Summary 👇 

🔸Editorial
And follow-up on the panel at Babel Music XP

🔸Talk with Chris Eckman about Glitterbeat

🔸A little something from my side

🔸Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects

🔸Open calls: Afro Pepites, Visa for Music Forum Activities

🔸Meet me at ✈️ 

➡️ This is the link for subscription

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Hello, how are you?

Follow-up on the panel at Babel Music XP

In previous editions, I mentioned the panel at Babel Music XP in which I participated, titled “The New Narratives for Traditional Music in the Face of Current Political Challenges.” It’s now available on the website — check the section “Music and Societal Challenges.”

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Thanks for reading — and for being there. Our protagonist of this edition is Chris Eckman, from Glitterbeat, a true reference whose words have given me great motivation and encouragement. I am sure his words will also touch you.

If you enjoyed any part of this newsletter, feel free to share it with someone who might like it too. Thank you in advance.

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AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: 
CHRIS ECKMAN, FROM GLITTERBEAT RECORDS

The portrait ↓ of Chris is by 𝚗𝚒𝚔𝚊 𝚑ö𝚕𝚌𝚕

About Chris as a musician

So, Chris Eckman is an musician, songwriter, and producer from the USA, best known as the co-founder and frontman of the alternative rock band The Walkabouts, formed in Seattle in 1984. Eckman has also explored diverse sonic territories through projects like Dirtmusic, Chris & Carla, and The Strange. Now based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, he continues to shape contemporary world music while maintaining an active solo career, with recent releases like The Land We Knew the Best (you can listen to it, here).

▶️ For more information about Chris Eckman as a musician, check his website –

About Glitterbeat

This will be the main topic on the interview so, if you don’t know Glitterbeat yet, let’s check their website, which explains that:“Glitterbeat specializes in vibrant global sounds. The label was created to release records that simultaneously embrace evolving global textures and localized traditions and roots. Our artists are both culturally committed and resolutely contemporary.

~ While you read the interview, you can enjoy listening
to the playlist Glitterbeat Records: New Releases, here 🎶~

AT: And you work with niche music and not only niche but even more niche because you made a Tak:til, a sub-label, in 2017, specifically for instrumental music, that is even more difficult, isn’t it? Why did you consider it needed a specific sub-label?

CE: Yeah. I don’t know… It’s another brilliant business decision, I guess (laughter). You know… it’s funny, but now instrumental music, is kind of having a mainstream moment. Bands like khruangbin are mostly instrumental and they’re playing in arenas, in basketball stadiums and places like that. We’ve done quite well with YĪN YĪN. Which is basically an instrumental band from Holland. They have really strong streaming numbers. But what you say is generally true. I think this was just pure love of certain kinds of music. We saw opportunities there. We were sent some records that we really liked but they didn’t really fit into what we felt was the main flow of Glitterbeat. And it gave us an opportunity to expand. For example, we have a band from Slovenia, they’re good friends of ours, called Širom. I came across them upon recommendation of Silvij, who works at Glitterbeat. I went to see them play in a small club here in Ljubljana and I really felt like “wow, that could play anywhere in the world”. You just don’t see that kind of music. You don’t hear that kind of music anywhere. There’s no one who sounds like them. This alone is something really fascinating in this time when everything is so interconnected. So, we had this idea, well, we could we work with them. And then we realized that for Glitterbeat it would be a stretch so, in a way, we started Tak:til for Širom. But we realized that nobody internationally knew them yet. So we waited till we saw something that we could release that would make more noise and then Širom would follow. And that’s how it started.

I Can Be a Clay Snapper is the first album by Širom that Glitterbeat released in 2017. Click to listen:

AT: So you have mentioned the business side of this, because of course this is a business, and you have to earn enough money to keep on going on. I think few people buy CDs; few people buy vinyls also nowadays. So which are the incomes for a company of this? Is it not selling physical CDs? And we are talking about the revenues from Spotify, for this niche music, that are so reduced. How can a company like you make your living and which are the other sources of income for a record label nowadays?

CE: For us we have very few sources of income because of the way our contracts work: we’ve never taken publishing for the artists. We don’t touch it. We don’t even take a percentage of it. So that already limits us to some degree. I would say another revenue is streaming. And sync rights, mostly when our music is used in a film, this can bring in some extra income in a year. But generally we make our income from physical sales and streaming. And you have to be very very careful. You have to run a very very cost-conscious business to do that. Yeah, it’s not it’s not easy.

We’ve been lucky that we’ve had some fairly big successes, like Altın Gün. This helps a lot. We’re getting to the point now where our average release is starting to get stronger again. It’s a combination of things: just curating better sharper than we did in the past, also just knowing how the business works more, knowing where there are places you can save money and… yeah, how to run a really tight business.

I’m sure you can imagine it’s not easy at all. But I think you know the death of the CD is also sometimes overstated. The CD is way down from where it was of course, massively down, insanely down. But we have some artists that have very solid CD sales. And I’m not even talking about the bigger artists: some of the niche artists, the folk stuff we’ve been doing, like British and Irish folk stuff, Landless and Brìghde Chaimbeul, they have sold solidly with CDs.  Ana Lua Caiano sold very well with CDs, relative to what some artists sell. So, it’s interesting. It’s still a reasonable format to commit to. But, again, you have to be careful. When we started, our average CD run was 2 to 3,000. Now our average CD run is around a thousand. So it’s way down from where it was, but it still brings income.

