Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música

Do you want to share any useful experience you have had during this difficult time or another content relevant for our community of the world musics?

Contact me if you want to share some relevant information. And if you find this interesting, share it with your friends. You can read the previous issues here. 

CLINICAL RESEARCH PRIMA_CoV, ABOUT ATTENDANCE TO INDOORS CONCERTS, RESULTS PUBLISHED

On December 30, the website of the PrimaveraSound festival and the website page of the Fundación Lucha contra el Sida y las Enfermedades Infecciosas (Foundation for the Fight against AIDS and Infectious Diseases) published an article on the results of the clinical testing PRIMA-CoV. It is very enlightening and deserves to be disseminated. I include here a brief summary and in their website you have more details (link to the English version and this is the Spanish one).

The research was made by Primavera Sound, la Fundación Lucha contra el SIDA y las Enfermedades Infecciosas y el Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol de Badalona.

What have they done?
On December 12th, at the venue Sala Apolo in Barcelona, it was done a concert without safety distance and with a pre-screening with antigen test and PCR test. The attendants used masks (N95), provided at the entrance. They were included only people without illnesses, who were not living with elderly people at home, and that had not been diagnosed with COVID in the last 14 days. Ventilation and air flows were optimised and the quality of the air, monitorised.

The concerts lasted 5 hours and the average time of attendance was 2h 40 min. The routes within the building were pre-established and controlled and queues at the entrance, exit and toilets were prevented.
1047 participants were tested, with negative results in the antigen test. They were aleatorized and 500  ofthem entered the venue (only 500 were allowed by the sanitary authorities).

What has been the result? 
8 days later, both the ones that attended the concert and the control group (the aleatoriced ones that didn’t enter) were tested again. None of the attendants to the concert were infected. Two of the persons in the control group (didn’t enter the venue) were infected and they were treated according to the usual protocol.

What has been the main outcome? 
The conclusion of this research is that the attendance to a live music concert performed under a series of safety measures, including a negative antigen test for SARS-CoV-2 on the same day, was not associated with an increase in COVID-19 infections.

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CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR FESTIVALS 

On this occasion, we travel to Augsburg, in Bavaria, around 70 kms to the North-West from Munich, to learn about the Festival der Kulturen. It is organized by the municipality and is part of the Augsburger Hohes Friedensfest, the Grand Peace Festival, whose origin dates back to 1650! This Festival is a bigger celebration that commemorates the Peace of Westphalia. Learn more in the UNESCO website. As stated there, the festival promotes mutual respect for cultural and religious diversity and offers a possibility for getting to know each other.

Something that I like a lot about the website of the municipality about the festival, that is this one, is that it is very easy to find out who is the artistic director and they even provide his email. Bravo ?. I really thank this. Epecially when the programs are paid with public money, it should be mandatory to make this information public and to give a clear way to contact the decision maker.

This reminds me one time that I phoned a city council from Spain to ask about the artistic director of a festival and the person there told me “I can’t tell you because of privacy reasons”. I told her “that is not private, it is a public position doing a public service paid by public money, that information must be public.” Anyway, she didn’t tell me. ?‍♀️

MINI INTERVIEW WITH GIRISHA FERNANDO, FROM FESTIVAL DER KULTUREN, AUGSBURG (GERMANY)  

Mapamundi Música (MM) – I have learnt from you that the festival started in 2008 and you became the artistic director in 2011. How did you get hired for this? 
Girisha Fernando: I had some ideas, submitted a concept and then got hired as music curator for my first few years. As the festival evolved towards its current profile, my role evolved to that of artistic director.

MM – How did your incorporation in the artistic direction change the festival? 
GF: The festival’s profile was sharpened and now focuses more and more on presenting international contemporary world music, reflecting musical developments and the cutting edges between traditional and modern styles.

