez), Transglobal World Music Chart (thanks also to Ángel Romero), all the conversations I’ve shared here in the monthly newsletter, which have broadened my mind…

 


 

WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS 

Mapamundi Música is an agency of management and booking. Learn more here. Check our proposals at our website.

We also offer you our Mundofonías radio show, probably the leader about world music in Spanish language (on 50 stations in 18 countries). We produce the Transglobal World Music Chart with our partner Ángel Romero from WorldMusicCentral.com.

Feel free to request info if you wish. For further information about us, get in touch by email, telephone (+34 676 30 28 82), our website or at our Facebook.

November 23. Talk with Mehdi Aminian (Roots Revival), TWM Hall of Fame, open calls… #65

Summary 👇 

  • Editorial
  • Post-WOMEX Coruña
  • Mapamundi and Medigrecian are hiring
  • Talk with Mehdi Aminian, from Roots Revival
  • Transglobal World Music Hall of Fame: period for nominations, open
  • Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for Ali Doğan Gönültaş
  • Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects 
  • Open call: Fira Mediterrània de Manresa
  • Professional events 💼 
  • Meet me at ✈️ 

➡️ This is the link for subscription


Hello, how are you?

I am well. On this occasion I wanted to open this editorial section with a photo from the dressing room from the Fundação Gulbenkian in Lisbon. There was one huge dressing room for me and one for each of the artists who performed with Ali Doğan Gönültaş there on 5th of November, at the Grand Auditorium, of which the 1203 seats were sold out.I began to write this words from home, in Spain, but soon in flught again, to Berlin, for some meetings, and after I came to Hamburg, where I am now, for the Festival Kurdistan, curated by alba Kultur and, later, to Brussels, for the first concert that I will attend in the theatre managed by Peter Van Rompaey. Here in Hamburg I met Alan Ibrahim, from Music For Identity (check the interview with him, in this previous edition).

Hm, the truth is that I am more than well. A few editions ago I talked about the beginning of Mapamundi Música as a record label. Below I share a news that made me very happy today.

Once again, I write this and think how fortunate it is to have this space in the world, where I can develop something like this letter I am sending you. I don’t mean the physical space. Today’s protagonist is Mehdi Aminian. I share a conversation with him but, previously, another day, we were talking about something like this. I was telling him that people like him and me, who share certain concerns (related to music and everything that goes with it in terms of culture and identity and openness towards others) live in a wonderful bubble. He told me that he thought that we are in reality and the bubble is where those who are not here with us are. At the time, I don’t think we were aware of it, but the idea of a bubble implies fragility.

Somehow, I don’t feel fragility in everything you have down here. The ideas they produce in me are heroism and excellence. I hope you find this content interesting or inspiring.


Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.
Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82 

POST-WOMEX CORUÑA

I am sure there are many chronicles and many mentiones on the social media about WOMEX. For me it was very intense. I started on Tuesday morning with a mentoring session to the new comers from the Canadian delegation, organiced by Global Toronto/Small World Music + the Northern Turtle Island Collective. This activies are always a great way to shape your experiences into something that can be verbalised and be of use to others.

And I already announced before that I would participate in a panel Reshaping the Narrative, together with Andrea Voets and Martyna van Nieuwland. I have put links in their names. Click to learn more about them. The picture is by Eric Van Nieuwland. Since I started working with them in the preparation of the panel, I have gone through some past situations in my life and understood them in a different way. I think some very profound ideas came out, much more than a confrontation between men and women, but an analysis of the impact of an inertia of thinking that we are not very aware of and how it translates into visible and non-visible facts of life.

In Womex I had several conversations and I started some collaborations. You can check the current offers from Mapamundi Música here.

 


WE ARE HIRING

With the agency lead by Alkis Zopoglou, Medigrecian, the collaboration has been going on for several years. Now we joined to search someone to work. The instructions to aply are explained here below.


 

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:
MEHDI AMINIAN, FROM ROOTS REVIVAL

I learnt about Mehdi Aminian and his organization Roots Revival from Birgit Ellinghaus. She told me he was attending WOMEX to present his video about the music that was performed while weaving the Persian carpets in Iran (this is the documentary video) and that I should meet him. The truth is that I couldn’t wait and we had a little online interchange before WOMEX and also after. Mehdi was going to WOMEX to present the documentary there and he would participate in a panel, “Documenting Music Traditions on Film”. This film is just one of the activities developed by him and the organization.

This is how they define themselves:

“Roots Revival is an international and cross-cultural entity which aims to promote the musical heritage from around the globe, to enhance the mobility of artists and intercultural artistic dialogue and to create high quality music content that binds tradition and innovation and with the focus on global contemporary challenges humanity faces.

We provide the basis for an innovative, sustainable, long-term international cooperation incorporating both national and international artists and audiences.”

On the website you have information about the several artistic projects that they have developed during 10 years. I got really impressed from the diversity and the size of the concerts. I really recommend you check the website before reading the interview. You can also check their Youtube channel and select one of the recordings to listen to while reading.

Mapamundi Música: How do you finance your activities? I saw you have some sponsors and I see that the people can send you money, they can donate, so you have more sources of income for Roots Revival. 

Mehdi Aminian: We started 10-12 years ago the idea of Roots Revival without any financing, we were a group of music lovers which we got a small loan for the first event and since then we have gradually developed various ways of financing the projects. Currently our main means of financing are Vienna city and public funds, ticket and album sales, fan donations and crowdfunding campaigns. For example, the financing of this year’s Root Revival series which is focused on the music of Afghanistan is coming from the Basis.Kultur Wien. It is an entity that finances different cultural projects. We applied for a grant and were lucky to be nominated.

For each project we have different sources of financing. We first try to define our projects and then we go see if we can find a way to finance it. Some projects are financed by an external party, like a festival or cultural entity would commission us to develop a project. For example, we had Woven Sounds, for which the musical project was completely covered by Morgenland Festival Osnabrueck and the documentary was financed by the Austrian Accademy of Sciences and by myself.

MM: And, the case of these acts that you make in this theatre in Vienna, let’s say, do they buy you the show?

MA:  Roots Revival series at Odeon Theatre is a collaboration. They don’t buy. They believe in our projects and they offered us the support and symbolically parts of our tickets sales even that we are sold out are insignificant for covering a meaningful part of the costs.

MM: How can the readers support you? What are you searching for that the international community could provide you?

MA: We are setting up membership Patron for people who want to become the members of Roots Revival. People can also always donate on our website or on different platforms. On YouTube people can support us and they can always buy our albums and projects.
If they are professionals, of course, for every musician, the biggest support is to get invited to perform, with different projects.

MM: So, if someone likes what you are saying and likes Roots Revival’s objectives and activities, how can they identify what they could buy from you? I mean, if, for instance, they want to book a show from you. Because in the website you have many things, you have many artists. Is there any list of shows that you could offer to them that are already done?

MA: Yeah, of course. There are several active projects which people can check on our website and on our YouTube channel. I would like to mention a policy we have which is that we put everything for free for our audience online on YouTube. We put all the concerts which the productions are very time intensive and costly. This was our policy even before monetization was popular. I’m talking about 10 years ago. That was our policy and, back then, it was very rare that people put the whole concert in a good production online for free. So, people always can watch and we, to be honest, we do not really believe it should be such exchange that if we give people something, they have to pay us back. We believe this is our mission and we find pleasure in our creations. And if anyone wants to support, they find their ways to support. I think it’s a primary human need to feel what one does is appreciated, and appreciation can come in different forms; some express it by kind words, some by feedbacks, and some by financial supports.

“Our main vision is to represent underrepresented musical cultures and we work with the artists that are the connection between the traditions that we don’t have access to as non-natives to those cultures.”

Our main vision is to represent underrepresented musical cultures and we work with the artists that are the connection between the traditions that we don’t have access to as non-natives to those cultures. We search for artists that are functioning as bridges to these underrepresented musical cultures. For example, you have Ali (added in edition: he refers to Ali Doğan Gönültaş). Ali is a great example; he is a connection with the Kurdish Alevi. He’s a young musician, he understands he can bring to the wider audience what is not accessible to them and that’s what we need in Roots Revival. We always find and look for people who we can work with and collaborate. Sometimes we might not be able to collaborate, but we can represent their works. So, this is the summary of what we do.

MM: Which are your main challenges? For what you say, one may be to find the financing for making each project. Any other?

MA: Time. Time is, I think, the biggest challenge. I’m the father of two daughters and that’s my full-time job, next to my other full-time job in academia at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. I’m also working on my PhD next to the creative parts of music and films and the less creative parts of running Roots Revival. Also whenever the opportunity arises I write music and also if I am lucky to get invited to other projects.
But at the same time, these challenges can be advantages. Of course, there are difficulties, everything and every situation has its unique challenges and one needs to first survive the crucial challenges and then struggle to transform them into the fuel for life and creation.

MM: With this current situation in the world, I mean with all these wars and conflicts… haven’t you found that there is, in the society, any bigger complication or a bigger understanding or bigger misunderstanding or somehow? Because Roots Revival has been working officially for 10 years. Have you seen any evolution from the society towards all this you do? Because many things are coming from a Middle East cultures and there are so many a complications there… How have you seen the reaction of the society in Austria related to all this? Have you felt any changes?

MA: What we do has several dimensions and I realized this in time. Roots Revival started only based on my curiosity to know about the other cultures. I was curious and I wanted to have access and I invited and tried many things to learn, study and work with other musicians. But in time, working with so many cultures and musicians, I realized that what we want to do is to find a genuine way of communicating between different musical cultures to find common elements. And the more we go into our path, it becomes clearer for me that genuine creations function as a shortcut to understanding for the audience. It is an unconscious process of realization.

The other aspect is for the artists: if we give them time and space and the specific attention every artist needs, they really can absorb and understand the other cultures they are working with and through that, they understand their own cultures, as if it functions like a mirror.