AT: Is there or are any releases that you will consider particularly significant in the label’s history?

CE: Yes. I think that there are always some game changers. They’re not always the most popular. Sometimes there are other stories, other narratives that are equally important to the label. I mean all the releases are stuff we believe in or we wouldn’t have done it. But I think we have to look at Tamikrest in the beginning. I think if we hadn’t had Tamikrest, we probably would not have lasted more than a year or two. Tamikrest had already released two records, as I said, on Glitterhouse. So we got them on Glitterbeat with already a functioning touring band that we were not building up from zero. I produced the first two records and, the third, the first with Glitterbeeat, Chatma, was a big success. We sold nearly 25,000 physical copies of that. Without that, it would have been tough to keep building… Also, they gave us visibility. Forget about the money and the sales. This is important but not the only thing. It was very well reviewed — even in more mainstream rock, pop, and indie magazines, websites, and so on. It broke outside of what we might call the “world music bubble.” Yeah, that was very important.
 

Chatma is the first album by Tamikrest released by Glitterbeat. Click to listen:

 

And there is a lot of small things that kept us going, smaller things after that, that kept us going over the years. I remember one that’s kind of a weird story I’ve told it before. People are always like “really, I’m not sure I understand what you mean…”. But for example, the first record we ever did with Ian Brennan, it was a field recording record, and this got reviewed in the British rock magazine Uncut. And for me… I remember coming to the office and I said “This is success”. I mean that record’s going to sell very little, but we broke into this very rock, rock and roll, classic rock, mainstream mentality. We broke inside that with a field recording record. And it made me feel that Glitterbeat was making more of a difference than with some of our more successful artists. You know Altın Gün was going to be successful without Glitterbeat. Tamikrest would have been successful ultimately at some point without Glitterbeat. But fighting for these small releases like a field recording from Cambodia started to become something where it felt like we were actually helping to change the conversation a bit. 

AT: For someone who is not familiar with these kinds of music sometimes I think they see them very far and very strange and they are challenging to the listener when they are not used. What would you say to some people who may have some curiosity to encourage them to start exploring these kinds of music? And would you suggest one or two albums for them to begin with?

CE: It’s interesting. There are, let’s say, gateway kinds of sounds, that that work better than others to our, generally, westernized ears. I think that’s one reason why Touareg music has worked so well. This is not to take anything away from it. I’ve thought about it a lot because you just wonder like why that, but it already has this element of rock music. And it’s not some element of rock music that’s forced on it. So, contemporary Touareg music was made by musicians who were listening to rock music. This is not something that some western producer said “now you need to take an electric guitar and you need to… maybe a little bit more Dire Straits, maybe a little bit more Santana…” They were listening to that music. So they changed the paradigm. The market did not change the paradigm. And I think, because of that, it’s an interesting music as an introductory music. It’s not to say that it’s only an introductory or it’s watered down or light: it’s some of the most amazing music made in the last 40 or 50 years to my mind. But nevertheless it lines up with our, let’s say, general sensibilities, westernized sensibilities, because there is a continuity. I think that this is one example.

AT: So, Touareg music could be one example. 

CE: Yes. I’m not saying only push Touareg music. Another thing, Araceli, is something I saw you actually post once and I almost wrote something. And I understood what you were saying in this post. You were talking about like how do we get this music out to people. You know, like it’s so frustrating sometimes. We believe in it so much and it makes so much sense to us and we know how beautiful it is, and we know how the spirit of it is so powerful… And I think that part of it is by liberating ourselves from preconceptions about how the music can get out there. So in other words, one thing that Glitterbeat did right in the beginning, and it was not because we were so smart: it’s because of where we came from. I mean I had spent years in indie rock bands and making Americana music and so on. I knew this other media and that’s the media I knew better than world music media. I didn’t know world music media at all, actually. I had no idea even what it was. I was introduced to this once we started releasing records. And I just felt, and others like me, like Chris Kirkley from Sahel Sounds… There are a lot of people that are out there that have had the same idea: just that we should treat this music not as specialist music. We should be blind to the fact that it’s specialist music. We should put blinders on, like literally ignore that it should be classified as specialist music. We have to know that this music is on the same level as any other. It has the power to move people — if you can just get them in the room. So we need to, I think, become more naïve about how hard it is — like, deliberately force ourselves to be naïve — because we’re not naïve. We know how hard the market is but possibly we have to remind ourselves sometimes that naivety is really important. Just to say go to places where you don’t think it’s going to work. And I’m talking about venues, festivals, media. And I think one thing we can say with Glitterbeat is that we’ve shown this can happen — we show it, we do it regularly.

