I stole the portrait from his Facebook profile.

Sébastien Laussel began his career as director of social and cultural centres in the field of popular education, where, through and in the service of social work, he developed an artistic programme centred on World Music, directed a music school, created a compilation of emerging groups, etc. He then created Prestacles Prod, whose purpose was to ensure the delegated production of professional performing artists and companies; at the same time, he was in charge of the administration of Balthazar, a regional professional training centre for the circus arts in Occitania.

Sébastien Laussel moved to the Paris region in 2016 where he has since held positions within NGOs that have reinforced his professional experience of the international cooperation dimension and his knowledge of institutional and associative actors in the sector. He is a member of SACEM and SACD.

And now since September he is the director of Zone Franche.

According to their website “The Zone Franche association was created in 1990, when the meeting between traditional oral music and the sounds of globalisation was creating new languages and soundscapes. Today, there are about 180 structures that are federated around professional and political issues. The diversity of our members finds its unity in the shared values set out in the World Music Charter, and constitutes a rare wealth in that it allows for daily interaction between different professions, different legal statuses, and different territorial locations, in the service of an abundance of aesthetics, practices and musical inspirations.” Learn more about the association and access the World Music Charter on their website.

I am planning to make some questions to Sébastien for a future edition.

• »FolkHerbst« (Folk Music Autumn), open call. NEW IN THE NEWSLETTER. FolkHerbst “is a series of folk music events that culminate in handing out the only European Folk Music Award of Germany, the »Eiserner Eversteiner (the Iron Eversteiner)«. The promoter Malzhaus e.V. bestows this award upon folk musicians living in Europe as he/she has for the past 30 years. He/she will do it again next year at the 31th FolkHerbst. We anticipate the best, most accomplished and inspired musicians competing for this prestigious award.” “Musician/ artist must be a European resident. The performance/ music must be derivative of or influenced by folk music. This includes both the broadest interpretation and most specific, as a traditional folk music“. It is open until 01th March 2023. I have received the complete information with the procedure and conditions from Christian Dressel (kultur(at)malzhaus.de) and I don’t see them on the website so I suggest you to ask him. Their website is this.

• Tallinn Music Week 2023, open call. Artist submission will close at 23.59 (CET) on 12 December 2022. Dates: “Music festival: Thu, 11 May – Sat, 13 May. Around 150 artists from various genres and scenes from all over Europe and beyond in Tallinn’s best venues play to an audience of around 15,000 people and to 1,000 music industry professionals from international markets and Baltic-Nordic region.” Check their proposal and apply here.

Hello, how are you? I’m very well, sending this letter from home after returning from Vienna, where I attended the last Friday the concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş, that was really worthwhile to make that flash trip. He is with me in the portrait of this edition and I hope we’ll make many things together.

If you don’t know him yet, ➡️ here ⬅️ you have his album Kiğı, that is his personal look at the 150-year musical process of Kiğı, his birthplace, which consists of works in the regional languages of Krmancki, Kurmanci, Kirdaski, Armenian, and Turkish.

• Babel Music XP. NEW IN THIS NEWSLETTER. Aforementioned. It will take place in Marseille, France, from 23th to 25th of March 2022. The application for artists is open until October 16th. Application and terms and conditions, available here.

• European Folk Network annual meeting / Fira Mediterrània de Manresa. The anual meeting of the EFN is hosted by Fira Mediterrània de Manresa, that will take place from 6th to 9th of October. The registration for the Fira is open here. The program is here. And the complete program of the EFN meeting, with most of its activities open to the delegates, included the non-members of the EFN, is available here.

• English Folk Expo. NEW IN THIS NEWSLETTER. It will take place from 13th to 16th October in Manchester, England. If you are working in the music industry, in the UK or internationally, and interested in attending English Folk Expo Showcase, contact: Terry O’Brien by clicking here or at terry@englishfolkexpo.com.

• Pro/Press accreditation for Visa for Music 2022, open. “Accreditation requests are now open ! If you are a music professional or a journalist/media, ask for your accreditation by filling the google form linked to the button.” It will take place in Rabat, November 16th-19th.  To request the accreditation (it seems to be still open) click here.

• Tallinn Music Week 2023, open call. Artist submission will close at 23.59 (CET) on 12 December 2022. Dates: “Music festival: Thu, 11 May – Sat, 13 May. Around 150 artists from various genres and scenes from all over Europe and beyond in Tallinn’s best venues play to an audience of around 15,000 people and to 1,000 music industry professionals from international markets and Baltic-Nordic region.” Check their proposal and apply here.