The third aspect is about the native audiences to the cultures we work with. Let’s imagine the Afghan audience for the year of Afghanistan. The usual way of multicultural projects are that they focus on bringing the projects to the suburbs or certain neighbourhoods where the immigrants are expected to be present. But what we believe and work towards is to provide access for the less represented sections of a society to the main cultural scenes and venues which are usually very centralized in Austrian spheres. In fact one of the reasons we set our mission to work on the underrepresented musical cultures like Anatolia or Afghanistan is that these beautiful and rich cultures are associated with large underrepresented populations in Europe. I think I even forgot what was your question!

MM: The question was if you have felt any evolution in the society in Austria during these 10 years because many things have happened. Specifically now the world is like in flame, is like a terrible moment. Some things has happened also in Iran yeah of course.

MA: That unconscious process of realization that is a shortcut to understanding, that’s what I am very interested in. I believe we have reached out to some of the audience in Austria and we are building our own ways of communication with the them and slowly, slowly, I have a feeling that our works find their ways and people understand actually what we want to communicate. Of course, this unconscious process of realization applies to us as the creators too.

The important element is that we give our projects time and space. It’s not like one day, two days, rehearsal quickly and put something together. It’s a three month, at least, of exchange between musicians who, in the first glance, don’t have anything in common with each other. But they try to find. So a musician from North Afghanistan from the mountains of Badakhshan comes and stays in touch with a renowned jazz musician from Vienna, a pianist. And they can have a good dialogue and communication even if they are coming from different cultures, completely far away. Both musically and culturally this is one aspect of the impact, and we want to do that and reach out. This reaching out to other culture in our times should become universal. It’s about understanding the others deeply and try to make a meaningful conversation and not to stay in your own bubble forever and just to see which are the differences between you and the other. Maybe seeing the other as the threat has been once a survival behaviour for us in the history, but we live in times where technically it is possible for the whole population of the planet to live in peace and prosperity. We need to get rid of this scepticism about the others as in our times it just brings destructions, not only to the others but to ourselves. Everyone shall find a way to contribute to this vital cause and we believe what we do in Roots Revival is our way to strive towards it.

MM: Related to what you were talking before, my next question was after these 10 years. Which do you think that has been your impact? 

MA: Well, I think I’m the wrong person to ask that question. I don’t think about what my impact would be. Maybe other people can say.  Maybe some say it is nothing or maybe there are some who would say different.

MM: I think it’s a very good answer, very humble. So what do you want to achieve in the next 10 years?

MA: Everyone has a vision and they want to climb the mountain they see in front of themselves. So I want to continue to learn from the mistakes we have done and to improve, get better, include more people in our team, have more artists to work from different cultures. And I hope I do not loose the curiosity and wanting to learn myself. I think we have a team that that shares this curiosity. They also enjoy and have pleasure in learning. In this process we try to keep things fresh and touching for ourselves and it hopefully results in some other people also to find what we do interesting and inspiring.
At the moment we are doing different activities but we are thinking of getting into teaching and education as well.

MM: And what are your future plans? You have now presented this documentary about the Woven Sounds from Iran. Which is the next culture in danger that you are going to work with?

MA: We have several. We have a team and we are always discussing and brainstorming. We have preferences but also, we have to always look at the possibilities logistically, financially… So we are focusing on a few regions. One is North Africa, maybe focus on Algeria. One is the music of Mongolia… Music of India…Music of Ethiopia…


Before ending this section dedicated to Mehdi and Roots Revival, I’d like to share two pieces of his work. This is a Virtual Rebirth of Roots Revival’s Cancelled Performance at the Morgenland Festival Osnabrück in Germany. All the credits are in the description of Youtube. I find this music and the video extraordinarily beautiful:

And this is the documentary Woven Sounds that I mentioned at the very beginning of this section and of which Mehdi explained that was financed by the Austrian Accademy of Sciences and Mehdi himself:

 

Thank you very much, Mehdi!!!


TRANSGLOBAL WORLD MUSIC HALL OF FAME
Period for nominations, open until 26th November

The Transglobal World Music Hall Fame celebrates excellence in the world music field. The Hall of Fame includes three categories: 

🔸Artists
The Artists category honors solo and ensemble living artists who have achieved lifelong artistic and technical quality or historical significance in the field of world music. (5 annual inductions)

🔸Professional Excellence
Professional Excellence celebrates influential music professionals (not artists) and media individuals and organizations who have provided increased visibility and recognition to world music and its multiple subgenres (3 annual inductions).

🔸In Memoriam
In Memoriam includes posthumous inductions that honor historically inventive and influential artists or industry professionals who passed away in previous years or decades. (5 annual inductions)

Send your proposals, here.


THE NEWS THAT MADE ME HAPPY:
The 1st album by Mapamundi Musica Record Label, Kiğı, by Ali Doğan Gönültaş Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik: Quarterly Best » 4/2023, Traditional Ethnic Music

Ali Doğan Gönültaş self produced his extraordinary album Kiğı in 2022. One year after I started a record label to provide the administrative needs and the manufacturation of the physical CD, in order to create a touchable product that would stay for the future generations.

And now the jurors of the German Record Critics’ Award recognise the production Ali Doğan Gönültaş: Kiğı. Quarterly Critic’s Choice, Category Traditional Ethnic Music.
The best and most interesting new releases of the previous three months are awarded a place on the Quarterly Critic’s Choice. Evaluation criteria are artistic quality, repertoire value, presentation, and sound quality.”

For more info, clic here. And you can listen to the album, here.


 

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS 



  • Mundofonías: the three favourites of the month are O’Tridal’s Triumvirat, Times New Román’s Jól élünk and Los Ruphay’s Kimsa pachanaka / The three seasons of the Andes

OPEN CALLS

Perhaps there are more. There are probably more and I haven’t heard about it. This section is open for news. It is free of charge. You can let me know if you have any open call of relevance to the community.


The motto of the 27th edition of the Fira Mediterrània is Roots & Live arts. It will take place from 10 to 13 of October of 2024. The call for artistic proposals is open until 18th January at 12 am. The artistic director of this edition, like in the previous five years, will be again Jordi Fosas, who renewed the position for three years more, with the possibility of a extension of two more.

The Fira combines professional activities with others open to the public. It normally pays a fee to the artists, which is negotiated taking into account this framework, where the presence of potential customers is guaranteed.

If you want to submit a proposal, it is important to take the key elements into account. In my experiences, this is really critic. Consider whether your proposal fits any of these keys. This year they are:
🔸Perspectives: proposals from artists who do not usually work with roots and are offering their specific perspective on popular and traditional culture.
🔸Young people: proposals from emerging artists who have already focused their creative output based on traditional roots.
🔸The present: proposals that emphasis a creative root that does not exist externally to the reality around us and that, through the language of roots and popular and traditional culture, can speak to us and reflect on what is transpiring in society today.

 


 

PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

Normally October is full of events, but now November and even December also host a busy international agenda. I will mention some events in which I won’t participate but that are relevant.

Perhaps it is that I get more information with the time, but it seems that the number of events like these are increasing. I talk about showcase events with some more activities, like mentoring sessions or conferences. It is great for the countries or regions that can do it. And at the same time, I feel it contributes to increase the gap with the ones who cannot do it (that can be for many reasons, not only finantial).


This is the second edition of this professional event that includes showcases and conferences. i attended in 2022. We could attend around 20 concerts of artists mainly from the region of Campania, from different styles and in different stages of development. It was very interesting. I saw there Ars Nova Napoli, for instance, who I booked later for 2023. I can’t attend this year because it is at the exact same dates as the next event.


I will attend for the second time. The first time it was in 2021. I knew about this conference because Hudaki Village Band, the Ukrainian band with which I have collaborated for years, were invited to perform there.

The near conclusion of the MOST Balkan Music project, which I have talked about on many occasions before (for instance, in this interview), coincides with the 10th edition of the PIN Conference, taking place in Skopje from November 30th to December 2nd. The lineup includes some of the artists who have participated in MOST, such as the Upbeat Best New Talent Award winner, Zarina Prvasevda.

I, for sure like those directly involved, have wondered about the lasting legacy of this ambitious 4-year project with four pillars that has involved many Balkan countries that has been MOST Balkan. It’s too early to tell, but for now, it seems that the professional network among them and with agents from other European regions has strengthened. I hope it leads to a permanent facilitation of access for artists from that region to the international circuit and the dissemination of their work among the public and, in short, an improvement in the working and living conditions of artists and the cultural fabric.

This is from the website of PIN:

“PIN is the first and only international music conference and showcase festival in Macedonia.
Since its first edition in 2012 the conference is organized by the Association of culture and arts “TAKSIRAT” and as a part of the renowned Taksirat Festival  – member of Yourope and ETEP.
Inspired by the community-building aspects of such events, PIN is a standing out project of “Taksirat” in which we fully and solely invest our capacities and connections in the industry all around Europe. Our goal is to enrich the local music sector by bringing the diversity of best practices, up-to-date knowledge and people who will be part of this development in Macedonia and the Balkan region.”


  • Visa For Music. Rabat, Morocco. 22-25 November. Plus 40th General Assembly of the International Music Council

I already talked about this event in the previous edition. Also, it was mentioned in the conversation with Said Chaouch. This year, the box office income will be donated to special funds to support earthquake relief efforts. This will be the 10th edition of the event. Learn more on their website.

In adition, 40th IMC General Assembly of the International Music Council will take place in Rabat during the Visa and they have some shared activites. The website of the Assembly is this.

I’d love to attend this edition of Visa and the Assembly but it is too much. On day 22nd I will be in Brussels in Muziekpublique.


I will attend this event for the first time. The program is not announced yet. They explain on the website that: “The event primarily aims at the future involvement of Cypriot artists in international festivals and overseas organisations, thus creating a platform for exchanging artists’ experience and practice on an international level.”

In a future edition I will talk about this experience.


