Summary
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Hello, how are you? I hope well! I am well. We got to complete the series of 3 concerts at the Museu de Oriente in Lisbon without further postponements (and with the intention of repeating it), with the concert by the Afghan master Daud Khan on 4th of February, Vigüela is presenting the new album on the stages (by the way, you can listen to it here), some programmers are even considering to bring Hudaki Village Band to Spain next Summer…
Things are starting to move again even though the incidence of the covid remains high in some areas. And during the process of writting this, an artist collaboration of mine has told me he has just known the cancelation of a concert he had for May… But WOMEX, Mundial Montréal and some others have opened their calls for proposals recently. And colleagues, like our protagonist of today, Sabina Schebrak, are daring to organise tours. I hope she succeeds! You will find below more information about the specific tour I mention. I hope you enjoy getting to know her better and that you find the news and call useful.
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BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS
- #1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in February 2022 is: Small Island Big Song’s album Our Island.
- Mundofonías: our monthly favourites for February are the albums: Choduraa Tumat’s Byzaanchy, Kreiz Breizh Akademi #8’s Ba’n dañs and Vigüela’s A la manera artesana.
FLASH NEWS: NEW BATCH OF FESTIVALS & CLUBS IN MOST MUSIC
On many occasions I have echoed MOST Music news here and I do it again. For several reasons. It is a very ambitious and interesting project that is worth following in itself, and it is also giving visibility to artists, festivals and other organisations that I find useful to know about.
Yesterday they released the list of winners of the festival and club exchange programme, who are:
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I hope it will ease their path towards achieving their goals.
FLASH NEWS: MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA
Mapamundi Música reiterates its collaboration with Reforesta, for the second consecutive year. Reforesta is a non-profit association founded in 1991 and declared of Public Utility. It is dedicated to the promotion of sustainable development, especially through actions for the recovery of native vegetation and the fight against desertification.
Thus, part of Mapamundi’s profit from the sale of concerts will be dedicated to reforestation of forests, which improve air quality, absorb CO2, protect the soil, provide products and food, and are home to thousands of species of plants, fungi and animals.
AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: SABINA SCHEBRAK
It is impossible to look at her face and not feel overwhelming sympathy. She is Sabina Schebrak, founder & owner at CultureWorks, an essential figure in the European music landscape.
Sabina is a Tyrolean lady who loves the snow and the sun and the music. She speaks German, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian… She is also an experienced agent with very good taste, who works with some of the most important artists of the last decades, such as Riccardo Tesi, Renato Borghetti or Maria Kalaniemi. Yes, on top of everything else, I share with her a love for the accordion. By the way, if you are in France next week, her Portuguese accordion quartet Danças Ocultas will be performing in Paris (23rd), Metz (24th) and Bordeaux (25th).
I invite you to visit her website before starting the interview, as it will provide some context as to where Sabina is at the moment professionally. Click on the logo:
Mapamundi Música: Which is your background, what made you become an agent for world music artists?
Sabina Schebrak: Probably I am a typical Austrian, more specifically Tyrolean: Grown up with a lot of classical music and a family background outside the current borders of the country (grandparents from what today is Northern Italy and Slovenia). I have always felt I belonged to this wider cultural space on the crossroads between the alpine, romanic and slavic world, and I have always had a strong interest for languages, travelling, music and the stories behind it.
When I was young I hated the local alpine Tyrolean folk music as perverted through the Nazis first and then through mass tourism, so my first musical heroes were Italian cantautori such as Fabrizio de Andre and Francesco Guccini, Pino Daniele and Gianna Nannini. I loved Juliette Greco, Georges Brassens, Renaud, Victor Jara, Luis Llach, Maria Farantouri, Mikis Theodorakis and Astor Piazzolla, then I discovered Al di Meola, Chick Corea, Barbara Thompson and Keith Jarrett.
As a young language student in Innsbruck I literally fell in love with a group of street musicians from Sicily – this was my first real encounter with what later on would be called world music or “nouveau trad”, and I became their friend and first agent for Austria (still at a time without internet!).
For 15 years I worked as director of communication and international relations at WUK, a big multidisciplinary cultural center and venue in Vienna, and during that time I became a passionate international networker and curator/organizer of international exchange projects.
When I finally met Brazilian accordionist Renato Borghetti at my last festival in 2000, I was so blown away that I decided to quit the job, follow my real passion and set up my own agency for exquisite sounds from the borderlands between contemporary folk, jazz and chamber music.
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So the world owes Sabina’s decision to quit her job and open her own agency to Renato Borghetti. I think he deserves a few minutes of Renato’s time here. |
Mapamundi Música: From your training, education, previous experiences, which ones of the skills or knowledge you got have been the most useful for your career as an agent of musicians?
SS: My knowledge of languages, my own musical education and experience (I was a passionate choir singer and co-founded one of the craziest choirs in Vienna), my experience as a networker and international communication and project manager, my experience as a teacher and tourist guide. And I love driving and travelling in general.
Mapamundi Música: Apart from that or those skills, which other do you think are essential to succeed in this field of work?
SS: First of all you have to love the music you sell and the people who make it. As a person you have to be a paradox mix of very structured and organized and at the same time crazy enough to party with your artists, crew and promoters 😊 You need a lot of patience, endurance, enthusiasm and conviction about your artists’ quality, even in the face of negative or no answers at all. Do not be afraid to get in touch with people you do not know. You better have a big reserve of good humour when dealing with artists as well as promoters.
Mapamundi Música: Any particular advice for a fellow newcomer or someone who wants to get started in this field?
SS: Don’t work with artists whose music you do not really love, you won’t be able to sell it. Better start parallel to another job that allows you to pay your bills, if you are not extremely lucky you will not be able to make a living as a booking agent right from the beginning. Do not dream of working with somebody just for the good money – or switch your musical genre towards mainstream pop. Beware of super-ego artists who make you feel their secretary or personal assistant. Be clear and transparent about your own conditions right from the beginning.