• Mundial Montréal, professional registration is open. Here. “Mundial Montréal is back for its 12th edition from November 15 to 18 in person and via its virtual networking platform from November 1 to 25!”

• Afro Pépites, two calls:
  • Call for artistic project: opens till 30/09/22. Not just music, but almost any kind of art. Learn more, here.
  • Call for talent-hunters: the Afro Pepites Show is a tool dedicated to talent-Hunters. “The committee members will receive the instructions by e-mail. You will have to select 5 musical projects and 5 other projects (painting, dance, sculpture, short film…), in the quiet of your home, between 03/10/22 and 23/10/22.” Learn more, here.

Daina Zalāne is the Head of Label and Culture Management Centre LAUSKA in Latvia, that, according to their website “is a partner for independent artists and groups active in various cultural fields. “Lauska” helps to professionally organize and implement different projects and creative ideas”. She is also a member of the board of the European Folk Network, thanks to which I have been in frequent contact with her over the last year.

According to their website “The Culture Management Centre “Lauska” was founded on 29 January 2003 with the aim to support cultural processes and professional culture management in Latvia”. I sent a few questions to Daina about their several lines of activity and here you are the answers. 

General questions about Lauska:

Daina Zalāne: When we started, we wanted to keep the topic as broad as possible because we didn’t exactly know, which route we are going to take. We were a group of friends all engaged in culture but from various angles. For example, in the beginning I was managing a small ceramics gallery and workshop in the Old Town of Riga, because the artists were friends of mine and they needed administrative help. My husband is a historian by education and he had several ideas about projects treating history, oral history and history of everyday life in particular, about collecting pictures, recordings, stories. Some of it we also realised.

But eventually we turned out to be the biggest folk label in Latvia, because that is where our strength lies – in our network in the Latvian folk scene which has broadened into an international network.

Also our Ethno Music Festival grew organically from small-scale concerts at the opening events of our releases which we organised in different places in Riga and outside. Eventually we started working with different municipalities, who wanted a folk music stage in their city festivals, and then we grew into a separate, full-scale festival.

MM: On your website I see you are 4 people. How do you manage to sustain the organization? Do you get any grants from the government or is it sustainable with the services and products that you provide?

DZ: Our NGO Lauska is not based on membership fees. As a matter of fact we are only two active members working on the projects. The NGO is merely a body from which to initiate and administrate cultural projects. Our main funding body in Latvia is the State Culture Capital Foundation where we can hand in projects 3-4 times a year to receive funding and realise them – be they recordings, releases or concerts or workshops.
From there we also receive an annual administrative grant to be able to pay a small salary, cover transport and office expenses.
In addition to that we also are partners or initiators in different international projects, funded by Creative Europe or EEA Grants.
There is also some income from the CDs, books and vinyls we sell, but it is decreasing rapidly and we mainly keep the shop so that all our releases are easily available, as our mission is to spread information about traditional culture nowadays as widely as possible.

About the festival: 

DZ: The Valmiermuiža Ethno-Music Festival actually grew out of a compilation that we release every other year – SVIESTS. There we collect recordings of the folk groups and projects that are currently active in the scene in Latvia. As we always organise some concert or other event on the occasion of a new release, this compilation with 18-20 groups already asked for a festival.

The first five years we were located in the beautiful medieval town Cēsis, as part of the city celebration in the middle of the summer. But then we got a new partner – the Valmiermuiža brewery, that is located in a beautiful old mannor park, so there we now have the festival at the beginning of the Northern summer, in Mid-June, just before Midsummer. Our festival is slowly growing, in 2022 we already had two stages and two nights of concerts and other events. During the day there is a crafts and farmer’s market with local produce, as well as many activities for children and families, where they can learn about traditional crafts, natural materials and their use, traditional games and horse riding, etc. In the afternoon the musical programme starts with Latvian and international groups, that play what we call “post-folklore”.

When inviting groups from abroad, we are always looking for some special feature – maybe they are playing music from a specific region, singing in a special local language or dialect, or playing some specific local instrument, which people haven’t heard before and thus we can tell the stories about local nuances, diversity that adds colour to our global cultural landscape.

When darkness sets, one of the high-lights of the festival each year is the burning of the fire sculpture prepared by the Valencian artist Jordi NN.

TheEthno Festival „SVIESTS” reflects traditional culture and its different expressions that are based on their immediate environment and tradition, and thus can be understandable also for contemporary people who live in this same environment. The music in this festival is based on folklore and tradition that has passed the test of time and sounds authentic and enjoyable also nowadays.

