December 23. Talk with Arlette Hovinga (That Jazz Girl), TWM inductees in the Hall of Fame, open calls… #66

Summary 👇

Editorial
Talk with Arlette Hovinga, or “that jazz girl”
Transglobal World Music Hall of Fame: inductees in 2023 + Festivals Award
Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects
Open calls: Fira Mediterrània de Manresa, Folkherbst, Budapest Ritmo
Professional events 💼
My highlights of the year
Meet me at ✈️

➡️ This is the link for subscription

Hello, how are you?

I am well. I am writting this letter from home. I have finally almost two months without flights. My next flight will be to Paris, for the concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş in Au Fil des Voix.

One of my latest trips was to Skopje, for PIN Conference, where this picture with Antonis Antoniou (Monsieur Doumani, Trio Tekke, Buzz’Ayaz) was done. We met after many years, first in Skopje and the following week, in Limassol, in Cyprus, for the Cyprus Showcase of Jazz and World Music.

Today, 22nd of December, is the day of the Christmas lottery in Spain. I hear the TV of the neighbours. There, the kids from the school of San Ildefonso take the little balls from the lottery drum and sing the numbers. Every year on 22nd of December. It’s kind of the official opening of Christmas time. But I never buy tickets. I think I’ve already won the lottery.

On the 27th of December Mapamundi Música will be 16 years old. Every year there has been progress. In the year of the pandemic I lost my assistant Sherazade, whom I never got back. But I was able to keep the company alive. After that, other new people have arrived and with others we have strengthened ties and I have faced more and more demanding challenges.

2024 is going to require the best of me and I will be accompanied along the way.

I hope this last newsletter of the year will be of interest to you. My last protagonist has shown great generosity in her answers. Indeed, like all of them. This year I have had the opportunity to talk to a lot of people and share their reflections, struggles and missions. I believe that over the years this newsletter has become more useful and deeper. I hope you share my feeling. If you do, you can forward it to anyone you like. And remember that if you have content or news of interest to the international community working in one way or another in relation to world, roots, traditional or heritage music… contact me.

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:
ARLETTE HOVINGA, OR “THAT JAZZ GIRL”

I think this is the first time I bring an interview with a publicist to this newsletter. I find the viewpoint of this role within the constellation of professionals very interesting. In particular, this specific publicist also has a book, called How To Build Relationships In The Music Industry, which I am currently looking forward to getting my hands on. It’s available from a number of online shops, easy to find and order.

She is Arlette Hovinga. I took this portrait from her Facebook profile. On her website you have a brief biographic information.

I met her in February 2023, when she contacted Mundofonías to inform us about “Bulgaria’s first-ever world music showcase”, the showcase A To Jazz, a new initiative that would take place within the festival of the same name. The truth is that I got the feeling that she put a lot of dedication into her work, and that she was a very charming person. In December we met at PIN Conference, in Skopje, and we had the opportunity to do this interview.

Mapamundi Música: Please, introduce yourself.

Arlette Hovinga: I’m Arlette Hovinga, I am from the Netherlands, I’m 32 years old and I am a PR manager and publicist in jazz and World music. I serve a number of festivals, mostly in Summer, and artists for their tour promotions and new releases as well.

I work in all of Europe, which is kind of special for a publicist normally; I guess many of us work in like, for example, the GAS territory, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, or only in their own country. For the Netherlands unfortunately that doesn’t really make a lot of sense, we’re really small and while we have a couple of good publications for jazz and world music there aren’t enough to really justify invoicing someone. And because in the Netherlands we get taught multiple languages in school, I speak reasonable German, I understand Spanish and speak a little bit of French, I understand that too, and English is my second language. So it’s relatively easy for me to converse and to communicate with journalists in other territories across Europe. And I think it keeps my job really interesting and really versatile.

MM: And you are specialized in jazz and also in world music. And there are not so many people specialize in world music. You work with these two different styles. I feel there are a big differences between world music and the other styles. Which are the particularities that you have to face when you work for something of world music or traditional music?

AH: At the end of the day, promoting an artist or a tour or a release or a festival… it’s about the story, you know. And world music is such a broad term that I’m not sure it really covers what it is. Because Africa is a continent, not a country, so what people call African music, as far as I’m concerned, is like a container of different things, but it’s not a thing in itself. It’s kind of saying, “well, okay, you know the Dutch and then the East Germans are the same people”, which is also not true, and we should grant the same privilege, I think, to people from other countries. It’s much like world music could also be from Latin America or it could be from Spain as like incorporating flamenco, or it could be from the Balkans too. I think it’s more important to tell an artist’s story than it is to focus on whatever world music actually means. And, honestly, also as a Western European white woman I’m not really sure if I am the one to redefine the genre in itself, because I don’t come from such a background and I think that those who created and those who are part of this diaspora should be the first to redefine that story if if that’s what they want and if that’s what they need.

“For us as publicists, it’s our job to tell the story, the individual stories, and place it in a in a context that is understandable for journalists”

For us as publicists, it’s our job to tell the story, the individual stories, and place it in a in a context that is understandable for journalists without really saying “well, this is world music”, for example, or ethnic music, or global music or however you want to call it. I mean I work in jazz and world music because this music resonates with me because I really feel it. And it’s something that that makes me feel something and that makes me explore new worlds and new ideas and I love that. I love these these genres and I love these artists and I love the way that it makes you learn new things. And it changes your perspective on a lot of different cultures and different ideas. And that’s beautiful.But I don’t think that the main thing is to present world music as world music. It’s the same as with jazz. If I say “hey, this is jazz” to someone who doesn’t normally write about jazz, oftentimes the first association will be “oh, this is like, you know, bebop or something”. And jazz is so much more than that, just like world music is so much more than… you know, the pamplets that a lot of cultural journalists that don’t really engage in these genres would immediately associate it with. So, that direct association stands in a different place, not necessarily higher or lower, but in a different place. Then is my role as a publicist to sell this music and enlarge my artists or my festival’s audience, I think.

MM: I totally agree with you in this because for instance, I think, in Spain, if I say something is world music they imagine some black people jumping. There are like different prejudices or preconception of what it is, so I feel, as I also work with world music, I feel that the difference with the other genres is that you need to explain also the historical background, the social background, the cultural specifications… of this artist. I think, that’s the key, maybe, to explain and it gives us also the opportunity of having a a storytelling about this, that other styles of music don’t have. So you have to focus on these ideas too, when you have to make this storytelling.

AH: Absolutely.

MM: And how do you make this comparing with jazz? Because I think jazz is like more abstract.

AH: Why is it more abstract, you think?

MM: Because jazz is not so imbued with the traditions and world music comes very from the traditions of the people.

AH: I think that in the minds of a lot of people, especially people who don’t really listen to jazz, it is definitely traditional music. And it’s elitist music in the minds of a lot of people. I don’t think that, I think that jazz is freedom. And jazz is a a genre that is very much alive and that changes and grows and expands, which is what makes it so interesting, because there’s a lot of different ways to make jazz, just like there’s a million different ways to make something that could be perceived as world music music.

“An artist really needs to think about who they are and they really need to think about where they come from and what their music stands for, what they stand for as an artist.”

I think that these different perceptions that we get, especially when you’re promoting a tour and you’re relying on, well… I mean, regional or local media, you don’t always have the luxury of working with journalists who are really into the type of music that you’re presenting and I think that, like you said, world music and also jazz give us opportunities for storytelling. And I think it’s our professional duty to do that properly. And if we can master that, that makes us better at our jobs. But it also really gives artists a better chance at telling the story. That also means that an artist really needs to think about who they are and they really need to think about where they come from and what their music stands for, what they stand for as an artist. Especially now in times where, you know, inclusivity and diversity are basically keywords for every snazzy funding campaign that you can have, we have to think about this a little bit differently. Because, on one hand, of course everybody should be in favor of inclusivity and everybody should be in favor of diversity. But I do notice that a lot of times, for example, for artists from the Balkans where I work a lot, Eastern Europe, where I work a lot, it doesn’t do them any favors. They have to find other ways to explain themselves, because there’s a discrepancy there. that, I think, doesn’t always swing East, if that’s the politest way I can put that, probably.

MM: So, when an artist or a record label or a manager asks you to work for them, what do you need from them? What do do you ask them to give you?

AH: It depends on if it’s a tour or an album but, definitely, music, obviously, preferably also a live video… Something recent. All materials always need to be recent because I’ve seen artists been announced through potos, for example, that have lineups from seven years ago on it and that’s usually not the promoter’s fault, because they’re really busy. I do marketing for festivals as well and there were years where I wrote and translated up to like 300 bios for one festival, like 150 artists in Dutch and English. And we don’t have time to rewrite and research every artista, so everything that you deliver has to be up to date, it has to be current.

I need a biography that tells me what your music sounds like and what your story is. I don’t care if you went to Juilliard, to be honest, because the fact that you’re professional enough to reach out to a publicist or to build your team to have a manager, for me says that, at least, there is something good about your music. But I what I want to know is what it sounds like and what I can expect to feel when I listen to it. And I think that that’s one thing that musicians often overlook. I know that you know it’s great that you got into this prestigious school and you worked like… you studied under these famous people. But that really doesn’t tell me much about who you are.

So I need music, I need live videos, I need a good biography. Previous press really helps, although I always do my own research. As well, tour dates, obviously, if there is any street date that’s 3 to six months in the future, preferably. If there are single releases, as well, it’s helpful to know who’s in charge of digital distribution, so we can communicate about pitches and I can time my pitches together with single releases.

“There are so many artists and it’s really hard to stand out. But if you build a consistent brand, that is relatable to people, people can be very loyal to this brand”

I think all of these, like, basically, an electronic press kit plus plus plus… It’s also because, you know, we talk about storytelling and we talk about visual materials and about videos and all of that… I think that in today’s day and age, there’s so much music out there, there are so many artists and it’s really hard to stand out. But if you build a consistent brand, that is relatable to people, people can be very loyal to this brand because… It’s the same reason for me to work with someone: if it makes me feel something, then I will sign up to work with you and I will probably stay with you until you decide not to be. It’s a better look for both of us if an artist stays with the same publicist and the same team for a number of years, because journalists will notice if you change teams regularly. And, if you don’t, that means that you’re probably a nice person. And to have a consistent team and to be with the same people and to build something together helps you to build your brand. And, the longer you work together, the better you get to know each other as well. So you can sort of design this brand, I guess.For a lot of artists branding is like like commercialism, it’s a dirty word, “I don’t want to sell out, it’s all about the music…”. Yeah, sure it’s all about the music. We’re assuming that the music is great and you’re a superstar but, how are you going to tell people that you’re a superstar? How are you going to actually build your way there? I think social media, you know, Facebook advertising and stuff, they are great tools to help you put butts in seats. And at the end of the day, that’s what everybody wants: we all want you to sell out a room, we all want you to be come back in a bigger room in the same city next time. We all want the same thing.

“Journalists will notice if you change teams regularly. And, if you don’t, that means that you’re probably a nice person. And to have a consistent team and to be with the same people and to build something together helps you to build your brand.”

So, I think that, as someone who has a background in marketing, I think that’s the most important thing for artists before they hire PR is to have a solid online presence that is consistent and that is personal. I don’t only want to see “Hi, I’m playing here…”. That’s great but, how do you feel about playing there? And I think that that’s a part of your journey as an artist that I rarely see on social media but I’d be really interested in that. If you’re like playing like this beautiful venue, take me backstage, give me a video, give me a tour, give me something that makes me feel something. Don’t just send me information that I don’t know what to do with. Give me something that I can relate to, because I will never be on stage at this amazing concert hall. I’m not a professional musician. I play for fun, but… it’s really easy, in my opinión, to make relatable content and to, really, tell a story and… I know that I am guilty of not doing that enough myself but… this is like, you know, going to a painter’s house and seeing that you know, his window sills are blading. It’s a lot harder to do it yourself and I understand that I have it too. I said it in a panel a few days ago, like my social media presence on Instagram is like a crime against marketing, I think. But at the same time, I do understand how it works and I’m so busy doing it for other people… You see this with my first book, as well. I ended up finally hiring someone to help me book a book tour, because I just I I can’t fucking do it myself.I really prefer to spend my time on artists rather than on myself.

But still, seriously, making relatable content is the most important thing and it’s the biggest thing that I am really missing with artists. In the same vein, I meet artists at conferences, I met one yesterday who just said “Well, I hear you’re a publicist and I make pop and rock music. I’m like great”. And before I could tell him that that’s not what I do at all and I cannot be of any help, he spent 5 minutes basically pitching himself but also saying “Nobody wants to work with me” and “Nobody’s hearing what I have to say” and I just thought “hang on, breathe for a moment and if I can give you one piece of advice, always ask questions, don’t just barge in and start like blabbering about how… again, you’re a superstar. I’m sure you’re a superstar. You’re serious enough about your career to come to a conference and to be open enough to talk to people, but ask them questions”. Because he would have known 30 seconds in, that like, okay, I wrote a book about networking and visibility in the music industry, so okay, we can talk about that. But I cannot help you build your career because I have zero connections in. Well, I mean, not zero but not very many relevant connections when it comes to pop music PR. There are people here and in all over Europe who are fantastic at it and I would love to recommend them. But now he just wasted 15 minutes of both of our time, just because he’s so frustrated that there’s no career progress for him. And I I told him “All you do is put out frustration and information about yourself and not necessarily positive information or positive energy and we want this positive energy”.

I want to work with people, like I said, who make me feel something, but also who’s personality makes me feel something because, at the end of the day, audiences are going to be drawn to your energy as well and they’re not going to be drawn to you basically bitching about how nobody wants you. Nobody wants that. No audience member is going to be like “You know what? This guy says all the right things, like, he says everybody sucks”. Nobody in the history of promoting music has ever wanted to do something like that and yet so many musicians… I mean, I understand that it’s hard, okay, I’ve been in the music industry for like 15 years now. I started my first band 20 years ago when I was 13 years old. I get it’s hard. I volunteered for years, I had shitty jobs on the side, I worked my ass off. I really have. I get it’s the same for us behind the scenes. It’s not like we make like tons of money compared to, like, starving artists. We really don’t. But we are also in it for the love of music and we are also in it with an optimistic and positive attitude. And we want the same from the people that we work with.

Some people that, like some of my favorite people actually that I work with, I didn’t start working with until two or three or four years after meeting them and we became friends. We know that we’re on the same wavelength, we really resonate with each other. Peter Dimitrov (editor’s note: see the previous interview with Peter Dimitrov, here) is a really good example of that, like whenever, whatever it is that he asks me to do, the answer is always yes. Because no matter how busy I am, we have such a positive and hardworking and amazing vibe, it’s a fucking party. I can work 14 hours a day with that guy and still feel like I’m having the time of my life. And ideally you have a similar connection with artists, I think. An artist should want the same thing, you should expect me to really work my ass off for you. And I really want to want to do that, if that makes sense.

So… I’m sorry this is a very long answer but I have a lot of opinions on this.

MM: No, no, it’s wonderful, it’s wonderful. I hope many many artists will read this, really. And I have one more question. How can people find you? Where to reach you? Do you have a website?

AH: Yeah. I have two actually, it’s https://arlettehovinga.com/ that goes to that http://thatjazzgirl.me, which is my PR website. And I have a book’s website: https://arlettehovinga.eu/. There are not so many Arlette in the jazz industry. I Googled Arlette Jazz a few days ago, out of curiosity, and that’s where I am. But I’m on Instagram and Facebook under Arlette Hovinga as well. I have like pages and stuff… that I try to be active enough on, at least. So I’m fairly easy to find. And I think, like the title of my book, obviously is is much longer than I would have liked, so my hashtag is just #howtobuildetc. But at the same time “how to build relationships in the music industry”. Tinder jokes aside, I get a ton of those. It’s not really that hard to find either.

It’s like a 200 pages book. I interviewed more than 60 people in the music industry in world music and jazz but like… Jimmy Bralower is in it, who was like a force of nature, he made the beats for Madonna’s Like a Virgin, he worked with Duran Duran, he did incredible things in his career. Jason Miles is in it, who co-produced with Miles Davis and Marcus Miller on Tutu and a couple of other albums. So there’s a lot of, like different opinions and insights but, at the end of the day, everybody feels the same way about the way that artists approach them and how you should be visible and how what, like the etiquette in the industry is.

And I think that we don’t talk about that enough. But if we would talk about it more, we would have less desperation among musicians and I think, as professionals, we should want, that because it’s very easy for me to sit here and say “Well, you guys are too negative and you don’t understand how hard it is for us”. That’s not what I’m trying to do. I don’t want to, like, wag my finger and say “I am right and you are wrong”. I think that we should be in this together more and we should, from both sides, be a little bit more mindful of, you know, it’s the music industry, it’s not a picnic and it’s also not a sales business: it’s a people business. And I think that more togetherness and more dialogue and more honesty about what we need as people, but also what we want and who we are, could really go a long way.

MM: So it’s a great present of Christmas and now we are in December, so…

AH: And it’s available everywhere, even on Amazon actually!

MM: Yeah, so I hope everybody who reads this will buy it and give it as a present for his or her favorite musician.

AH: I would love that and then also please tell me how you liked it because I love getting feedback on this stuff.

Thank you very much, Arlette!!!

TRANSGLOBAL WORLD MUSIC HALL OF FAME
Inductees in 2023

The Transglobal World Music Hall Fame celebrates excellence in the world music field. The Hall of Fame includes three categories and these are the inductees in 2023.

🔸Artists
Zakir Hussain
Natacha Atlas
Valya Balkanska
Alim Qasimov
Choduraa Tumat

🔸Professional Excellence
Antonovka Records / Anton Apostol
Canary Records / Ian Nagoski
Joaquín Díaz González
Visa for Music

🔸In Memoriam
Shivkumar Sharma
Antonis Dalgas
Víctor Jara
Graciana Silva (La Negra Graciana)
Zilan Tigris

You can check the inductees in 2021 and 2022.

+ FESTIVALS AWARD

The Transglobal World Music Chart launched a Festival Awards in 2018. Two editions have already been held: 2018 and 2019. In 2020, the Festival Awards was cancelled due to the pandemic. In November of 2023 it is continued and the application of festivals taking place in 2024 is announced. Check the details, here.

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

#1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in November 2023 is: Koum Tara´s Baraaim El-Louz (Odradek Records)
Mundofonías: the three favourites of the month are Al Bilali Soudan’s Babi, Zakir Hussain & Rakesh Chaurasia’s ZaRa and Emilia Lajunen’s Vainaan perua: Satavuotinen sakka

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

OPEN CALLS

This section is open for news. It is free of charge. You can let me know if you have any open call of relevance to the community.

Fira Mediterrània de Manresa
The call for proposals is open

It will take place from 10 to 13 of October of 2024. The call for artistic proposals is open until 18th January at 12 am. In the previous edition I talked more about this. And this is the official website for the application.

32 Folkherbst at Malzhaus Plauen
The call for proposals is open

“The FolkHerbst is a series of music events, as a result of which the only European folk music award in Germany, the Eiserner Eversteiner, has been awarded since 1992.”

I received the call from them and I have put the pdf here, where you can download it. I will bring here just some basic infos.

The application is for free. The process to apply consist on sending an email to kultur@malzhaus.de by January 15, 2024, including 3 music pieces (preferably videos in good quality, preferably live), along with a press text and a press photo.

The deadline to aply is 15.01.24. The award ceremony will be on 25.01.25. Check the full schedule in the pdf aforementioned.

The participating artists must have their residence in Europe and must engage with folk music in the broadest sense in their musical performances – everything from traditional to crossover is welcome.

Budapest Ritmo
The call for proposals is open until 5 January 2024

All the details about the application are available here. I will bring here just some details:

The showcase will take place on days 11 and 12 of April.
The artist who can apply must be regional bands (V4 countries, Western-Balkan countries, Eastern Partnership, Baltics, Hungary’s neighbors, from the world music scene.
Ritmo welcomes artists focusing on the international market.
To apply, the artist has to provide 3 high resolution, quality photos, 3 mp3 files, video links and technical rider.

PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

Babel Music XP. Marseille, France. 28-30 March

The program for 2024 edition is published on the website. The accreditation for delegates is available and the price now is 130 euros. The booking of stands is already available too, from 500 euros.

MY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR

It is inevitable to look back over the year at this time of year. This section is very personal and about me. As we say here, once in a while, it doesn’t hurt.

I am exhausted. This year I have travelled more than ever and I have worked on many things.