There is an event that would be happening now and will not take place. It’s the showcase in Israel. I hadn’t planned on going this year, but I’ve attended three times in previous editions. I can imagine the horror, frustration, and sense of helplessness that the people I’ve met there, who work organizing this event, must be feeling. Also, of course, I can imagine the horror of those who suffer from the conflict on the other side. Well, I guess I can’t fully imagine it. Fortunately, my life has never had the terror that is part of their daily lives. It’s been more than a month of destruction. When will it end?

 


 

MEET ME AT

If you happen to attend these events, drop me a line. If you are not, they can be interesting for you too in any case.

 

October 23. Talk with Said Chaouch (Worldmusic Oasis), presenting a new program in Madrid, open calls… #64

Summary 👇

Editorial


Introducing Madrid World Music (MWM), a new concert series, by Madresierra


About Visa for Music


Talk with Said Chaouch, from Worldmusic Oasis in Gothenburg


Upbeat Platform: Best New Talent Award For Zarina Prvasevda


Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects 


Open calls and more news from professional events 💼 

Meet me at ✈️ 

➡️ This is the link for subscription

 

Hello, how are you?

I am well. On this occasion I wanted to open this editorial section with a photo not only of me, but of this artistic team that has worked on one of my milestones of the year, the show Beyond Al-Andalus, for which I have collaborated with Birgit Ellinghaus, from alba Kultur. She is in charge of several concerts each season in the Mozart Hall of the Alte Oper Frankfurt.

The artists have been Vigüela (old friends, you probably already know), the sister duo from León Tsacianiegas and the charming Galician singer and tambourine player Tania Caamaño. Each time something like this happens I feel that magic has been created, that the stars have aligned, that providence has seen fit to give me this unforgettable moment. On the other hand, as the world goes, it seems that this is a delicate marvel that could break at any moment.

Honestly, I am in one of those very stressful moments, I hope you will forgive me if there are any typos. I am writing this the day before I travel again, to Manchester this time, to the annual meeting of the European Folk Network, at the same time as for English Folk Expo. Back on Saturday night and early Tuesday morning, flying again, to Coruña. I have the honor of being called to mentor some delegates (by the way, this is starting to be more or less usual and I am open to requests of mentoring) and I love it but I’ll have to get up at 3am…. As my father would say, may all sorrows be like that. Totally agree.

I hope this content is of interest to you. I have enjoyed it very much. The conversation with Said was great. And to be able to announce that in my land there is a new world music programming initiative is a great joy. You will see it below and they are open to proposals. Thank you for your attention.

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.
Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82 

 

INTRODUCING MADRID WORLD MUSIC (MWM), A NEW CONCERT SERIES, BY MADRESIERRA

A couple of weeks ago I saw on Instagram that Huun-Huur-Tu were coming to Madrid. It was announced by Madresierra‘s profile, whose slogans in the Bio are “💫 Cultural promoter of exclusive sounds 💫 🥁 World Music Movement 🌍”.

I didn’t know about this initiative so I inquired and saw that my friend Patricia Alvarez, dancer, researcher and creator, had them in her circle of contacts. She put me in the background and I got in touch. I asked Juan Cobo for a statement to present his initiative. And here they are. Obviously, I was very happy to learn about this new initiative in Madrid and I hope it goes very well and that they can establish themselves strongly.

They are open to proposals so, if you have something for them, contact them on their Instagram. I leave you with Juan’s words:

“I am Juan Cobo, creator of Madresierra, a Spanish cultural promoter of exclusive sounds. We present Madrid World Music (MWM), a cycle that aims to bring to Madrid (Spain) root music, ethnic music, music from any corner of the planet that has emerged from the earth itself. A place for the restless spectator, who wants to feed his soul and intends to discover other sound and cultural worlds.

MWM only has a start date, not an end date, nor intermediate dates. We are collecting proposals, and when they touch our hearts, we look for the best way to program them. Likewise, it will be itinerant, since depending on the type of artist, the space will be one or another: concert hall, theater, auditorium, non-conventional spaces…

We know that it is a difficult job, since in our country it is difficult to spread this kind of sounds, but we also know that there is a huge minority of people who love this kind of music. We see it as an opportunity to attract a type of public that, in our opinion, is becoming orphaned of “ethnic” spaces. Festivals like Etnosur, Pirineos Sur or La Mar de Músicas, which were born with this “label”, are turning to a more commercial programming, without so much exclusivity, since they repeat names that are already in other Spanish “multi-style” festivals.

We will cover this target and we are waiting for your proposals!”


VISA FOR MUSIC WILL TAKE PLACE: RABAT 22-25 NOVEMBER

When we knew about the earthquake in the Atlas mountains and it’s effect in cities like Marrakech, I though Visa for Music might be cancelled but no: not only is it not cancelled, but also, the box office income will be donated to special funds to support earthquake relief efforts.

This will be the 10th edition of the event. Learn more on their website.


 

– MEET ME IN BRUSSELS –

While I was writitting this, I received an email that made me very happy, with this drawing of Ali Doğan Gönültaş’s in for the banner for Muziekpublique. This is the reason why I can’t attend Visa for Music. On day 22nd I will be in Brussels for the premiere in Belgium of Ali Doğan Gönültaş. Here you have all the details. It will be at the Théâtre Molière, managed by Muziekpublique, the organization of Peter Van Rompaey, a lantern of culture in Europe. I made a long interview with Peter, that you can read in this previous edition. This concert is part of the tour Klangkosmos, produced by alba Kultur, lead by Birgit Ellinghaus, another landmark for our community, who has been mentioned often here. For instance, here you are an interview with her.

 

 


AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:

SAID CHAOUCH, FROM WORLDMUSIC OASIS

Said will attend Visa for Music. He told me that this is the reason why he won’t come to WOMEX this year. He explained to me about the meaning of this kind of events, like Visa for Music, for him. Below you can read about it.

I took this so nice portrait of Said from the page About us, from www.worldmusicoasis.com. I think I may have crossed paths with Said at a Womex but we never spoke in person until a few days ago. I think that in this photo, the photographer has captured the warmth that I have felt in Said in the long conversation we had through the screen. That’s why I have chosen it to open this interview.

When we spoke to make the appointment, he told me that he was finishing a job. It’s about the book of which you have the cover here below. He was going on a trip soon and we would talk when he returned. The purpose of the book is to explain the concept or term “world music” from his own experience. He explains that “The term has been subject of criticism since it have been created. What is world music, how to define the term, why people dislike the term.” In the book, he is trying answer those questions through interviews with 50 music experts, journalists, producers, etc… and telling the story about how he started a music store in Sweden. The book will be published and available on his website soon. I will send news about it when it is already available.

Here below you will learn the steps that made he set the store Worldmusic Oasis, and many other interesting facts.


Mapamundi Música: You founded Worldmusic Oasis, a shop in Gothenburg, to sell world music mainly, you sell also jazz and other styles… but what led you to establish the store? Why did you start this?

Said Chaouch:  This is an interesting question. In my book, which hopefully will come soon – but this book is not to sell, it is book just for friends and the people who like music – there I explain a little bit more how when I moved from France. I was living in Paris before, and I was playing in France as musician street. Just as a hobby, you know. I´m born as a painter and studied painting, not as a musician but both go into each other. I´have been playing music for fan but don’t want to call myself a musician.

Akli D comes from the same area in Algeria. We lived not far from each other. He did play music already in Algeria before he left to France in the beginning of the 80s. We meet often in Paris outside Centre Georges Pompidou where we shared the place and played for fun for tourists. Akli didn’t have a band at that time, he was just playing with his guitar. We were many sharing the place and the streets in Saint Michel. I left him in Paris where he succeeded with his career and met 20 years later in a concert in Paris. He recognized me.

Manu Chao helped, Akli, like he did with Amadou and Marian, at the same time. He made a big success, he was everywhere, but was really a short time. He made and international career and I moved to Sweden because, at the time, I have met a girlfriend in Sweden. That’s reason I moved to Sweden.

MM: The usual reason to move, hehe.

SC: But then, the problem was that when you arrived in Sweden it was not like if you move from Paris to Madrid or to Milano or to Athena. Sweden was special that time. There were not many foreigners. Now it’s something else. But at that time, it was a cold, quiet, calm country… So, I thought “Here, I can’t stay”. And at the same I had my girlfriend; I had moved for her. So, I had to find something to compensate. So, at that time, 1985 it was that time when the word music had start in France: between 1983 until 1987 it’s that time where there were many many artists playing in France. So, the world music had started exactly that period when I left. So, Sweden was for me really empty. I had to find a compensation in Sweden. I am musician and if I went to a shop to buy a North African record or a Latin record, they were not. Even in the three big stores in Sweden, in the three biggest ones, you could find, maybe, in the world music section, maybe 10 records and that 10 records were traditional drums records. It was empty, there was nothing.

So, each time went to Paris there were friends who told me “Please, Said, can you bring for me Franco’s album? Can you take me…?” You know, so each time I went to Paris I returned with a bag of 50 CDs. So, I thought there was a market in Sweden. And I had to find something both to get money and to get back to me the atmosphere that I had in France and that I was missing. It was for me as oxygen. I need it. It was not for the money. I needed to get this people around me.  That is how I started the store. And the store was really unique, except one which had opened a few years before me in Stockholm called Multi Kulti, but now they don’t exist anymore. But after them, mine was the second biggest store in…, not only Sweden, maybe in whole Scandinavia, even from Norway, Denmark and Finland.  My specialty was world music. And it was the people who gave it’s the name. They said it was an oasis of world music, which was true. So the name is really meaningful.

Important – I would never have been able to have such a long career in music without the enormous work of my wife Eva, who encouraged me to open the store and who supported me in the shadows during all these years while working as much as me in addition to her full-time job.

You may feel like reading on while listening to the aforementioned Akli D:

MM: Where were you born?