Sviests – Butter – is a pure product, the best one can get from milk. In this time of margarine we invite to realise and return to values that have stood the test of time. Real values that we can enjoy and be proud of. It takes hard and accurate work to churn butter from milk and cream, to reach the stage when the unnecessary is separated and only the most valuable stays.

This is what the music groups in SVIESTS do – they explore and research the ancient traditional music and churn, churn until the very essence appears and the nowadays topical and unheard appears.

SVIESTS – “butter” – also has a slightly ironic meaning, because  until recently we could often hear about traditional or ethno-music a certain attitude – „kas tas par sviestu!” meaning  – “what is this rubbish” (literally “this is butter!”).

The main challenges

DZ: The main challenges of the festival and overall the cultural sector featuring live events is convincing the audience to attend. Especially after the pandemic, when people spent two years glued to the screen, it is very difficult to motivate them to buy tickets in advance – because the experience is that regulations can change quickly and concerts can be cancelled on short notice. Also people are not so ready to attend events where they don’t know exactly, what to expect. When the music groups are not mainstream, it requires a certain risk-taking to decide to spend time and money to go to a festival where one can be surprised by the diverse music and multitude of sounds from different parts of the world. But we are determined to carry on and provide this experience to people.

In one sentence: It is sometimes difficult to exactly describe, what the sound will be like, but I want to assure, that attending Valmiermuiža Ethno Music Festival will be an enriching and eye- and ear-opening experience you will not regret!

As I am directly involved on this event, as part of the board of the EFN, I can tell you that this is going to be a thilling event, combining a carefully designed program by the EFN with the usual know-how and good taste of the Fira Mediterrània.

• Pro/Press accreditation for Visa for Music 2022, open. “Accreditation requests are now open ! If you are a music professional or a journalist/media, ask for your accreditation by filling the google form linked to the button.” It will take place in Rabat, November 16th-19th.  To request the accreditation, click here.

• Tallinn Music Week 2023, open call. Artist submission will close at 23.59 (CET) on 12 December 2022. Dates: “Music festival: Thu, 11 May – Sat, 13 May. Around 150 artists from various genres and scenes from all over Europe and beyond in Tallinn’s best venues play to an audience of around 15,000 people and to 1,000 music industry professionals from international markets and Baltic-Nordic region.” Check their proposal and apply here.

• Mundial Montréal, professional registration is open. Early-bird rate available, here. “Mundial Montréal is back for its 12th edition from November 15 to 18 in person and via its virtual networking platform from November 1 to 25!”

• Afro Pépites, two calls:Call for artistic project: opens till 30/09/22. Not just music, but almost any kind of art. Learn more, here.
  • Call for talent-hunters: the Afro Pepites Show is a tool dedicated to talent-Hunters. “The committee members will receive the instructions by e-mail. You will have to select 5 musical projects and 5 other projects (painting, dance, sculpture, short film….), in the quiet of your home, between 03/10/22 and 23/10/22.” Learn more, here.

• Three calls from MOST, deadline: 28 August (Sunday), midnight: 
  • For festivals and cultural venues from any Creative Europe member state: Festival & Club Exchange
  • Only for South East European countries: Balkan Music Export (for musicians) and Management Training (for beginner/aspiring managers).

• 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.

Two weeks ago it took place the conference WOMBA. I have spoken about it before, and also about the framework in which this initiative takes place, which is MOST – The Bridge for Balkan Music (you can learn more and read an interview here).

Among the talks and panels there were two that were of particular interest to me. One was the Hidden and Authentic Balkans / Touring panel, moderated by Dejan Vujinović and featuring presentations by Dragi Šestić, Kim Burton and Bojan Đorđević. You have a pretty comprehensive summary of this panel in the latest newsletter of the European Folk Network, which is available here. I strongly encourage you to read it and also to subscribe to that newsletter. You can register, here.

And the other was Ben Mandelson’s opening talk, which had two big themes: the birth and concept of “world music” and the reasons for wanting to export an artistic proposal. I liked his talk very much because I feel that his approach to it was intended to be really useful and he succeeded. He was very direct, he told a lot of things in such a short time and at the same time, it was very easy to follow him, even for not native speakers of English, like me. It is not always easy to understand native speakers of British English. Some don’t realise it, because the rest of us speak their language. But some of us speak what I call “International English” 🤣. I’m sure you get it! It was not the case of Ben, he was understandable. I will summarise him here below.

But before Ben, Ivan Petrovic, President of the Managing Board at EXIT Foundation, made a brief intervention. You should know that this whole WOMBA event was hosted by the EXIT Foundation, associated to the huge EXIT festival. The concerts programmed through MOST took place on a stage within the EXIT festival. Well, it is to be welcomed that this huge festival, which is a wonderfully organized and I was impressed with the immense production and communication work involved in a festival of this size, hosted this stage within the framework of WOMBA.