We went to Wire magazine, strongly, right when we started. We did see Noura Mint Seymali as some kind of experimental musician. As much as she’s grounded in deep tradition and so on, the fact that she chose to work with an American drummer — she could have worked with anyone — stood out. The American drummer learned all the different percussion patterns and incorporated them into a drum kit and electric bass. These were things that weren’t very common, even in Mauritanian music. And again, not something forced on her by some Western producer or market — she was already doing this in Mauritania. She understands what her role is, and she knows she’s different from other Mauritanian singers. And there’s no reason why experimental Mauritanian music shouldn’t be playing at experimental festivals in Holland, Spain, the UK, and so on.

Tzenni is the first album by Noura Mint Seymali released by Glitterbeat. Click to listen:

So it’s partly about, you know, just being stubborn about what we expect. And you’re going to fail most of the time — don’t get me wrong — failure is built into the attitude. It’s like, yes, we’ll fail most of the time, but then there are those days when you go to the office and think, “Actually, we succeeded”. It might have been on a very minor level, but something happened — something beyond our expectations.

Thank you, Chris!!!

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A LITTLE SOMETHING FROM MY SIDE

I mentioned earlier that Thanos Stavridis & Drom will be coming to perform in Spain (and I hope this will be the first of many other gigs together). It will be in July, and I’ll share more details soon.

My connection with Thanos began a little over a year ago, when he contacted me as a mentor, with the upcoming release of his band Drom’s album in mind. The album is now finished, and it’s absolutely fascinating. The music is captivating, and they are all true masters of their instruments and their craft. No doubt, they have every reason to be as happy as they look in the photo!

🎶Listen to the extraordinary fygame, here.

The Ukrainian Hudaki Village Band, for their part, are finalizing their new album. The tracks are not mastered yet, but I have heard it. At the beginning of this letter, I said that we are “exposed to forces against which we have the same capacity to respond as a leaf falling from the tree before the wind that sways it at its whim.” When I think of Hudaki, that idea vanishes: they are creating some of the most fascinating music I have ever heard, in spite of all those forces against them. They make me feel pride in the human being. 

These are pictures from the recording sessions of the new album by Hudaki Village Band:

 

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BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS 

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🔸#1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in May of 2025 is: Songhoy Blues’ Héritage (Transgressive / Remote)

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🔸Mundofonías: the three favourite of the month are Thanos Stavridis & Drom’s Fygame (self-released), Mara Aranda’s Sefarad en el corazón de Bulgaria (self-released) and Tsapiky! Modern music from southwest Madagascar [V.A.] (Sublime Frequencies)

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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

 

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.

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NEW THE NEWSLETTER:

🔸 Visa For Music Forum Activities
Visa For Music 2025 will take place in November 19 – 22 in Rabat, Morocco. The application’s deadline for the Forum Activities is on May 25, 2025 and they have three formats:

• Conferences / Panel Discussions (90 min): In-depth talks around key issues, practices, and innovations in the music sector.
• Masterclasses (1h à 2h / 1h to 2h): Educational sessions to pass on specific skills.
• Workshops (2h à 3h / 2h to 3h): Hands-on, interactive sessions (max 20 participants). 

It is a not paid collaboration. Visa For Music will cover accommodation for selected speakers for two nights in Rabat, airport-hotel transfers during the festival dates and lunch and dinner catering on the day of the activity.

The application form and the terms and conditiosn are available here.

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ALREADY IN THE NEWSLETTER IN APRIL:

🔸Afro Pepites Show
The online registration is open until Saturday 31 May 2025. It is open to artists from Africa, the Caribbean, South America or any other artists inspired by Africa. Organized by Le Rêve Africain, this online talent-spotting platform aims to discover and promote emerging African and diaspora artists across various genres, including hip-hop, reggae, afrobeat, spoken word, and urban music. The initiative offers selected artists opportunities for increased visibility, networking, and potential collaborations.

Application fees:
· Free for artists and labels based in Africa or South America.
· For those based in Europe, Asia, or North America:
· Independent artists: €15 registration fee.
· Labels: €23 for the first project, €18 per additional project.
· SACEM Plus members receive a 25% discount with a promotional code.
· There is also a patronage option: supporters can sponsor artists who cannot afford the fee.

Key dates:
· Application deadline: 31 May 2025
· Selection announcement: 15 June 2025
· End of public voting: 10 July 2025
· Final results (Pepites): 20 July 2025

Full info and registration links are available here.

 

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MEET ME AT

• 19th May. Festival Pasaulis Skamba, in Vilnius, for the concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş.
• 23-24 May, Albacete. Conference on Traditional Guitar Playing: Towards a Safeguard Plan. This is a very local event, in the sense that it will be entirely in Spanish and highly specialized. I wanted to mention it because Juan Antonio Torres from Vigüela will be taking part in a panel called ‘Traditional Guitar and Stage Context.’
• 30th May, Murcia! Ali Doğan Gönültaş returns to Spain for one more concert in a referential festival: Murcia Tres Culturas.
• 31th May, Consuegra. Vigüela will perform in the local theatre of this village with the iconic windmills →
• 7-9 June, Poznań, for Ethnoport Festival. Concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş.
• 11-13 June, Brussels, for the European Forum on Music by the European Music Council.

Later in July I will travel again inside Spain for a concert by Thanos Stavridis & Drom.