MM – What do you search for in an artist when you program?
GF: Musical quality, authenticity, originality

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
GF: Introducing new and uncommon music off the beaten track and providing a space for the local and international music community to a growing, interested and diverse audience.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival?
GF: The usual things, the routing of the bands, scheduling, finances, etc.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours?
GF: To stay relevant artistically, developing new challenges, new projects, thereby taking one’s audience along for the ride.

MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival.
GF: Apart from presenting great music and being able to meet great people, we have also been focusing on developing unique musical projects with international artists and local artists working together, projects for example incorporating the Augsburg Philharmonic Orchestra with artists like Karolina Cicha or Mercedes Peon.

MM – What has happened with the edition of 2020 in the current situation of the pandemic?
GF: Last year we had to first cancel the regular festival, but were then able to stage some smaller concerts in summer. We also produced some cross-border video projects. For 2021 we will have to see and hope for the best!

Credits:

• The portrait has been provided by Girisha
• The logo is from the Facebook page of the Festival
• The picture of the concert is provided by Girisha, made by Chris Menkel and the band performing is Red Baraat
• The painting is by Nontira Kigle from the website of Friedensstadt Augsburg

Do you have a world music festival and you want to be included in our mini interviews? Contact us.

INTERVIEW WITH ALEXANDER WALTER, WOMEX’S DIRECTOR

-English edition of the interview originally posted in World Music Lab Italy, by Eric E. van Monckhoven-

—-
Credits: WOMEX 20, Digital Edition feat. Budapest Ritmo
17/11/2020, Alexander Walter, WOMEX Director
Interview for World Music Lab, Italy, Eric van Monckhoven

Eric van Monckhoven: What were the biggest challenges in going digital, and how did that decision come into place?
Alexander Walter: The initial plan, of course, was to have a physical event on-site in Budapest. Due to the developments of the pandemic, in summer, we started planning for a hybrid event – involving physical with a digital programme. This hybrid event would allow us to involve our community from parts in the world where it became clear that they would not be able to travel to Europe in October – until the Hungarian government closed the borders for non-Hungarian citizens on 1st September. At that point, the decision was clear; we had to go fully digital. The biggest challenge was to transform the different programme elements into the digital sphere. WOMEX is a “meet and hug” event, and it took countless hours of brainstorming on how to shape things so that they make sense for everyone involved under digital circumstances. Luckily with our long-existing digital platform virtualWOMEX, we already had a structure in place, and with the help of a few extensions and upgrades, it gave the basis.

EVM: How did you make it to coordinate staff and events (Berlin, Budapest?)
AW: The initial plan, of course, was to have a physical event on-site in Budapest. Due to the developments of the pandemic, in summer, we started planning for a hybrid event – involving physical with a digital programme. This hybrid event would allow us to involve our community from parts in the world where it became clear that they would not be able to travel to Europe in October – until the Hungarian government closed the borders for non-Hungarian citizens on 1st September. At that point, the decision was clear; we had to go fully digital. The biggest challenge was to transform the different programme elements into the digital sphere. WOMEX is a “meet and hug” event, and it took countless hours of brainstorming on how to shape things so that they make sense for everyone involved under digital circumstances. Luckily with our long-existing digital platform virtualWOMEX, we already had a structure in place, and with the help of a few extensions and upgrades, it gave the basis.

EVM: How did you make it to coordinate staff and events (Berlin, Budapest)?
AW: We have been planning and working with our local partners, Hangvető in Budapest, throughout the year, which helped us enormously to pull off the event so efficiently. Also, since they had hosted us in 2015, they knew what it takes to create WOMEX. Within a short period of time available, and with all social distancing measures, Hangvető organized some concerts and conferences on the ground in our nighttime venue Müpa. Parts of the programme indeed took place live in Budapest and then were streamed into the digital event.

EVM: How do you assess the results and what has been learned?
AW: The overall feedback from our music community was positive. It, of course, is not possible to 100% re-create a physical experience in the digital hemisphere, but it works as a bridge until in-person meetings can be done again. It was nice to see the delegates being active during those days, and the level of interaction was high.