Well, Petrovic explained that for the last 11 years they had eliminated the world music stage because they had surveyed their audience and their audience didn’t go to the festival because of the world music stage. Well, that’s logical. The audience at that festival is probably going for artists like Nick Cave or Sepultura, who were on this year’s line-up. But whether or not to keep a world music stage at a festival like this, with more than 20 stages, I don’t think it’s a decision to be made like that. If the objectives of the festival are just commercial, it doesn’t make much sense to put resources into a stage for that, but if the objectives are, in addition to the economic sustainability of the festival, to reflect the diversity of the world’s cultures, then it would make sense to have that stage for the minority part of the public that might be interested, and also to create that space and give visibility to the existence of these non-mainstream musics. A foundation has no profit purpose so I understand other objectives must be there, besides satisfying the majority of the public.

In any case, this year there was a stage that was explained as the recovery of the world music stage, the “Pachamama stage”. But it was not very successful in terms of amount of public and I would say also not in terms of programme. And it was super hidden too, so you really had to go on purpose, you wouldn’t find it by chance. But the most worrying issue was that in the same stage there were mixed two tipes of concerts: one, the programme of MOST, with artists from the Balkans, those selected in the project to accompany them in their development and internationalization (the duo of Daniel Lazar (Serbian) and Almir Mešković was my favourite). The other programm was called “conscious music”. Those were very long concerts between the others, which had nothing to do with the artists from MOST. Those “conscious musics” were proposals of a new age concept, so to speak, that could make sense in their own space for chilling out, but not in a supposedly world music stage, generating confusion. Anyway, if this is the idea of recovering the world music scene, it may be better if they did not because it will once again appear to be of no interest to the public and a self-fulfilling prophecy will occur.

In Serbia there are people who are exceptionally capable of developing a proposal under the concept of “world music”. Hopefully at some point they will have more resources to be able to reach a wider audience or they may be included in such a relevant event in a future to give some strengh to the world music stage.

I have said many times before how much I admire this MOST thing and it is really fantastic. It can’t all be perfect and this pachamama thing was not. I don’t know how much involvement had the team of MOST on this strange programme. Surely all involved will assess the rights and wrongs and we will be aware of their new proposals in the future.

Ben Mandelson’s speech

Ben explained about that mythical meeting where this miscellaneous set of music was baptized as “world music”. He explained that in 1987 there was no marketing concept of “world music”. A group of people, mainly from the UK, developed a marketing campaign to identify what was already there. They raised money for an ad campaign and voted for the name. They invested £3,250 in a three-month campaign. They started putting “File under: world music” on the records, so that the shops would know where to put the music and would make a space with that label. All this is no secret. The minutes of the meeting are publicly available, for example, here: Minutes Of Meeting Between The Various ‘World Music’ Record Companies And Interested Parties, Monday 29th June 1987. If you are interested in more details, you can read it. But what I liked most about what Ben said is that world music is a community. That’s all, your Honour.

No, obviusly that’t not all but I agree with all my heart with Ben. World music is what the world music community say it is world music. Bravo.

After this part, Ben talked about exportation of the music. He explained that the music is a symbolic system. Why are you going to export it? Which are your expectations? What are the reasons? He announced 5 elements to be ready to export:

And he added two more: educational will and systemic will.

He elaborated more for each of the reasons, of course, but I was listening instead of taking more notes, sorry! 🤣

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

If you have anything to share in this section in a future edition, let me know. 

• The European Folk Network’s annual meeting, open registration. It will take place in Manresa during the Fira Mediterrània. The welcome to the attendants will be on Friday 7th of October and the day of talks and meeting will be on Saturday 8th. After the activities of the network, the attendants will be able to enjoy the showcases of the Fira. Non-members of EFN are very welcome to attend the conference and can register to access airport transfers and lunch, etc., but will pay their own hotel costs. More details and registration, here.

As I am directly involved on this event, as part of the board of the EFN, I can tell you that this is going to be a thilling event, combining a carefully designed program by the EFN with the usual know-how and good taste of the Fira Mediterrània.

👉 Check the Spanish artists I offer from Mapamundi Música, here. They are Vigüela, Entavía, Jako el Muzikante, Xabi Aburruzaga and Citra Trío.

How are you? I hope for the best. I’m doing very well, with an exciting summer ahead of me, as it used to be. I think that the situation with the price of energy is not being, at least for now, a decisive brake to resume the musical gatherings as they were.