SC: I was born in Algeria and I have grown in Algeria. But after the high school I moved to Paris. I moved to study painting. I have made many exhibitions. My career should have been more of a painter than a musician but it was difficult. It was difficult for a foreigner to get a job, as a painter or as an artist, it was difficult to survive. So I had to leave it on the side and continue with music. And it worked well, especially at the beginning with the store, because it was needed. It was an empty market in Sweden. At that time, there were people maybe from 100 nationalities who came to the store: people from Namibia… There were two persons from… let’s say, from India living here. They spoke to each other. At that time there was no WhatsApp, there was no Facebook… The people told to each other about the shop in Gothenburg where you could find music from Sri Lanka or music from Sudan or music from Somalia… The news spread really quickly.

MM: So you had those two objectives when you made the shop, the make your living, to get income, and also to fulfil this gap that you were feeling. And it run well between the people. You didn’t need to make advertisements or nothing…

SC: No, no, no, that time there was no Facebook no WhatsApp. But the information spread really quickly. People talked on the telephone. And they called me on the phone. It was fun but it was also too much work, because I learnt about the artists from the people, from the customers who came to buy. Let’s say there was someone from India who came to the store and asked about about Zakir Hussein. At that time, I didn’t know about Zakir. So I learned all the artists through the customers who had come and asked me about their musicians. There was not a book where to read about all the artists.

MM: What is the situation right now about this? Because it’s totally different. Now everybody’s on the internet.

SC: Exactly. That is one of the reason why I am writing in this book I talked about before. 10 years ago, when the CDs began to disappear, when it came the crisis with the CDs, it was really difficult: I found myself with a stock of CDs. All my economy, all that I have got under 20 years buying records, I found that I can’t sell them anymore. So it affected me really too much. And it was before Covid. But at the same time I lucky because the vinyl came back.  It made a compensation for the CDs. The price of the vinyls is high, so all the vinyls I had allowed me to continue.

And at the same time what have helped me is that, thanks to the contacts I made through the records, I began to book artists. At that time, around 1995, I was maybe the only one in Sweden who had the telephone number to call the African artists. There was no Internet, and I had the contact of most of the African and Arab artists in France through the records companies I bought records from. And the records companies, each time I went to France to buy records, asked me if I can book their artist in Sweden. That’s how I booked Papa Wemba. That’s how I book him the first time he came to Sweden. Or Tinariwen, with whom I have good contact, I was the first who booked them in Gothenburg. Or Orquestra National de Barbes. So when the crisis of CDs came, I compensated it with clubs, I have different music clubs, and booking artists. I compensated it with clubs, opening different music clubs, booking artists, DJing and giving lectures about world music.

And then the Covid, of course, came and destroyed everything again. There were no concerts, I could not sell records… It was a really tough period where I thought it was not possible to continue to pay the rent for a big local… At that time, I started to think to make the website. Until that time, I have thought about website because it was for me enough to sell for the people here and I didn’t need to sell for the people outside Sweden. Already the market in Sweden was already enough. But when the crisis came, I thought now it’s the new world we are living in, so we have to make now good website and try to get more contact with the world.

In addition to ordering records, the Worldmusic Oasis website has a lot of interesting content. For example, the summary of Said’s presentation about world music, which you can read here.

MM: So you make also bookings… So you have all these different lines of activity with music but why do you have this engagement with music? You say you were a musician yourself when you were in Paris. But your path was going to be a painter, not a musician. But what is your relationship with music? Because at the end all your life has been devoted to music. How did this start in your life? Were your parents musicians or did you study music in Algeria?

SC: About the painting, when I was in school, at six or seven years, I was already the best in painting. That was already in my heart, in my mind. But you know, I have grown in a country where the artists don’t have a high value so I was a good artist but I knew that I couldn’t make the living as an artist because I can make an exhibition and people come, they can write good review, “oh, you are wonderful” and that’s all. So I came to France to continue study painting in the University. It didn’t work as planned for different reasons. I worked in small jobs and left behind the studies.

But in France I started to play music for fun, not professional, just in the weekend to meet friends. And then I moved to Sweden and I was missing the world music. When you have grown listening to listen African music, Arabic music and you find yourself with nothing…  I am a social person. I have grown up in society where there are 100 persons around me. So to find yourself just with your love, in a small apartment… It’s it was not enough for me. In Sweden that time you had to choose to work in Volvo and I was not made for Volvo, you know, I am and artist. And the world music has given me the chance to travel all around. I have been everywhere in the world, I have met people and that’s for me… it’s not the money, you know.

Maybe if you compare all that money I have spent on this, maybe I could have six big houses but it’s not that what I was looking for.”

There is someone who writes in a newspaper here in Sweden and said when Said’s career is finished, he will not be rich in money but his career is full of meetings, of all these people I have met, all these artists I have met, I have a book, I have spent the time. For me that is the sense of the life. It’s not to get a big house, you know. Maybe if you compare all that money I have spent on this, maybe I could have six big houses but it’s not that what I was looking for.

MM: No, no, of course, you need to make meaningful things for you and also for the world, I think. Your passing through the Earth must make something, not just being one part of the chain. I feel very similar, not with the recordings, but with the booking and management of artists so I feel very identified with all this you are explaining about traveling in the world for music. Yeah, I understand you.
I wanted to ask you, you are advisor for several organizations that make concerts there. When you book or advice about an artist, which could be the characteristics that the artist will have for being interesting for you?

SC: There is a hard competitions today for artists. My personal advice for an artist is to find a new music concept and:
•    Forget the boring artists’ standard
•    Mix your music with other genres, like that you can hear everywhere in the planet.
•    Make your music universal
•    Find your own look to attract curiousity
•    use Youtube
•    Invest to participate into music markets
•    Keep a good relations with promotors
•    Don’t give up

I work with different venues in Gothenburg, with Norway too, with Oslo I have a good collaboration. Each time they bring an artist to Oslo they send it to me to Gothenburg. We have four venues in Gothenburg. So when I find an interesting artist, I contact the venues. Sometimes, if it’s empty, I mean, it’s not booked already… To compare with my friend in Oslo, they have their own venue but I collaborate with different venues. But as I have said, if I have to give advice of what artist was working well, let’s say we have two different category of artist: you have artists like Fatoumata Diawara, Amadou and Marian, Salif Keita, it is something else. Those artists cost a lot and you need big budget. So for a small booker it’s a little bit difficult, especially now. With these big artists you have to be 100 % sure that the money you give for Fatoumata Diawara or Salif Keita, you’ll get it. But at the same time, me personally I have followed Amadou and Marian since 15 years, I’ve see them in their career, but there are today good artists, like Ali (Doğan Gönültaş), Bab L’ Bluz … all these small artists who are making really fantastic work you know… Altin Gun… I have booked Tamikrest the last time… These artists are really good and don’t cost too much and they are interesting.

For me, you know, I get too many emails from different artist, each day we get, sometimes from promoters, sometime from the artists themselves… And we are limited in how much we can book. I mean I can’t book just to satisfy the artist because it must work, of course. So that sometimes can be a bit difficult to explain to the artist that, of course, I like it, you know, but you have to find the right time, the moment, the place…

A good advice for a promotor is to work work work work work work work, I mean, for instance, like Thijs, the promotor of Tamikrest, he is a good promoter, working, sending mail, calling… You have to develop a good contact between promoters as friendly contact, not only business contact. Personal contact really helps a lot.

MM: Especially in this field of music, the world music, I mean, the personal contact is especially important. Because maybe in in pop and rock is not.

SC: No, no, no, that is different because in the pop the work is already done. But for the world music… Ali, a good artist, very known in Turkey but not too many people know him in Europe, so if you just send an email about Ali, it’s not enough. But when you get the contact, I mean, you trust the promoter, I became more curious with Ali now. That is the way to get a good contact for both, for the artist, for the promoter… Sometimes to be honest you don’t have the time to read all the mail.

MM: I understand, it happens to me in the other side, I am contacted by many artist who want to me to be their manager…

SC: That’s why I like Visa for Music, which I have helped a lot from Sweden to promote it, because there you come closer to the artists, really closer, as friends, and even promoters. You come really close. You go to take a cup of coffee with the promoter, you speak, you get more information from promoter around the cup of coffee… It’s more than just to send an mail for thousands of persons.

Let’s listen to Tamikrest and send a greeting to Thijs Vandewalle:

MM: Which do you think is the future for the recorded music? You explained to me how it was with the CDs, after CDs went down, vynils came super strong and so… What is going to be the future of recording music? Do you think there will still be needed physical editions or will they disappear?

SC: I think it will disappear, honestly. Now, for the record labels, it is good to produce vinyl. Everybody want to have the vinyl but nobody listen. They have it as a decoration at home. And the price of a normal vinyl is 30 euro. But the young people won’t buy them. This period of the vinyl will take maybe 5 or 10 years but it will not survive, because now the people need to listen quickly they, to find quickly and everything go fast today.

MM: I wanted to tell you something that I learned yesterday. A journalist here from Spain explained to us something that can give you a hope about the physical editions. There is an online distributor here in Spain called Altafonte. They are distributors not only for Spanish artists also for American artists, but they are working internationally. And recently they decided to remove the accounts, first for the artists in the Spotify who had less than 500 listeners every month, and after, less than 1000. So you are in the hands of this third part, the distributor, and you are not independent, you depend totally on this third part for your distribution of your music. So maybe this is a risk that the artist have to face. They have to understand that this can happen at any moment. Spotify or any of the others can change their criteria or your digital distributor in which you delegated your distribution, can change the rules and can say “okay, I delete your account, or you have to pay me X amount or whatever…” and they don’t own the channel. So they are in the risk of losing all their distribution. Maybe this will start to happen more often.

This I am talking about, Altafonte, is a Spanish distributor, founded in Spain, but they are working not only for Spain, they work for all the world, they are a digital distributor who puts the music of the artists in the several platforms. Ad they decided that they are not going to support little artists. They will remove them from the platforms because it doesn’t return money, even when the cost is very little because it is only administrative work, but it is not worthy for them to deal with the administration of having very little accounts of a musicians.