In the meantime, there are plenty of digital tools out there that, with the help of a good IT team, can serve the implementation of intentions and ideas. It certainly is dependent on budget, server capacities and of course internet access, but in theory, almost everything is possible.

EVM: What worked best (films, showcases, conferences, ceremony, online chat possibility, etc.)?
AW: All elements were adopted and well attended. The online conference sessions drew great attention this time, and the virtual showcases were combined with artist interviews that gave a more in-depth insight into the artist’s creative processes and stories. Though of course, the intensity of a live concert is something completely different – streaming and live should not be compared. We also included a chat tool where people could directly get in touch with each other in written form or do video talks. Over the days, more than 20.000 written messages happened via this tool. This year, delegates really appreciated watching the extended film programme – something that during the rush of a physical event does not get the same attention.

EVM: What are the positive takeaways from the digital WOMEX edition?
AW: It is good to do something than cancelling the whole event. It showed that despite the struggle that everyone is facing in the music community right now, there is still a need for getting together and cultural exchange and that people reached out, stayed positive minded and interactive. We were thrilled to see that 1,130 delegates registered to take part.
One other advantage certainly was that we could invite conference speakers that typically would not have had the opportunity or means to travel to a physical event. We could be more inclusive this way. We sincerely hope that everyone will be able to manage these financially challenging times and stay in good health – physically and mentally – until we meet again next year in October in Porto, Portugal.

Credits:

• The portrait of Alexander is from his profile in Womex website
• The portrait of Eric is provided by himself

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

• The 1st  annual compilation done by Transglobal World Music Chart will be released by ARC Music very very soon! ? You can preorder it on the website.
• About Mundofonías, our monthly favourites are the albums: Gusle, the Epic Tradition of Serbia (V.A.), Sisyphus by Sofia Labropoulou and Live in Berlin by Barmer Boys.
• Songlines has released their list of the 50 best albums of the last 5 years. The list is here. Congratulations to everyone! I am personally happy for Daniel Rosenberg, whose project Yiddish Glory is included. How would I like to celebrate in person! 

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

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

• Fira Mediterrània de Manresa. The call for artistic projects is open until Wednesday 27 January at 24h. It will take place from 14 to 17 of October 2021. More info and submissions, here.
• The virtual conference Folk Unlocked, by the Folk Alliance International, will take place from 22nd to 26th of February. I’ve already registered. The complete program seems not to be published yet.
• It is expected that Creative Europe will open the call for collaboration projects in Spring (postponed from the last Autumn and with the new budget, remarkably increased) but now it is open the application period for residential projects (minimun of 7 days) i-Portunus. The deadline for music projects is 28th of February.

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. And we lead also the Asociación para la Difusión de los Estilos.

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. 

This newsletter is open to sponsorship. Feel free to ask for details.

July’20. 2 years + interviews, news and rebirths

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BABEL MED REBIRTHS AS BABEL MUSIC XP

IN THE QUEST FOR THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE RECORD MUSIC BUSINESS, WITH EDITH LEI, FROM NAXOS MUSIC LIBRARY

Our “industry”, let me use this term despite the situation, is facing many challenges. There is one that impacts on all the genres of music: the progressive drop of incomes for artists and producers from the recorded music. In this interview, Ms. Edith Lei, Managing Director at Naxos Digital Services Ltd answers about one of their most ambitious initiative: Naxos Music Library. Note that I announced this interview would be with Ina Schröder instead, who considered these were questions for Ms. Lei. I am really thankful to Ina for the intermediation. 

Mapamundi Música – For what I know so far, the Naxos Music Library is an archive with more than 2 million tracks of music that the subscribers can listen to in streaming. Who is the client/user for Naxos Music Library? 

Edith Lei – At least 97% of Naxos Music Library (NML) subscribers are institutions or music-related organisations – universities, public libraries, conservatories, schools, orchestras. The other 3% or so are musicians, performing artists, classical music lovers, journalists, critics, radio presenters, music teachers etc.