Two weekends ago I had the great pleasure of accompanying Hudaki Village Band at their concert in Ethnoport (Poznań, Poland). They were able to leave Ukraine to perform, with the permission of the Ministry of Culture, and to do something that right now has much more meaning than an usual concert. From what I have experienced before, the audience in Ethnoport is devoted and appreciative in general, so you can imagine how they went all out for the band. Well, don’t imagine: check it here. I could not miss this date full of emotions and give them a hug, to see them healthy and strong was a gift. Prior to that, I had a very interesting experience, of which I elaborate much below. I hope you’ll find this info and insights of interest.

This section may be of less interest to colleagues outside Europe, but I am not sure. I recently had a conversation with a colleague about the different approach to some concepts in Europe and the US and I think this kind of analysis is also interesting even if it does not apply directly to you.

So, prior to travelling to Ethnoport I had the good fortune to attend the annual meeting of the European Music Council as a representative of the European Folk Network (EFN). I’m just a board member of the EFN but the administrator and the chairman couldn’t make it, so I went. It was a curious experience to see how this kind of organisations think, how they spend their time and resources. We had a session about Music Moves Europe, which was of particular interest to me. If you remember, in November 2018 I dedicated some reflections on this. This is that edition. I can’t believe it’s been almost 4 years since I talked about this.

Shortly before this meeting, the results of the MusicAIRE call for proposals had been sent out. I have already spoken about this call for grants in several editions, the first one in February this year. You can read it here. The colleagues around hadn’t got the support of MusicAIRE, the same as the EFN. Although this initiative of Music Moves Europe started a long time ago, activities are still ongoing. I stated at that time in 2018 that I did not see that our world musics sector was represented and that Europe’s diversity was not reflected either in the list of organisations invited to the talks or in the European Border Breakers Awards, which had been presented in the past.

At the meeting, it was made clear that the initiative Music Moves Europe was originally industry-oriented. Although there are many of us working with world musics and we reflect the diversity, that is so much advocated in that frame, we clearly do not have much weight in the industry. Has the focus of Music Moves Europe evolved over the years? Probably yes, at least because of the impact of the pandemic and the need to digitise. What about the diversity of styles, traditions and languages? You can find the current presentation of Music Moves Europe here. And the related document A European music export strategy: final report, here. It is an extensive work on the creation of the strategy and how to implement it, but not a conclusion on the results yet. The expected results are announced on page 110. They are described in a qualitative way so I don’t know how they will be measured. This aspect of the measure is mentioned, albeit not in detail for the time being, on page 101, as one of the 6 big activities that shall be developed.

And here is a document about the music projects that have received support between 2014 and 2020 from Creative Europe. There is a section dedicated to Traditional Music/World Music & Cultural Heritage. Well, it’s very interesting, because for example there are threes projects that I’ve talked about here before, which are 2020Troubadours, Migratory Music Manifesto and MOST. There are others that I haven’t talk about, like Polyphony Project, that are deep and enriching and don’t seem to be focused on the industry.

I had direct experience of Migratory Music Manifesto last September in Cologne. I wrote about it, here. And about MOST I have talked on many occasions and there is an interview with András Sőrés, project manager, and Balázs Weyer, programme director, here. In addition, one of the professional activities mentioned below takes place within the framework of MOST: WOMBA. I hope that this all-encompassing, huge project will succeed in creating that bridge they want, a solid bridge, lasting at least as long as the Segovia aqueduct, for Balkan music to the rest of Europe. Only time will tell, but what I see already is that great professionals with powerful ideas are managing to incorporate their vision in these types of instances. Much respect!

About the Music Moves Europe Awards, heir of the European Border Breakers Awards, the winners of 2022 have been Denise Chaila (Irish-Zambian rapper in English), ДEVA (Hungary, kind of chill out music with folk inspiration, in Hungarian), Mezerg (France, electronic without lyrics), Blanks (Netherlands, pop with aesthetics of the 80’s, in English), and Alina Pash (Ukraine, commercial sounding pop, mainly in Ukrainian with some phrases in English). And the Grand Jury Prize was awarded to Meskerem Mees (from Belgium with origin in Ethiopia, singer-songwriter in English) and the Public Choice award was won by Ladaniva (Armenia, soft pop-world mainly in Armenian). There seems to have been an improvement on this issue, at least in terms of languages, compared to what was said in 2018.

• 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.

I hope for the best. I came back yesterday from Zurich, where I was with Vigüela at the Mediterranean Music Festival (thanks to Alkis Zopoglou I can share a piece with dance of jota, here) and while this email is sent I am travelling to Manresa, the city that hosts the Fira Mediterrània.