I wanted to tell you because they don’t get money from very little artists who have very few listeners, but they have to work in the administration, making reports and these kinds of things. So they deleted them.

SC: But they have to understand that each artist needs a time to be known, to get more people.  If you take for instance Altin Gun, from Turkey, no one knew them at the beginning. So the distributor has to support them. To this is not Rolling Stones what you are distributing, let’s say, it is not Manu Chao.

MM: Yes, but these digital distributors, these companies who are making this, they have thousands of artists. There is not an editorial line that they support, no. They just give the service, they put your music in Spotify and in other platforms and they have thousands of artists. So if you are one of those artists, they are not going to push you because they have thousands. If you don’t have enough return, they remove you. There is no editorial or promotional intention in these companies.

SC: That’s the monopole of the Big Industry who decides now who can be good or not good, you know. That’s why when I have been to Visa for Music, there I have met really young people, new people, good artists who need support. That’s why one of my goals working with world music is to try how to help these good artists who haven’t money. I mean, you can come to WOMEX, but which artists have enough money to come to WOMEX? So if at some time I have to make speech at WOMEX I have to say that WOMEX needs to help, to try to make small WOMEX in India one time, like they are doing with WOMAD, you know WOMAD is changing the place. So we have to do the same with WOMEX, to get little bit chance for people in Sri Lanka, in Vietnam… to be known. So that is the big challenge for the future. It’s not having Salif turning 60 years. I mean, I am happy that he still works but… you understand what I mean, you know.

One of my goals working with world music is to try how to help these good artists who haven’t money […] to get little bit chance for people in Sri Lanka, in Vietnam… to be known. So that is the big challenge for the future.”

The problem with visas appeared in the conversation with Said. It is a tragedy indeed. This topic was recently discussed at the MaMA event, with Cécile Héraudeau and Sébastien Laussel, from Zone Franche. All the details are here.

And this is a part of the presentation text: “Artists from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso without visas: an exceptional situation or a systemic problem? The instruction issued by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs on Tuesday 12 September informing of the decision “to suspend, until further notice, all cooperation with the following countries: Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso” and urging cultural actors to do likewise, “as France will no longer issue visas to nationals of these three countries without exception”, led to unanimous reactions throughout the cultural sector.”

MM: Yes, Said… This that you are talking about now is a big concern I am having recently, especially when I started to work with Ali but not only. The last times I’ve have been interviewing people from more complicated countries like Lebanon for instance, or Imed Alibi from Tunisia. And well this the people I talk with, of course, they are inside the industry, let’s say. But I think about so many artists that are excluded from this. You say “how are they going to come to WOMEX? They don’t have money to fly, of course, of course. But even, more basically, many artists they are out from the circuit of even knowing what WOMEX is. And they are there, and they are making wonderful things but they are not in the industry. The industry is totally looking to other side. And there is the other world that we don’t imagine, out from the industry. And me, Mapamundi is me. With Juan Antonio we make Mundofonías. But we are so little… And you are also you one person fighting all your life against all those crises. So what are we going to do to, somehow, try to amend this? Because there are so many artists totally excluded. They won’t even apply for WOMEX. What can we do?

SC: Your initiative to contact me is itself a great idea to cooperate in the future. Yes, I’m someone with long experience in the world music, working without a big publicity about me. You found me because you are curious about music and musicians. Each person, artist, have something to give. Never underestimate people. The people should learn to take intitiative like you, so that together we can get through the monoply of the music industry. Your contact made me very happy. I said to myself, here’s someone who understood what is going on. Together we can do a lot for the musicians and for the world in general. Music bring peace, help poverty and create jobs. We talk always about the new releases, the music charts, concerts, festivals but never how complicated it is the situation of artists. The visa problem, the war in Niger, sub-Saharan refugees. The problem of today is that we don’t know each other well as promoters or music experts, except by Facebook or Instagram or when we meet it is always in hurry somewhere in some exhibitions changing visit card witch we don’t know from where it comes. We need to come closer.

But we have to meet to speak about these problems. Because no one speaks about these problems. You go to WOMEX, you have artists performing, people they come, they sign a contract and that’s it. But all the work behind, like we have said, all the small artists who need to come, all the small promoters… I was on the way to go to Bangladesh but their Festival is cancel… I was very interested in going to Bangladesh to discover musicians there which I know they can do much in Europe when the people discovered them and at the same time you help these artists. I mean we can’t only think about the money, we have to think to find the better way than just to meet five minutes, interchange visit cards quickly. From Sweden I have tried to help Visa for Music because I know there are poor artists who are coming there and who are good. And through Visa for Music, many artists have succeeded, gnawa groups are touring now in the world, you have Bab L’ Bluz, you have really many artists who have been discovered through this small festival.

For us, small promoter and small artists, we need each other and to be closer and again, this contact can by the chance for the artist. It’s not a favour you make for the friend, no, it’s not that concept. I mean if Ali come to Stockholm I will try because he’s a good artist. I believe that people need to discover these artists. So of course, I do my best to help the artist best and the audience, because I know the audience trust me. When I bring an artist they know that Said brings something good.

For us, small promoter and small artists, we need each other and to be closer and again, this contact can by the chance for the artist. It’s not a favour you make for the friend.”

MM: It’s a great idea to talk between us about these things because, as you said, WOMEX is a is a business and I understand we can’t ask them to resolve this situation because it is a private company. They also have to fight for their salaries, they have to make their work and they have to have profit. So all this conversation of the last minutes is something parallel to the industry and how to include these people. For me, the important is that these people in those countries get a better living and that their art is not lost and is known in the rest of the world. Because it makes me so happy when I listen wonderful things. For instance I have tried to bring an Albanian band to Western Europe. The musicians that are wonderful but they don’t speak English. The flights are super complicated and they have to go by road to Tirana… So it’s so complicated for someone like me. I have to convince someone to give me 10,000 euros for bringing them to Spain or to Portugal. And sometimes who has that money doesn’t have that sensitivity to realise this is worth of it. So this is the fight I have inside me, how to make this, because these people are over there and the rest of the world is losing their art, we are not enjoying that and, also, the people in those countries, with the time they will just do other things. If they can’t make a good living in their life with music they will just quit music, they will do other things and we all will lose this. So I’m very concerned about this.

SC: There is something too which we have think about, there is a second problem with visas, you know. It makes me sick because I have direct contact with artists. Now from Niger, the last time they haven’t come, even Tinariwen, you know, they are big. They have cancelled the tours of the last year. I have been with Tinariwen in their home in Sahara, they are not interested in living in Paris or in New York, you know. They are not. They are making their job and they return. There are big artists like Fatoumata Diawara and Amadou and Marian, they have to unite and to speak about these problems, to put pressure on the government. The artists together they can make too much pressure on the government. Like in the 80s, there was a big gala of solidarity for the people in Ethiopia.Now there are too many things happening with all these refugees in Mali, in Niger… you know. I mean, who can speak about them. if they are not the artists? Some artists don’t even get visa, even if there is a promoter to pay everything. Me and you, of course, together with the artists, with all these people, we can make pressure to the governments. For instance, if you get a card of artist, you have to get visa, there’s no discussion about it. But this solidarity is again needed but no one speaks about it. Maybe if an artist didn’t come, the day after, the newspaper writes that it is because they didn’t get the visa. So, again, we have to together, media, promoters, artists… There is too much work left.

MM: Yes and we have to identify who else has this thinking because maybe not everybody cares about this, yeah.

SC: Exactly, you are right, that’s why we have to make people understand that. We must be united to fight against the monopoly of the big industry, as an exemple, the ones from Spotify. The meetings on WOMEX can’t be just to promote artists and be a meeting place for promoters. There are other problems we need to talk about. It needed more panels and people engaged to raise visa problem.I’d hope there will be more engagement from artists as Youssou Ndour, Salif Keita, Manu Chao, etc… to organize charity concerts, to find a way how to do charity concerts to help people, as it was done before. These artists has a big power to put pressure on government.

MM: Next year WOMEX is in Manchester. For some more people it is a problem because even the Serbians, for instance, need visa for going to United Kingdom. So it could be a good frame to talk about this.

    After this latest reflection, we made some little plans for the future, but the interview hasn’t ended yet –

MM: I wanted to talk with you because I think your example can be very inspiring, you have a broad vision of what has happen and I wanted, before ending, you to talk a bit about this new book that you have prepared.

SC: To work on it is really interesting. I have always been fascinated about this concept of “world music”, created by English people in 1987. Some people don’t like it because they bring all the music from the world in the same the bag, you know. In France you have the parallel term, that is is “sono mondiale”, created in 1983. At that time, according to the director of the music distribution company Melody, at the beginning of the 1980s, if you went to America to promote an African artist, there were no shops of world music, there were of pop, rock, jazz, classic… So he went to the jazz store and they didn’t want albums of African music together with the others. So, where to find African records in France? In the African small stores, that are selling food, textiles… they know each other and they had some cassettes and CDs.When the producers began to find this music, they got fascinated music and began to promote it but they didn’t have where to put them in the stores. That’s why those English people created the term “world music”, so, when you go to the store and you want to find Salif Keita or Boubacar Traoré or Ali, you go to “world music”.  Many people don’t like the term because they say that those English people put all the world music in the same bag: Latinos, African, Arab, Indian…

 What I have done, better than reading 100 books, is to find that people who created the concept in England in 1987. […] I wanted to know exactly which is the definition from that people who are criticized”

What have I done? I have tried to make a definition of “world music”. Each people have their own definition. The reason to make this book is when I was invited to make a lecture about world music in a school. I thought it would be easy, it could take me five minutes to prepare the lecture. And when I began to read the books, each one has his/her own explanation. So what I have done, better than reading 100 books, is to find that people who created the concept in England in 1987. It was not easy. 27 promotors, journalists and music lovers met in London in a pub and decided to create the term “world music”. I wanted to know exactly which is the definition from that people who are criticized. It was not easy because they are in higher positions and they don’t know me. I sent them emails and they didn’t answer. Thanks to my contacts, like the manager of Tinariwen, I met people like Ben Mandelson, he gave me other contacts… After a few years I have met all that people. Sometimes it took six months before the answer. At the end, it was a long work, I have succeeded in interviewing all these people, asking them how the idea began, what was the purpose and why some people don’t like it.