MM –  Much of your catalogue is Western classical music but there are also many tracks of other kinds of music, like jazz and world music. I think you are interested in including more references. How can a record label include their catalogue in the Library? 
EL – We have subsidiary platforms, one is NML Jazz and the other is NML World. So obviously we take jazz and world music labels too.

There are contracts in place with aggregators, so the first step is to check which distribution partners labels are working with and request content from them. If that is not an option we can look into individual contracts.

Labels with classical, jazz and world music content who want to be part of the NML suite can write to my colleague Helen at Helen.Kwan@Naxos.com

MM –  And the independent artists, can they also include their works in the catalogue? 
EL – This depends on how large their catalogue is. For those who only have a couple of albums with standard repertoire, the amount of administrative work (contracting, reporting, royalties payment etc.) required cannot be justified. If the artist’s intention is to merely make their recordings available on NML so that they can be heard, we can consider taking them under different conditions. 

MM –  What is the return for the producer that has tracks in the Library? For sure you are aware of the critics from the industry of music about the model of return of the most popular music streaming platforms. 
EL – Our per-stream rate for labels is many times more than that from other platforms. Referring to this article on Digital Music in January 2018, Naxos paid $0.05 per stream, while Spotify $0.00397, Apple $0.00783, Amazon $0.0074, Qobuz $0.03816. Though this article is from two years ago, it gives you a general idea on how much each platform pays labels. 

MM – What are your next goals with the Library? 
EL – To expand into countries where we do not have a distributor yet. 

MM – What are the synergies between the Library and Naxos World?  
EL – Naxos Music Library is our flagship platform focusing on classical music, while NML World complements NML and offers world music which is becoming very popular and being studied widely in universities. 

MM – Do you think this model of streaming for subscribers can face the crisis of sales of physical albums? I am sure you have much more knowledge than me in the situation and expectations for the future of the business of recorded music, that’s why I ask you. 
EL – Streaming is now the most widely means to music listening, especially for the young generation. For them, physical CD is not an option. Most of them do not have a CD player.

MM – What is Naxos World doing now? Give me a scoop! 
EL – Under Naxos World we continue to release both very traditional folk music recordings, as well as contemporary and crossover/fusion productions. We are also looking into projects that will bring world music and classical music closer together. 

• Ms. Edith Lei and Mr. Klaus Heymann (Founding Chairman of Naxos Music Group) at Naxos XX anniversary gala evening in Hong Kong. From the website.
• Banner from the website

**** Do you have a world music festival and you want to be included in our mini interviews? Contact us. ****

CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR FESTIVALS 

This festival that is our focus today is also included in the project MOST, about which I talked in a previous issue.

MINI INTERVIEW WITH BÉLA PAP FROM THE ÖRÖKSÉG VILÁGZENEI FESZTIVÁL (HERITAGE WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL) (SZOLNOK, HUNGARY)

I know Béla Pap for many years, in the second edition of Without Borders meeting in Varna (Bulgaria), organized by Yasen Kazandjiev. Béla sent me two pictures, the one I used in the previous edition and also these one. If you know him, you know he is the joyful man, cool and lighthearted who teaches about palinka and he also organices a festival in Hungary, in Szolnok, at the heart of the Great Hungarian Plain.

The festival is planned for August 19th-23rd… now with question marks.

MM – What do you search in an artist when you create the programme? 
BP:  Above all, in the invited artists, we are looking for how instinctively they experience the music they perform, and how they can build on the diverse folk music heritage in order to reach out in an exciting way to the contemporary audiences.It is really important for our festival to engage new talents and see how they can convey their emotions through their music.

 

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
BP: We aim to present contemporary art forms and genres to young audiences, mostly those that are based on folk traditions in their content and also express the general feelings, experiences of today’s youth and links to the cultural heritage of previous generations.The primary aim is to contribute effectively to the wide-range popularization of the values based upon the folk cultural heritage of Hungary and other nations (among others basically that of the Visegrad 4 and Balkan countries).