In this edition I recover the interviews with directors of festivals, with an interview with Ando Kiviberg, from the Viljandi Folk Music Festival. Like many other festivals, this year will be the one in which they get back to normal, but in cases like this one, past complications have brought new ideas that have come to enrich the experience even more.

I hope this content is of interest to you.

Unfortunately I will not be in Kansas City tomorrow. I’m probably not the only one… But this year’s edition, which has been postponed for several months to increase security regarding the pandemic situation, starts tomorrow and has a hybrid format.

The registration for the online activities is still open here. And the virtual access is pay-what-you’re-able. Rates start at $50 for non-members.

Of the online activities I would like to highlight two: Folklorist Summit Summary session, scheduled for Saturday May 21 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM CEST and, of course, the virtual showcase of Vigüela 2:00 AM – 2:30 AM CEST on Friday, May 20.

Previously, on Friday, the summit will be held for three and a half hours, with the theme “Tradition as Profession” and it is described like this: “Within the academic discipline of folklore, there has been a tendency to define a folk artist as specifically not a professional. Furthermore, institutions that adjudicate the traditional arts frequently employ a credentialing model that fails to recognize artists as experts in their traditions and to involve them in decision-making. Questions about authenticity, equity, value, and payment continue to be points for discussion in the field of folk and traditional arts. We are in an important moment to think about these questions both within the discipline of folklore and within the FAI community.” I will attend the session of Saturday as I think these are key questions in our nowadays.

This is a view of the fortess of Viljandi, by Ivar Leidus in Wikipedia. One of the stages of the festival is in front of the wall.

MM: What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival (specifically in your festival)?

AK: We do not have any insurmountable difficulties 🙂 During the Covid pandemic, it was quite difficult to organize air travel for foreign artists, because the air traffic was severely disrupted. However, we still managed to do it 😊

MM: Currently, what are the main challenges for such cultural proposals like yours (in general, not speaking of your festival only)?

AK: Always, the global crises are our biggest challenges—be it economic, health, or military crises. We haven’t yet really escaped the Covid pandemic, but now Russia has invaded Ukraine, and all of this is having a very serious impact on the whole world. All in all, music and fine arts can offer people comfort in difficult circumstances. Artistic expression and creative emotional exchange set us apart from animals. The language of music is the language of love, and it is universal—understood by everyone).

MM: How has the pandemic affected your festival? For your press release, I feel it produced some reflection and it brought some changes, am I right?

AK: Surely, the pandemic has affected our festival. I have already described some points in my previous answers. First and foremost, we were particularly affected by the gathering restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the pandemic. For example, in 2020, we were forced to postpone our festival, because the usual number of visitors to our festival over four days is about 30 000 people. Instead, we organized a traditional music concert gala for our biggest fans for two days in a row in Viljandi—8 artists on one stage, and two days in a row. Certainly, it wasn’t the size of a festival at all, but we were able to offer comfort to our most loyal fans. Due to travel restrictions, we could not invite official foreign performers at that time. However, a few young foreign musicians who performed with young Estonians in Viljandi at that time participated in our ETHNO camp.

We were able to organize the festival in 2021 but on a reduced scale. In Estonia, it was not allowed to organize events for more than 5 000 people a day. Then, we decided to create our music party only for those who had bought our festival pass from the pre-sale. The festival was smaller than usual, but the fans welcomed the change. That’s why we dare to continue with the same format this year.

MM: What are you expecting from this year’s edition, after the two years of restrictions?

AK: I’m sure that this year the party will be excellent—one that our fans look forward to and one that’ll bring a lot of creative joy to both the musicians as well as the organizers. The geographical scale of the performers is worldwide—artists from Brazil, Mali, Jamaica, Cuba to South Korea, the best young artists from Estonia, the Nordic countries, the British Isles, and other parts of Europe will be here. Our ETHNO camp (a training camp for young folk musicians) celebrates its 25th anniversary, and many international audiences will be coming. I’m truly excited.

MM: Your festival is called the Folk Music Festival. Could you define what folk music is? Or, in other words, how’d you define the scope of your program?

AK: We define folk music as traditional music. It means a musical tradition that is individual and specific to a particular nation or tribe. The broader vision of our activities is to support the preservation of the musical traditions of the nations of the world, so that the culture of mankind preserves its richness and the musical cultural nuances of different nations.

Therefore, once again, the aim of our festival is to introduce the musical heritage of the nations of the world in a modern way and to support the vitality of the Estonian traditional musician tradition.