All this is the book, to say the truth of what is “world music”. You don’t need to buy 100 books; I have made all those interviews and I have made a retrospective of before 1987 how they arrived to “world music”, from the African music of the 50s, how it has grown.Before France, Abidjan was the capital of the world music. And then in the 80s, because of the economic problems in Ivory Coast, all the people moved to Paris: Salif Keita, Mori Kante, Youssou N’Dour, Manu Dibango… all those people moved to Paris at the beginning of the 80s and there they began to produce. The book is not to about my life, it is about this complexity of the term “world music”. You understand this better from someone who have been close than from the books. I’ve got the information direct from the mouth of those people.

Thank you very much, Said!!! 🙏🏻 We look forward to the book launch.

UPBEAT PLATFORM: BEST NEW TALENT AWARD FOR ZARINA PRVASEVDA

I like this news. When I participated as a jury for this award together with Balázs Weyer and Chris Eckman, this Macedonian singer was one of those I supported to pass to the next step. After our judging, a shortlist of 10 finalists was created, which went on to the voting phase by the public. The truth is that there has been an extraordinary level and several other artists would have also been excellent winners. You can consult here the list of those 10 finalists. I hope they have the best of luck in their careers and, for now, congratulations, Zarina

Here is Zarina live with her band:


 

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS 



  • Mundofonías: the three favourites of the month are Aga Khan Master Musicians’s Nowruz, Bolinus brandaris [V.A.] and Eliza Carthy Trio’s  Conversations we’ve had before.

 

Reminder
TALK AT WOMEX: RESHAPING THE NARRATIVE

The complete name of this panel is Reshaping the Narrative – Gender, authority and new approaches to music journalism.
The other ladies are Martyna van Nieuwland and Andrea Voets. Click on their names to read a bio.
It will happen on Thursday 26th of October at 15:15 in Conference Room 2 | Palexco. More details, here.

 


Do you have a call of interest for our community that you want to share? Let me know asap

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

At the moment I have no idea of open calls.

About professional events, as I mentioned above, I will be soon in Manchester for the annual meeting of the European Folk Network. Short summary, from the website: “The Conference programme includes opportunities to hear about the situation for traditional arts in Ukraine from musician and festival promoter Anastasiya Vortyuk, about traditional arts surviving in crisis with the Armagh Rhymers from Northern Ireland, about cultural tourism (who does it benefit?), about Members’ own areas of work in special interest groups (such as artists, storytellers, national organisations and others) – and more opportunities to discuss EFN’s future plans including the European Folk Day project.”

The panel about cultural turism will include my partner Pablo Camino (in the portrait), from Spain is Music, a privileged mind oriented to create personalized experiences with music with roots always present. It will be enlightening.

 


MEET ME AT

If you happen to attend these events, drop me a line. If you are not, they can be interesting for you too in any case. They are special events.


 

WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS 

Mapamundi Música is an agency of management and booking. Learn more here. Check our proposals at our website.

We also offer you our Mundofonías radio show, probably the leader about world music in Spanish language (on 50 stations in 18 countries). We produce the Transglobal World Music Chart with our partner Ángel Romero from WorldMusicCentral.com.

Feel free to request info if you wish. For further information about us, get in touch by email, telephone (+34 676 30 28 82), our website or at our Facebook.

September 23. Talk with Ludovico Esposito (Sud Sonico), after Balkan:MOST, A&A Music Booking, news from Babel Music XP, open calls… #63

Summary 👇 

Editorial


A&A Music Booking, joint venture between Mapamundi Música and Asya Music & Management (Turkey)


Talk with Ludovico Esposito, from the Italian association Sud Sonico


Update about Babel Music XP from its director Olivier Rey


European Folk Day, how it was


Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects


Open calls and more news from professional events 💼


Meet me at ✈️


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Hello, how are you?

I am well. I begin this editorial with a photo of myself and Ludovico Esposito. He is the protagonist of this edition. I met him at Balkan:MOST, but I had previously had my eye on him and contacted him to have a chat there.Some ideas I had seen on his profile on the festival’s intranet had caught my attention: “Ludovico uses music as a medium for recreational, educational, tourism, and humanitarian-environmental purposes, producing concerts, festivals, capacity-building programs, and fundraising events in support of devastated geographical areas“. In recent times I have been reflecting a lot on questions concerning the use of music (and also the use of the musicians). Also on other issues that I am recurrently mentioning here, such as the exclusion from the world music industry of many artists who make “world music”, caused by several issues. I will not dwell on this now.

But related to this issues, at Balkan:MOST I also met Amita Vempati, development manager of the organisation Artistic Freedom Initiative, which is dedicated to creating the conditions for artists who are unable to develop their work in their countries because they are experiencing censorship, persecution, forced displacement, armed conflict or humanitarian crisis.
They support them in several ways, like through legal and practical support to settle in the USA. They are also starting to work in Europe. We are talking about artists in situations like those who can be getting support from the French organisation L’Atelier des Artistes en Exil, about which I spoke in the previous edition in the conversation with Imed Alibi. Read that edition, the #62, here.

These people I am talking about have been an important part of my Balkan:MOST experience. Another essential part has been David Sierra, my colleague with whom I share many things (I made him an interview for this newsletter, that is available here). I want to mention him because we had some fascinating conversations. I was also able to meet other old friends who have been through this newsletter before, such as Bojan Djordjevic, from the Todo Mundo festival (his interview, from 2019, is here) and to meet in person others with whom I was in contact from afar, such as András Halmos, who was also a protagonist (his interview, much recent, is here).

The truth is that I feel very privileged to meet these people and to be at these events. All of this gives me a lot of food for thought. Perhaps for other people, being in these environments comes as no surprise. For me, it is still very exciting. Well, I have a lot of excitement coming up in October… I’ll tell you about it below. But now, it’s time to give a voice to others. They are sure to be of great interest to you.


Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82 


A&A MUSIC BOOKING, JOINT VENTURE BETWEEN MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA AND ASYA MUSIC & MANAGEMENT

Let me tell you a story. In February I travelled to Istanbul. It was the same week as the earthquakes. I’m sure you remember it. I almost didn’t go… I was going to travel for a concert of Ali Doğan Gönültaş. We were going to shoot a video of the concert and do a photo session.

Both things were cancelled but I kept the trip. I had already paid for everything and I had some meetings that we were still able to keep.

One of the meetings was with Martin Greve, who I was going to meet for the first time, after the suggestion by Birgit Ellinghaus. Martin and me had arranged to meet in Üsküdar, in the Asian part of Istanbul. But due to a misunderstanding, I ended up in Kadıköy…

Martin came over, we had coffee, dinner, and at one point it occurred to him to call his friend Asya Arslantaş, who is in more or less the same line of work as me and she lived close to that place. Well, all this seems like a chain of events linked in a very fragile way, which led us to meet each other.

The truth is that everything in life is like that. It has all been so improbable as to be almost impossible. But it happened!

Asya was my protagonist in this edition of March. The truth is that we saw that we had a very similar approach to working with music and after several conversations, we decided to start a common path, of which this concert programme that you have here is the first proposal. Soon we will also have a website 🥳.

You can download a dossier with more information, here.

 


AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: LUDOVICO ESPOSITO

“Sud Sonico is a cultural association & platform whose aim is to promote musical diversity and innovation through recreational and educational activities like festivals, seminars, conferences and concerts.

Sud Sonico is formed by a a team of music professionals specialized in the field of music consultancy, event organization and music therapy. It operates in Lecce, South Italy, and had been collaborating with worldwide operators since 2012.

Our ethical and professional values are innovation, diversity, quality, accessibility and inclusion, which are strongly communicated to citizens, institutions, public bodies and organizations.”

From the page Association of www.sudsonico.it

Ludovico is the president of Sud Sonico. He was invited to Balkan:MOST to make a keynote during the pitching session. I took the picture above during his speech. He talked there for 4 minutes. But I was priviledged with more than 40 minutes of conversation with him 🥳.

His artistic focus is what he calls as advanced music, with a strong pressence of electronics. That is a very different focus than mine, as I work mainly with acoustic music connected with the tradition. However, many of the things he explains seem to me to be very interesting and useful and applicable to any cultural initiative, especially when we work with material that is far from the mainstream.

But without further ado, I will share the content of the interview.


 

Mapamundi Música: You have the Association Sud Sonico, the Festival Avant, the Xenomorph Sounds concert series, and Sagra Elettronica. 

Ludovico Esposito: Sagra Elettronica is not going on. The project stopped since Covid. It was designed to be a modern food and electronic music event. In South of Italy, sagra is a street food format dedicated to specific ingredients. It might be sagra of octopus, sagra of aubergine… So the usual is to go there and listen to folk music and eat non-quality dishes. We wanted to create a modern sagra as a very high-quality street food and with quality electronic music. So we did two editions, but since Covid we could not bring it forward. As a 1000-people capacity event, it was challenging to keep the public security-capacity balanced. Although it was a successful project, we just stopped investing energies in it, and instead worked on “safer” and smaller event concepts. Food, installations, people gathering, dancing and eating in old farms… Sagra Elettronica has been a great format, it has been done in the right time, and looked ahead of it proudly.

Sagra Elettronica @ Atraz Emilia 
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On the other hand, we invested in another project, in Avant, a different concept but the same soul. It is a boutique festival to create an intimate atmosphere and unite the beauties of our traditions with avantgarde music. We basically welcome 300 guests over a weekend of events. We have daytime and evening activities. During the day, we present wine tasting, food tasting and hiking or trekking on the Adriatic Sea. And in the evening, we present avantgarde music concerts, electronica, experimental electroacoustic and any hybrid sound or performance. But also, DJ sets. So we listen to quality music and we dance and we enjoy a weekend of togetherness in our spectacular panoramas and with our spectacular food and wine. It functions as a slow intimate tourism experiences, through music. It is a “more-adult” and intimate format than Sagra Elettronica. It is basically the same concept, but designed for a different fruition and for different targets.

