Ciro de Rosa and Salvatore Esposito, from Blogfoolk

I’ve known Ciro de Rosa for many years. We have met in delighting events like Globaltica festival in Poland or Sharq Taronalari in Uzbekistan. In Italy, specifically in Sardinia, I had the pleasure to meet also Salvatore Esposito, the founder of Blogfoolk, at Andrea Parodi contest.

Blogfoolk is an editorial project focused on world and traditional music. They release one issue each week, that includes reviews of albums, interviews chronicles of concerts and festivals… all of them available at the web.

As mentioned in the previous issue of this newsletter, I admire the work of the team of Blogfoolk, their perseverance and dedication and the deepness of their approach. So it is a pleasure for me to share their words and to acknowledge here their contribution for our community. Here you are they insights.

MM – Blogfoolk is already working for more than 9 years. I think it is the main media in Italy dedicated to these kinds of music or, at least, the only one that has impact in the international community. I think, correct me if I am wrong, that the economic return is not the reason for standing for so long, publishing constantly and with such diversity and deepness. What is the return that provides you this motivation? 

Salvatore Esposito: Exactly, Blogfoolk has been publishing for nine years. Today is the main media in Italy covering traditional, folk and world music. We do think the economic investment is not the reason for standing for such a long time, publishing regularly with such a diversity of contents and in depth analysis of music. It was created as my personal Blog, some months later Ciro De Rosa joined this adventure. In less than a decade we have grown by small steps. We have become an officially registered magazine, with me as the editor and Ciro, as editor-in-chief. We have got a scientific committee and what’s more, a bunch of regular journalists contribute and participate in the making of the magazine policy. Over the years, the number of contributors who have embraced our project has increased. Our main goal is to study in depth and to bring to a wider audience music which is not usually covered in the Italian media.

Ciro De Rosa: Our commitment is to embrace great music from around the world, with a special focus on the Italian traditional and folk music scene. Our aim is to help readers to find out music and stories behind music. The greatest achievement is credibility. Our work and dedication has been recognised by professionals and by leading figures of academia and music journalism in Italy. It may sound a bit pretentious, but we can say it’s not Blogfoolk which knock the world any longer today, but it is the world which knocks on Blogfoolk’s door. However, a lot is still to be done. You never stop studying, digging further and planning for a better magazine.

SE: Due to the economic crisis, the music market changes but also due to the inability to create a system with the record labels that have stopped investing in advertising, a lot of music magazines have ceased to exist. I am thinking of World Music Magazine or Jam, just to quote two magazines Ciro and me have worked for and to some extents are in Blogfolk DNA. In some way, it is a cultural desert. Keeping a magazine alive on one’s own legs is really complex. But Blogfoolk resists… It is a bulwark of solid cultural resistance because each of us, although dealing with music with a professional attitude, has got a different job. We do not have an effective economic return, and when we managed to sell advertising space we had minimal revenues. It is therefore legitimate to ask why we continue to carry on this business. The answer is that surely we are “crazy”, as Professor Alessandro Portelli, a leading social historian, said in an interview in which he quoted Blogfoolk.

CDR: We are “Foolk”, which contains the words “folk” and “fool” (to be read in Shakespearian way and – why not? – in Steve Jobs’s terms) at the same time. Nonetheless, we have clear goal of keep growing and being cultural agitators. Blogfoolk has organized music events in some clubs in Rome, we have promoted conferences, we take part in disc and book presentations, we have edited an online book. We keep trying to make system involving labels and publishers, to stimulate them to invest to promote their music. Then, there is the important aspect of partnerships with national and international festivals to which we care a lot and which is probably the most exciting side of our work.

MM – What made you guys interested in this kind of music? How was the development of your personal interest on this? 

SE: Personally I approached the world and the traditional music by degrees starting from my passion for Bob Dylan, on whom a volume edited by me came out a couple of years ago for a leading Italian publisher. From the American folk I passed to the English and then again to the Italian and in particular to the scene of the Salento revival. In the end I also started studying. I have read so much and above all listened to many records. Certainly a lot I also learned from Ciro De Rosa who opened the doors to me to discover so much music that I didn’t know. Without him I would never have been keen on Sardinian music, for example.

CDR: I became interested through my studies in cultural anthropology and the study of Breton, Irish and British folk traditions. Being the old guy in the team, I have to say I started as a radio presenter of folk and world music for independent radios in Mid-Eighties, then contributing to a programme in the National Radio. I have been member of staff for World Music Magazine, which has helped me to grow in terms of professionality. Here, I want to thank Pietro Carfì and EDT, a Turin publisher.