From the European Folk Network we developed the first European Folk Day, on 23 September, of which I was part of the core team, with Nod Knowles and Eric Van Monckhoven. We got the support of MusicAIRE to do it. Hundreds of people and organisations participated in one way or another and it was really exciting.

In Czech Music Crossroads Spain has been the guest country and Mapamundi Música has provided three bands (Vigüela, Xurxo Fernandes and Xabi Aburruzaga).

At WOMEX I participated in a panel together with Martyna Van Nieuwland and Andrea Voets, about the “intellectual undermining of women”, as Andrea calls it in a very clarifying way. Honestly, since we started working on it, I understand many situations that have happened in my life in a different way. I don’t know if I am happier or less happy, but I am wiser.

I have accompanied Ali Doğan Gönültaş in a year in which we have achieved fascinating milestones, such as his performances on some of the most relevant stages in Europe and we have produced the album Kiğı in physical format, in two print runs, and I do not rule out having to make a third one. And it won an award from the association of the German record critics!!! In the picture (by Jorge Carmona) he is performing at Fundação Gulbenkian in Lisbon.

And of course, continuing with Mundofonías (thank you, Juan Antonio Vázquez), Transglobal World Music Chart (thanks also to Ángel Romero), all the conversations I’ve shared here in the monthly newsletter, which have broadened my mind…

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.

November 23. Talk with Mehdi Aminian (Roots Revival), TWM Hall of Fame, open calls… #65

Summary 👇

Editorial
Post-WOMEX Coruña
Mapamundi and Medigrecian are hiring
Talk with Mehdi Aminian, from Roots Revival
Transglobal World Music Hall of Fame: period for nominations, open
Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for Ali Doğan Gönültaş
Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects
Open call: Fira Mediterrània de Manresa
Professional events 💼
Meet me at ✈️

➡️ This is the link for subscription

Hello, how are you?

I am well. On this occasion I wanted to open this editorial section with a photo from the dressing room from the Fundação Gulbenkian in Lisbon. There was one huge dressing room for me and one for each of the artists who performed with Ali Doğan Gönültaş there on 5th of November, at the Grand Auditorium, of which the 1203 seats were sold out.I began to write this words from home, in Spain, but soon in flught again, to Berlin, for some meetings, and after I came to Hamburg, where I am now, for the Festival Kurdistan, curated by alba Kultur and, later, to Brussels, for the first concert that I will attend in the theatre managed by Peter Van Rompaey. Here in Hamburg I met Alan Ibrahim, from Music For Identity (check the interview with him, in this previous edition).

Hm, the truth is that I am more than well. A few editions ago I talked about the beginning of Mapamundi Música as a record label. Below I share a news that made me very happy today.

Once again, I write this and think how fortunate it is to have this space in the world, where I can develop something like this letter I am sending you. I don’t mean the physical space. Today’s protagonist is Mehdi Aminian. I share a conversation with him but, previously, another day, we were talking about something like this. I was telling him that people like him and me, who share certain concerns (related to music and everything that goes with it in terms of culture and identity and openness towards others) live in a wonderful bubble. He told me that he thought that we are in reality and the bubble is where those who are not here with us are. At the time, I don’t think we were aware of it, but the idea of a bubble implies fragility.

Somehow, I don’t feel fragility in everything you have down here. The ideas they produce in me are heroism and excellence. I hope you find this content interesting or inspiring.

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82

POST-WOMEX CORUÑA

I am sure there are many chronicles and many mentiones on the social media about WOMEX. For me it was very intense. I started on Tuesday morning with a mentoring session to the new comers from the Canadian delegation, organiced by Global Toronto/Small World Music + the Northern Turtle Island Collective. This activies are always a great way to shape your experiences into something that can be verbalised and be of use to others.

And I already announced before that I would participate in a panel Reshaping the Narrative, together with Andrea Voets and Martyna van Nieuwland. I have put links in their names. Click to learn more about them. The picture is by Eric Van Nieuwland. Since I started working with them in the preparation of the panel, I have gone through some past situations in my life and understood them in a different way. I think some very profound ideas came out, much more than a confrontation between men and women, but an analysis of the impact of an inertia of thinking that we are not very aware of and how it translates into visible and non-visible facts of life.

In Womex I had several conversations and I started some collaborations. You can check the current offers from Mapamundi Música here.

WE ARE HIRING

With the agency lead by Alkis Zopoglou, Medigrecian, the collaboration has been going on for several years. Now we joined to search someone to work. The instructions to aply are explained here below.

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:
MEHDI AMINIAN, FROM ROOTS REVIVAL

I learnt about Mehdi Aminian and his organization Roots Revival from Birgit Ellinghaus. She told me he was attending WOMEX to present his video about the music that was performed while weaving the Persian carpets in Iran (this is the documentary video) and that I should meet him. The truth is that I couldn’t wait and we had a little online interchange before WOMEX and also after. Mehdi was going to WOMEX to present the documentary there and he would participate in a panel, “Documenting Music Traditions on Film”. This film is just one of the activities developed by him and the organization.

This is how they define themselves:

“Roots Revival is an international and cross-cultural entity which aims to promote the musical heritage from around the globe, to enhance the mobility of artists and intercultural artistic dialogue and to create high quality music content that binds tradition and innovation and with the focus on global contemporary challenges humanity faces.

We provide the basis for an innovative, sustainable, long-term international cooperation incorporating both national and international artists and audiences.”

On the website you have information about the several artistic projects that they have developed during 10 years. I got really impressed from the diversity and the size of the concerts. I really recommend you check the website before reading the interview. You can also check their Youtube channel and select one of the recordings to listen to while reading.

Mapamundi Música: How do you finance your activities? I saw you have some sponsors and I see that the people can send you money, they can donate, so you have more sources of income for Roots Revival.

Mehdi Aminian: We started 10-12 years ago the idea of Roots Revival without any financing, we were a group of music lovers which we got a small loan for the first event and since then we have gradually developed various ways of financing the projects. Currently our main means of financing are Vienna city and public funds, ticket and album sales, fan donations and crowdfunding campaigns. For example, the financing of this year’s Root Revival series which is focused on the music of Afghanistan is coming from the Basis.Kultur Wien. It is an entity that finances different cultural projects. We applied for a grant and were lucky to be nominated.

For each project we have different sources of financing. We first try to define our projects and then we go see if we can find a way to finance it. Some projects are financed by an external party, like a festival or cultural entity would commission us to develop a project. For example, we had Woven Sounds, for which the musical project was completely covered by Morgenland Festival Osnabrueck and the documentary was financed by the Austrian Accademy of Sciences and by myself.

MM: And, the case of these acts that you make in this theatre in Vienna, let’s say, do they buy you the show?

MA: Roots Revival series at Odeon Theatre is a collaboration. They don’t buy. They believe in our projects and they offered us the support and symbolically parts of our tickets sales even that we are sold out are insignificant for covering a meaningful part of the costs.

MM: How can the readers support you? What are you searching for that the international community could provide you?

MA: We are setting up membership Patron for people who want to become the members of Roots Revival. People can also always donate on our website or on different platforms. On YouTube people can support us and they can always buy our albums and projects.
If they are professionals, of course, for every musician, the biggest support is to get invited to perform, with different projects.

MM: So, if someone likes what you are saying and likes Roots Revival’s objectives and activities, how can they identify what they could buy from you? I mean, if, for instance, they want to book a show from you. Because in the website you have many things, you have many artists. Is there any list of shows that you could offer to them that are already done?

MA: Yeah, of course. There are several active projects which people can check on our website and on our YouTube channel. I would like to mention a policy we have which is that we put everything for free for our audience online on YouTube. We put all the concerts which the productions are very time intensive and costly. This was our policy even before monetization was popular. I’m talking about 10 years ago. That was our policy and, back then, it was very rare that people put the whole concert in a good production online for free. So, people always can watch and we, to be honest, we do not really believe it should be such exchange that if we give people something, they have to pay us back. We believe this is our mission and we find pleasure in our creations. And if anyone wants to support, they find their ways to support. I think it’s a primary human need to feel what one does is appreciated, and appreciation can come in different forms; some express it by kind words, some by feedbacks, and some by financial supports.

“Our main vision is to represent underrepresented musical cultures and we work with the artists that are the connection between the traditions that we don’t have access to as non-natives to those cultures.”

Our main vision is to represent underrepresented musical cultures and we work with the artists that are the connection between the traditions that we don’t have access to as non-natives to those cultures. We search for artists that are functioning as bridges to these underrepresented musical cultures. For example, you have Ali (added in edition: he refers to Ali Doğan Gönültaş). Ali is a great example; he is a connection with the Kurdish Alevi. He’s a young musician, he understands he can bring to the wider audience what is not accessible to them and that’s what we need in Roots Revival. We always find and look for people who we can work with and collaborate. Sometimes we might not be able to collaborate, but we can represent their works. So, this is the summary of what we do.

MM: Which are your main challenges? For what you say, one may be to find the financing for making each project. Any other?

MA: Time. Time is, I think, the biggest challenge. I’m the father of two daughters and that’s my full-time job, next to my other full-time job in academia at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. I’m also working on my PhD next to the creative parts of music and films and the less creative parts of running Roots Revival. Also whenever the opportunity arises I write music and also if I am lucky to get invited to other projects.
But at the same time, these challenges can be advantages. Of course, there are difficulties, everything and every situation has its unique challenges and one needs to first survive the crucial challenges and then struggle to transform them into the fuel for life and creation.

MM: With this current situation in the world, I mean with all these wars and conflicts… haven’t you found that there is, in the society, any bigger complication or a bigger understanding or bigger misunderstanding or somehow? Because Roots Revival has been working officially for 10 years. Have you seen any evolution from the society towards all this you do? Because many things are coming from a Middle East cultures and there are so many a complications there… How have you seen the reaction of the society in Austria related to all this? Have you felt any changes?

MA: What we do has several dimensions and I realized this in time. Roots Revival started only based on my curiosity to know about the other cultures. I was curious and I wanted to have access and I invited and tried many things to learn, study and work with other musicians. But in time, working with so many cultures and musicians, I realized that what we want to do is to find a genuine way of communicating between different musical cultures to find common elements. And the more we go into our path, it becomes clearer for me that genuine creations function as a shortcut to understanding for the audience. It is an unconscious process of realization.

The other aspect is for the artists: if we give them time and space and the specific attention every artist needs, they really can absorb and understand the other cultures they are working with and through that, they understand their own cultures, as if it functions like a mirror.

The third aspect is about the native audiences to the cultures we work with. Let’s imagine the Afghan audience for the year of Afghanistan. The usual way of multicultural projects are that they focus on bringing the projects to the suburbs or certain neighbourhoods where the immigrants are expected to be present. But what we believe and work towards is to provide access for the less represented sections of a society to the main cultural scenes and venues which are usually very centralized in Austrian spheres. In fact one of the reasons we set our mission to work on the underrepresented musical cultures like Anatolia or Afghanistan is that these beautiful and rich cultures are associated with large underrepresented populations in Europe. I think I even forgot what was your question!

MM: The question was if you have felt any evolution in the society in Austria during these 10 years because many things have happened. Specifically now the world is like in flame, is like a terrible moment. Some things has happened also in Iran yeah of course.

MA: That unconscious process of realization that is a shortcut to understanding, that’s what I am very interested in. I believe we have reached out to some of the audience in Austria and we are building our own ways of communication with the them and slowly, slowly, I have a feeling that our works find their ways and people understand actually what we want to communicate. Of course, this unconscious process of realization applies to us as the creators too.

The important element is that we give our projects time and space. It’s not like one day, two days, rehearsal quickly and put something together. It’s a three month, at least, of exchange between musicians who, in the first glance, don’t have anything in common with each other. But they try to find. So a musician from North Afghanistan from the mountains of Badakhshan comes and stays in touch with a renowned jazz musician from Vienna, a pianist. And they can have a good dialogue and communication even if they are coming from different cultures, completely far away. Both musically and culturally this is one aspect of the impact, and we want to do that and reach out. This reaching out to other culture in our times should become universal. It’s about understanding the others deeply and try to make a meaningful conversation and not to stay in your own bubble forever and just to see which are the differences between you and the other. Maybe seeing the other as the threat has been once a survival behaviour for us in the history, but we live in times where technically it is possible for the whole population of the planet to live in peace and prosperity. We need to get rid of this scepticism about the others as in our times it just brings destructions, not only to the others but to ourselves. Everyone shall find a way to contribute to this vital cause and we believe what we do in Roots Revival is our way to strive towards it.

MM: Related to what you were talking before, my next question was after these 10 years. Which do you think that has been your impact?

MA: Well, I think I’m the wrong person to ask that question. I don’t think about what my impact would be. Maybe other people can say. Maybe some say it is nothing or maybe there are some who would say different.

MM: I think it’s a very good answer, very humble. So what do you want to achieve in the next 10 years?

MA: Everyone has a vision and they want to climb the mountain they see in front of themselves. So I want to continue to learn from the mistakes we have done and to improve, get better, include more people in our team, have more artists to work from different cultures. And I hope I do not loose the curiosity and wanting to learn myself. I think we have a team that that shares this curiosity. They also enjoy and have pleasure in learning. In this process we try to keep things fresh and touching for ourselves and it hopefully results in some other people also to find what we do interesting and inspiring.
At the moment we are doing different activities but we are thinking of getting into teaching and education as well.

MM: And what are your future plans? You have now presented this documentary about the Woven Sounds from Iran. Which is the next culture in danger that you are going to work with?

MA: We have several. We have a team and we are always discussing and brainstorming. We have preferences but also, we have to always look at the possibilities logistically, financially… So we are focusing on a few regions. One is North Africa, maybe focus on Algeria. One is the music of Mongolia… Music of India…Music of Ethiopia…

Before ending this section dedicated to Mehdi and Roots Revival, I’d like to share two pieces of his work. This is a Virtual Rebirth of Roots Revival’s Cancelled Performance at the Morgenland Festival Osnabrück in Germany. All the credits are in the description of Youtube. I find this music and the video extraordinarily beautiful:

And this is the documentary Woven Sounds that I mentioned at the very beginning of this section and of which Mehdi explained that was financed by the Austrian Accademy of Sciences and Mehdi himself:

Thank you very much, Mehdi!!!

TRANSGLOBAL WORLD MUSIC HALL OF FAME
Period for nominations, open until 26th November

The Transglobal World Music Hall Fame celebrates excellence in the world music field. The Hall of Fame includes three categories:

🔸Artists
The Artists category honors solo and ensemble living artists who have achieved lifelong artistic and technical quality or historical significance in the field of world music. (5 annual inductions)

🔸Professional Excellence
Professional Excellence celebrates influential music professionals (not artists) and media individuals and organizations who have provided increased visibility and recognition to world music and its multiple subgenres (3 annual inductions).

🔸In Memoriam
In Memoriam includes posthumous inductions that honor historically inventive and influential artists or industry professionals who passed away in previous years or decades. (5 annual inductions)

Send your proposals, here.

THE NEWS THAT MADE ME HAPPY:
The 1st album by Mapamundi Musica Record Label, Kiğı, by Ali Doğan Gönültaş Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik: Quarterly Best » 4/2023, Traditional Ethnic Music

Ali Doğan Gönültaş self produced his extraordinary album Kiğı in 2022. One year after I started a record label to provide the administrative needs and the manufacturation of the physical CD, in order to create a touchable product that would stay for the future generations.

And now the jurors of the German Record Critics’ Award recognise the production Ali Doğan Gönültaş: Kiğı. Quarterly Critic’s Choice, Category Traditional Ethnic Music.
“The best and most interesting new releases of the previous three months are awarded a place on the Quarterly Critic’s Choice. Evaluation criteria are artistic quality, repertoire value, presentation, and sound quality.”

For more info, clic here. And you can listen to the album, here.

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

#1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in November 2023 is: Luzmila Carpio’s Inti Watana / El Retorno del Sol

Mundofonías: the three favourites of the month are O’Tridal’s Triumvirat, Times New Román’s Jól élünk and Los Ruphay’s Kimsa pachanaka / The three seasons of the Andes

OPEN CALLS

Perhaps there are more. There are probably more and I haven’t heard about it. This section is open for news. It is free of charge. You can let me know if you have any open call of relevance to the community.

Fira Mediterrània de Manresa.
The call for proposals is open

The motto of the 27th edition of the Fira Mediterrània is Roots & Live arts. It will take place from 10 to 13 of October of 2024. The call for artistic proposals is open until 18th January at 12 am. The artistic director of this edition, like in the previous five years, will be again Jordi Fosas, who renewed the position for three years more, with the possibility of a extension of two more.

The Fira combines professional activities with others open to the public. It normally pays a fee to the artists, which is negotiated taking into account this framework, where the presence of potential customers is guaranteed.

If you want to submit a proposal, it is important to take the key elements into account. In my experiences, this is really critic. Consider whether your proposal fits any of these keys. This year they are:
🔸Perspectives: proposals from artists who do not usually work with roots and are offering their specific perspective on popular and traditional culture.
🔸Young people: proposals from emerging artists who have already focused their creative output based on traditional roots.
🔸The present: proposals that emphasis a creative root that does not exist externally to the reality around us and that, through the language of roots and popular and traditional culture, can speak to us and reflect on what is transpiring in society today.

PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

Normally October is full of events, but now November and even December also host a busy international agenda. I will mention some events in which I won’t participate but that are relevant.

Perhaps it is that I get more information with the time, but it seems that the number of events like these are increasing. I talk about showcase events with some more activities, like mentoring sessions or conferences. It is great for the countries or regions that can do it. And at the same time, I feel it contributes to increase the gap with the ones who cannot do it (that can be for many reasons, not only finantial).

Napoli World. Napoli, Italy. 30 November – 2 December

This is the second edition of this professional event that includes showcases and conferences. i attended in 2022. We could attend around 20 concerts of artists mainly from the region of Campania, from different styles and in different stages of development. It was very interesting. I saw there Ars Nova Napoli, for instance, who I booked later for 2023. I can’t attend this year because it is at the exact same dates as the next event.

PIN Conference. Skopje, Macedonia. 30 November – 2 December

I will attend for the second time. The first time it was in 2021. I knew about this conference because Hudaki Village Band, the Ukrainian band with which I have collaborated for years, were invited to perform there.

The near conclusion of the MOST Balkan Music project, which I have talked about on many occasions before (for instance, in this interview), coincides with the 10th edition of the PIN Conference, taking place in Skopje from November 30th to December 2nd. The lineup includes some of the artists who have participated in MOST, such as the Upbeat Best New Talent Award winner, Zarina Prvasevda.

I, for sure like those directly involved, have wondered about the lasting legacy of this ambitious 4-year project with four pillars that has involved many Balkan countries that has been MOST Balkan. It’s too early to tell, but for now, it seems that the professional network among them and with agents from other European regions has strengthened. I hope it leads to a permanent facilitation of access for artists from that region to the international circuit and the dissemination of their work among the public and, in short, an improvement in the working and living conditions of artists and the cultural fabric.

This is from the website of PIN:

“PIN is the first and only international music conference and showcase festival in Macedonia.
Since its first edition in 2012 the conference is organized by the Association of culture and arts “TAKSIRAT” and as a part of the renowned Taksirat Festival – member of Yourope and ETEP.
Inspired by the community-building aspects of such events, PIN is a standing out project of “Taksirat” in which we fully and solely invest our capacities and connections in the industry all around Europe. Our goal is to enrich the local music sector by bringing the diversity of best practices, up-to-date knowledge and people who will be part of this development in Macedonia and the Balkan region.”

Visa For Music. Rabat, Morocco. 22-25 November. Plus 40th General Assembly of the International Music Council

I already talked about this event in the previous edition. Also, it was mentioned in the conversation with Said Chaouch. This year, the box office income will be donated to special funds to support earthquake relief efforts. This will be the 10th edition of the event. Learn more on their website.

In adition, 40th IMC General Assembly of the International Music Council will take place in Rabat during the Visa and they have some shared activites. The website of the Assembly is this.

I’d love to attend this edition of Visa and the Assembly but it is too much. On day 22nd I will be in Brussels in Muziekpublique.

10th Cyprus Jazz & World Music Showcase 2023. 8 – 10 December. Limassol, Cyprus.

I will attend this event for the first time. The program is not announced yet. They explain on the website that: “The event primarily aims at the future involvement of Cypriot artists in international festivals and overseas organisations, thus creating a platform for exchanging artists’ experience and practice on an international level.”