When choosing the performers for our festival, we always consider two goals first. The artist should know their musical tradition. Most certainly, it is very important that the performer is sincere, genuine, and masterful in their creation.

MM: Could you please summarize the reason(s) to go to your festival, in one sentence? 

AK: We offer to the good and kind people the opportunity to fall in love with exciting and beautiful music in the most romantic place in the world, dance to the soul and refresh yourself with great food and drinks. Viljandi was created for creation.

Credits:

• Pictures of Ando Kiviberg, by Kris Süld.
• Poster of the festival, by Liisa Kruusmägi and I took if from the Facebook site of the festival
• This article has been possible also thanks to the support of Liisi Ree.

Forward to a friend right from here

• Registration for Global Toronto, open. NEW. “Global Toronto 2022 (GT22) will be held online from June 20-22, with pre-conference activities being held in Toronto in person from June 7-10, including a diverse selection of international and cross-country delegates.” The registration is open, here.

• 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.

• Andrea Parodi Prize competition. The subscription (for free) for the 15th edition of the contest is open until May 31st, here.

You can find a bio of him in many other places but this is a great excuse to recommend you to subscribe to the European Folk Network newsletter if you have not already done so. In the second edition there is even more content and I have had the pleasure of writing a short profile of Šaban Bajramović, a Serbian Roma artist who has been a milestone in the music of his region and continues to inspire artists from far away and who is a pleasure to listen to.

Check the 2nd edition here. And sign up, here. The newsletter is also open to contributions from non-members.

I met Sonja Heimann at WOMEX 2015, in Budapest. The World Music Forum Netherlands was planning a very ambitious project, the European World Music Monitor.

I found it very useful and I liked that people who had such a useful initiative, so it was a pleasure to participate, passing a survey to several contacts in my country, to collect concrete, quantitative data on how many people are involved in one way or another in working with world music.

I don’t think they found as much enthusiasm from all the people they asked to collaborate and the project was not concluded but I am sure it was very useful to sharpen the focus of their further efforts.

The European World Music Monitor project would be really interesting and useful if it can be taken up again in the future, by them or by some other organisation. To some extent, more recently the European Folk Network is developing a similar project, Mapping, oriented to folk music, which to some extent includes a good part of the musical manifestations that are considered world music. In any case, there is still a lot of work to be done and it is really very complex, as the reality of the different European countries is very different and the concepts are not understood in the same way in all cases.

But well, I’m going off on a tangent! Since then, contact with Sonja, and also with other people in her team, has been regular at fairs and other events.

As Sonja herself explains below, next autumn they will celebrate the 15th anniversary of this organisation and will face new challenges. I hope they will achieve everything they set out to do. In the meantime, let’s find out more from Sonja herself.

Mapamundi Música: Why was the WMFNL born? What were your objectives?

Sonja Heimann: World Music Forum NL was actually born in the summer of 2006 as a grass-roots – non governmental organisation because there was no actual organisation in the area of ‘world music’ in the Netherlands. Everyone was working on its own without any kind network or collaboration. A strong need was felt to join forces and strengthen the sector making world music visible amongst other genres like pop, classical, jazz, and contemporary music. Moreover there was an urge for acknowledgement, sence of pride and advocacy. At the time we formulated concrete goals:
1) regular network meetings to connect and stimulate collaboration;
2) research to present facts and figures proving the relevance and value of our sector;
3) conferences and expert meetings to advance development on key topics like music-archives, marketing – strategic scenario thinking, music-education, broadening the scope of stages;
4) collective national and  international promotion at Womex;
5) online platform;
6) Dutch World Music Award;
7) media outlets: Beyond Magazine – resulting in current online Mixedworldmusic.com;
8) recognition by Dutch policymakers and a paragraph on world music in the Dutch cultural policyplan (‘Cultuurplan’);
9) promotional samplers;
10) a Dutch world directory to connect stakeholders in the Dutch world scene.

MM: What resources did you have when you started? 

SH: At the very beginning we had no financial- but lots of human resources at our disposal with strong believes in our mission & goals. First of all we initiated a tight and enthusiastic team representing the eco-system of the Dutch worldscene in its broadest sense. Thus World Music Forum NL was founded by a polyphonic bunch of musicians, promotors, journalists, festival- and venue programmers (until today our Advisery Board consists of an identical mix). This grassroots approach enabled us to work on the basis of solidarity and goodwill.

The Tropentheater in Amsterdam was so kind to host our World Blend Cafés during the first five years. ‘World Blend Café’ is like a mini-Womex. An informal network meeting consisting of a buffet, panel-discussion, several pitches, showcase and live dj-session in one. Over the years we have hosted over 100 WBCafe sessions, many new matches and initiatives were born here.

