Summary 👇🔸Editorial 🔸Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects 🔸A little something from my side : Vigüela’s tribute to the 150 anniversary of Manuel de Falla, Falla: voices of a time 🔸Open calls and professional events: Sauti za Busara festival, open call for artists; Hide & Seek: free concert access for professionals; Summer rate for WOMEX and conferences announced 🔸Meet me at ✈️ |
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This edition of this newsletter is the number 85. The previous one completed 7 years 🥂
Hello, how are you?
I hope you’re well. I’m doing fine, though I’m in one of the busiest periods of work I’ve had in years. The picture is in Palma de Mallorca, with Thanos Stravridis and his colleagues of Drom, who performed there on 16th of July. It was our first concert together and it won’t be the last. We have a date in Tavira, Portugal, on 6th of September.
There’s no interview in this edition. I have a very interesting one to edit, with the team of Ultranesia, whose work is extraordinary. The raw transcript is 24 pages long and touches on —or even crosses into— painful territory regarding how things work in the cultural field in my country (and probably not just in my country). It will be part of the August edition —at least a portion of it, as it’s long but very insightful— and I may publish it in several parts. Here’s a sneak peek:
“Why don’t we even consider sending a proposal to the major classical music auditoriums? Because at that level, we’re no longer talking about social circles or even about artistic inbreeding — we’re talking about pure elitism. And not even the kind masked as favoritism; it’s openly elitist.
A prominent historian of contemporary music once shared this anecdote: he was asked to curate a program on a famous contemporary composer, and the organizer’s first question was: “And which family do you come from?” That says it all.
What’s worse is that when that man, despite his aristocratic mindset, stopped programming contemporary music, that meant also missing out regular contemporary concerts at some public cultural institutions.
When you work in large cultural institutions, many of which are related to monarchy and state politics, it feels like we’re still trapped in a mindset akin to the novel El Lazarillo de Tormes — having to flatter the “lords” just to be allowed to do our work. Or like in Velázquez’s paintings of court jesters: you’re lucky if you’re near the king, but you’re not really there as an artist — you’re there as a curiosity. A dwarf, a cripple, a “strange one.”
Tomorrow —well, in just a few hours, since I’ll be leaving home at 4:30 in the morning— I’m traveling to Sweden, to Urkult, with Vigüela. Below you’ll find a new project I’ve developed with them. It will be their second time performing there. They were there in 2016. Since then, many things have happened. Over the past nine years, different people have passed through the band. Two of the musicians who came with us to Urkult left the group that same year. Shortly before playing at Urkult, during another festival —the kind any band would dream of attending— a situation came up that surprised me. These two people didn’t want that path. They weren’t interested in traveling the world, sharing the music of their homeland and the joy of their art with audiences. They told us they preferred not to travel so much and to live a more, let’s say, normal life. Honestly, it was a learning experience for me —seeing that people with the talent to make art, which they had, didn’t view that path as the one they wanted to follow. Years later, I’ve been reinterpreting it. I think the demanding path of excellence and artistic depth wasn’t something they were willing to commit to. They were content with what they already knew how to do, and that’s where they’ve stayed. They’re still active in more locally-based groups. I think that’s fair. But me? Tomorrow —well, in a few hours— I travel to Urkult.
Joining us is Antonio Mirón, whom I’ve written about in this edition. I spoke about his work teaching music to children in tiny villages in the province of Almería. Antonio has a deep understanding of the traditions of his region —not just musically, but also in terms of what they mean, or perhaps meant, as a social fabric. Antonio will leave his garden for a few days to come with us to Näsåker. I’m truly grateful. How does he perceive all this? I don’t know —but I’ll ask him.
Also coming is Eduardo Gómez-Olmedo, from Candeleda, Ávila (in the picture, in yellow, playing the Spanish lute). After a few years away from our activities due to personal reasons, he is traveling with us again to perform. Eduardo has spent years playing informally with the elders of his village, which is known for its strong traditional arts. Several times a year, the elders still gather in the town square, around a bonfire, to sing and play music. Here you can see Eduardo playing with Vigüela before the concert in Okarina Festival in 2019.
I grew up in Alcorcón, a commuter town 12 km from Madrid. We’re so close to the capital that I believe the city never really developed its own cultural identity. My father is from Madrid. My mother left her village (Helechosa de los Montes, Badajoz, 562 current inhabitants) as soon as she could. She doesn’t even have the accent from her region. She brought nothing of folklore with her. She wanted to leave —like the young women who had already moved to the city and returned home on vacation, beautiful, well-dressed, and free from the fieldwork. What is my folklore?
My company is legally based in Castilla-La Mancha, and the reference city for both Helechosa and El Carpio de Tajo, the village of Vigüela, is Talavera de la Reina, in the province of Toledo. If there is any traditional art that truly feels like my own, it’s this one.