In a future edition I will talk about this experience.

There is an event that would be happening now and will not take place. It’s the showcase in Israel. I hadn’t planned on going this year, but I’ve attended three times in previous editions. I can imagine the horror, frustration, and sense of helplessness that the people I’ve met there, who work organizing this event, must be feeling. Also, of course, I can imagine the horror of those who suffer from the conflict on the other side. Well, I guess I can’t fully imagine it. Fortunately, my life has never had the terror that is part of their daily lives. It’s been more than a month of destruction. When will it end?

MEET ME AT

If you happen to attend these events, drop me a line. If you are not, they can be interesting for you too in any case.

22 November. Brussels. Concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş in Muziekpublique.
30 November – 2 December. Skopje, Makedonia. PIN Conference.
8 – 10 December. Limassol, Cyprus. 10th Cyprus Jazz & World Music Showcase 2023

October 23. Talk with Said Chaouch (Worldmusic Oasis), presenting a new program in Madrid, open calls… #64

Summary 👇

Editorial

Introducing Madrid World Music (MWM), a new concert series, by Madresierra

About Visa for Music

Talk with Said Chaouch, from Worldmusic Oasis in Gothenburg

Upbeat Platform: Best New Talent Award For Zarina Prvasevda

Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects

Open calls and more news from professional events 💼

Meet me at ✈️

➡️ This is the link for subscription

Hello, how are you?

I am well. On this occasion I wanted to open this editorial section with a photo not only of me, but of this artistic team that has worked on one of my milestones of the year, the show Beyond Al-Andalus, for which I have collaborated with Birgit Ellinghaus, from alba Kultur. She is in charge of several concerts each season in the Mozart Hall of the Alte Oper Frankfurt.

The artists have been Vigüela (old friends, you probably already know), the sister duo from León Tsacianiegas and the charming Galician singer and tambourine player Tania Caamaño. Each time something like this happens I feel that magic has been created, that the stars have aligned, that providence has seen fit to give me this unforgettable moment. On the other hand, as the world goes, it seems that this is a delicate marvel that could break at any moment.

Honestly, I am in one of those very stressful moments, I hope you will forgive me if there are any typos. I am writing this the day before I travel again, to Manchester this time, to the annual meeting of the European Folk Network, at the same time as for English Folk Expo. Back on Saturday night and early Tuesday morning, flying again, to Coruña. I have the honor of being called to mentor some delegates (by the way, this is starting to be more or less usual and I am open to requests of mentoring) and I love it but I’ll have to get up at 3am…. As my father would say, may all sorrows be like that. Totally agree.

I hope this content is of interest to you. I have enjoyed it very much. The conversation with Said was great. And to be able to announce that in my land there is a new world music programming initiative is a great joy. You will see it below and they are open to proposals. Thank you for your attention.

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82

INTRODUCING MADRID WORLD MUSIC (MWM), A NEW CONCERT SERIES, BY MADRESIERRA

A couple of weeks ago I saw on Instagram that Huun-Huur-Tu were coming to Madrid. It was announced by Madresierra‘s profile, whose slogans in the Bio are “💫 Cultural promoter of exclusive sounds 💫 🥁 World Music Movement 🌍”.

I didn’t know about this initiative so I inquired and saw that my friend Patricia Alvarez, dancer, researcher and creator, had them in her circle of contacts. She put me in the background and I got in touch. I asked Juan Cobo for a statement to present his initiative. And here they are. Obviously, I was very happy to learn about this new initiative in Madrid and I hope it goes very well and that they can establish themselves strongly.

They are open to proposals so, if you have something for them, contact them on their Instagram. I leave you with Juan’s words:

“I am Juan Cobo, creator of Madresierra, a Spanish cultural promoter of exclusive sounds. We present Madrid World Music (MWM), a cycle that aims to bring to Madrid (Spain) root music, ethnic music, music from any corner of the planet that has emerged from the earth itself. A place for the restless spectator, who wants to feed his soul and intends to discover other sound and cultural worlds.

MWM only has a start date, not an end date, nor intermediate dates. We are collecting proposals, and when they touch our hearts, we look for the best way to program them. Likewise, it will be itinerant, since depending on the type of artist, the space will be one or another: concert hall, theater, auditorium, non-conventional spaces…

We know that it is a difficult job, since in our country it is difficult to spread this kind of sounds, but we also know that there is a huge minority of people who love this kind of music. We see it as an opportunity to attract a type of public that, in our opinion, is becoming orphaned of “ethnic” spaces. Festivals like Etnosur, Pirineos Sur or La Mar de Músicas, which were born with this “label”, are turning to a more commercial programming, without so much exclusivity, since they repeat names that are already in other Spanish “multi-style” festivals.

We will cover this target and we are waiting for your proposals!”

VISA FOR MUSIC WILL TAKE PLACE: RABAT 22-25 NOVEMBER

When we knew about the earthquake in the Atlas mountains and it’s effect in cities like Marrakech, I though Visa for Music might be cancelled but no: not only is it not cancelled, but also, the box office income will be donated to special funds to support earthquake relief efforts.

This will be the 10th edition of the event. Learn more on their website.

– MEET ME IN BRUSSELS –

While I was writitting this, I received an email that made me very happy, with this drawing of Ali Doğan Gönültaş’s in for the banner for Muziekpublique. This is the reason why I can’t attend Visa for Music. On day 22nd I will be in Brussels for the premiere in Belgium of Ali Doğan Gönültaş. Here you have all the details. It will be at the Théâtre Molière, managed by Muziekpublique, the organization of Peter Van Rompaey, a lantern of culture in Europe. I made a long interview with Peter, that you can read in this previous edition. This concert is part of the tour Klangkosmos, produced by alba Kultur, lead by Birgit Ellinghaus, another landmark for our community, who has been mentioned often here. For instance, here you are an interview with her.

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:

SAID CHAOUCH, FROM WORLDMUSIC OASIS

Said will attend Visa for Music. He told me that this is the reason why he won’t come to WOMEX this year. He explained to me about the meaning of this kind of events, like Visa for Music, for him. Below you can read about it.

I took this so nice portrait of Said from the page About us, from www.worldmusicoasis.com. I think I may have crossed paths with Said at a Womex but we never spoke in person until a few days ago. I think that in this photo, the photographer has captured the warmth that I have felt in Said in the long conversation we had through the screen. That’s why I have chosen it to open this interview.

When we spoke to make the appointment, he told me that he was finishing a job. It’s about the book of which you have the cover here below. He was going on a trip soon and we would talk when he returned. The purpose of the book is to explain the concept or term “world music” from his own experience. He explains that “The term has been subject of criticism since it have been created. What is world music, how to define the term, why people dislike the term.” In the book, he is trying answer those questions through interviews with 50 music experts, journalists, producers, etc… and telling the story about how he started a music store in Sweden. The book will be published and available on his website soon. I will send news about it when it is already available.

Here below you will learn the steps that made he set the store Worldmusic Oasis, and many other interesting facts.

Mapamundi Música: You founded Worldmusic Oasis, a shop in Gothenburg, to sell world music mainly, you sell also jazz and other styles… but what led you to establish the store? Why did you start this?

Said Chaouch: This is an interesting question. In my book, which hopefully will come soon – but this book is not to sell, it is book just for friends and the people who like music – there I explain a little bit more how when I moved from France. I was living in Paris before, and I was playing in France as musician street. Just as a hobby, you know. I´m born as a painter and studied painting, not as a musician but both go into each other. I´have been playing music for fan but don’t want to call myself a musician.

Akli D comes from the same area in Algeria. We lived not far from each other. He did play music already in Algeria before he left to France in the beginning of the 80s. We meet often in Paris outside Centre Georges Pompidou where we shared the place and played for fun for tourists. Akli didn’t have a band at that time, he was just playing with his guitar. We were many sharing the place and the streets in Saint Michel. I left him in Paris where he succeeded with his career and met 20 years later in a concert in Paris. He recognized me.

Manu Chao helped, Akli, like he did with Amadou and Marian, at the same time. He made a big success, he was everywhere, but was really a short time. He made and international career and I moved to Sweden because, at the time, I have met a girlfriend in Sweden. That’s reason I moved to Sweden.

MM: The usual reason to move, hehe.

SC: But then, the problem was that when you arrived in Sweden it was not like if you move from Paris to Madrid or to Milano or to Athena. Sweden was special that time. There were not many foreigners. Now it’s something else. But at that time, it was a cold, quiet, calm country… So, I thought “Here, I can’t stay”. And at the same I had my girlfriend; I had moved for her. So, I had to find something to compensate. So, at that time, 1985 it was that time when the word music had start in France: between 1983 until 1987 it’s that time where there were many many artists playing in France. So, the world music had started exactly that period when I left. So, Sweden was for me really empty. I had to find a compensation in Sweden. I am musician and if I went to a shop to buy a North African record or a Latin record, they were not. Even in the three big stores in Sweden, in the three biggest ones, you could find, maybe, in the world music section, maybe 10 records and that 10 records were traditional drums records. It was empty, there was nothing.

So, each time went to Paris there were friends who told me “Please, Said, can you bring for me Franco’s album? Can you take me…?” You know, so each time I went to Paris I returned with a bag of 50 CDs. So, I thought there was a market in Sweden. And I had to find something both to get money and to get back to me the atmosphere that I had in France and that I was missing. It was for me as oxygen. I need it. It was not for the money. I needed to get this people around me. That is how I started the store. And the store was really unique, except one which had opened a few years before me in Stockholm called Multi Kulti, but now they don’t exist anymore. But after them, mine was the second biggest store in…, not only Sweden, maybe in whole Scandinavia, even from Norway, Denmark and Finland. My specialty was world music. And it was the people who gave it’s the name. They said it was an oasis of world music, which was true. So the name is really meaningful.

Important – I would never have been able to have such a long career in music without the enormous work of my wife Eva, who encouraged me to open the store and who supported me in the shadows during all these years while working as much as me in addition to her full-time job.

You may feel like reading on while listening to the aforementioned Akli D:

MM: Where were you born?

SC: I was born in Algeria and I have grown in Algeria. But after the high school I moved to Paris. I moved to study painting. I have made many exhibitions. My career should have been more of a painter than a musician but it was difficult. It was difficult for a foreigner to get a job, as a painter or as an artist, it was difficult to survive. So I had to leave it on the side and continue with music. And it worked well, especially at the beginning with the store, because it was needed. It was an empty market in Sweden. At that time, there were people maybe from 100 nationalities who came to the store: people from Namibia… There were two persons from… let’s say, from India living here. They spoke to each other. At that time there was no WhatsApp, there was no Facebook… The people told to each other about the shop in Gothenburg where you could find music from Sri Lanka or music from Sudan or music from Somalia… The news spread really quickly.

MM: So you had those two objectives when you made the shop, the make your living, to get income, and also to fulfil this gap that you were feeling. And it run well between the people. You didn’t need to make advertisements or nothing…

SC: No, no, no, that time there was no Facebook no WhatsApp. But the information spread really quickly. People talked on the telephone. And they called me on the phone. It was fun but it was also too much work, because I learnt about the artists from the people, from the customers who came to buy. Let’s say there was someone from India who came to the store and asked about about Zakir Hussein. At that time, I didn’t know about Zakir. So I learned all the artists through the customers who had come and asked me about their musicians. There was not a book where to read about all the artists.

MM: What is the situation right now about this? Because it’s totally different. Now everybody’s on the internet.

SC: Exactly. That is one of the reason why I am writing in this book I talked about before. 10 years ago, when the CDs began to disappear, when it came the crisis with the CDs, it was really difficult: I found myself with a stock of CDs. All my economy, all that I have got under 20 years buying records, I found that I can’t sell them anymore. So it affected me really too much. And it was before Covid. But at the same time I lucky because the vinyl came back. It made a compensation for the CDs. The price of the vinyls is high, so all the vinyls I had allowed me to continue.

And at the same time what have helped me is that, thanks to the contacts I made through the records, I began to book artists. At that time, around 1995, I was maybe the only one in Sweden who had the telephone number to call the African artists. There was no Internet, and I had the contact of most of the African and Arab artists in France through the records companies I bought records from. And the records companies, each time I went to France to buy records, asked me if I can book their artist in Sweden. That’s how I booked Papa Wemba. That’s how I book him the first time he came to Sweden. Or Tinariwen, with whom I have good contact, I was the first who booked them in Gothenburg. Or Orquestra National de Barbes. So when the crisis of CDs came, I compensated it with clubs, I have different music clubs, and booking artists. I compensated it with clubs, opening different music clubs, booking artists, DJing and giving lectures about world music.

And then the Covid, of course, came and destroyed everything again. There were no concerts, I could not sell records… It was a really tough period where I thought it was not possible to continue to pay the rent for a big local… At that time, I started to think to make the website. Until that time, I have thought about website because it was for me enough to sell for the people here and I didn’t need to sell for the people outside Sweden. Already the market in Sweden was already enough. But when the crisis came, I thought now it’s the new world we are living in, so we have to make now good website and try to get more contact with the world.

In addition to ordering records, the Worldmusic Oasis website has a lot of interesting content. For example, the summary of Said’s presentation about world music, which you can read here.

MM: So you make also bookings… So you have all these different lines of activity with music but why do you have this engagement with music? You say you were a musician yourself when you were in Paris. But your path was going to be a painter, not a musician. But what is your relationship with music? Because at the end all your life has been devoted to music. How did this start in your life? Were your parents musicians or did you study music in Algeria?

SC: About the painting, when I was in school, at six or seven years, I was already the best in painting. That was already in my heart, in my mind. But you know, I have grown in a country where the artists don’t have a high value so I was a good artist but I knew that I couldn’t make the living as an artist because I can make an exhibition and people come, they can write good review, “oh, you are wonderful” and that’s all. So I came to France to continue study painting in the University. It didn’t work as planned for different reasons. I worked in small jobs and left behind the studies.

But in France I started to play music for fun, not professional, just in the weekend to meet friends. And then I moved to Sweden and I was missing the world music. When you have grown listening to listen African music, Arabic music and you find yourself with nothing… I am a social person. I have grown up in society where there are 100 persons around me. So to find yourself just with your love, in a small apartment… It’s it was not enough for me. In Sweden that time you had to choose to work in Volvo and I was not made for Volvo, you know, I am and artist. And the world music has given me the chance to travel all around. I have been everywhere in the world, I have met people and that’s for me… it’s not the money, you know.

“Maybe if you compare all that money I have spent on this, maybe I could have six big houses but it’s not that what I was looking for.”

There is someone who writes in a newspaper here in Sweden and said when Said’s career is finished, he will not be rich in money but his career is full of meetings, of all these people I have met, all these artists I have met, I have a book, I have spent the time. For me that is the sense of the life. It’s not to get a big house, you know. Maybe if you compare all that money I have spent on this, maybe I could have six big houses but it’s not that what I was looking for.

MM: No, no, of course, you need to make meaningful things for you and also for the world, I think. Your passing through the Earth must make something, not just being one part of the chain. I feel very similar, not with the recordings, but with the booking and management of artists so I feel very identified with all this you are explaining about traveling in the world for music. Yeah, I understand you.
I wanted to ask you, you are advisor for several organizations that make concerts there. When you book or advice about an artist, which could be the characteristics that the artist will have for being interesting for you?

SC: There is a hard competitions today for artists. My personal advice for an artist is to find a new music concept and:
•   Forget the boring artists’ standard
•   Mix your music with other genres, like that you can hear everywhere in the planet.
•   Make your music universal
•   Find your own look to attract curiousity
• use Youtube
•   Invest to participate into music markets
• Keep a good relations with promotors
•   Don’t give up

I work with different venues in Gothenburg, with Norway too, with Oslo I have a good collaboration. Each time they bring an artist to Oslo they send it to me to Gothenburg. We have four venues in Gothenburg. So when I find an interesting artist, I contact the venues. Sometimes, if it’s empty, I mean, it’s not booked already… To compare with my friend in Oslo, they have their own venue but I collaborate with different venues. But as I have said, if I have to give advice of what artist was working well, let’s say we have two different category of artist: you have artists like Fatoumata Diawara, Amadou and Marian, Salif Keita, it is something else. Those artists cost a lot and you need big budget. So for a small booker it’s a little bit difficult, especially now. With these big artists you have to be 100 % sure that the money you give for Fatoumata Diawara or Salif Keita, you’ll get it. But at the same time, me personally I have followed Amadou and Marian since 15 years, I’ve see them in their career, but there are today good artists, like Ali (Doğan Gönültaş), Bab L’ Bluz … all these small artists who are making really fantastic work you know… Altin Gun… I have booked Tamikrest the last time… These artists are really good and don’t cost too much and they are interesting.

For me, you know, I get too many emails from different artist, each day we get, sometimes from promoters, sometime from the artists themselves… And we are limited in how much we can book. I mean I can’t book just to satisfy the artist because it must work, of course. So that sometimes can be a bit difficult to explain to the artist that, of course, I like it, you know, but you have to find the right time, the moment, the place…

A good advice for a promotor is to work work work work work work work, I mean, for instance, like Thijs, the promotor of Tamikrest, he is a good promoter, working, sending mail, calling… You have to develop a good contact between promoters as friendly contact, not only business contact. Personal contact really helps a lot.

MM: Especially in this field of music, the world music, I mean, the personal contact is especially important. Because maybe in in pop and rock is not.

SC: No, no, no, that is different because in the pop the work is already done. But for the world music… Ali, a good artist, very known in Turkey but not too many people know him in Europe, so if you just send an email about Ali, it’s not enough. But when you get the contact, I mean, you trust the promoter, I became more curious with Ali now. That is the way to get a good contact for both, for the artist, for the promoter… Sometimes to be honest you don’t have the time to read all the mail.

MM: I understand, it happens to me in the other side, I am contacted by many artist who want to me to be their manager…

SC: That’s why I like Visa for Music, which I have helped a lot from Sweden to promote it, because there you come closer to the artists, really closer, as friends, and even promoters. You come really close. You go to take a cup of coffee with the promoter, you speak, you get more information from promoter around the cup of coffee… It’s more than just to send an mail for thousands of persons.

Let’s listen to Tamikrest and send a greeting to Thijs Vandewalle:

MM: Which do you think is the future for the recorded music? You explained to me how it was with the CDs, after CDs went down, vynils came super strong and so… What is going to be the future of recording music? Do you think there will still be needed physical editions or will they disappear?

SC: I think it will disappear, honestly. Now, for the record labels, it is good to produce vinyl. Everybody want to have the vinyl but nobody listen. They have it as a decoration at home. And the price of a normal vinyl is 30 euro. But the young people won’t buy them. This period of the vinyl will take maybe 5 or 10 years but it will not survive, because now the people need to listen quickly they, to find quickly and everything go fast today.

MM: I wanted to tell you something that I learned yesterday. A journalist here from Spain explained to us something that can give you a hope about the physical editions. There is an online distributor here in Spain called Altafonte. They are distributors not only for Spanish artists also for American artists, but they are working internationally. And recently they decided to remove the accounts, first for the artists in the Spotify who had less than 500 listeners every month, and after, less than 1000. So you are in the hands of this third part, the distributor, and you are not independent, you depend totally on this third part for your distribution of your music. So maybe this is a risk that the artist have to face. They have to understand that this can happen at any moment. Spotify or any of the others can change their criteria or your digital distributor in which you delegated your distribution, can change the rules and can say “okay, I delete your account, or you have to pay me X amount or whatever…” and they don’t own the channel. So they are in the risk of losing all their distribution. Maybe this will start to happen more often.

This I am talking about, Altafonte, is a Spanish distributor, founded in Spain, but they are working not only for Spain, they work for all the world, they are a digital distributor who puts the music of the artists in the several platforms. Ad they decided that they are not going to support little artists. They will remove them from the platforms because it doesn’t return money, even when the cost is very little because it is only administrative work, but it is not worthy for them to deal with the administration of having very little accounts of a musicians.

I wanted to tell you because they don’t get money from very little artists who have very few listeners, but they have to work in the administration, making reports and these kinds of things. So they deleted them.

SC: But they have to understand that each artist needs a time to be known, to get more people. If you take for instance Altin Gun, from Turkey, no one knew them at the beginning. So the distributor has to support them. To this is not Rolling Stones what you are distributing, let’s say, it is not Manu Chao.