MM: I have seen that your approach to music or to art is recreational, educational and therapeutic. And you focus the art somehow for equality, it has kind of political or philosophical approach…

LE: Yes, we have a benefit approach, so our association works and, in general, uses music for different purposes. When I mean recreational purposes, I refer to social cohesion and togetherness through live events like the festivals Sagra Electronica and AVANT, or the concert series Xenomorph sounds. These are different projects that serve to enable people to have fun and to stay together.

.

“The idea of our educational approach is that, today, a sustainable and impactful project needs vertical skills and vertical vision. So it’s not only about marketing, communication or fundraising, but it’s about having a vertical approach, a vertical vision on projects.”
.

About educational. We produce “Avant Learn – Advanced Music XLR8R”, a training program to enable young people or even freelancers to work better on music projects. This project was funded by MusicAIRE last year and it is pretty unique in Europe. The idea of our educational approach is that, today, a sustainable and impactful project needs vertical skills and vertical vision. So it’s not only about marketing, communication or fundraising, but it’s about having a vertical approach, a vertical vision on projects. So we organize free-entry master classes about music marketing, communication, fundraising, production, but also contemporary and modern ones like music tourism, sustainability, international fundraising, digital project management, data & science, copyright. We help the students to be independent to and produce independently any sort of projects, from a festival, a record label, a technology start-up. I think that the reason why it got co-funded is because it is – and looked – as necessary for music organizations to cover so many different areas in terms of management, or at least, to have a clue on what it means to work on sustainability, music tourism or fundraising, and be able to delegate. We cannot do everything by ourselves, but we must be able to handle any area of a project and to delegate, to supervise and to track the impact.

About the therapeutical approach: we did few seminar and laboratories on music therapy, we did such activities for children, but even for adults or for disabled people. So we help people to feel better through sound and music. We recently slowed down our focus on music therapy too, at the moment is not a primary activity for us.

MM: You, about the educational part. You have at least to know that those areas of activity are there and they must be covered. You have to know that they exist. 

LE: “Avant Learn” is indeed meant to compensate such gap. For any educational section of the program, we hire a specialized professor, or we cover them ourselves. I can teach myself fundraising, project management, administration… For music tourism, I ask a colleague from Milan. For sustainability, I asked an Italian collegue, plus we collaborate with other entities in Italy and Europe that works on music festival impact reduction in terms of energy, water, waste recycling, purchase – any sustainability topics of the Agenda 2030.

“Avant Learn” offers a highly advanced learning model, as the students satisfaction rate was very high. In terms of scaleup, we work on different scaling approaches. We are considering if and how to evolve in also in a e-learning program, to develop a digital methodology-sharing platform and not only an in-presence project. We also envision it as a point of touch between European organisations seeking to hire new talents, and new talents looking for traineeships in Europe.

We are working to export it in several nations, by designing training programs tailored for the needs and goals of music organizations. For example, an organization in Europe asked us to train five of their volunteers in arts fundraising. So we designed an advanced learning project for that organization. A booking agency ask us to design a program for their artists to reinforce their skills in digital copyright, contracting, intellectual property… So we just produced one course, and not a complete training program. It results to be scalable, and shaped specifically for one organization or one specific project. We aim to help organizations, citizens, people in any form which is possible through sound and music.

MM: My newsletter is sent to professionals working on what I do and also from festivals. If they want to have a consultancy with you about those topics, can they contact you for that service?

LE: Of course. This specific project “Avant Learn”, but in general our organization Sud Sonico, works in two different fields: the production of our own projects and advise and support to improve specific areas of an organization or project in terms of management, fundraising, cooperation and scaleup, engaging with citizens, artists, public administration and municipalities, cultural bodies or festival organizations… We can cover pretty much any area which is needed today to make projects sustainable, make individuals independent, smarter, more flexible and ready to afford the new challenges of the music and creative industries.

MM: And do you make all this under the frame of Sud Sonico?

LE: Yes and no, my role in Sud Sonico as a President is not only to do fundraising, but to improve the non-profit projects of the organization in any possible capacity and scale. As a freelance, I offer music fundraising and project management consultancies. Our organization can collaborate with you mostly in some capacities, me as an individual, in others. Our associates and volunteers are amazing and their support in production and execution is fundamental. We are always open for collaboration ideas.

We recently launched a new project, that expanded our vision. It is called Música Etica (in English, Etic Music). It is a project which aim is to use music as a medium for humanitarian or environmental awareness purposes. We produced one even this year. As simple as it may sound, we played electronic music and we choose a humanitarian cause to support, asking donations to help us supporting it. This year, we wanted to support the victims of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey. So, we settled a partnership with Save The Children Italy, and they were happy to help us promote the event and distribute the donations on site to children and families. We are trying and open to boost this project on an international scale, to open bridges with Middle East and, in general, with real humanitarian and environmental organizations supporting the planet in any form.

Sud Sonico is using music in many capacities, with many ideas and concepts, but the key goal is the same: to create benefits, to create a positive impact, not locally but worldwide.

Banner of Musica Etica, from Sud Sonico’s Facebook page

MM: About Xenomorph Sounds, tell me more.

LE: It is a concert series, so it is a single one-day event. It is a kind of Avant Festival, in a smaller proportion. If there are not enough financial resources, we produce smaller, but always quality events, and Xenomorph Sounds is Sud Sonico’s live music event project. We have produced 4 events with Italian and international experimental solo performers. Xenomorph is about showcasing a wide range of new music genres: electronic, experimental, electroacoustic, ambient, jazz, impro, and anything we think can fit the context. Equally to Avant or Sagra Elettronica, or like Musica Etica, we have no sound limit: as far is it avantgarde music, we can book any act. And depending on the venue, the atmosphere, the period, if it is summer or autumn… we shape, we design a program that unites a series of goals and needs. We produced this concert series in castles, in cultural centres, in bars… our aim is to make avantgarde music the most accessible as possible. We invited exceptional musicians like Italy’s ambient wizard Gigi Masin, Italian saxophonist Laura Agnusdei, Austrian drummer Katharina Ernst, Japanese noise performer Yuko Araki, the band Give Guitars to People.

MM: Why did you come here to Balkan:MOST?

LE: Because I was invited as a delegate from the festival to run keynote about the topic “Music as a Medium for Impact”. I was invited in Athens earlier this year for another conference festival, Athens Music week, and in a panel we discussed a few project ideas – funding opportunities – to create a new expanded Southern Europe Network including Balkans. It is a vivid geographical area that has a lot of potential, and still not much attention from corporate and media. So, Georges Perot, the founder of Athens Music Week, together with other delegates, discussed the possibility of expanding the cooperation, vision and operational projects from Spain and Portugal until the end of the Balkans, with the idea to create a network for cooperation and collaboration in a broader sense and capacity. I’m here at Balkan:MOST to try bringing ahead this idea, and share it with other music professionals.

Athens Music Week 2023

MM: So, in the artistic part, the focus of your work is the avantgarde music. Do you have any relationship also with the traditional music from the region of Lecce?

LE: Not that much, because of my personal choice, or yes, depending on the perspective. The music heritage traditional music in Lecce is mainly traditional music, and has little to do with avantgarde. Not many traditional musicians here contaminate with contemporary languages. If musicians play just one instrument, it normally doesn’t fit on our idea of avantgarde programming, although we made exceptions. It is not that we don’t like traditional music, but our artistic direction selects avant-garde music and not traditional-only artists. One exception is Maria Mazzotta: a local singer who recently started a project with Raul Refree, a Spanish composer and producer who also released music on Mute Records. I appreciate much their new project, because it is about our tradition, and about electronic music. We have several folk avantgarde projects that we would like to invite but it depends on the kind of event, the funding… There are many things that should come together for us to give space to an avantgarde yet traditional performers.

MM: Why do you do all this? Which is your personal background that took you finally to make this?

LE: I started to work in the field almost 10 years ago. I started to play music by case, 15 years ago I played electric guitar, and 10 years ago I started to collaborate for the organization of some music events. I attended a lot of events in Berlin, which shaped my vision and taste very much. When in Berlin, my taste and my vision kept improving and I started my own agency We Care PR. It was a promotional & pr agency for artists, record labels and festivals. I collaborated from the smallest blog to BBC Radio, placing electronic, experimental and club music in different channels, media and helping artists to reach new audiences. At the same time, I was organizing club events in Lecce, my city. First, semi-legal techno events, inviting the artists I was dancing to when in Berlin. The success and network were getting stronger and stronger… And 8 years ago, I started to realise that the projects should find a sustainability in medium-long term. As I have a degree in social & consumer psychology, and a master in marketing and communication, it was natural to me to approach fundraising. So, my background helped me approach medium-big corporations and get funding from the beginning. And I continued to diversify my vision and skills. I continued to invest on myself in advanced training, and to share new skills and goals with my team. I started to do fundraising myself, starting from corporate, and moving to public funding and philanthropy. I think there must always be space and time to learn new skills. In my opinion, individual donations and philanthropy are the solution for music, arts and creative industry on an international scale.

.

“I work on Sud Sonico’s fundraising, but also support other organizations in achieving new funding, and expanding the network of potential funding partners. I believe this is the solution for us to be independent and to continue to work with creativity even without public funding which, in my opinion, will be continued to be cut down, year per year for the next 15 years.”
.