Traveling back to Urkult with Vigüela, nine years later and after everything that’s happened, inevitably leads me to reflect on the paths we take and how identity is built. Those who chose not to continue traveling didn’t choose wrong —they simply chose differently. And in that choice lies a deep gesture of identity. Sometimes we think being true to ourselves means sticking with what we do, but it can also mean letting go, redefining, or prioritizing something else.
Antonio leaves his vegetable garden to join us. Eduardo resumes something he had paused. What does that say about them? And what does it say about me —still here, getting up at 4:30 a.m. to once again cross Europe with a traditional music band?
Perhaps identity is not only a reflection of our roots, but also of our willingness to return to them again and again —or even to forge connections with some that brush past us. Every decision —to stay, to leave, to return— speaks not only of what we do, but of who we are at that moment.
If you enjoyed any part of this newsletter, feel free to share it with someone who might like it too. Thank you in advance.
* Lazarillo de Tormes is a 16th-century Spanish novel considered one of the earliest examples of the picaresque genre. It tells the story of a poor boy, Lázaro, who survives by serving various masters — often flattering or tricking them — in order to get by in a rigidly hierarchical and unjust society.
In 2019 Vigüela performed in Bled, for the Okarina Festival. The following year the Covid came. The festival didn’t take place again. We keep a great memory of this event and of Mr. Leo Ličof, its founder and artistic director. |
BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS 
🔸#1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in Julye of 2025 is: Värttinä’s Kyly (Rockadillo)
🔸Mundofonías: the three favourite of the month are Kraffft’s Kraffft (Vlad); Hawa & Kassé Mady Diabaté’s Toumaro (One World Records) and Mustafa Said & Asil Ensemble’s Maqam pilgrims (Mapamundi Música).
A LITTLE SOMETHING FROM MY SIDE:
Vigüela’s new program, tribute to Manuel de Falla on his 150th anniversary
On November 23, 2026, we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Manuel de Falla. His work highlighted traditional music and brought its inspiration into the realm of classical music.
To commemorate this milestone, the group Vigüela is creating a special program dedicated to his work. It is a ’round-trip’ project in which the band will adopt pieces by Falla and translate them into the language of traditional music: Falla: Voices of a Time.
OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS
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.
NEW IN THE NEWSLETTER:
🔸 Sauti za Busara festival, open call for artists
Deadline on midnight (EAT) on 31st July 2025
“The Call for Artists is now open for the 23rd edition of Sauti za Busara festival, set to shake the walls of Stone Town, Zanzibar during 5 – 8 February 2026. Sauti za Busara showcases unique and diverse music, primarily from the African Continent, music that is connected to Africa and diaspora.”
Check the official website for more details, here. The application must be done
It called my attention in the list of “Preference is given to:” that they will give preference to “Music that is performed ‘100% live!’”
The festival offers a modest honorarium (performance fee), per-diems for meals and incidentals, accommodation in Zanzibar, and all local transport related to the performance. It also covers Tanzanian visa costs and provides festival passes with access to all shows throughout the event. Artists will receive invitations to networking events like Movers & Shakers, press conferences, and other official activities. Their profiles will be featured in the festival programmes, press releases, website, and social media platforms. Additionally, the travel sponsor’s logo will be displayed with a link on the festival website, in programmes, and across social media channels.
But note that “Artists from outside the region are usually required to find their own travel sponsors and the festival will support where possible.”
🔸Hide & Seek: free concert access for professionals
If you happen to be in Brussels from 17 to 23 August 2025 and you are a professional, Muziekpublique offers you one free ticket to the concert of your choice for Hide & Seek. I talked about the festival in the previous edition. All the details of this offer are here.
🔸WOMEX Summer rate and conferences announced
Until 29th of August you can get the Summer Rate for WOMEX: 360 € net (VAT appart). Also, they have announced the conference program. You can check it here. There is one that I don’t want to miss: Sync: How to Start? “This session offers a clear and practical introduction to sync licensing for artists, songwriters, and rights holders”. Moderated by Eugene Galushchenko (Ukraine/Spain/USA), onestop music; with Leo Niemi (Finland), Freelance / Sync Sauna; and Patricia Carrera (Mexico/Spain), Control Freaks Music.
For two years now, I’ve submitted a proposal to the panel program titled “Entry Barriers in the Professional Circuit”. It features two very experienced speakers from two different continents (both from each other and from mine). I hope to present it at another edition of WOMEX or in a different context. There are topics that I believe don’t occupy the space they should within our global community, and which are critical both ethically and artistically. This reminds me of the very interesting conversation in the program of panels at Ritmo this past April between Chris Eckman from Glitterbeat and Ian Brennan, called How Music Dies (or Lives): De-colonizing international music, whose theme was related.
Anyway, see you at WOMEX if you attend.
MEET ME AT
- 1st-2nd August. With Vigüela at the Urkult Festival.
- 13th-16th August. With Vigüela in South Corea, International Sori Festival. Our participation has the support of Acción Cultural Española.
- 5th-6th September. With Thanos Stavridis & Drom in Tavira, Portugal.
- 19th-21th September. World Music Festival Bratislava, as a delegate.