MM: Yes, but these digital distributors, these companies who are making this, they have thousands of artists. There is not an editorial line that they support, no. They just give the service, they put your music in Spotify and in other platforms and they have thousands of artists. So if you are one of those artists, they are not going to push you because they have thousands. If you don’t have enough return, they remove you. There is no editorial or promotional intention in these companies.

SC: That’s the monopole of the Big Industry who decides now who can be good or not good, you know. That’s why when I have been to Visa for Music, there I have met really young people, new people, good artists who need support. That’s why one of my goals working with world music is to try how to help these good artists who haven’t money. I mean, you can come to WOMEX, but which artists have enough money to come to WOMEX? So if at some time I have to make speech at WOMEX I have to say that WOMEX needs to help, to try to make small WOMEX in India one time, like they are doing with WOMAD, you know WOMAD is changing the place. So we have to do the same with WOMEX, to get little bit chance for people in Sri Lanka, in Vietnam… to be known. So that is the big challenge for the future. It’s not having Salif turning 60 years. I mean, I am happy that he still works but… you understand what I mean, you know.

“One of my goals working with world music is to try how to help these good artists who haven’t money […] to get little bit chance for people in Sri Lanka, in Vietnam… to be known. So that is the big challenge for the future.”

The problem with visas appeared in the conversation with Said. It is a tragedy indeed. This topic was recently discussed at the MaMA event, with Cécile Héraudeau and Sébastien Laussel, from Zone Franche. All the details are here.

And this is a part of the presentation text: “Artists from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso without visas: an exceptional situation or a systemic problem? The instruction issued by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs on Tuesday 12 September informing of the decision “to suspend, until further notice, all cooperation with the following countries: Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso” and urging cultural actors to do likewise, “as France will no longer issue visas to nationals of these three countries without exception”, led to unanimous reactions throughout the cultural sector.”

MM: Yes, Said… This that you are talking about now is a big concern I am having recently, especially when I started to work with Ali but not only. The last times I’ve have been interviewing people from more complicated countries like Lebanon for instance, or Imed Alibi from Tunisia. And well this the people I talk with, of course, they are inside the industry, let’s say. But I think about so many artists that are excluded from this. You say “how are they going to come to WOMEX? They don’t have money to fly, of course, of course. But even, more basically, many artists they are out from the circuit of even knowing what WOMEX is. And they are there, and they are making wonderful things but they are not in the industry. The industry is totally looking to other side. And there is the other world that we don’t imagine, out from the industry. And me, Mapamundi is me. With Juan Antonio we make Mundofonías. But we are so little… And you are also you one person fighting all your life against all those crises. So what are we going to do to, somehow, try to amend this? Because there are so many artists totally excluded. They won’t even apply for WOMEX. What can we do?

SC: Your initiative to contact me is itself a great idea to cooperate in the future. Yes, I’m someone with long experience in the world music, working without a big publicity about me. You found me because you are curious about music and musicians. Each person, artist, have something to give. Never underestimate people. The people should learn to take intitiative like you, so that together we can get through the monoply of the music industry. Your contact made me very happy. I said to myself, here’s someone who understood what is going on. Together we can do a lot for the musicians and for the world in general. Music bring peace, help poverty and create jobs. We talk always about the new releases, the music charts, concerts, festivals but never how complicated it is the situation of artists. The visa problem, the war in Niger, sub-Saharan refugees. The problem of today is that we don’t know each other well as promoters or music experts, except by Facebook or Instagram or when we meet it is always in hurry somewhere in some exhibitions changing visit card witch we don’t know from where it comes. We need to come closer.

But we have to meet to speak about these problems. Because no one speaks about these problems. You go to WOMEX, you have artists performing, people they come, they sign a contract and that’s it. But all the work behind, like we have said, all the small artists who need to come, all the small promoters… I was on the way to go to Bangladesh but their Festival is cancel… I was very interested in going to Bangladesh to discover musicians there which I know they can do much in Europe when the people discovered them and at the same time you help these artists. I mean we can’t only think about the money, we have to think to find the better way than just to meet five minutes, interchange visit cards quickly. From Sweden I have tried to help Visa for Music because I know there are poor artists who are coming there and who are good. And through Visa for Music, many artists have succeeded, gnawa groups are touring now in the world, you have Bab L’ Bluz, you have really many artists who have been discovered through this small festival.

For us, small promoter and small artists, we need each other and to be closer and again, this contact can by the chance for the artist. It’s not a favour you make for the friend, no, it’s not that concept. I mean if Ali come to Stockholm I will try because he’s a good artist. I believe that people need to discover these artists. So of course, I do my best to help the artist best and the audience, because I know the audience trust me. When I bring an artist they know that Said brings something good.

“For us, small promoter and small artists, we need each other and to be closer and again, this contact can by the chance for the artist. It’s not a favour you make for the friend.”

MM: It’s a great idea to talk between us about these things because, as you said, WOMEX is a is a business and I understand we can’t ask them to resolve this situation because it is a private company. They also have to fight for their salaries, they have to make their work and they have to have profit. So all this conversation of the last minutes is something parallel to the industry and how to include these people. For me, the important is that these people in those countries get a better living and that their art is not lost and is known in the rest of the world. Because it makes me so happy when I listen wonderful things. For instance I have tried to bring an Albanian band to Western Europe. The musicians that are wonderful but they don’t speak English. The flights are super complicated and they have to go by road to Tirana… So it’s so complicated for someone like me. I have to convince someone to give me 10,000 euros for bringing them to Spain or to Portugal. And sometimes who has that money doesn’t have that sensitivity to realise this is worth of it. So this is the fight I have inside me, how to make this, because these people are over there and the rest of the world is losing their art, we are not enjoying that and, also, the people in those countries, with the time they will just do other things. If they can’t make a good living in their life with music they will just quit music, they will do other things and we all will lose this. So I’m very concerned about this.

SC: There is something too which we have think about, there is a second problem with visas, you know. It makes me sick because I have direct contact with artists. Now from Niger, the last time they haven’t come, even Tinariwen, you know, they are big. They have cancelled the tours of the last year. I have been with Tinariwen in their home in Sahara, they are not interested in living in Paris or in New York, you know. They are not. They are making their job and they return. There are big artists like Fatoumata Diawara and Amadou and Marian, they have to unite and to speak about these problems, to put pressure on the government. The artists together they can make too much pressure on the government. Like in the 80s, there was a big gala of solidarity for the people in Ethiopia.Now there are too many things happening with all these refugees in Mali, in Niger… you know. I mean, who can speak about them. if they are not the artists? Some artists don’t even get visa, even if there is a promoter to pay everything. Me and you, of course, together with the artists, with all these people, we can make pressure to the governments. For instance, if you get a card of artist, you have to get visa, there’s no discussion about it. But this solidarity is again needed but no one speaks about it. Maybe if an artist didn’t come, the day after, the newspaper writes that it is because they didn’t get the visa. So, again, we have to together, media, promoters, artists… There is too much work left.

MM: Yes and we have to identify who else has this thinking because maybe not everybody cares about this, yeah.

SC: Exactly, you are right, that’s why we have to make people understand that. We must be united to fight against the monopoly of the big industry, as an exemple, the ones from Spotify. The meetings on WOMEX can’t be just to promote artists and be a meeting place for promoters. There are other problems we need to talk about. It needed more panels and people engaged to raise visa problem.I’d hope there will be more engagement from artists as Youssou Ndour, Salif Keita, Manu Chao, etc… to organize charity concerts, to find a way how to do charity concerts to help people, as it was done before. These artists has a big power to put pressure on government.

MM: Next year WOMEX is in Manchester. For some more people it is a problem because even the Serbians, for instance, need visa for going to United Kingdom. So it could be a good frame to talk about this.

– After this latest reflection, we made some little plans for the future, but the interview hasn’t ended yet –

MM: I wanted to talk with you because I think your example can be very inspiring, you have a broad vision of what has happen and I wanted, before ending, you to talk a bit about this new book that you have prepared.

SC: To work on it is really interesting. I have always been fascinated about this concept of “world music”, created by English people in 1987. Some people don’t like it because they bring all the music from the world in the same the bag, you know. In France you have the parallel term, that is is “sono mondiale”, created in 1983. At that time, according to the director of the music distribution company Melody, at the beginning of the 1980s, if you went to America to promote an African artist, there were no shops of world music, there were of pop, rock, jazz, classic… So he went to the jazz store and they didn’t want albums of African music together with the others. So, where to find African records in France? In the African small stores, that are selling food, textiles… they know each other and they had some cassettes and CDs.When the producers began to find this music, they got fascinated music and began to promote it but they didn’t have where to put them in the stores. That’s why those English people created the term “world music”, so, when you go to the store and you want to find Salif Keita or Boubacar Traoré or Ali, you go to “world music”. Many people don’t like the term because they say that those English people put all the world music in the same bag: Latinos, African, Arab, Indian…

“ What I have done, better than reading 100 books, is to find that people who created the concept in England in 1987. […] I wanted to know exactly which is the definition from that people who are criticized”

What have I done? I have tried to make a definition of “world music”. Each people have their own definition. The reason to make this book is when I was invited to make a lecture about world music in a school. I thought it would be easy, it could take me five minutes to prepare the lecture. And when I began to read the books, each one has his/her own explanation. So what I have done, better than reading 100 books, is to find that people who created the concept in England in 1987. It was not easy. 27 promotors, journalists and music lovers met in London in a pub and decided to create the term “world music”. I wanted to know exactly which is the definition from that people who are criticized. It was not easy because they are in higher positions and they don’t know me. I sent them emails and they didn’t answer. Thanks to my contacts, like the manager of Tinariwen, I met people like Ben Mandelson, he gave me other contacts… After a few years I have met all that people. Sometimes it took six months before the answer. At the end, it was a long work, I have succeeded in interviewing all these people, asking them how the idea began, what was the purpose and why some people don’t like it.

All this is the book, to say the truth of what is “world music”. You don’t need to buy 100 books; I have made all those interviews and I have made a retrospective of before 1987 how they arrived to “world music”, from the African music of the 50s, how it has grown.Before France, Abidjan was the capital of the world music. And then in the 80s, because of the economic problems in Ivory Coast, all the people moved to Paris: Salif Keita, Mori Kante, Youssou N’Dour, Manu Dibango… all those people moved to Paris at the beginning of the 80s and there they began to produce. The book is not to about my life, it is about this complexity of the term “world music”. You understand this better from someone who have been close than from the books. I’ve got the information direct from the mouth of those people.

Thank you very much, Said!!! 🙏🏻 We look forward to the book launch.

UPBEAT PLATFORM: BEST NEW TALENT AWARD FOR ZARINA PRVASEVDA

I like this news. When I participated as a jury for this award together with Balázs Weyer and Chris Eckman, this Macedonian singer was one of those I supported to pass to the next step. After our judging, a shortlist of 10 finalists was created, which went on to the voting phase by the public. The truth is that there has been an extraordinary level and several other artists would have also been excellent winners. You can consult here the list of those 10 finalists. I hope they have the best of luck in their careers and, for now, congratulations, Zarina!

Here is Zarina live with her band:

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

#1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in October 2023 is: Jarak Qaribak, by Dudu Tassa & Jonny Greenwood

Mundofonías: the three favourites of the month are Aga Khan Master Musicians’s Nowruz, Bolinus brandaris [V.A.] and Eliza Carthy Trio’s Conversations we’ve had before.

Reminder
TALK AT WOMEX: RESHAPING THE NARRATIVE

The complete name of this panel is Reshaping the Narrative – Gender, authority and new approaches to music journalism.
The other ladies are Martyna van Nieuwland and Andrea Voets. Click on their names to read a bio.
It will happen on Thursday 26th of October at 15:15 in Conference Room 2 | Palexco. More details, here.

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

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

At the moment I have no idea of open calls.

About professional events, as I mentioned above, I will be soon in Manchester for the annual meeting of the European Folk Network. Short summary, from the website: “The Conference programme includes opportunities to hear about the situation for traditional arts in Ukraine from musician and festival promoter Anastasiya Vortyuk, about traditional arts surviving in crisis with the Armagh Rhymers from Northern Ireland, about cultural tourism (who does it benefit?), about Members’ own areas of work in special interest groups (such as artists, storytellers, national organisations and others) – and more opportunities to discuss EFN’s future plans including the European Folk Day project.”

The panel about cultural turism will include my partner Pablo Camino (in the portrait), from Spain is Music, a privileged mind oriented to create personalized experiences with music with roots always present. It will be enlightening.

MEET ME AT

If you happen to attend these events, drop me a line. If you are not, they can be interesting for you too in any case. They are special events.

October, 18-21, Manchester. English Folk Expo, which this year hosts the annual meeting of the European Folk Network.
Womex. 25-29 October, La Coruña.
18-19 November. Hamburg, Germany. At the Elbphilarmonie there will be a wonderful program curated by alba Kultur, called Festival “Kurdistan”. Click here to discover the full program.
22 November. Brussels. Concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş for Muziekpublique.
30 November – 2 December. Skopje, Makedonia. PIN Conference.

WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS

Mapamundi Música is an agency of management and booking. Learn more here. Check our proposals at our website.

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.

September 23. Talk with Ludovico Esposito (Sud Sonico), after Balkan:MOST, A&A Music Booking, news from Babel Music XP, open calls… #63

Summary 👇

Editorial

A&A Music Booking, joint venture between Mapamundi Música and Asya Music & Management (Turkey)

Talk with Ludovico Esposito, from the Italian association Sud Sonico

Update about Babel Music XP from its director Olivier Rey

European Folk Day, how it was

Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects

Open calls and more news from professional events 💼

Meet me at ✈️

➡️ This is the link for subscription

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Hello, how are you?

I am well. I begin this editorial with a photo of myself and Ludovico Esposito. He is the protagonist of this edition. I met him at Balkan:MOST, but I had previously had my eye on him and contacted him to have a chat there.Some ideas I had seen on his profile on the festival’s intranet had caught my attention: “Ludovico uses music as a medium for recreational, educational, tourism, and humanitarian-environmental purposes, producing concerts, festivals, capacity-building programs, and fundraising events in support of devastated geographical areas“. In recent times I have been reflecting a lot on questions concerning the use of music (and also the use of the musicians). Also on other issues that I am recurrently mentioning here, such as the exclusion from the world music industry of many artists who make “world music”, caused by several issues. I will not dwell on this now.

But related to this issues, at Balkan:MOST I also met Amita Vempati, development manager of the organisation Artistic Freedom Initiative, which is dedicated to creating the conditions for artists who are unable to develop their work in their countries because they are experiencing censorship, persecution, forced displacement, armed conflict or humanitarian crisis.
They support them in several ways, like through legal and practical support to settle in the USA. They are also starting to work in Europe. We are talking about artists in situations like those who can be getting support from the French organisation L’Atelier des Artistes en Exil, about which I spoke in the previous edition in the conversation with Imed Alibi. Read that edition, the #62, here.

These people I am talking about have been an important part of my Balkan:MOST experience. Another essential part has been David Sierra, my colleague with whom I share many things (I made him an interview for this newsletter, that is available here). I want to mention him because we had some fascinating conversations. I was also able to meet other old friends who have been through this newsletter before, such as Bojan Djordjevic, from the Todo Mundo festival (his interview, from 2019, is here) and to meet in person others with whom I was in contact from afar, such as András Halmos, who was also a protagonist (his interview, much recent, is here).

The truth is that I feel very privileged to meet these people and to be at these events. All of this gives me a lot of food for thought. Perhaps for other people, being in these environments comes as no surprise. For me, it is still very exciting. Well, I have a lot of excitement coming up in October… I’ll tell you about it below. But now, it’s time to give a voice to others. They are sure to be of great interest to you.

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82

A&A MUSIC BOOKING, JOINT VENTURE BETWEEN MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA AND ASYA MUSIC & MANAGEMENT

Let me tell you a story. In February I travelled to Istanbul. It was the same week as the earthquakes. I’m sure you remember it. I almost didn’t go… I was going to travel for a concert of Ali Doğan Gönültaş. We were going to shoot a video of the concert and do a photo session.

Both things were cancelled but I kept the trip. I had already paid for everything and I had some meetings that we were still able to keep.

One of the meetings was with Martin Greve, who I was going to meet for the first time, after the suggestion by Birgit Ellinghaus. Martin and me had arranged to meet in Üsküdar, in the Asian part of Istanbul. But due to a misunderstanding, I ended up in Kadıköy…

Martin came over, we had coffee, dinner, and at one point it occurred to him to call his friend Asya Arslantaş, who is in more or less the same line of work as me and she lived close to that place. Well, all this seems like a chain of events linked in a very fragile way, which led us to meet each other.

The truth is that everything in life is like that. It has all been so improbable as to be almost impossible. But it happened!

Asya was my protagonist in this edition of March. The truth is that we saw that we had a very similar approach to working with music and after several conversations, we decided to start a common path, of which this concert programme that you have here is the first proposal. Soon we will also have a website 🥳.

You can download a dossier with more information, here.

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: LUDOVICO ESPOSITO

“Sud Sonico is a cultural association & platform whose aim is to promote musical diversity and innovation through recreational and educational activities like festivals, seminars, conferences and concerts.

Sud Sonico is formed by a a team of music professionals specialized in the field of music consultancy, event organization and music therapy. It operates in Lecce, South Italy, and had been collaborating with worldwide operators since 2012.

Our ethical and professional values are innovation, diversity, quality, accessibility and inclusion, which are strongly communicated to citizens, institutions, public bodies and organizations.”

From the page Association of www.sudsonico.it

Ludovico is the president of Sud Sonico. He was invited to Balkan:MOST to make a keynote during the pitching session. I took the picture above during his speech. He talked there for 4 minutes. But I was priviledged with more than 40 minutes of conversation with him 🥳.

His artistic focus is what he calls as advanced music, with a strong pressence of electronics. That is a very different focus than mine, as I work mainly with acoustic music connected with the tradition. However, many of the things he explains seem to me to be very interesting and useful and applicable to any cultural initiative, especially when we work with material that is far from the mainstream.

But without further ado, I will share the content of the interview.

Mapamundi Música: You have the Association Sud Sonico, the Festival Avant, the Xenomorph Sounds concert series, and Sagra Elettronica.

Ludovico Esposito: Sagra Elettronica is not going on. The project stopped since Covid. It was designed to be a modern food and electronic music event. In South of Italy, sagra is a street food format dedicated to specific ingredients. It might be sagra of octopus, sagra of aubergine… So the usual is to go there and listen to folk music and eat non-quality dishes. We wanted to create a modern sagra as a very high-quality street food and with quality electronic music. So we did two editions, but since Covid we could not bring it forward. As a 1000-people capacity event, it was challenging to keep the public security-capacity balanced. Although it was a successful project, we just stopped investing energies in it, and instead worked on “safer” and smaller event concepts. Food, installations, people gathering, dancing and eating in old farms… Sagra Elettronica has been a great format, it has been done in the right time, and looked ahead of it proudly.

Sagra Elettronica @ Atraz Emilia

On the other hand, we invested in another project, in Avant, a different concept but the same soul. It is a boutique festival to create an intimate atmosphere and unite the beauties of our traditions with avantgarde music. We basically welcome 300 guests over a weekend of events. We have daytime and evening activities. During the day, we present wine tasting, food tasting and hiking or trekking on the Adriatic Sea. And in the evening, we present avantgarde music concerts, electronica, experimental electroacoustic and any hybrid sound or performance. But also, DJ sets. So we listen to quality music and we dance and we enjoy a weekend of togetherness in our spectacular panoramas and with our spectacular food and wine. It functions as a slow intimate tourism experiences, through music. It is a “more-adult” and intimate format than Sagra Elettronica. It is basically the same concept, but designed for a different fruition and for different targets.

MM: I have seen that your approach to music or to art is recreational, educational and therapeutic. And you focus the art somehow for equality, it has kind of political or philosophical approach…

LE: Yes, we have a benefit approach, so our association works and, in general, uses music for different purposes. When I mean recreational purposes, I refer to social cohesion and togetherness through live events like the festivals Sagra Electronica and AVANT, or the concert series Xenomorph sounds. These are different projects that serve to enable people to have fun and to stay together.

“The idea of our educational approach is that, today, a sustainable and impactful project needs vertical skills and vertical vision. So it’s not only about marketing, communication or fundraising, but it’s about having a vertical approach, a vertical vision on projects.”