MM – It looks like you work many hours per week in Blogfoolk, and this is not your daily job. How do you organize yourselves to be productive and efficient with this level of quality? 

SE: It’s so much time because being the editor I decide the contents for each issue (Ciro collaborates, too) to be published. Also, I am a the art director, I take care of the daily updating of the news pages in the website. Let’s say that many things, such as the relationship with labels, reading press releases and emails, selecting proposals, I happen to do them even on my mobile because during my working day I have dead times. In this context you must also include the fact that I write and therefore I have to listen to records, attends concerts and festivals. In short, it is a game of joints that is also difficult to explain. I always say that each issue goes to compose a bit on its own because we leave to the contributors a wide margin for their proposals even if we try to avoid personal initiatives to avoid overlapping of contents. Of course, we have a great backlog because it is always difficult to follow everything and talk about everything. So the philosophy is if it is worth reviewing a disc it never ceases to be even one year after publication. It is not rare, in fact, that we found ourselves digging up discs that we had lost on the way but we wanted to deal with. In our review you won’t find cut and paste of press releases as in most online mag.

CDR: It’s a daily reading and listening to music, planning interviews, editing when I have finished my work day as a teacher. It’s essential to select the most interesting materials which fit our mission amongst the many we receive on a daily basis. Weekends are above all dedicated to further listening, writing and editing other contributors’ stuff.

MM –  How do you select the contents to write about?

SE: The selection of contents has various phases. Both Ciro and me receive dozens and dozens of materials and review proposals. We read everything carefully we also listen to everything carefully. Of course there is stuff which is discarded because it doesn’t fit our editorial line. We prefer not to deal with things that we are not experts on because we would also be poorly prepared. If they give us a Speed Metal record it will be difficult for a Blogfoolk review to come out. Sometimes it also happens to us to propose records, emphasizing their folk nature because they may have acoustic atmospheres and we are forced to decline because maybe they are too tied to pop. One thing is certain we try to be attentive to everything but above all to favour the quality and innovative strength of the discs. In recent years we have been widening our perspective to avant-garde to the most sophisticated and original jazz and even to contemporary music. Of course if a disc is “Foolk” it will surely find space on our pages. A “Foolk” disc is a disc with a multiple look breaking music boundaries, an elusive and fascinating record.

CDR: It is also crucial to read international press and specialised websites, to attend world music fairs whenever possible and festival to be continuously updated. The fact I am a panellist to the Transglobal World Music Chart has widened my perspective, too.

MM – If you could ask Santa Claus whatever you could related to Blogfoolk, what would you ask?

SE: I would ask for a sponsorship, a nice substantial loan from thirty or even less than twenty thousand euros. I would renew the site, make it even more functional and multitasking and I could make some Christmas transfers to our contributors. I would be really happy. What advances I would spend to finance the publication of a single volume with the best of interviews and specials made over the years. Believe me it would be great because there are really relevant and lovely things. It is not certain, however, that these things cannot be achieved without the Santa’s help…  Of course we will have to wait but after all Rome was not built in a day… Am I a dreamer?

CDR: Upgrading the website and having the chance to pay contributors would be the priority, as said. Also, we organized a small party in Rome for our 400th issue with live music from Stefano Saletti and Piccola Banda Ikona, an artist not to be missed. So, a three day festival to celebrate our next editorial score would be an excellent present.

MM – Would you give any advice to the artists and the managers to improve their communication when they want to get attention from the media?  

SE: First of all, I would recommend working hard on music, research and sound. There is a lot of music around, but not truly original and of good quality music. The rest may come by itself. It did not happen to us often but at times we have accompanied groups or artists in their growth and it was a satisfaction to see them establish themselves even on an international level. For example, Duo Bottasso we followed from their beginning as a duo. It also takes a little perseverance and does not give in to the first difficulties. In the end, talent will always prevail.

CDR: Working hard in terms of quality of music and stage presence. Be professional from the very beginning.

Some interesting dates for the community (and where you can find me if you happened to be there, just let me know):

Mediterranean Music Festival (Zurich, Switzerland). 18th January. My first international trip of the year will be to the festival lead by Alkis Zopoglou, who is mentioned below. I will travel there with Josep Aparicio “Apa”, the Valencian superb singer of cant d’estil, and with his musicians Eduard Navarro and Toni Porcar.

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