 

“Since the very start of the festival, we have firmly believed that one of the bases of understanding and tolerating the social changes and geo-political events taking place in the world is a dialogue between generations.“

 

One of the festival’s primary objectives is involving young children in the events by means of art forms relying on folk traditions, thus motivating family participation and strengthening the links between generations.Since the very start of the festival, we have firmly believed that one of the bases of understanding and tolerating the social changes and geo-political events taking place in the world is a dialogue between generations. By means of the international language of music, the artistic productions of the young musicians building upon the heritage of their ancestors mediate ideas and notions which shared with the audience facilitate to understand the elements of contemporary world vision.

 

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 

BP: As our festival is organised with 25 years of experience, we rarely face challenges we have never encountered before.
The difficulties of finding financial resources, which are reoccurring year after year, are familiar to all professionals – it is boring to talk about, I would say -, but I believe these difficulties are compensated by the realised festival program.

 

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours?
BP: The biggest challenge, I think, is that people’s ears are “flooded” by the mainstream information and music offerings that attract large crowds.That is why it is a difficult, but at the same time important challenge to try to reach the current young audience with all the old and new tools and channels, to constantly spread the musical delicacies, and to give as many opportunities as possible to experience the magic of live music (especially world music).Fortunately, we have truly potential allies in this: those contemporary young musicians whose music draws on traditions and combine those with experimental elements to enter the world of quality music creation.MM – In one sentence, summarise the reason/s to go to your festival. 
BP: It is worth coming to the “Heritage” World Music Festival because better and better, fresh music is played almost continuously on two stages for three days, whether Hungarian or foreign artists are playing. Important to note, that apart from the colourful music offer, there is a great variety of Central European food and drink, like a good Hungarian apricot “palinka”, followed by an aromatic freshly sparkling Czech beer, awww… 🙂

 

MM – Is this experience we are living now, the crisis of the coronavirus, changing your festival in any way (apart from postponing this year’s edition, if so)? 
BP: When I write these lines, there is still a lot of uncertainty all over the world, including Hungary. However, there are indications that we can organise the festival on its original dates, during the celebration of the founding of the state at the end of August. Of course, at this point, I envisage long queues of people patiently waiting one and a half meters apart for refreshments, while only 4-6 people are sitting at each table.Moreover, it is also possible to draw circles in front of the stage, indicating how many people may be standing or dancing there at one time.

Even if keeping the distance in a festival might be a bit strange, the lack of dancing together in a large crowd is almost impossible to imagine, it does not change what is really important: the melodies floating in the air, the rhythms beating in the heart connect everyone and it cannot be stopped by neither a virus nor any border.
—-

Thank you very much, Béla! 

Pictures’ credits:

• Portrait and logo provided by Béla
• Poster of the first edition, from the website
• Cover of the Facebook page of the festival

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IN DEEP WITH ANGIE LEMON PR

One of the purposes of this newsletter is to give visibility to the great work done by many professional that are not seen at the stage but without who, all this community would not exist. Initiators of festivals, disseminators… and also PR and publicists. Like Angie Lemon. She can be also useful for you, in case you are needing some support in communication.

I have been in touch with Angie Lemon, first because of her work of publicist for ARC Music, as she has been working with their releases and I am, thanks of Mundofonías radio show, one of their targets. When ARC released some albums by artists that have been collaborators of Mapamundi Música, like El Naán, La Jose and Vigüela, Angie got deeply involved. She and the team of ARC Music were the responsible for the performance by El Naán to BBC Radio 3 and many other good things that happened to us.

A few years ago she established her own brand, Angie Lemon PR, with which she continued the collaborations with ARC Music (the press release for Thraki/Thrace – The Paths of Dionysus, by Rodopi Ensemble was a joy to read) and other clients.

In this times of reflections and memories of better times, Angie came to my mind often, so I decided to ask her to explain me more in depth what is she currently offering.