About educational. We produce “Avant Learn – Advanced Music XLR8R”, a training program to enable young people or even freelancers to work better on music projects. This project was funded by MusicAIRE last year and it is pretty unique in Europe. The idea of our educational approach is that, today, a sustainable and impactful project needs vertical skills and vertical vision. So it’s not only about marketing, communication or fundraising, but it’s about having a vertical approach, a vertical vision on projects. So we organize free-entry master classes about music marketing, communication, fundraising, production, but also contemporary and modern ones like music tourism, sustainability, international fundraising, digital project management, data & science, copyright. We help the students to be independent to and produce independently any sort of projects, from a festival, a record label, a technology start-up. I think that the reason why it got co-funded is because it is – and looked – as necessary for music organizations to cover so many different areas in terms of management, or at least, to have a clue on what it means to work on sustainability, music tourism or fundraising, and be able to delegate. We cannot do everything by ourselves, but we must be able to handle any area of a project and to delegate, to supervise and to track the impact.

About the therapeutical approach: we did few seminar and laboratories on music therapy, we did such activities for children, but even for adults or for disabled people. So we help people to feel better through sound and music. We recently slowed down our focus on music therapy too, at the moment is not a primary activity for us.

MM: You, about the educational part. You have at least to know that those areas of activity are there and they must be covered. You have to know that they exist.

LE: “Avant Learn” is indeed meant to compensate such gap. For any educational section of the program, we hire a specialized professor, or we cover them ourselves. I can teach myself fundraising, project management, administration… For music tourism, I ask a colleague from Milan. For sustainability, I asked an Italian collegue, plus we collaborate with other entities in Italy and Europe that works on music festival impact reduction in terms of energy, water, waste recycling, purchase – any sustainability topics of the Agenda 2030.

“Avant Learn” offers a highly advanced learning model, as the students satisfaction rate was very high. In terms of scaleup, we work on different scaling approaches. We are considering if and how to evolve in also in a e-learning program, to develop a digital methodology-sharing platform and not only an in-presence project. We also envision it as a point of touch between European organisations seeking to hire new talents, and new talents looking for traineeships in Europe.

We are working to export it in several nations, by designing training programs tailored for the needs and goals of music organizations. For example, an organization in Europe asked us to train five of their volunteers in arts fundraising. So we designed an advanced learning project for that organization. A booking agency ask us to design a program for their artists to reinforce their skills in digital copyright, contracting, intellectual property… So we just produced one course, and not a complete training program. It results to be scalable, and shaped specifically for one organization or one specific project. We aim to help organizations, citizens, people in any form which is possible through sound and music.

MM: My newsletter is sent to professionals working on what I do and also from festivals. If they want to have a consultancy with you about those topics, can they contact you for that service?

LE: Of course. This specific project “Avant Learn”, but in general our organization Sud Sonico, works in two different fields: the production of our own projects and advise and support to improve specific areas of an organization or project in terms of management, fundraising, cooperation and scaleup, engaging with citizens, artists, public administration and municipalities, cultural bodies or festival organizations… We can cover pretty much any area which is needed today to make projects sustainable, make individuals independent, smarter, more flexible and ready to afford the new challenges of the music and creative industries.

MM: And do you make all this under the frame of Sud Sonico?

LE: Yes and no, my role in Sud Sonico as a President is not only to do fundraising, but to improve the non-profit projects of the organization in any possible capacity and scale. As a freelance, I offer music fundraising and project management consultancies. Our organization can collaborate with you mostly in some capacities, me as an individual, in others. Our associates and volunteers are amazing and their support in production and execution is fundamental. We are always open for collaboration ideas.

We recently launched a new project, that expanded our vision. It is called Música Etica (in English, Etic Music). It is a project which aim is to use music as a medium for humanitarian or environmental awareness purposes. We produced one even this year. As simple as it may sound, we played electronic music and we choose a humanitarian cause to support, asking donations to help us supporting it. This year, we wanted to support the victims of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey. So, we settled a partnership with Save The Children Italy, and they were happy to help us promote the event and distribute the donations on site to children and families. We are trying and open to boost this project on an international scale, to open bridges with Middle East and, in general, with real humanitarian and environmental organizations supporting the planet in any form.

Sud Sonico is using music in many capacities, with many ideas and concepts, but the key goal is the same: to create benefits, to create a positive impact, not locally but worldwide.

Banner of Musica Etica, from Sud Sonico’s Facebook page

MM: About Xenomorph Sounds, tell me more.

LE: It is a concert series, so it is a single one-day event. It is a kind of Avant Festival, in a smaller proportion. If there are not enough financial resources, we produce smaller, but always quality events, and Xenomorph Sounds is Sud Sonico’s live music event project. We have produced 4 events with Italian and international experimental solo performers. Xenomorph is about showcasing a wide range of new music genres: electronic, experimental, electroacoustic, ambient, jazz, impro, and anything we think can fit the context. Equally to Avant or Sagra Elettronica, or like Musica Etica, we have no sound limit: as far is it avantgarde music, we can book any act. And depending on the venue, the atmosphere, the period, if it is summer or autumn… we shape, we design a program that unites a series of goals and needs. We produced this concert series in castles, in cultural centres, in bars… our aim is to make avantgarde music the most accessible as possible. We invited exceptional musicians like Italy’s ambient wizard Gigi Masin, Italian saxophonist Laura Agnusdei, Austrian drummer Katharina Ernst, Japanese noise performer Yuko Araki, the band Give Guitars to People.

MM: Why did you come here to Balkan:MOST?

LE: Because I was invited as a delegate from the festival to run keynote about the topic “Music as a Medium for Impact”. I was invited in Athens earlier this year for another conference festival, Athens Music week, and in a panel we discussed a few project ideas – funding opportunities – to create a new expanded Southern Europe Network including Balkans. It is a vivid geographical area that has a lot of potential, and still not much attention from corporate and media. So, Georges Perot, the founder of Athens Music Week, together with other delegates, discussed the possibility of expanding the cooperation, vision and operational projects from Spain and Portugal until the end of the Balkans, with the idea to create a network for cooperation and collaboration in a broader sense and capacity. I’m here at Balkan:MOST to try bringing ahead this idea, and share it with other music professionals.

Athens Music Week 2023

MM: So, in the artistic part, the focus of your work is the avantgarde music. Do you have any relationship also with the traditional music from the region of Lecce?

LE: Not that much, because of my personal choice, or yes, depending on the perspective. The music heritage traditional music in Lecce is mainly traditional music, and has little to do with avantgarde. Not many traditional musicians here contaminate with contemporary languages. If musicians play just one instrument, it normally doesn’t fit on our idea of avantgarde programming, although we made exceptions. It is not that we don’t like traditional music, but our artistic direction selects avant-garde music and not traditional-only artists. One exception is Maria Mazzotta: a local singer who recently started a project with Raul Refree, a Spanish composer and producer who also released music on Mute Records. I appreciate much their new project, because it is about our tradition, and about electronic music. We have several folk avantgarde projects that we would like to invite but it depends on the kind of event, the funding… There are many things that should come together for us to give space to an avantgarde yet traditional performers.

MM: Why do you do all this? Which is your personal background that took you finally to make this?

LE: I started to work in the field almost 10 years ago. I started to play music by case, 15 years ago I played electric guitar, and 10 years ago I started to collaborate for the organization of some music events. I attended a lot of events in Berlin, which shaped my vision and taste very much. When in Berlin, my taste and my vision kept improving and I started my own agency We Care PR. It was a promotional & pr agency for artists, record labels and festivals. I collaborated from the smallest blog to BBC Radio, placing electronic, experimental and club music in different channels, media and helping artists to reach new audiences. At the same time, I was organizing club events in Lecce, my city. First, semi-legal techno events, inviting the artists I was dancing to when in Berlin. The success and network were getting stronger and stronger… And 8 years ago, I started to realise that the projects should find a sustainability in medium-long term. As I have a degree in social & consumer psychology, and a master in marketing and communication, it was natural to me to approach fundraising. So, my background helped me approach medium-big corporations and get funding from the beginning. And I continued to diversify my vision and skills. I continued to invest on myself in advanced training, and to share new skills and goals with my team. I started to do fundraising myself, starting from corporate, and moving to public funding and philanthropy. I think there must always be space and time to learn new skills. In my opinion, individual donations and philanthropy are the solution for music, arts and creative industry on an international scale.

“I work on Sud Sonico’s fundraising, but also support other organizations in achieving new funding, and expanding the network of potential funding partners. I believe this is the solution for us to be independent and to continue to work with creativity even without public funding which, in my opinion, will be continued to be cut down, year per year for the next 15 years.”

Here on Balkan:MOST we have just listened to Mila Georgieva talking about the major part of the cultural organizations relying too much on public funding. I realised this myself 5 years ago and I started to work on fundraising diversification for my own organization, but as well to advice other organizations to start diversify and not relying only on municipalities, Minister or Creative Europe. I work on Sud Sonico’s fundraising, but also support other organizations in achieving new funding, and expanding the network of potential funding partners. I believe this is the solution for us to be independent and to continue to work with creativity even without public funding which, in my opinion, will be continued to be cut down, year per year for the next 15 years. The cultural and economic panorama of Europe is changing, it is decreasing, and we need to work on other directions. As a person with wide interests in geopolitics, humanitarian topics, cultural topics, circular economy topics… I try to look very much ahead and be ready for the change that is imposed for the cultural organization.

MM: What are the corporations searching for, to decide to give you some thousands of euros?

LE: The goal of corporate can be focussed on the improvement of different areas: social & cultural impact; environmental & green sustainability goals; employees’ welfare; sponsorships. Corporate basically support non-profit projects to achieve results in one or more of the aforementioned areas of public interest. Marketing and external relation offices do look actively for projects, and the best fundraising consultants would analyse the profile of the corporation, the marketing managers, the corporate external relations manager and, from the analysis, the consultant will find strategy to penetrate. Which is not easy. It takes time, effort and knowledge, sensibility and capacity of negotiation, flexibility of approach.

The goals of corporations are different from the goal of other private bodies, like foundations. Private foundations release funding in order to pursue social, cultural, environmental purposes, and more. Of course, there are some foundations supporting health, foundations supporting welfare and so on. Foundations are ruled by their own statutes, so it is necessary to analysing the formal aspects too. The analytical process we applied for corporate, should be reshaped for other funding partners.

And the approach to request funds is different from corporation to corporation. It needs to be a tailored fundraising approach, it is not possible to automatize the process: I would never suggest a non-profit organization to send the identical request to many corporations and many foundations. Fundraising is about a constant analysis, design and craft of words, goals, perspective of project development, perspective of project scale up, impact tracking, and budgeting. It’s very complex: there are many areas to enhance in one system. This approach to project management and development is, in my opinion, the only solution for non-profit organizations to survive, be independent, and getting a decent remuneration.

MM: Do you want to share any last idea?

LE: I would like to specify once again – in case it was not clear – and I and we want to use sound and music as a medium for worldwide impact. We desire and want to cooperate for humanitarian projects, environmental projects, cultural projects, cultural heritage projects, tourism projects, educational projects, performing projects, networking projects. We are a young organization but incredible skilled and ready to face any project in any capacity, and we look forward to continue our growing path and continue helping as many people as possible.

Thank you, Ludovico! 🙏

UPDATE ABOUT BABEL MUSIC XP FROM ITS DIRECTOR, OLIVIER REY

A few days ago I corresponded with Olivier Rey. I asked him if they already have the jury for the selection of the Babel Music XP showcases. He told me that they are working on it and updated me on a few things. Of course, he mentioned the decease of Bernard Aubert.

I asked him for permission to shape his message and share it with you, as I find it interesting:

“The Fiesta des Suds, Marseille’s biggest and most historic festival, runs from 5 to 8 October. Its director and founder, Bernard Aubert, passed away in mid-August. This news has obviously affected the teams and has forced us to offer additional content to pay tribute to Bernard’s character.

About Babel Music XP, we’re delighted with this relaunch edition in 2023, which has been acclaimed by everyone. We brought together 1,500 professionals from 72 countries.but we’re also aware of the areas we need to develop to make the market more attractive. This means going international, working with world music players, opening up to contemporary music, which often programmes our styles without realising it, and many other things.

The dates for Babel Music XP 2024 are 28 to 30 March. A number of projects have already been launched. The call for applications received 2,300 projects, demonstrating the extraordinary expectations surrounding an event like Babel. The good news is that we’ll be able to use the Dock des Suds for showcases once again this year. Quite apart from the acoustics (especially of the venue), it’s vital for me to have the 3 stages under the same roof, so that all the professionals can come together. The showcases are open to both professionals and the general public (10,000 spectators last year).

As far as the selection committee is concerned, it will meet in mid-November and we hope to announce the selection in mid-December (a month earlier than last year) so that everyone can get organised and plan their visit to Marseille. The jury is currently being finalised. I’d like to renew a third of it each year, both to bring in new blood and to keep a record of our work from one year to the next.”

Thank you, Olivier! 🙏

Update
EUROPEAN FOLK DAY

Finally, the first ever European Folk Day took place on 23rd of September. It gathered 226 events in 32 countries. The call for tracks for the Music Repository got to collect 104 tracks on the from 28 countries. 26 radio stations members of the European Broadcasting Union dedicated part of their program to the Day. You can sign up for the news from the European Folk Network, here, and receive the news directlly from the organization that has coordinated this project.

The European Folk Day is a pilot project co-ordinated by European Folk Network (EFN) with financial support from the MusicAIRE project jointly organised by the European Music Council and Inova with funds from the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission.

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

#1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in September 2023 is: Stoonia Lood / Stories of Stonia, by Mari Kalkun

Mundofonías: the three favourites of the month are Lost In Tajikistan [V.A.], Zeyn’el’s Divan & divine and Østerlide’s Kilden

Reminder

TALK AT WOMEX: RESHAPING THE NARRATIVE

I already mentioned this event. This is a reminder. This morning I was talking with my colleagues to prepare the next steps and we are thrilled.

It is going to be the first time that I actually participate in this WOMEX activity and I am very happy to do it with two tremendous colleagues: Martyna van Nieuwland and Andrea Voets. Click on their names to read a bio.

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

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

About open calls, just two reminders:

🔸Call for candidates – Journées Musicales de Carthage, 9th edition.
From 20 to 27 January 2024. For musicians from Tunisia, Africa, the Arab world and the rest of the world. “Are you ready to embark on a unique adventure, meet a distinguished audience and present your projects to professionals and specialists from all over the world? Submit your application by 15 October 2023 and enjoy an unforgettable experience.
Applications can only be submitted via the following link: https://shorturl.at/ehpQ5” There is more info, here.”

🔸Small World Music / Global Toronto, in urgent need
“The cuts we face, combined with the poorly executed rollout of the Experience Ontario program, pose a significant threat to the future of Small World Music and the continuation of our cherished free festival. Our mission to celebrate diversity, connect communities, and promote understanding through music is now at risk.”
Read their complete message and learn about the ways to helo them, here.

🔸Mundial Montreal, professional acreditations are available at regular price.
Also from Canada: “Mundial Montréal is the North American gathering for Global Music. The boutique event has been inviting talent and sounds from Canada and around the world to perform for industry professionals every year for the past 13 years in Montreal.
The event distinguishes itself by the carefully selected artists and the strength of the connections generated between artists and professionals from over 50 regions of the world.” Check the website for more info.

About more professional events, check the following section.

MEET ME AT

So far, nothing new from the previous edition.
If you happen to attend these events, drop me a line. If you are not, they can be interesting for you too in any case. They are special events.

October, 5-8, I will go to the Fira Mediterrània in Manresa. Ali Doğan Gönültaş will perform there and I will attend also as a delegate as in many previous occasions.

October, 11th. Very special concert at the Alte Oper Franfkurt with Vigüela and several other Spanish performers for a program designed by alba Kultur. In the picture, Mari Nieto, singer of Vigüela, one of the protagonist of the event.
October, 18-21, Manchester. English Folk Expo, which this year hosts the annual meeting of the European Folk Network.
Womex. 25-29 October, La Coruña.
18-19 November. Hamburg, Germany. At the Elbphilarmonie there will be a wonderful program curated by alba Kultur, called Festival “Kurdistan”. Click here to discover the full program.

WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS

Mapamundi Música is an agency of management and booking. Learn more here. Check our proposals at our website.

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.

August 23. Talk with Imed Alibi from Atelier des Artistes en Exil, European Folk Day, news, open calls… #62

Summary 👇

🔸Editorial

🔸Talk with Imed Alibi, musician, composer and director of the music department at the Atelier des Artistes en Exil en France

🔸Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects + announcement from Mundofonías 🗞️

🔸Reminder: talk at Womex, “Reshaping the narrative” ✍️

🔸Update: European Folk Day 🗓️

🔸Open calls and more news from professional events 💼

🔸Meet me at ✈️ with spotlight on Festival “Kurdistan” in Elbphilarmonie Hamburg

➡️ This is the link for subscription

If you like this content, forward it ⬅️

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Hello, how are you?

I am well. This month is special. I will celebrate my birthday. I have only one wish to ask: to have more wisdom to be able to go further with this whole music thing.I will expend that day returning from Plasencia (Cáceres province, in Extremadura region) after the concert by Seiva, the Portuguese trio with which I began to collaborate this year. The usual line up is two women and a man, but in this occasion the female percussionist had to be substituted.

Apart from that, I am full of anticipation about the MOST festival and the re-entry in general. This summer is being fantastic. Ali Doğan Gönültaş is in France right now and today will be his fourth concert out of 10 that he is doing in Aubernia and Languedoc with his trio. Autumn is going to be fun for them as well. I explain a bit more below.

Tomorrow Vigüela will play in a festival that has been going on for 51 editions, Cita Folk in Jódar, in Andalusia. In the next Autumn they will start a new project to popularise a very unknown style of traditional music: the son. I will give news shortly.

Soon I will also be giving news of a new collaboration that has me full of anticipation, a collaboration that I hope will be a boost of motivation and outreach for both sides. For now I will only say that it is a collaboration with someone from the other side of the Mediterranean 😍.

I hope your summer is going wonderfully and the return to routine is uplifting! And that the content below is of your interest.

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: IMED ALIBI

While you read, listen to the his works, here 🎧

“Due to war, racial, ethnic, sexual and gender discrimination, or religious, economic and political marginalization, every day many people are forced to leave their homeland. Amongst them, some are artists often involved in a continuous fight against the authorities of their countries. Since it is the duty of art to be the voice of the oppressed and to reveal the underlying issues in the society, the creative sector in Europe must be particularly mindful of the matter and provide the infrastructures to better accommodate these artists. Artists must be able to continue to practice their art, not only as individuals, but also as custodians of their culture. It is through art that the culture of a people whose autonomy is threatened, will continue to live on.”

This strong statement is in the About page of the L’atelier des artistes en exil. The head of the music department is Imed Alibi.

I first heard about Imed Alibi in this interview ➡️ . Click on the picture to access it. It was at the height of the pandemic. I highly recommend reading it. It is in Spanish but I’m sure you can translate it automatically into your language with sufficient results. I have not forgotten it. It opened my mind to some ideas I hadn’t dealt with before.

At that time, May of 2020, I was involved in a series of conversations with colleagues from other countries in an attempt to create an informal network of people with similar concerns. I don’t know how, but I came across this interview with Imed. It was explained that, shortly before the start of the pandemic, Imed had been appointed director of the highly relevant Carthage International Festival. The news had been widely celebrated by the new generation of local artists. Why? It sounded worthy of further reading…

That edition of the festival was postponed and they had to opt for national artists, given the uncertainty about key issues that could affect them, such as international travel. In that interview, Imed said that the festival’s intention was not only to carry out a series of artistic activities but also to support the sector, which has been terribly affected by the coronavirus crisis. Later, he added: “In my humble opinion, the Carthage shows should retain the emotion of live performance, because historically they have always been linked to the audience. It is the essence of the festival. And I sincerely doubt that it can be transformed into a digital version“. I felt the same about many initiatives at that time.

Despite this, we personally had a fantastic experience with Vigüela in an event commissioned by the International Labour Organization. We called it “Conciertajo”, a words game with concert + Tajo, that is both the river in the village of the band and a slang term for “work”. It was designed specifically for the digital medium, taking advantage of the options for interaction with the public. During some weeks before, we incorporated the public directly into the artistic creation. During the concert, we kept the talk with them. The concert was the culmination of a lot of previous activities. But it is true that most of what was done was to put a camera and broadcasting.

Back to Imed, he also said something that still resonates with me to this day, perhaps even more strongly: “As we know there are many very talented artists but they are not good communicators and in that case inequalities can be created if we don’t receive support or advice from specialists or record labels. And well, these are the difficulties faced by artists in our countries and I would even say in the world in general.”