Here on Balkan:MOST we have just listened to Mila Georgieva talking about the major part of the cultural organizations relying too much on public funding. I realised this myself 5 years ago and I started to work on fundraising diversification for my own organization, but as well to advice other organizations to start diversify and not relying only on municipalities, Minister or Creative Europe. I work on Sud Sonico’s fundraising, but also support other organizations in achieving new funding, and expanding the network of potential funding partners. I believe this is the solution for us to be independent and to continue to work with creativity even without public funding which, in my opinion, will be continued to be cut down, year per year for the next 15 years. The cultural and economic panorama of Europe is changing, it is decreasing, and we need to work on other directions. As a person with wide interests in geopolitics, humanitarian topics, cultural topics, circular economy topics… I try to look very much ahead and be ready for the change that is imposed for the cultural organization.

MM: What are the corporations searching for, to decide to give you some thousands of euros? 

LE: The goal of corporate can be focussed on the improvement of different areas: social & cultural impact; environmental & green sustainability goals; employees’ welfare; sponsorships. Corporate basically support non-profit projects to achieve results in one or more of the aforementioned areas of public interest. Marketing and external relation offices do look actively for projects, and the best fundraising consultants would analyse the profile of the corporation, the marketing managers, the corporate external relations manager and, from the analysis, the consultant will find strategy to penetrate. Which is not easy. It takes time, effort and knowledge, sensibility and capacity of negotiation, flexibility of approach.

The goals of corporations are different from the goal of other private bodies, like foundations. Private foundations release funding in order to pursue social, cultural, environmental purposes, and more. Of course, there are some foundations supporting health, foundations supporting welfare and so on. Foundations are ruled by their own statutes, so it is necessary to analysing the formal aspects too. The analytical process we applied for corporate, should be reshaped for other funding partners.

And the approach to request funds is different from corporation to corporation. It needs to be a tailored fundraising approach, it is not possible to automatize the process: I would never suggest a non-profit organization to send the identical request to many corporations and many foundations. Fundraising is about a constant analysis, design and craft of words, goals, perspective of project development, perspective of project scale up, impact tracking, and budgeting. It’s very complex: there are many areas to enhance in one system. This approach to project management and development is, in my opinion, the only solution for non-profit organizations to survive, be independent, and getting a decent remuneration.

MM: Do you want to share any last idea? 

LE: I would like to specify once again – in case it was not clear – and I and we want to use sound and music as a medium for worldwide impact. We desire and want to cooperate for humanitarian projects, environmental projects, cultural projects, cultural heritage projects, tourism projects, educational projects, performing projects, networking projects. We are a young organization but incredible skilled and ready to face any project in any capacity, and we look forward to continue our growing path and continue helping as many people as possible.

Thank you, Ludovico! 🙏


 

UPDATE ABOUT BABEL MUSIC XP FROM ITS DIRECTOR, OLIVIER REY

A few days ago I corresponded with Olivier Rey. I asked him if they already have the jury for the selection of the Babel Music XP showcases. He told me that they are working on it and updated me on a few things. Of course, he mentioned the decease of Bernard Aubert.

I asked him for permission to shape his message and share it with you, as I find it interesting:

“The Fiesta des Suds, Marseille’s biggest and most historic festival, runs from 5 to 8 October. Its director and founder, Bernard Aubert, passed away in mid-August. This news has obviously affected the teams and has forced us to offer additional content to pay tribute to Bernard’s character.

About Babel Music XP, we’re delighted with this relaunch edition in 2023, which has been acclaimed by everyone. We brought together 1,500 professionals from 72 countries.but we’re also aware of the areas we need to develop to make the market more attractive. This means going international, working with world music players, opening up to contemporary music, which often programmes our styles without realising it, and many other things.

The dates for Babel Music XP 2024 are 28 to 30 March. A number of projects have already been launched. The call for applications received 2,300 projects, demonstrating the extraordinary expectations surrounding an event like Babel. The good news is that we’ll be able to use the Dock des Suds for showcases once again this year. Quite apart from the acoustics (especially of the venue), it’s vital for me to have the 3 stages under the same roof, so that all the professionals can come together. The showcases are open to both professionals and the general public (10,000 spectators last year).

As far as the selection committee is concerned, it will meet in mid-November and we hope to announce the selection in mid-December (a month earlier than last year) so that everyone can get organised and plan their visit to Marseille. The jury is currently being finalised. I’d like to renew a third of it each year, both to bring in new blood and to keep a record of our work from one year to the next.”

Thank you, Olivier! 🙏


Update
EUROPEAN FOLK DAY

Finally, the first ever European Folk Day took place on 23rd of September. It gathered 226 events in 32 countries. The call for tracks for the Music Repository got to collect 104 tracks on the from 28 countries. 26 radio stations members of the European Broadcasting Union dedicated part of their program to the Day. You can sign up for the news from the European Folk Network, here, and receive the news directlly from the organization that has coordinated this project. 

The European Folk Day is a pilot project co-ordinated by European Folk Network (EFN) with financial support from the MusicAIRE project jointly organised by the European Music Council and Inova with funds from the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission.


BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS 



  • Mundofonías: the three favourites of the month are Lost In Tajikistan [V.A.], Zeyn’el’s Divan & divine and Østerlide’s Kilden

Reminder

TALK AT WOMEX: RESHAPING THE NARRATIVE

I already mentioned this event. This is a reminder. This morning I was talking with my colleagues to prepare the next steps and we are thrilled.

It is going to be the first time that I actually participate in this WOMEX activity and I am very happy to do it with two tremendous colleagues: Martyna van Nieuwland and Andrea Voets. Click on their names to read a bio.

 


Do you have a call of interest for our community that you want to share? Let me know asap


OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

About open calls, just two reminders:

🔸Call for candidates – Journées Musicales de Carthage, 9th edition.
From 20 to 27 January 2024. For musicians from Tunisia, Africa, the Arab world and the rest of the world. “Are you ready to embark on a unique adventure, meet a distinguished audience and present your projects to professionals and specialists from all over the world? Submit your application by 15 October 2023 and enjoy an unforgettable experience.
Applications can only be submitted via the following link: https://shorturl.at/ehpQ5
” There is more info, here.”

🔸Small World Music / Global Toronto, in urgent need 
“The cuts we face, combined with the poorly executed rollout of the Experience Ontario program, pose a significant threat to the future of Small World Music and the continuation of our cherished free festival. Our mission to celebrate diversity, connect communities, and promote understanding through music is now at risk.”
Read their complete message and learn about the ways to helo them, here.

🔸Mundial Montreal, professional acreditations are available at regular price. 
Also from Canada: “Mundial Montréal is the North American gathering for Global Music. The boutique event has been inviting talent and sounds from Canada and around the world to perform for industry professionals every year for the past 13 years in Montreal.
The event distinguishes itself by the carefully selected artists and the strength of the connections generated between artists and professionals from over 50 regions of the world.” 
Check the website for more info.

About more professional events, check the following section. 


MEET ME AT

So far, nothing new from the previous edition.
If you happen to attend these events, drop me a line. If you are not, they can be interesting for you too in any case. They are special events.


  • October, 5-8, I will go to the Fira Mediterrània in Manresa. Ali Doğan Gönültaş will perform there and I will attend also as a delegate as in many previous occasions.
  • October, 11th. Very special concert at the Alte Oper Franfkurt with Vigüela and several other Spanish performers for a program designed by alba Kultur. In the picture, Mari Nieto, singer of Vigüela, one of the protagonist of the event.
  • October, 18-21, Manchester. English Folk Expo, which this year hosts the annual meeting of the European Folk Network.
  • Womex. 25-29 OctoberLa Coruña.
  • 18-19 November. Hamburg, Germany. At the Elbphilarmonie there will be a wonderful program curated by alba Kultur, called Festival “Kurdistan”. Click here to discover the full program.

 


WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS 

Mapamundi Música is an agency of management and booking. Learn more here. Check our proposals at our website.

We also offer you our Mundofonías radio show, probably the leader about world music in Spanish language (on 50 stations in 18 countries). We produce the Transglobal World Music Chart with our partner Ángel Romero from WorldMusicCentral.com.

Feel free to request info if you wish. For further information about us, get in touch by email, telephone (+34 676 30 28 82), our website or at our Facebook

 

 

Introducing A&A Music Booking, the new tandem between Asya Arslantaş (Turkey) and Araceli Tzigane (Spain)

Hello, let us introduce to you
The new tandem between Araceli Tzigane from Mapamundi Música, Spain, and Asya Arslantaş from Asya Music & Management, Turkey.

Two women from each corner of the Mediterranean and a common objective: to disseminate the artistic legacy of the music from the peoples, taking care of both its carriers, the musicians, and the essential third part, the client, whose trust and complicity enable the public’s access to this heritage.

Find below the first project designed by the partnership and if you need any further information, contact us.


 

Echoes of Peaks and Waves
A Century’s Journey in Anatolian Music


Sinafi Trio & Ali Doğan Gönültaş

A female trio from Greece, a male trio from Anatolia, two sides from the border and a common background. Peoples separated by the vicissitudes of 20th century history.

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A century has passed since the Treaty of Lausanne, that meant the largest mass population swap up to that time. But the thread that connects the music of Greeks and Anatolian peoples has not vanished. This project celebrates a common background, in a turbulent time, in which music creates new shared spaces.

The proposal consists in a double program with a concert by Sinafi Trio and a concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş, with a shared part at the end. It can be enriched with extra activities, to discuss with the client according to his/her needs, that can be interactive workshops, talks, conversations with the artists… Let’s discuss your specific needs.

Sinafi Trio

Sinafi Trio was created by three Greek women musicians who met in Istanbul in 2014. As a group, they grew inside the meyhane and the bars of Istanbul. They listened to and learned from the local music stories, the music wealth of the place, hearing its sensitivity and complexity. They’ve won recognition in a short while and had a distinctive audience

Ali Doğan Gönültaş

The thrill of the expressive voice of the Eastern Anatolian artist settled in Istanbul, the dreamy melodies of his pieces and his deep background, are shown in all their glory in the magnificent debut album Kiğı, which opened the doors of the European stages. During 2023, his trio has played in Germany (15 concerts), France (10), Spain (3), Portugal, SwitzerlandSweden and Belgium.