MM: What is the legal form of the organisation? SH: WMF NL is a foundation. Up to now membership was free for all. To stimulate accessibility anyone interested could visit our network meetings without any charge. However for the near future we will ask more commitment from our field with payed membership.

MM: There are quite a few of you, but according to what you say on the website, most of the activities are carried out by volunteers. Even so, you have some expenses, such as the website, the presence in fairs, the logistic costs of the World Blend Cafe, don’t you? How do you cover your financial needs? You have some support, such as Buma Cultuur and Fonds Podium Kunsten. Do you also have contributions from your members or do you offer any product or service as well, from which you get any return? 

SH: Gradually over the years we have managed to get acknowledgement and support from two Dutch rights organisations: Buma Cultuur and Sena Performers.

Concerning international activities like Womex we receive additional funding by the Dutch government through its Dutch Performing Arts Fund and local Dutch Embassy’s as well.

Up to now we have tried to keep the network accessible for all without any costs. Organisations and individual musicians only contributed for some limited services, such as a personal page in our Dutch World Directory. However since we are dealing with receding funding we need to safeguard continuity and support by the stakeholders. Therefore we need to introduce a paid membership system in the coming year.

MM: Can you explain a bit more about “Kweekvijver”?  

SH: This word actually means ‘breeding ground’ or ‘spawning pool’. Creating opportunities for new initiatives belongs to our main objectives, especially in the informal setting of our World Blend Cafés. Not only by staging young bands but also by offering a platform for ‘3-minute pitches’ from people who look for collaboration and connection. At an average of four /five sessions a year these network meetings are hosted in relevant venues spread around the main cities like Amsterdam, Utrecht and Rotterdam to connect as many members as possible.

MM: You have several Spotlight artists on the website, but the latest edition is 2019-2020. Are you going to do it again? If so, how do you decide who these artists are?

SH: Indeed our spotlight artists represent the tip of the iceberg of new exciting initiatives and talent with international appeal. And yes we will continue to present new Spotlights. Unfortunately due to Covid-19 we had to skip the last two years. A jury consisting of experienced programmers will present their new list of hand-picked spotlight artists around WOMEX 2022.

MM: What would you highlight as the main achievements of WMF NL during the years you’ve been working?

SH: We have been able to map out a network of around 3000 contacts of organisations and individuals involved in the Dutch world music scene, probably just the tip of another iceberg.
Firstly we are proud of having the acknowledgement by our governmental institutions being a solid grassroots platform for the worldmusic scene in the Netherlands. We have reached most of our goals with very limited financial means, however now it is time to make our platform future-proof.
Second highlight is the on-going success of our World Blend Cafés. Since 2006 when social media put human relationships upside down, these blend-meetings functioned as an alternative face-to-face book. Therefore we are proud to discover how this way of warm instead of cold networking inspires many other initiatives, has been adapted both at home and abroad. We take this as a compliment.

MM: Do you want to explain anything else?  

SH: Yes! First of all, I would like to refer to your introduction – and the paused European World Music Monitor project. Perhaps it was too ambitious at the time. But let’s see if the near future the European world music scene will bring an opportunity to join forces to quantify collective facts and figures. Indeed it would be great if we this idea could be integrated by EFN’s mapping, and would really be a helpful tool to profile our sector on a bigger scale.

Secondly, one of the most interesting and unique qualities of Dutch World Music is its geographic and cultural history which shaped its musical identity. Imagine: the river Rhine is to the Netherlands what the Mississippi is to New Orleans. In these ‘nether’/‘low’lands- actually the delta of Western Europe- multiple streams of cultural influences have both come down the river and in from the sea. From all over of Europe but since the 17th century from its maritime and colonial links with Africa, Asia and the Americas. During the last 100 years political and economic changes led to lots of new influxes of migrants. This added hybrid legacy now multicolours our contempory music world, echoing a dynamic music ecosystem called Dutch Delta Sounds. Think of Altin Gün, Amsterdam Klezmer Band, Arifa, Boi Akih, Cabocuba Jazz, Jungle by Night, Karsu and many more to come. Check our Spotlight artists overhere and … stay tuned!

Credits:

• Logo and cover of the dutch world directory 2020, from the website. 
• Pictures of Sonja by Arkady Mitnik.
• Picture of the stand in WOMEX, by Eric van Nieuwland.

• MusicAire (An Innovative Recovery for Europe). – FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION AND COUNTRIES INCLUDED IN CREATIVE EUROPE –  The deadline has been postponed to 25th April. Learn more here.

• 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.

• 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.