The whole interview is very interesting. Imed talks about the digital alternative and to what extent it was useful, about copyright in this area, about the conversations with the government to support artists, about the situation of artists in authoritarian regimes….

I contacted Imed to invite him to the talks with colleagues but the initiative fizzled out as the challenges were pulling on all of us and we didn’t manage to meet up with him. But luckily I have been meeting him on a few occasions and discovering more interesting things. The last time we met was in Ostrava, for the Czech Music Crossroads, of which I already spoke in the previous edition.

Portrait by Cedric Matet.

In Ostrava I learnt that he leads the department of music of the Atelier des artistes in Exile. That reminded me immediately about Alan Ibrahim and his organization Music For Identity, with whom I made a long and deep interview in this previous edition.

Before reading the interview, it is useful to check out the website of the Atelier des artistes in Exile. And the website of I med Alibi.

And I said before, Imed is a musician himself. He is a percussionist and composer. This is a video from his Youtube channel: Imed Alibi Feat Kel Assouf et Natanael Ramos.

This video is from a concert from last October, made in Tenerife, the island in Canarias, that is nowadays in the news because of the fire that has burnt 7% of the land. The festival is Naturajazz. The program for 2023 is not announced yet. I wonder if they will have strenght and resources to make it this year 🙁

But back to Imed, it is time to share his insights:

Mapamundi Música: For the interview, as your profile is so special, I will separate the questions in two parts:

1. About your work as artistic director and artistic advisor of music festivals.

🔸MM: This newsletter is received by artists and managers from many places of the world. What can be useful for you? Are you interested in any specific profile of artists? Or, in other words, what do you search for in the artists with whom you could collaborate specifically for the advisory work you are doing currently?

Imed Alibi: It’s always interesting having new profiles, new artists especially emerging ones, we never have enough information… newsletters can also remember us some artists we may forget especially nowadays we have a boom of projects… innovative ones captivate us.

🔸What is the best way to approach you? Or how do you find the artists that can be of your interest?

IA: Music markets, one to one meeting, emails… I also navigate and research on internet..

🔸MM: Have you identified any common mistakes or shortages that the artists/managers do when approaching a person like you, who can be the decision maker in a festival or can have a strong influence on an artistic program?

IA: A festival or a venue can’t have so many artists per year, per session, it’s obvious, so no need to insist, sometimes it’s just embarrassing 🙂

🔸MM: You have a really huge experience and success both as an artist and as a cultural manager and you have collaborated with other referential artists. Which do you think is a key characteristic of the artists who succees?

IA: Patience, focus on one project for several years, it takes time to build an identity and to continue a career.

2. About your work as responsible for the music department of the Atelier des artistes en exile in Paris.🔸MM: Over the last few months I have had various conversations about the situation of being a refugee or migrant artist. For example, in the conversation with Alan Ibrahim, from Music for Identity, where we also talked about the process of the Refa group, initially Refugees for Refugees. More recently, I was talking to a friend in Madrid about a Cuban musician who is making his way in the jazz scene and we thought that with his appearance (he is black), as soon as the people see him, a lot of preconceived ideas appear in people’s minds, whatever he does, he is going to be the black Cuban musician (here there is not as much diversity in the music scene as in other places).At the same time, we were talking with Alan about how using these concepts is also useful to sell or to open some doors, but in the end it can trap the person in a limiting concept. What do you think about this and how do you deal with it from your atelier?

IA: In France what we call ethnic music or world music is already putting musicians in boxes, the idea for us is to help artists to be really independent and continue their career in Europe in spite of the prejudices.

🔸MM: I have seen the list of artists on your website. There are a lot of them. I imagine that many of them are refugees for political reasons, is that right? But not all of them, right? Some are for economic reasons or because they have left in search of better development opportunities?

IA: Most of them are refugees for political reasons, others for sexual persecutions… Not economic.

🔸MM: For those who want to listen to the atelier musicians, how can you do it?

IA: https://aa-e.org/fr/ and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiguqu2MIScLiQTA9gLFHOw

Thank you, Imed! 🙏

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

#1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in August 2023 is: Amatssou by Tinariwen (Wedge)

Mundofonías: this year we decided to take holidays in August so we don’t have any favourites. But we have news. RadiONeria, from Corcubion, Galicia, started to broadcast Mundofonías.

By the way… Mundofonías radio show is offered for free, under previous agreement, to non profit, cultural, community, university, educational, public, etc. radio stations. For more info, contact radio@mundofonias.com. You can share this information with any radio station of those kinds that may be interested.

Juan Antonio decided to post some “Essentials” on Facebook during August. The Essentials are those pieces that we have enjoyed the most, from any moment of the history of the recorded music. This Ni Yeye, by the Zanzibari band Culture Musical Club, is worth of that term:

Reminder
TALK AT WOMEX: RESHAPING THE NARRATIVE

I already mentioned this event. This is a reminder. This morning I was talking with my colleagues to prepare the next steps and we are thrilled.

Update
EUROPEAN FOLK DAY

The first ever European Folk Day will take place on 23rd of September. The call for participations is open (indeed, until the very last day). There are already 67 events aligned to the concept. All the information is available on the website.

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

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

About open calls, just two reminders:

🔸Upbeat Awards. The voting is still open for 18 days (12 September 12 PM, CET.), here.

🔸#AuxSons reentré. In this previous edition I already talked about the digital magazine #AusSons, born in the frame of Zone Franche. This is a re-entry reminder for the community and the new subscribers: “#AuxSons is a French collaborative media shining light on worldwide music. You can create an account on our platform and contribute with article proposals to give visibility to your projects. We then moderate the submitted content before publishing them, and sharing on our social media and newsletter, if they comply with our specifications and our editorial line.”

Check their website for more information and to make your account.

About professional events…

🔸September, 7-9, Veszprém, Hungary, for the festival of BALKAN:MOST.

I have been following the MOST project in this newsletter, I think from the beginning. This festival, which will take place between 7 and 10 September in Veszprém, Hungary, is the culmination of the project of 4 years. This is how they present this event:

“The first professional event of this scale, the BALKAN: MOST conference offers three days of ample networking opportunities and inspiring discussions centered around the region’s music. We have invited the movers and shakers of the international scene, as well as the authentic voices of the region: the scene is set for fruitful cooperation. BALKAN:MOST strengthens the bridge laid down by MOST; four years of intense exchange and dedicated work involving 10 partner organizations and participants from Europe and Balkan countries. The conference will feature all pillars of the extensive undertaking from artists, festivals and music professionals, and provide yet another chance to forge collaborations across Europe.”

In addition to concerts, there will be several conferences and other professional activities, such as speed meetings, in which I will be hosting some artists. I will participate in all the activites I can and I will tell more about what happened, in the newsletter of September.

I will be travelling from Madrid with my colleague David Sierra, from Sierra Contratación Artística, with whom I share many things, such as our relationship with the magic land of Castilla-La Mancha (Mapamundi is legally settled in Toledo and David is from the region and lives there), we both work with artists from a very similar circuit and, well, we get along great 🥂.

In the picture, David Sierra and me, with the violinist Jitka Kubesovà. In Veszprém we will take new pictures:

MEET ME AT

If you happen to attend these same events, drop me a line. If you are not, they can be interesting for you too in any case. They are special events.

September, 7-9, Veszprém, Hungary, for the festival of BALKAN:MOST. More info above.

October, 5-8, I will go to the Fira Mediterrània in Manresa. Ali Doğan Gönültaş will perform there and I will attend also as a delegate as in many previous occasions.

October, 11th. Very special concert at the Alte Oper Franfkurt with Vigüela and several other Spanish performers for a program designed by alba Kultur. In the picture, Mari Nieto, singer of Vigüela, one of the protagonist of the event.

October, 18-21, Manchester. English Folk Expo, which this year hosts the annual meeting of the European Folk Network.

Womex. 25-29 October, La Coruña.

18-19 November. Hamburg, Germany. At the Elbphilarmonie there will be a wonderful program curated by alba Kultur, called Festival “Kurdistan”. Click here to discover the full program. It includes the performance of the dengbêj Saîdê Goyî. It will be a very special event, as Goyî rarely performs in this kind of professional environments. Thanks to the will of his son to take his art out of the private environment, in the past two years, the dengbêj has recorded two albums with the musical direction of Ali Doğan Gönültaş: Stranen Dile Min (2022) and Jinê (2023). These steps set the beginning of a path that would took him to this his first performance abroad: this unique event in Hamburg! Gönültaş (voice, tembur) will perform also with his own trio and he will accompany Saîdê Goyî, also together with Emrah Oğuztürk (mey, kaval, duduk, zurna).

In the picture, Ali Doğan Gönültaş and Saîdê Goyî in the surroundings of Şirnak:

Here is Saîdê Goyî’s second album:

WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS

Mapamundi Música is an agency of management and booking. Learn more here. Check our proposals at our website.

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.

July 23. Talk with Nabil Canaan from Station Beirut, conferences at WOMEX, open calls… #61

Summary 👇

Editorial and Czech Music Crossroads
Talk with Nabil Canaan, from Station Beirut and Shuruq Music
Best New Talent Award 2023, By Upbeat Platform
Talk At WOMEX: Reshaping The Narrative. Gender, Authority And New Approaches To Music Journalism
A Personal Farewell to Mad Sheer Khan
Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects
Open calls and more news from professional events 💼
Meet me at ✈️

If you like this content, send it to a friend ⬅️

Share to FB right from here

➡️ This is the link for subscription

Hello, how are you? I am well and also full of very diverse emotions. Haha, yes, that is the same as the beginning of the previous edition. But the photo is not the same. This flyer was made by the Upbeat team on the occasion of my participation as a judge in the Best New Talent competition. I talk about it below.

This July edition is coming out a little late for a number of reasons.

I’m writing from home, in Alcorcón, between returning from Palma de Mallorca for Yiannis Dionysiou’s concert (wow, what a level, it was an artistic highlight of my life) and travelling again, to Sweden in this case, for Ali Doğan Gönültaş’s participation in the Urkult festival.

With Ali I spent an important part of July in Spain and Germany. I leave you below a short video of his participation in the Polirítmia festival in Valencia, with the collaboration as guest artist of the versatile and skilful Eduard Navarro.

➡️ This photo with Ali was taken by Fırat, his clarinet player, at the Café Barbieri in Madrid, a café that is 121 years old. It’s not all about work!

Well, in conclusion, this month has been awesome. It started even in Ostrava for the Czech Music Crossroads…

🟨 Czech Music Crossroads 🟨

This professional meeting took place in Ostrava from 28 June to 1 July. As I mentioned earlier, Mapamundi Música sponsored the participation of Spain as the guest country, with performances by Vigüela, Xabi Aburruzaga and Xurxo Fernandes. I chose three artists from three of the cultures that make up my country of birth. Besides them, I especially enjoyed the concerts of two of the bands from Slovenia, which was the other guest country: the very young Gugutke and the more experienced and also extraordinary Teo Collori & Momento Cigano. And also Sutari, the Polish women’s trio, who also won the Crossroads professional award.

Besides the concerts there was also a series of talks. Among them, I myself spoke on behalf of Transglobal World Music Chart, together with Milan Tesař, coordinator of World Music Charts Europe, about both initiatives. Svenja Mahlstede gave a very interesting talk about sync licensing. Piotr Pucyło gave a series of practical tips for artists and managers on issues such as technical rider and photography.

In addition, there were formal and informal moments for the exchange of ideas. I have captured one of them in a very specific way: the conversation with Nabil Canaan during the speed datings. I had not planned to interview him beforehand, but as soon as we started talking I understood that it was of great interest to give him space here. So he is the protagonist of this edition.

In this picture you have all or almost all the international delegates and part of the Crossroads team:

I hope you enjoy the content. I think it is very interesting. And as always, if you have something to share with the global community that is dedicated in one way or another to these musics, let me know.

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: NABIL CANAAN

While you read, listen to the the playlist of Shuruq Sessions, here 🎧

It is quite obvious that I have been thinking for some time about the situation in many parts of the world regarding the access of artists to the so-called world music circuits and how there are various mechanisms of exclusion.

The economic ones are very obvious, of course. The other day I was talking to Ali Doğan Gönültaş in the van after his concert at the SoNna Festival, about the money that has to be advanced for flights and other aspects before receiving payment from the festival. In Spain practically no public entity pays in advance, not even for travel expenses, so the agent or the artist has to advance all that money. If they can’t, they will be excluded from that program because the regulation is very strict in these respects.

There are administrative barriers as well. Last year I helped a colleague from Italy to issue an invoice, fulfilling the bureaucratic requirements of his client, a Spanish municipality. Even within the EU itself it was a pain to get the invoice issued, imagine if you don’t have a European agent.

And of course, there is the issue of visas, an extra source of stress.

All these limitations apply to artists who are somehow in the “industry”. Many others will not even come to deal with them and will never transcend into the international arena. I’m fine with that if that’s what they want and if they can make a living in their local or national market. In many cases this is not the situation.

All this is to say that I found it very interesting to talk to Nabil Canaan about his initiatives. You will understand very soon. I met Nabil Canaan during the last edition of Czech Music Crossroads that took place in Ostrava from 28th of June to 1st of July. In his profile as delegate of the event he is presented as “co-founder of Station Beirut arts platform, director of its cultural centre in Beirut, producer of its international projects. After an earlier career in marketing and technology, Nabil pivoted into the creative industries twenty years ago as a cultural change agent in journalism, film and arts.” The complete profile is available here.

Before reading the interview, it is useful to check out the platform Shuruq Music, that is mentioned below. And the website of Station Beirut.

Mapamundi Música: You are the founder of the cultural center Station Beirut. You are Lebanese, aren’t you?

Nabil Canaan: I was born in Lebanon. I’ve lived in Nigeria, Switzerland, France, New York, Cyprus… I’ve worked with Japanese companies, Korean companies… and we opened Station in an old wood factory in Beirut in 2013.

MM: 10 years ago. Is it your job currently?
NC: Yes, I’m the director, booker, I handle artistic direction and other management roles as well.

MM: And when you decided to make this, I suppose you were taking some risks… Because you have been working in places, let’s say, economically developed and without any problems, with a lot of regulations and so. Why did you want to make this?

NC: I’ve been working for about 30 years. First ten years I worked in corporate environments in marketing and technology and then after that, I was looking for something more meaningful in life. So I moved into journalism (with The New York Times in New York), film, and development, working with UN agencies on projects in West Africa, Levant region and North Africa. Combining all that with my partner at the time we said “okay, what can we do within the Middle East/North Africa region through arts and culture to try and advance some social aspects?”. We decided to set up Station with a mission of “arts and culture for social transformation”. We deliver this through our programming in visual arts, live arts, and via more mainstream events like urban markets and stand-up comedy. All of it is geared towards programming artists with a social practice, meaning people who have socially engaged arts projects that address human rights, women’s rights, gay rights, the environment… Projects that invite critical thinking towards social and political change.

“There’s a lack of, let’s say, professional structures and market linkages for exports. So there’s a lot of potential for development, to say it positively.”

We worked a lot with photography, film, video art, visual arts in general… And on the live side our core focus is Music, but we also program theatre, stand up and storytelling, looking to identify and present the next generation of artists from the region who are collectively trying to make some change. We work in a region where, in general, there’s a lot of censorship, where there are still some conservative views. There are, you know, infrastructural issues as well. There’s a lack of, let’s say, professional structures and market linkages for exports. So there’s a lot of potential for development, to say it positively.

“The idea for the Shuruq platform is to identify, elevate and transmit music productions from the SWANA region to the world.”

Given my development background working on sector strengthening projects, in 2019 we created the concept for a platform called “SHURUQ”, which in Arabic means sunrise, a metaphor for emerging talents, new beginnings, moving towards the light. The idea for the Shuruq platform is to identify, elevate and transmit music productions from the SWANA* region to the world.

* Swana: South West Asia/North Africa.

MM: For my newsletter I am trying to talk about these issues that affect the music… You have talked about censorships. For instance, I work with an artist with whom I’m facing this situation because of his background and the place where he lives, he faces discrimination for several reasons. When I started with him, I didn’t really know about him, but we must face the visa issue, we have the Schengen visa for one year, so it’s going quite well with him. He sings in minority languages. About the censorship, he has suffered cancellations of concerts… But let’s continue about Station Beirut and Shuruq.

NC: Keep in mind that during the past three weird years living through corona, in Lebanon you have to add revolution, economic meltdown, explosion of the Beirut port, the dramatic 90% devaluation of the currency, exodus of talent… It’s really a lot of challenges for a small country. We’ve also had the Syria war next door since 2011, with over 2 million refugees in Lebanon. There are a lot of issues still going on.So, in the midst of all these challenges, we created Shuruq Music Platform as a way to elevate and transmit artists and music productions from the region to the rest of the world. Shuruq is built on four pillars: there’s a Capacity Building/Training side, there’s a Content Production side, Music Marketing and International Bookings. We’ve already delivered a set of trainings, produced live performance music videos and we launched a Shuruq Music YouTube channel that you can follow. Shuruq is also of course on Instagram, Spotify, Anghami and the other main DSPs.In November 2022 I reopened our Station venue in Beirut to restart presenting live music. We’ve booked about 16 bands since, about two concerts a month. It’s what the country can handle right now. People don’t mind going clubbing but live concerts…that’s more challenging. We have to re-engage audiences. I think this week we found out that everyone’s having challenges with audiences.

“We’re looking to build partnerships for export development, first within the region, then across the Mediterranean, Balkans, onto Western Europe and beyond.”

What we’re looking to develop now are bookings. We started already last year at The Great Escape in the UK by booking Rasha Nahas, a Palestinian artist based in Berlin. Last week we booked Lebanese hip-hop artist El Rass in Canada, two dates in Toronto and Montreal. In September we’re booking a band at the Arabesques Festival in Montpellier, France, and in October, three bands at Les Docks in Lausanne, Switzerland… We want to help promote not just from Lebanon, but from across the southern Mediterranean region and Levant. We’re looking to build partnerships for export development, first within the region, then across the Mediterranean, Balkans, onto Western Europe and beyond.

“By calling it Swana, and not Middle East North Africa, it allows us to also go beyond Arabic-speaking music alone, to include Kurdish, Berber, Turkic languages, Farsi, Armenian, etc, where there is a shared history, shared culture, food, instruments and somehow the microtonal modal sounds.”

We’re very confident that there’s a lot of very good talent in this region. What they need is to understand better how to export, how to develop export strategies, how to package that, how to start building circuits and networks of venues, festivals, helpful people around us. I think today for the music industry there’s probably two areas of growth: technology and emerging markets. Latin America is doing a good job. In Africa generally they are also working well, key markets being obviously Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Uganda. But I think the third region that’s the next growth area is what we call SWANA: Southwest Asia – North Africa. This covers the North African countries from the Maghreb all the way across to the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq), the Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Emirates and beyond into Turkey and the Caucasus countries like Armenia, Georgia and the like… By calling it Swana, and not Middle East, North Africa, it allows us to also go beyond Arabic-speaking music alone, to include Kurdish, Berber, Turkic languages, Farsi, Armenian, etc, where there is a shared history, shared culture, food, instruments and somehow the microtonal modal sounds, which we can find even here actually in the Czech Republic. Two bands ago that we were listening to I was sitting next to the Tunisian percussionist, Imed Alibi who was saying to me “Man, this sounds like it comes from our region”, talking about the rhythms by the East European band.

“It has been 20 years of “Arab equals terrorist”, which is wrong obviously. We have always worked to change perceptions internationally through the arts and culture.”

So obviously if you go into Spain, 700 years of Arab presence, there’s a lot of references that you can also find in Flamenco. We think this mixture of culture is way overdue. We need to know that the time for getting people from this region to the West is now. And thankfully the stigmatization of Arabs seems like it’s diminishing somewhat. It has been 20 years of “Arab equals terrorist”, which is wrong obviously. We have always worked to change perceptions internationally through the arts and culture. So we now look forward to partnering with people who share the same values.

I am very grateful to Nabil for the conversation. Before I say goodbye, I want to share something about one of the artists he mentioned, Rasha Nahas, in a collaboration with Dina Elwedidi:

BEST NEW TALENT AWARD 2023, BY UPBEAT PLATFORM

As mentioned above, I had the honour to be part of the jury for the Best New Talent Award in the framework of Upbeat Platform, together with Balázs Weyer from Hangvető and Chris Eckman from Glitterbeat.