Mapamundi Música: What kind of services do you provide? 

Angie Lemon: I promote world and folk albums and musicians to media in the UK, EU, USA, Canada and Australia/New Zealand. I work with many wonderful magazine editors, radio producers, radio presenters, bloggers, press music journalists, freelance journalists and chart panellists mainly the Transglobal World Music Charts and World Music Charts Europe.

I regularly send newsletters to media I work with and keep them updated with campaigns, projects and news. I work directly with musicians who are self-publishing but also work with indie labels, managers and promoters.

I also consult with artists for project preparation or ideas blasting sessions about specific projects to help timeline events and work out the best possible release schedule or consult about aspects of the project.

I assist artists with bios and press releases and am happy to work with both signed artists and self-published musicians whether solo artists or in groups.

MM. What is your professional background? 
AL: I have been a professional publicist working in the arts sector for over 20 years and started my career in book publishing. I have worked with authors, painters, composers, cake designers, photographers, inventors and since 2014, world and folk musicians.

I managed and co-fronted the indie folk band, Rivers & Roads in Sydney, Australia for 10 years booking concerts, radio shows, securing national TV with many other well-recognised accomplishments.

I worked as the in-house PR for the UK label ARC Music for 4 years where I had the privilege of campaigning top quality world and folk musicians at a national and international level. In 2018 I took the plunge into the world of freelance publicity focusing on building and developing media relations both in the UK and internationally.

MM. Which is your distinctiveness? 
AL: What I bring to the mix is firstly a personal love of music and secondly, experience as a publicist. I work with my clients, not for them, I establish what they need and do my best to make it happen and when it does, it’s pure magic! For more information, please write to me: angielemonpr@gmail.com

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 46 stations in 17 countries). We produce the Transglobal World Music Chart with our partner Ángel Romero from WorldMusicCentral.com. And we lead also the Asociación para la Difusión de los Estilos.

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. 

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This newsletter is open to sponsorship. Feel free to ask for details.

June 2020 | Life returns, mini interviews, joint ventures and more

How are you? I am quite ok. After more than one month of post transplant without growing at all, I thought it was dead… But no, my little avocado tree started to produce new leaves

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MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA JOINS FORCES WITH SPAIN IS MUSIC

In the edition #8 of this magazine I introduced Pablo Camino’s brand, Spain is Music, a travel agency specialized in cultural trips and, specifically, in trips in which the music has a very relevant place and the public is an active participant of the popular art.

In previous occasions, Mapamundi has been provider for Spain is Music and now, the crisis of the pandemic, has serve us to reflect on how to reinforce our synergic relationship. Together, we are creating touristic packages, like From Quixote to Almodovar the biggest stories from Castilla-La Mancha. And also new shapes of events, like Folk Camp Spain. One of our main needs is to find tour operators in other countries, that had the marketing tools to reach the clients. The concept, production and customisation are our responsibility. As the Spanish we are, superb food, enchanting artistic patrimony and joy of life are guaranteed.

**** Do you have a world music festival and you want to be included in our mini interviews? Contact us. ****

CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR FESTIVALS

As mentioned in the previous issue of this magazine, thans to the MOST project I got to know about some festivals from the Balkans that I didn’t know before. Find below the little interview with Dragoș Rusu from the Outernational Days (Bucharest, Romania) and with Mirza Redzepagic, from the World Music Fest Zeman (Novi Pazar, Serbia).

• MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
  DR: To promote the Outernational concept. It is developed here.
• MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival?
  DR: The main issues are related to insufficient funds and the unreliability of the Romanian government to support independent cultural activities.

• MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours?
  DR: The main challenges are related to convince the audience to engage in consuming the cultural products (concerts, panels, lectures) that we propose through our festival.

• MM – In one sentence, summarise the reason/s to go to your festival. 
  DR: Outernational is a memorable and unique festival experience, one that will open your mind and offer a new understanding of the concept world music and the Balkan cultural heritage.