Mapamundi Música: And now, for the artists. I’m sure you get requests from artists every day to be their manager. I am sure because it happens to me too, and many colleagues tell me the same thing. Do you have any recommendations for the artists, so that they can improve the way they communicate when they do it for this purpose?
SS: Oh yes! Dear artists, please check my website and artistic agency profile before you get in touch with me (No, I am not interested in Heavy Metal Bands). And do this only by email, I will not react to long messages on Whatsapp, SMS, Messenger & co which I consider private channels for people I know.
Mapamundi Música: Do you think it makes sense for the artists to try to find an agent? Have you ever started a stable collaboration with a band or artist that approached you in their search for an agent?
SS: Difficult question. In twenty years this has happened once – I liked the album the band sent me but then it still took some years until we really started working together. Usually I prefer to discover my artists on some live occasion such as concerts or festivals, or on recommendation of people I trust. I think that young newcomers should do their own bookings at least for some time, this will make them understand the job, and they won’t have to share the fee with an agent. If the project is good enough the day will come when somebody approaches them actively, which in my opinion is far better than losing time running after people you do not know. Better develop your self marketing strategies and continue working – no matter with or without agent. And we all know that the scenario is quite the opposite with well known artists, if they approach you as their eventual agent you will feel honoured and try to make the deal (always depending on whether you like the music and what you have heard about them from your colleagues).
Mapamundi Música: I think there will still be, at least for many years, a lot of artists and a much smaller number of agents, that is the current situation. This makes me think that we are not in a very interesting business, otherwise there would be many more agents working in world music. Nevertheless, it seems the artists require us. Something seems to be wrong, what is it.
Mapamundi Música: How could we explain briefly which is the value we, the agents, provide to the value chain?
SS: We are the ones who lubricate the channels and in the best case make life easier for artists as well as promoters – we structure chaotic promotion material, deliver it on time, deal with the administrative needs of both sides, we know the people and their tastes in specific territories and know what to propose to whom, we have the overview of scheduled dates and can add more, thus increasing the artist’s revenue and at the same time reducing the costs for the promoters. And of course we are nice people creating a positive working climate 😊.
Mapamundi Música: Do you have any future plans that are especially thrilling for you and that you can share with us? (related to your work as an agent)
SS: My most thrilling plan at this moment are three upcoming concerts of my Portuguese accordion quatuor Danças Ocultas in France at the end of February – if they really happen and the French audience decide to attend and leave their black COVID hole I will offer champagne for the whole team!!!
I hope these guys of Danças Ocultas will make a toast with Sabina next week! 🥂
Mapamundi Música: Explain in one or two sentences, to the wider culture community, the reasons to book musicians from around the world that give a relevant presence to their roots.
SS: This is the music that touches my heart as well as my brain, it opens up the world to me and at the same time makes me think about my own cultural identity.
Credits:
- Portrait of Sabina, © Christian Niederwolfsgruber
- Banner with three artists (Elina Duni, Branko Galoic and Maria Kalaniemi with Eero Grundström), from Culture Works Vienna Facebook site.
- Picture of Danças Ocultas, © Pedro Claudio
| Do you have a call of interest for our community that you want to share? Let me know asap |
OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS
If you have anything to share in this section in a future edition, let me know.
- WOMEX, call for proposals open. NEW.
The expo will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 19 and 23 of October. The call is open until Friday 18th March, for conferences, showcase, club summit and films. The submission site is here.
Mundial Montréal. NEW.
The 12th edition will take place in Montréal, Canada, from 15th to 18th of November. Call for artists for the 2022 edition of Mundial Montréal is open until March 15th. The submission form is here.
- MusicAire (An Innovative Recovery for Europe). NEW. – FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION AND COUNTRIES INCLUDED IN CREATIVE EUROPE
“MusicAIRE offers small grants for music organisations for projects focusing on the green, digital or just and resilient recovery of the music sector.” “In order to be eligible, proposals must be presented by a single applicant must be a public or private organisation with legal personality, e.g. not-for-profit organisations; public authorities (national, regional, local); international organisations; profit-making entities, established in one of the 27 EU member states or non-EU countries participating in the Creative Europe programme.” The deadline is on 28th of March. Learn more here.
MOST Open Call for Urban Projects. NEW. – FOR SOUTH EAST EUROPE –
The call is open until March 15th. “As part of the large-scale MOST project, the Urban Project Hub is looking for creative and unique projects to add colour to local cultural scenes, and connect the music sector and cities. In a bit more detail, ideas that are city-level or regional, provide exchange or networking opportunities for local musicians, provide activities that can strengthen the local music scene will be considered for funding. Selected applicants will have to pair up with a local policymaker.” The submission site is here.
- EXIB Música. NEW. – FOR IBEROAMERICAN ARTISTS –
The call is open until February 21st. This is the site for the submissions. The 8th edition of this meeting will take place in Setubal, Portugal, from 13th to 15th of October.
Mobility grants to book Spanish artists, by Acción Cultural Española.
The dates and conditions for this grants have been dramatically enhanced. The official information is here.
👉 Check the Spanish artists I offer from Mapamundi Música, here. They are Vigüela, Entavía, Jako el Muzikante, Xabi Aburruzaga and Citra Trío.
Andrea Parodi Prize competition.
The subscription (for free) for the 15th edition of the contest is open until May 31st, here.
Folk Alliance International annual conference. Hybrid event. 18th-22nd May.
More info, here. Registration is open, both for the in person and for the only online categories, here. My Vigüela are part of the official selection and they will participate with a new online showcase.
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.
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