Between the three of us we came up with a list of 10 artists who met the criteria to be considered “emerging” and who had performed at one of the events that make up the platform. Click the picture to watch a video with the nominees ➡️.

What are these events? You have them here. And what were those criteria? Literally:

“The performer has to fit at least 5 of the following conditions:
● max 3 albums released
● max 5 years passed since the release of their first album
● no more than 20.000 followers on either of their social media channels
● the average age of band members does not exceed 35 years
● had at least one concert in a professional setting
● the band did not go on an international tour of 10 gigs
● the band does not have a contract with a non-national record label
● the band has an up-to-date web presence (website, social media)
The nominated artists also have to be legal residents in any country participating in the
Creative Europe programme.”

And now the voting is open to everyone, here, until 12 September. The vote gives you the chance to win a double pass for the Tallinn Music Week. The chosen band will get the chance to perform at the PIN MUSIC Conference & Showcase & to record a clip with the mighty La Blogothèque in Paris.

TALK AT WOMEX: RESHAPING THE NARRATIVE. GENDER, AUTHORITY AND NEW APPROACHES TO MUSIC JOURNALISM

This week WOMEX has announced the conference program. It is going to be the first time that I actually participate in this WOMEX activity and I am very happy to do it with two tremendous colleagues: Martyna van Nieuwland and Andrea Voets. Click on their names to read a bio.

Specific day and time details will be announced at a later date.

And another conference I’d like to highlight

I would like to mention another conference in which I am not going to participate but with which I have a certain relationship because it was born within the European Folk Network, of which I am a member of the board. The conference is “Archives: Living Heritage or History? Using archives and assessing their value to a contemporary scene” and it will be chaired by Nod Knowles, the coordinator of the European Folk Network, with Miklós Both (Hungary) from the Hungarian Heritage House, Mariet Calsius (Belgium) from CEMPER – Center for Music and Performing Arts Heritage and Prof. Simon McKerrell (Scotland).

A PERSONAL FAREWELL TO MAD SHEER KHAN

In 2005 there was no Mapamundi Música. But I was already working on these things and I had the opportunity to bring Mad Sheer Khan to perform in Spain for his first time. Specifically, to Murcia Tres Culturas. He was the first international artist I brought to perform in my country. I knew his work from the album 1001 Nights. You can listen to it here.That concert was in quartet formation, with Celia, his wife and harmonium player from France, a Cuban percussionist and one from Congo. Some time later, with Mapamundi, I worked with him again on several occasions.

Mad Sheer Khan has been a very particular artist, with a very special life and professional career. His voice has always been deeply pacifist. On his website you have more information.

This week I learned of his death at the age of 67. I didn’t expect it, really. In recent years we have not had much contact. His last album was in 2012. I think he’s been sick for a while until this fatal end. Several artists have passed away lately. Everyone is talking about Sinead O’Connor. Her decease is pity, without a doubt. Ceferina Banquez, the queen of bullerengue, has also passed away at the age of 80. Some people talk about her. I’m sorry too. Thanks to all three. It will take you a long time to be forgotten.

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

#1 forTransglobal World Music Chart in July 2023 is: London Ko by Fatoumata Diawara (Fatoumata Diawara)

Mundofonías: our three favourites of the month are Sourdurent’s L’herbe de détourne, the compilation Afghan music in exile: Mashhad 2022 [V.A.] and Saîdê Goyî’s Jinê.

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

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

Festival Au Fil des Voix. Paris. Deadline: 31 of August. “The shows are selected from artistic proposals related to recent discographic news (physical release of the album in France between February 2023 and January 2024).” Check the terms and conditions, here. In the previous edition I shared more information and reflections about this event.

MEET ME AT

Next week, from 3 to 6 of August, Urkult Festival, for the participation by Ali Doğan Gönültaş with a concert and a workshop.
September, 7-9, Veszprém, Hungary, for the festival of BALKAN:MOST.
October, 5-8, I will go to the Fira Mediterrània in Manresa. Again, Ali will perform there and I will attend also as a delegate as in many previous occasions.
October, 11th. Very special concert at the Alte Oper Franfkurt with Vigüela and several other Spanish performers for a program designed by alba Kultur.
October, 18-21, Manchester. English Folk Expo, which this year hosts the annual meeting of the European Folk Network.
And Womex. 25-29 October, La Coruña.

Just for the pleasure, I leave you here a little video of the performance of Ali Doğan Gönültaş at the Festival Polirítmia, with the participation as guest artist of Eduard Navarro playing the dolçaina:

WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS

Mapamundi Música is an agency of management and booking. Learn more here. Check our proposals at our website.

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.

June 23. 5 years! Talk with Daniel Rosenberg, MM record label, open calls… #60

Summary 👇

Editorial: 5 years 5️⃣ of this monthly window to the community, a deeper vision, other worlds inside our world

Talk with Daniel Rosenberg, about the purpose of his work and a relevant issue in the field of world music

New record label: Mapamundi Música Records 🥳

Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects

More updates on the European Folk Day: map and events database, ready!

Open calls and more news from professional events 💼 Two French proposals and some reflections

Reminder: Mapamundi Música, in charge of the Spanish participation as partnering country in the Czech Music Crossroads – Vigüela, Xurxo Fernandes and Xabi Aburruzaga
+
my agenda for the next months

Meet me at ✈️

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Dear friend, how are you?

I am well and also full of very diverse emotions. This is the 60th edition of this newsletter and 5 years since I started this initiative. Here is the first edition. At that time Sherezade was with me. I have already explained that the pandemic made me unable to keep her as an employee. I have not recovered her. She found another job and is doing well. Although we are still in regular contact and she collaborates with me on some occasions. I think that all that took away a part of innocence and brought a part of temperance and experience.I know that during these 5 years I have learned a lot. My world is now much bigger and I feel that I perceive deeper and deeper layers of reality. Maybe it happens to everyone as time goes by. I feel that it happens to me thanks to being exposed to so many human realities.

Regarding this topic of layers, lately I have been reflecting on all the content that the musics I work with contain, on the relationship between the aesthetic pleasure they produce and the whole load of history and worldviews that go with them. Approaching these musics confronts you with an unfathomable universe that can give you vertigo… The other day I was at the presentation of the concert season of an important public organization of reference in Spain, dedicated above all to classical music, with some nods to other types (mainly jazz and flamenco). I couldn’t help but think that their world was smaller. The other day at the gym, a classic rock playlist was playing on the background music system and Cream’s Sunshine Of Your Love, a song that I love, was included. I posted about that on my Instagram and tagged the gym. They responded by thanking me for the mention and saying that you had to hear “everything”. Holy cow. That “everything” means current Anglo pop hits, urban Latin music and, rarely, an hits of the rock of some decades ago. The truth is, I don’t know if anything has changed in the past five years regarding all of this. I don’t believe we are better off. Further down, I talk about the European Folk Day. It relates to this reflection.

I also reflect a lot lately on how there are other worlds outside of the one we tend to see in our realm of world music. In fact, taking action to address this situation fueled the creation of the Transglobal World Music Chart (if you’re not familiar with it, visit the website) already in 2015. This is a topic I discussed with Dan Rosenberg recently when we met in Madrid for Silent Tears’ performance. Below you’ll find the conversation with him. I was lucky to spend a couple of moments with him and I made him a little interview just before the concert.

A couple of weeks ago, a contact from another continent was asking on Facebook for professional opinions on showcases. Obviously the issue of the barrier of access to artists without an organization behind them that can cover the costs of travelling to play for free is a very clear problem of showcase festivals. This situation is obvious for artists like the Kurds, many minorities in China, such as the Uighurs or many minorities from republics of the Russian Federation. And, of course, countries without structures such as culture export offices or an industry with an international vision. For instance, what happens in Paraguay regarding music? I wondered about this with my friend Fernando Martínez, the director of the radio show Tráfico de Tarareos, a few days ago.

This topic of the support to the artists from the showcases festivals briefly came up in the conversation with Peter Dimitrov regarding the new showcase associated with the Bulgarian festival A To Jazz. That edition is here. It also came up in the conversation with Andrea del Favero regarding the new showcase associated with the Italian festival Folkest. That edition is here. By the way, the Folkest is taking place now and the showcase will happens next week, between 30th of June and 2nd of July. I want to send a warm greeting to Piero Cremaschi! I hope it is a great success! Both of these showcases provide financial support to artists. In fact, many of them do. These two are part of Upbeat Platform, which is co-funded by the European Union. Other showcase or mixed festivals, such as Fira-B or the Fira Mediterrània de Manresa, that are not part of this platform, also provide significant support to artists.

This issue touches me very closely now that I work with Ali Doğan Gönültaş shoulder to shoulder because there isn’t an organization beyond myself that supports him to do something like going to perform in a showcase festival that would not give any support for the expenses. The organizations that could provide support to me as a Spanish company would only do so for Spanish artists, not for someone with a Turkish passport.

I wonder, how many Ali’s are there in the world, capable of conveying something so profound and beautiful, to whom providence will not lead to finding someone who helps them transcend their borders? Last week I discovered that Dan Rosenberg also asks himself these kinds of questions. I loved it. I know there are many more of us.

I feel very blessed. Last week, the day before the concert, we met for dinner. In the photo, from left to right, we have Kiko Helguera, journalist from Radio 3-RNE, and his partner Tina, the Czech-Canadian singer and songwriter Lenka Lichtenberg, Juan Antonio Vázquez, myself, and Daniel Rosenberg. Such moments are precious.

But another issue to consider, maybe not so obvious, that happens even in environments with more advantages is the fact that artists who do have such support, they have to fit the criteria, be from the social circle or be somehow aligned with the goals of that entity that gives the support. This sometimes favors artists who are well positioned in their own territory but who perhaps now are not the most interesting (neither in commercial nor in artistic terms) to occupy a space as limited as the one that is being given in the showcases festivals for the international circuit.

I am extending myself so much in this editorial that, either I stop or I make an article itself with these reflections. Well, I choose the first option. I’ll conclude here and without further ado, I’ll proceed with the conversation with Dan. I hope you find it as interesting as I do.

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: DANIEL ROSENBERG

While you read, listen to the album Silent Tears, produced by Dan, here 🎧

I usually include the person’s name followed by the entity they represent or work for. In Dan’s case, his name alone is sufficient. It’s challenging to define him with just one concept or brand attached to his name.

On his website there is a phrase that is specially enlightening:

“One thing that often frustrated me though, was that I was heading to the far corners of the earth, and reporting about music that very few readers and listeners had access to. After each radio show, I’d get lots of calls and emails asking, “How do I get a recording of that song you played on the show?” I would have to explain that ordering a copy through the mail from the artist who lived in a village 8000 miles away wasn’t very realistic. So, I approached a number of record labels about releasing CDs from artists I met on my travels.”

I think this will give us a good understanding of the following. According to his own website, he is a “Producer / Arts Journalist / Publicist-Media Relations”.

He has been the compiler of many “Rough Guides,” the compilation series published by World Music Network. He has been involved in radio for decades, and currently hosts the program “Cafe International“. He has developed concepts and brought together the resources and the people for projects like Yiddish Glory, the Lost Songs of World War II and Silent Tears, the Last Yiddish Tango.

Dan has his own website, that you can visit to learn more.

Mapamundi Música: What is the purpose of you when doing all these things related to music?

Dan Rosenberg: Oh, we have an open-ended question. And it’s a good question. You know a lot of the projects I’m involved with are in Jewish music although not all of them are. And someone asked me recently like “how did you become so interested in Jewish music to do projects like this”. And I said, well, you know, ironically, it’s not what you would think that I saw some Jewish concert when I was a child… I’ve been more motivated by people like Oumou Sangare and Calypso Rose, Fatoumata Diawara… who would see a problem in the world and want to bring attention to it through their art. And Calypso Rose did an amazing song about how women who worked as domestic servants were underpaid and essentially modern slaves in some countries. Or Oumou Sangare about women’s rights in Mali. And also, Fatoumata Diawara. And I found that so inspiring because in a way when artists can shine a light on a problem it brings that problem to attention and maybe some change can come of it. And in Trinidad the minimum wage was raised after Calypso Rose’s song which to me is like incredible: you are bringing attention through your music and now people are in less poverty at least.

The song No Madame was originally included in the album by Calypso Rose released in 1971, Calypso Queen of the World. I haven’t found that version. She included the song again in the album of 2016 Far From Home. This song created a public conversation that led her home country’s government to create legislation supporting rights for domestic workers.

MM: And is this your purpose both with your own productions and also with the work you make in dissemination, like the radio show and everything you have been doing these years?

DR: Well, at the radio show we want to shine a light on the beautiful music that’s all around the world and especially music that, hopefully, at least on a program mine is like yours, we want to share music from all around the world, that maybe people wouldn’t get to hear otherwise because sadly there aren’t a lot of programs like these. Despite that I think there’s a much more of a demand for it than programs that are out there because, you know, people listen, they call and ask where can I get more of this, where can I hear more and you know, hopefully… Well, hopefully we’re making a difference in sharing this because we have this in common, you know. You know, there’s like… “we know Cuba has great music and Brazil has great music…”. Everywhere has great music. There’s not a single place on Earth that doesn’t have amazing music. So I think it’s just our job to get to share that with people.

MM: Considering that, would you recommend any region of the world that you think is especially unknown for the public and that you would like the music from that place to be more known?

DR: That’s a good one and I don’t know if I have that answer… But if you think about, I spent a lot of time on music of the Americas, especially African music in the Americas. And that same combination for example that made us fall in love with Haitian music and Brazilian music and Cuban music: that mix of indigenous and African and European. Those three ingredients together create this incredible music that’s found in all those places. Right. But I do find it a shame because of historical reasons some places will get more attention than others. I mean they’re parts of Latin America and the Caribbean that we hear less. Even from parts of Africa, we hear tons of music from Mali and Senegal, that have unbelievably great music, right. But if you look, you know there’s… what? 50 countries in Africa more or less and probably more than half of them, if you look at our shelves of a good radio station there will be very little. And I’m a hundred percent certain that it’s mostly because of, you know, you are having a champion that’s recording it and sending it to us, for example.

You know, because life is short, we don’t get it. Most of us haven’t had a chance to get to these places and it’s a shame because we’re missing out on hearing those artists. I often think, I mean, it’s slightly related but, you know, if we look at human history and you look at all of recorded history up until the 20th century, there aren’t a lot of women whose works were recorded. Or minorities. And you say to yourself “how many Beethovens, how many Mozarts did not get the chance to share what they do with the world just because the society was so racist and sexist?” And those composers had that talent. Probably people heard them locally but they didn’t get the chance to have that on a big stage because of that racism and sexism.

MM: This is an issue that I have been discussing with people, also programmers or festivals or people making showcases festivals, that there is a clear bias between the artists from places where they have support and the artists from places who don’t have support or minorities. I had a conversation with one person who’s starting a showcase festival. Specifically I put two examples: the Kurdish people and also the minorities from many republics from Russia. They are not going to have any support from for their governments. They are just an example of thousands of examples of minorities or peoples who are not going to have any support. What would you ask to the international community that have the chance as you and me of disseminating music to do to try to resolve this bias somehow?

DR: You know, that’s a really big problem that exists. I mean, you have two different sets of problems. I come from Canada and we’re very lucky that there’s Canada Council for the Arts and also regional arts organizations depending on the city and province where you come. And then you have a good project, there is a decent chance that you’re going to get support for that project. If you’re in…, even the United States, a rich country, there’s a lot less art support.

Then if you’re from a poor country, let’s say, we have a very long list… the chances of them supporting the arts and flying somebody to Womex or whatever is probably lower.

Then you have a third category: what if you’re stateless, let’s say, you’re a Romani musician or you’re Kurdish, there is no Kurdistan, there’s no Roma country and they have no music schools they have no festivals, they have no State organizations… any of those things even if you’re a poor country, let’s say, you’re Belize or Peru or Ecuador or whatever, not the richest country in the world but they will have music schools and they will have local festivals that will be able to promote those things. So when you’re stateless, that’s a whole other level of problems.

But you’re right, there needs to be something, I don’t know what the solution is but there definitely needs to be something for artists who don’t have those opportunities and the world is missing out. I mean we have to see this as when they don’t get to share their incredible works and talents, we all lose.

Last week Daniel Rosenberg came to Madrid during the European tour of Silent Tears: the Last Yiddish Tango, a project based on poems of survivors of the Holocaust of group lead by the Dra. Paula David (University of Toronto) at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care. He came with Payadora Tango Ensemble and Lenka Lichtenberg.

NEW RECORD LABEL: MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA RECORDS

My dear Kutay Kuğay suggested to me several times the idea of releasing a physical edition of Ali Doğan Gönültaş’s album “Kiğı”. I know that for him, it means something tangible to leave for future generations, and digital files may not fulfill that mission. I share with him the idea of the transcendence of certain musical creations, and I believe that both of us see this in Ali’s work.

This is why I have conceived Mapamundi Música Records label. “Kiğı” has all the necessary elements for a retail release (legal deposit, ISBN, barcode). It is the reference 001. What will be reference 002, only time will tell.

You can check Ali’s discography and order Kiğı here.

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

#1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in June 2023 is: The Sky Is the Same Colour Everywhere, by Kayhan Kalhor and Toumani Diabaté (Real World)

Mundofonías: our three favourites of the month are Castor et Pollux’s Contrebandes, Oghlan Bakhshi’s Journey across the steppes and Aditya Prakash’s Karnatic roots.

UPDATE ON THE EUROPEAN FOLK DAY

🔹🔸THE MAP AND THE DATABASE ARE READY🔸🔹

I have talked about the European Folk Day before, but I think I haven’t shared the objetive behind it. According to the website:

“Folk music has been characterised by an absence of structures that other sectors, such as classical music, theatre, opera or jazz, have. This has made it difficult for the traditional arts to be considered in decisions which may impact how they continue in the future.
The EFN was born to solve this shortcoming and European Folk Day is a key initiative aligned with this mission.
European Folk Day will collect events and initiatives from everyone – EFN members and non-members alike. Please, share the call and participate. The numbers will support all of us:

in dialogue with decision makers
to raise profile of the traditional arts within the media
to show the capacity of our community to unite all this energy in a coordinated way”

A key component of the European Folk Day project is the website that brings together all the events that any interested party will organize in relation to the concept. The map and the database with filters and search functionality are already available and ready, here. Visit the website to learn more.

The European Folk Day (on & around 23 September 2023) is by you for you, by us, for us, for everyone…

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

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

Babel Music XP. Marseille. DEADLINE, 17TH JULY. The dates for the second Babel Music XP are 28-30 March 2024. Check the terms and conditions, here. And apply here. Note that unless you are from near Marseille, you are going to have to make an investment if you have a showcase there. This year, in March, the first edition of this event took place, which in a way takes up the legacy of Babel Med. It took place at a particularly complicated time for an event with logistical needs related to travel, because it coincided with several days of strikes and demonstrations. In fact, we saw several containers burning in the city. Some professionals were unable to arrive or directly ruled out going because they foresaw that it would be very complicated to get to Marseille by public transport and there were also road closures. Even so, there were quite a few professionals, with a high proportion of French people. The second edition will take place in 2024. I hope that it will not coincide again with circumstances like those and also that international participation will increase.

For me it was a good opportunity to talk to some French professionals. One of them confirmed that there are French programmers who do not want to do business with foreign agents, so I am excluded from those programs if I do not find a French agent for my artists. I think it is a widespread feeling among Spanish colleagues and from other countries, that France is a particularly complicated market to enter. I have experienced this in conversations, but I only have anecdotal knowledge. That is one of the reasons why I am especially grateful for such an opportunity in France. On the other hand, I know that Spain is not easy either. The bureaucracy is very complicated, so much so that it is almost always worthwhile to have a local agent who can take care of the paperwork. I know that there are artists who play in Portugal and the rest of Europe and never in Spain. The truth is that all this, the barriers to entry and the difficulties of each country, is a topic worthy of further compared analysis, but right now that is beyond the scope of this newsletter.