• MM – Is this experience we are living now, the crisis of the coronavirus, changing your festival in any way (apart from postponing this year’s edition, if so)? 
  DR: For 2020, we wanted to move the festival out from Bucharest into the middle of nature, in a remote village in North East of Romania (Vaslui county). However, due to the coronavirus pandemia, we won’t be able to do the festival with audience for this year, therefore we decided to do a special edition, only on online – Outernational Virtual Festival will take place between July 25 and 26, there will be several concerts streamed live on our Youtube and Facebook channels.

• Profile picture of the festival’s Facebook site
• Dragoș Facebook profile picture

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MINI INTERVIEW WITH MIRZA REDZEPAGIC FROM THE WORLD MUSIC FEST ZEMAN (NOVI PAZAR, SERBIA)

• MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
  MR: Our idea is to bring good music to Novi Pazar and that’s the primary goal for which we started with the festival in 2018. Our objectives for the future are to put this festival at the spotlight of serious artistic events in region and in Europe, as well to provide great experience to the audience and the artists too. Since our town, Novi Pazar is officially the youngest town in Europe where 50% of the population are younger than 35 it has a great potential of developing the platform of cultural, artistic education and experience.

• MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival?
  MR: As far as now we really haven’t had any big difficulties organizing the festival since we have full support by the local authorities with whom we have fair cooperation at any field of organization and that so we consider us really happy having that all. The small issues (logistic stuff etc.) is something that is part of the work so there’s no need to mention it.

• MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours?
  MR: My personal opinion is that those challenges depends of the place. Most of the festivals are struggling with the finances because the funds for the culture are lesser every year and it it makes the job difficult for the organizers. Our main challenge is to gain the audience since this kind of happenings are not often in our town, but we are really optimistic about it since it is a natural proces of growing. With the good music you’re getting good audience.

• MM – In one sentence, summarise the reason/s to go to your festival. 
  MR: Young beautiful people, great energy, rich town history and a perfect venue with great music, that is Zeman Fest.

• MM – Is this experience we are living now, the crisis of the coronavirus, changing your festival in any way (apart from postponing this year’s edition, if so)? 
  MR: At this moment we are still waiting to see what is going to happen in the next few weeks with the country regulations about the mass gatherings and public events. We are working on preparations of plan B and even plan C. Definetily the festival is going to happen, in which form we still don’t know but we are prepared and optimistic.

• Profile picture of the festival’s Facebook site
• Mirza portrait provided by himself

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IN THE NEXT EDITION

Many things will show up but, for now, there are two contents that I have quite clear.

• Interview with Béla Pap for the Challenges for Festivals series (portrait below, provided by himself). I know him for so long. I met him in Without Borders, the meeting in Bulgaria organized by Yasen Kazandjiev, the first time I attended. Béla directs Alt Productions. His Heritage World Music Festival is also participant in MOST.
• Naxos Music Library. Ina Schroeder (portrait below from her Linkedin) will kindly answer some questions about this initiative that joins the complete catalogues or selected recordings of over 800 labels.

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 46 stations in 17 countries). We produce the Transglobal World Music Chart with our partner Ángel Romero from WorldMusicCentral.com. And we lead also the Asociación para la Difusión de los Estilos.

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. 

This newsletter is open to sponsorship. Feel free to ask for details.

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Hello, are you OK? We are ok. In Spain we have been able to have a little walk 1 km around our houses from 2 weeks now. The situation is not the same in every region of the country. Madrid region, where I am, is still in the Stage 0, the most restricted one, of the de-escalation.

Summary: 

· Research initiatives to gather data
· Project MOST for dissemination of Balkan music and online talk TOMORROW MORNING!
· Mini interviews with festival managers: Zlatan Jaganjac, from Ritam Mediterana and Davide Mancini from Musicastrada Festival
· In the next edition

This newsletter is open to sponsorship. Feel free to ask for details.

RESEARCH INITIATIVES TO GATHER DATA

Survey by WOMEX, for all the countries  To better understand the ongoing professional challenges and to assess how the Corona Pandemic has impacted the global music community, WOMEX team have put together a survey called Survey on the Impact of Corona Pandemic on the Global Music Community. Professionals not related to WOMEX at all are also welcome. Deadline to fullfill it is next Sunday, 17th of May. Access here.

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MOST, BRIDGE FOR BALKAN MUSIC

BRIEF OVERVIEW AND CALL FOR TOMORROW‘S TALK

And this is the Facebook event for all the talks.

**** Do you have a world music festival and you want to be included in our mini interviews? Contact us. ****

CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR FESTIVALS 

Thanks to the MOST project I got to know about some festivals from the Balkans, that I was not aware of, as they have been selected for the Festival Exchange program. That is the case of:

• The Outernational Days (Bucharest, Romania), about which we’ll talk with Dragos Rusu in June’s edition.
• The World Music Fest Zeman (Novi Pazar, Serbia), whose music director, Mirza Redzepagic, answered also our call and it will be featured in next edition too.

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
ZJ: I believe that the festival has a huge potential to grow in years to come, and thus contributes to the understanding of diversity and interesting cultures at the Mediterranean. Through culture, gastronomy, books, movies… we get to know the Mediterranean, which is known as the “cradle of civilization”. I will strive to make this young festival live long and fulfilled, because it would mean helping many to present and create in a very interesting rhythm specific to the Mediterranean.There is a potential for the festival to be also hosted by city in Mediterranean other than Zagreb, where it all started. So I hereby invite any interested party to contact me in case they think we could cooperate on the project, and take the festival to their city/region/country.

• Zlatan portrait provided by himself
• Cover page of the festival’s Facebook site

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MINI INTERVIEW WITH DAVIDE MANCINI FROM MUSICASTRADA FESTIVAL (TUSCANY, ITALY)

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
DM: Musicastrada Festival supports the transnational circulation of artistic works having a heterogeneous audience that usually cannot access directly to such events organized only in the biggest towns. In fact, most of the events are organized in small towns. From small intimate squares to bigger ones, the audience may vary from 100 to 800 hundred each night. Music is the way to overcome language barriers and support intercultural dialogue among different countries and different people.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival?
DM: Musicastrada Festival is a 21 years old festival. The organization used to be long and complicated but nowadays, being a free entry event, the only real issue is to maintain the necessary budget and finding the sponsors and or the public funds, both local and national.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours?
DM: The audience of the world music network is changing very fast and it’s very difficult to gather young people, under 30 years old.

MM – In one sentence, summarise the reason/s to go to your festival. 
DM: Musicastrada Festival is “world summer music festival experience in Tuscany Italy” offering intimate atmosphere, small stages in small squares where all is organized for music, with artists and audience enjoying a real sound in the endless beauty of our country.

MM – Is this experience we are living now, the crisis of the coronavirus, changing your festival in any way (apart of postponing this year’s edition, if so)? (This question has been added to the questionary more recently than the others and is new in the mini-interviews)
DM: It’s very difficult to say right now. Nobody knows what and how things will change in the next future. But being a small festival we hopefully won’t be hit as the big ones.

• Davide’s portrait from his Facebook profile
• Banner from the festival’s website

IN THE NEXT EDITION

As mentioned above, in the next edition we will talk about two festivals from Balkan region in the mini-interviews section: the Outernational Days (Bucharest, Romania) and the World Music Fest Zeman (Novi Pazar, Serbia).

What else? We’ll see but in the meantime if you have any suggestion, open call or any useful infos to share with the global community of music, let me know.

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 46 stations in 17 countries). We produce the Transglobal World Music Chart with our partner Ángel Romero from WorldMusicCentral.com. And we lead also the Asociación para la Difusión de los Estilos.

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! Forward it to your friends! To sign up, click HERE.