Festival Au Fil des Voix. Paris. Deadline: 31 of August. “The shows are selected from artistic proposals related to recent discographic news (physical release of the album in France between February 2023 and January 2024).” Check the terms and conditions, here. Once a colleague told me that Au Fil des Voix was a cheaper way to organise a concert in Paris for your artist, compared to doing it yourself by renting a venue and handling promotion and production. I believe it. In fact, that’s how they explain it on the festival’s website. “‘Pool and share’ principle. When selected, a contribution of 1000 euros (excl. tax) will be asked to the label and the tour manager. They will also be asked to work in a synergistic way with the festival. This ‘pool and share’ principle allows the different members (labels, producers, and tour managers) to offer a Parisian event at a reduced cost under professional conditions (organization and promotion).” Well, it’s worth considering that nowadays many of the artists who might be interested in doing this don’t have a label as such, as they are self-produced or released by a small label that sometimes even provides editing as a service, paid for by the artist. So they won’t be making any kind of investment. And many times the agent and the manager are the same or the band itself makes their own booking and don’t have any manager.

I have already made a proposal. But this is an example of what I was talking about earlier with Dan Rosenberg. Participation in Au Fil des Voix requires the manager or agent or a combination of whoever to pay 1000 euros + taxes to the festival. The festival pays 250 euros to each participating musician (up to a maximum of 4 artists). International travel expenses are not covered. Travel expenses are covered for artists who are in France. One night of accommodation is provided. The festival offers promotion (6000 posters and 15000 flyers distributed throughout the city) and attendance by professionals (“8 tickets per evening to organizers and 7 tickets to journalists appointed by Simon Veyssière, our press officer, to bring extra exposure to the artists”).It is not my intention to criticize this model. In fact, as I mentioned, I have submitted a proposal this year and have done so in previous years as well. Each entity should develop its own model as it sees fit, and it is valid as long as what it offers and asks for is clear. And in this case, it is. I just don’t want to forget that there is a separate reality that is completely excluded from something like this.

Your Roots Are Showing. Ireland’s Folk Conference. 17-21 January 2024. Dundalk, Ireland. DEADLINE, 7 JULY. Open to not Irish artists too. “All non-Irish artists must be legally able to enter Ireland and are responsible for acquiring all necessary travel permits including visas when necessary.”

They don’t cover anything. The selected artists for showcase have to pay for their registration to the conference. The early bird price was 80 euros. It expired and right now the price is 95 (until 31st August). The last price will be 110 euros.

NEXT WEEK IN OSTRAVA… AND WHERE TO FIND ME AFTER
MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA, IN CHARGE OF THE SPANISH PARTICIPATION AS PARTNERING COUNTRY IN THE CZECH MUSIC CROSSROADS

Next week I will be traveling to Ostrava for the Czech Music Crossroads. It will be the third time I attend this event, and the first time I have my own artists participating. This year, Mapamundi Música is bringing Spain as the guest country, with three of our artists.

I have talked about Vigüela many times before. They will bring their uncompromising traditional music from the heart of Spain. Xabi Aburruzaga, on the other hand, will bring the trikitixa, the iconic diatonic accordion of Basque music, along with the Basque language, or as it is called in the language itself, Euskera. And Xurxo Fernandes from Galicia will bring the magic of the traditional voices and tambourine from his land, with a heterodox vision connected to North Africa and the Mediterranean in general.

It will be a busy season for me… I will share some of my plans, that may be interesting for you to discover festivals that don’t know yet or even to set a date if we happen to be at the same place.

AND AFTER OSTRAVA:

Hudaki Village Band will perform in Ibiza on day 1st of July. That same day, we have the first collaboration with the Portuguese trio Seiva.

But I can’t be there: I will return from Ostrava on the 2nd, the same day Ali Doğan Gönültaş will land in Spain for the first time. Click the picture to see the video. And the next day we will travel together to Valencia for the Polirítmia Festival.

There, Ali will conduct a three-day workshop for music teachers and perform a concert on the 5th. This will be his premiere in Spain and it will be amazing. He will play at the square of the city council of Valencia. He will return soon as he will perform at the SoNna Festival on the 15th, after coming back from the Rudolstadt Festival where he will perform on the 8th and 9th of July.

While Ali and his musicians are in Germany for the concert in Horizonte Festival I will be in Palma de Mallorca for the premiere of the outstanding Cypriot singer Yannis Dionysiou, who will perform at Cançons de la Mediterrània with a program based on the repertoire of Antonis Dalgas. This is our first collaboration and I am thrilled. I love old Rebetiko and I think Yiannis is a highly remarkable continuation of that.

You might think I have a special fixation on gentlemen with mustaches. Well, maybe. This man is the first one I saw when I came out of my mother’s womb. It may give you an explanation.

At the beginning of August I will also go to Urkult Festival with Ali (he will come back to Spain in Autumn but I can’t announce the details yet) and the rest of August I will not travel outside Spain, not even in September.

MEET ME AT

Besides what I have just explained above, in October I will go to the Fira Mediterrània in Manresa, to the English Folk Expo, which this year hosts the annual meeting of the European Folk Network, and to Womex.

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May 23. In depth with Alan Ibrahim from Music For Identity, 2 news from Upbeat, talk with Etnosur Festival, open calls and + #59

Summary 👇

Editorial

Talk with Juanra Canovaca, from Festival Etnosur

Upbeat Platform: Best New Talent Award + UPBEAT Universe

The Womexicans meet…: I’m interviewed by Julia Olsen and Stephen Kearney on Waterwaves Radio

In depth with Alan Ibrahim from Music For Identity

Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects

More updates on the European Folk Day: call for musicians for a musical repository

Open calls and more news from professional events 💼

Reminder: Mapamundi Música, in charge of the Spanish participation as partnering country in the Czech Music Crossroads 🚀

Meet me at ✈️

If you like this content, forward it ⬅️

Share it in Twitter

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Hello, how are you? I am well. I am waiting with great interest for the results of the second round of the elections in Turkey. On the same day we have municipal and regional elections in Spain. There is a lot of uncertainty. But I think we have less at stake than the Turkish citizens.

In Spain, a very important part of the budgets dedicated to the music I work with depends on the local governments (that’s the example of Etnosur, for instance, for which the city council of Alcalá La Real provides a relevant part of the budget). Another significant part depends on the diputaciones provinciales, an intermediate entity between the town councils and the autonomous communities, something like a grouping of town councils to support with services the small town councils. For example, bringing concerts to small towns. Whatever happens, we do not expect drastic changes in Spain. And in Turkey? We shall see. To be honest, I’m on tenterhooks about this.

Our protagonist today is Alan Ibrahim, a Syrian Kurdish guitarist who has been living in Germany since 2013. I talk to him as the driving force behind the organisation Music For Identity. In the conversation with him there are profound themes. The very name of his organisation already announces some of the issues we talk about. Political issues, such as what is at stake in Turkey next Sunday, have an obvious relationship to Music For Identity’s work and increasingly to mine as well.

The interview with Alan is really very interesting, as well as very long, but the deep things that are explained cannot be told in 3 words. I have put this edition of the newsletter in pdf format so you can even download it and read it on Kindle or wherever you like.

I bring another very interesting content, about one of the best known world music festivals in Spain: Etnosur. A few weeks ago I coincided in the presentation of Jaén en Julio (a series of festivals of various types of music that take place in the month of July in the Andalusian province of Jaén) with two of the people of the team that is running it and it was very interesting. Some colleagues from other countries have asked me before about the situation of the festival. So here I tell you about it.

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: JUANRA CANOVACA, FROM ETNOSUR

While you read, listen to the playlist for Etnosur 2023 curated by Juanra Canovaca, here 🎧

After the pandemic, the Etnosur festival, one of the best known in Spain on the world musics circuit, returned reformulated. The city council launched a call for proposals for the artistic direction and production of the festival. It was adjudicated to Juan Ramón Canovaca (in the picture) and Rafael López, together in a temporary joint venture. They carried out the 2022 edition and are repeating this 2023 edition.

Pedro Melguizo had until then been the visible face of the festival, the one who used to attend, for example, Womex. Although Etnosur always had several directors. Canovaca had been on the team that started the festival in 1997 along with Melguizo. And López has also been connected with the festival before in charge of the communication, so they both knew it very well.

At the presentation of Jaén en Julio on 26th of April, that took place in Madrid at the headquarters of the SGAE (authors society of Spain) they told me that they wanted to bring Etnosur back to the people, that the people of Alcalá la Real themselves would attend the festival. And so, without losing the cosmopolitan spirit of the festival, they have also opted to programme artists who have a strong appeal to the local public.

Juanra Canovaca (the one who answered the questions) is also the director of the Imagina Funk festival, which takes place in the Parque Natural de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas on the last weekend of July. In addition to this, here are some more statements by Juanra Canovaca.

Mapamundi Música: How is the festival going in this new stage?
Juanra Canovaca: Really very well. Last year we had little time but the results were optimal. It was the edition with more public than any other so far.

MM: What do you look for in an artist when you programme?
JC: I’m looking for artists who are in line with Etnosur and specifically I’m talking about styles related to world music. On the one hand, we have to look for an artist who can be an attraction for us, like Estrella Morente this year, but what I really look for are bands that are not very well known in Spain and that are capable of surprising the audience, the surprise factor is the most important thing for us. And of course, that it is danceable, fun music, the kind that makes the soul happy.

MM: What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival (specifically in yours)?
JC: Perhaps the most complex part is the pre-production of the festival, there are dozens of activities and coordinating them is a major effort but, well, we already have a lot of experience and we try to solve it in the best possible way.

MM: What are currently the main challenges for this type of cultural proposal like yours?
JC: Etnosur is a free festival and we want to keep it that way. Funding is perhaps the most complex issue, but thanks to the City Council of Alcalá la Real and the other sponsors we can continue to maintain a quality proposal open to all audiences.

MM: In one sentence, sum up the reason(s) to go to your festival.
JC: For me Etnosur is a unique, international, multidisciplinary, solidarity and free festival.

MM: Do you want to share any ideas?
JC: The idea I propose is that respect for others should be the main reason to go to the festival.

Credits:

Portrait of Juanra Canovaca, from his Facebook profile
Poster of Etnosur, from the website of the festival
Landscape with public, from the website of the festival, by Amada Santos

UPBEAT PLATFORM: BEST NEW TALENT AWARD + UPBEAT UNIVERSE

In the previous editions, in the conversation about Folkest with Andrea del Favero and in the March edition, in the conversation with Peter Dimitrov of A to Jazz festival, the Upbeat Platform, the European Showcase Platform for World Music, was mentioned. This time it appears again, with two news items.

🔹Best New Talent Award

Together with Chris Eckman from Glitterbeat Records and Balázs Weyer from Hangvető we are the jury of the Best New Talent Award. The nominee list consists of all the emerging artists who performed at one of the partner festivals of Upbeat Platform (check them here) between the time period of 31 July 2022 and 1 May 2023, and the partner organization accounted for them as emerging artists. How is “emerging artist” defined? In a practical and concrete manner, the definition has been artists that meet at least 5 of the following conditions:

max 3 albums released
max 5 years passed since the release of their first album
no more than 20.000 followers on either of their social media channel
the average age of band members does not exceed 35 years
had at least one concert in a professional setting
the band did not go on an international tour of 10 gigs
the band does not have a contract with a non-national record label
the band has an up-to-date web presence (website, social media)

The nominated artists also have to be legal residents in any country participating in the Creative Europe programme.

🔹Upbeat Universe

The UPBEAT Universe is a database of delegates. The registration is for free. At the moment of writing this texts we are 62 delegates. You can sign up here. I can’t tell you more about what they are going to do with this database because I don’t know, but if it is relevant, I will come back with news on this.

THE WOMEXICANS MEET…:
I’M INTERVIEWED BY JULIA OLSEN AND STEPHEN KEARNEY ON WATERWAVES RADIO

It has been a pleasure to talk to Stephen and Julia about some of the artists I collaborate with, about the name “Mapamundi Música”, the vision and several other topics. I am super thankful to them!

You can listen to the interview here.

IN DEPTH WITH: ALAN IBRAHIM, FROM MUSIC FOR IDENTITY

The first time I heard about Music for Identity was from Ali Doğan Gönültaş who told me that a friend of him mentioned that an Instagram account called like that could be of his interest. Ali rightly thought it would be of interest to me as well.

There was very little information, basically a series of photos of musicians and a poster for a concert in Berlin on 2 April. But the name made me so curious. The consideration of music and other artistic expressions (and not artistic, like, for instance, the language) and their relation to the identity of peoples and individuals has long been frequently in my mind. I had to know something more because I imagined that, behind this name, there would be powerful ideas that would contribute to enrich my reflection on the subject. As you will see, this has been the case.

The next conversation is with Alan Ibrahim, a guitarist of Syrian Kurdish origin who has been living in Germany since 2014. He is the driving force behind Music for Identity and in this interview, he explains in detail what this organization is, what its goals are, where it is now and a lot of interesting ideas.

About Music for Identity:
– Provided by Alan Ibrahim –

Music For Identity

Empowering the voices of marginalised minorities through peace building and social change projects using the power of music. Music For Identity gUG is a non-profit organisation based in Berlin, founded in 2021 by Alan Ibrahim. Through his experience in the field of sociopolitical musical projects he established MFI with a group of musicians and activists.

What Music For Identity offers:

🔸Workshops
MFI developed its own workshops’ method on raising awareness and empowerment for minorities, with the aim to bring different communities together. Using Community Music as a main tool, MFI offers workshops for professionals in music universities and institutes, as well as to everyone interested in music making regardless of their experience. Community music is one of the most internationally successful music pedagogical methods that is based on cultural democracy and inclusive musical participation. All, regardless of musical ability, age, gender, physical condition or other characteristics, should be given access to music and creative work and participation in culture and community.

🔸MFI Ensemble:
Established in the beginning of 2023 with various musicians from different backgrounds. The aim is to play, develop and spread the music of marginalised minorities.

🔸Other Projects of interest:
Organising concerts, promoting musicians, documentaries production and establishing a platform for music sheets.

About Alan Ibrahim:
– For this part I will make a little summary from the website of Alan –

Alan Ibrahim is a classical guitarist, as well as an educator, trainer and cultural manager and activist. He was born in Aleppo, Syria and he is settled in Germany since 2014. Since moving to Berlin, Alan Ibrahim has played in many solo, duo and ensemble concerts across Germany. Spanish, Latin and Oriental music are one of the most important genres that speak to the soul of classical guitar, and are usually the main focus of his concert programs.

In Syria, he studied English literature and music in private lessons with different professors. In Berlin, he studied in the international guitar academy Berlin then in two different music departments in the university of Arts Udk Berlin’ for music education with the main focus on classical guitar and groups leadership (free improvisation, Orff Instruments and community music).

Still in Aleppo, he started to teach at several music schools.

Alan Ibrahim works in music management in several sociopolitical musical projects in Germany. He is the founder and director of Music For Identity, Site Manager & Member of the Advisory Committee of MitmachMusik in Berlin/Potsdam and up to a recent date also Project Coordinator for Tontalente in Lübeck.

Alan develops workshops of Community Music, which is a new approach to music making that stresses active collaboration between individuals who play, create, improvise and perform music together. It is music making that fosters individual growth and community development.
–
You can follow Alan on his Instagram.

THE CONVERSATION WITH ALAN IBRAHIM

Alan and I were talking for more than one hour and we have revised the result to make it all clear. We talked deeply about several topics. To facilitate the understanding, I will put some titles at the beginning of each topic. Nevertheless, I recommend that you read it all in order.

About the background of Music For Identity

Mapamundi Música: When did you leave Syria, when did you arrive to Germany?

Alan Ibrahim: Well, first of all I want to also thank you for your interest and the mission that you are doing, I find it’s amazing. I mean generally we need more people who are interested to raise the voices of minorities around the world. When we are in the right place, where we could do that, and we take the action to do it, it becomes a life inspiration to see how people come together and create safe spaces for others, so first of all thank you for the invitation.

MM: My pleasure.

AI: So going back to your question, I came out from Syria end of 2013 and I arrived to Germany end of 2014.

MM: So how did it begin, how did Music for Identity begin, which is the background of this initiative?

AI: The background… It comes from, let me say, my experience as a musician who’s working in a professional field of music making but also in the field of socio-political musical projects. I think the story of Music For Identity and my own story they go along together. I am a Kurd from the western side of Kurdistan, north of Syria and I have experienced the war in Syria when it started. So through my own experience, my own identity and the things I’ve been through, it came to that point where I wanted to start making a change regardless how small it could be now, but I believe that big changes in history always started with small steps.

After years of working in musical projects to empower the people with immigration background in Germany, I have seen that there is sometimes lack of understanding what the people really need and it’s mostly like done with one-way perspective of how things should be done, mostly without even asking the targeted groups what they really need! In which way can be helped! In which dynamics they need to be understood.

Also one of the important motivations that I see actually… For example, in Germany there are a lot of amazing people who want to work in this field, but the awareness of understanding that only your intention, your good intention to help other people, is not enough to be working in a field where the way you are working could affect these people in a very sensitive way. So having the awareness about specific things, about trauma, about how you could communicate, how you could deal with people who are coming from a minority group, should be a mandatory subject before starting to work or volunteer. I had this understanding both through my work and my own traumatic experiences, which is the forced immigration from the Syrian war and everything what came before and afterwards.

‘Only your intention, your good intention to help other people, is not enough to be working in a field where the way you are working could affect these people in a very sensitive way’

The idea of Music for Identity, what is special, what’s our niche, let’s say: it is and a non-profit organisation, that is led by minorities for minorities. We want to say that we are also capable to lead projects that target our own groups, because we have an understanding that comes from experience. Because certain things you can’t just learn them by books. You have the experience so you know how the people are feeling, you know what they need, you know what’s important. So that’s mainly the idea of Music for Identity.

MM: And when you speak about the needs of these people you are not only talking about artists or musicians right? You are talking about any immigrants or refugees, don’t you?

AI: Yes, of course not only musicians but also, when we say marginalised minorities, it’s not only ethnical minorities, it’s also marginalised groups in the sense it could be projects to empower women in a certain atmosphere, at certain situation. And LGBTQ community. So it’s marginalised groups and minorities because it can be easily also understood minorities as only ethnical minorities. We try to have more inclusion for the people who are seeking to be more seen, to be more recognised.

About the needs of the minorities

MM: So you were feeling that there was a lack of understanding of the needs of these minorities, in which sense? For instance, what did you feel they were lacking? Because, talking about minorities who are refugees who come from war, I can think they need means to survive economically, somewhere to live, some money to survive… Which other things do you feel they were needing, and they were lacking? Because also, I tell you, you are in Germany and I’m in Spain. For me Germany is a country where there is a special sensitivity, I think, for this kind of issues. I see that a lot of musicians have worked there, immigrants. There are systems for making them able to be teachers of music. Something that in Spain is not existing. So, I think Germany is much more advanced on that than other countries. But anyway, you felt there were lacking things and I feel it may be something quite deep and not so visible. This is what you were feeling that was lacking? What was that?

AI: Yes, that’s true that in Germany there is a lot of effort which I highly respect and there is a lot of finances that is given to implement in projects to welcome these new communities. I know the situation that is being done in Germany is way much better than many other countries, who didn’t even accept the people facing forced immigration.

The things that you mentioned, let’s say, about new communities coming here about the financial aid, and physical safety and so on, these are the basic human rights needs for survival, but if we want to welcome the new communities and make sure that they know and feel that they have the same rights as anyone else, then there should be the work to take them out of this image of ‘’refugees’’ that’s always being given to them. The bigger image here is to flourish all together with equal opportunities.

For example, when I started to work here, many times I was being introduced as the ‘refugee teacher‘ or the ‘refugee musician‘. This word, for example, it takes out the quality of my work, and would always put me in a certain label as a refugee. It became with the time, especially in the last 10 years, that this word ‘refugee’ now carries a lot of negative heaviness in it. Of course, about immigration, everyone in a certain geographical place, because of a war happened, everyone one day were forced to emigrate.

‘Many times I was being introduced as the ‘refugee teacher‘ or the ‘refugee musician‘. This word, for example, it takes out the quality of my work, and would always put me in a certain label as a refugee’

The word ‘refugee‘ became through the media and politics a definition that there is someone who’s poor, someone who’s weak, someone who needs a lot of education, a lot of guidance to be integrated somehow in the new community. It’s a typical Eurocentrism way of dealing with the situation. It’s important to understand that the language that we are speaking in media and politics is very effective to shape different perspectives. This kind of small details shape the back of our mind, consciously and unconsciously. How we see people and how we see what’s requested from them, this can easily turn to seeds for future discrimination. Like: “if you are a newcomer, why you haven’t learned German yet?” “Why haven’t you done this?” “Why haven’t you done that other thing?” And always you need to do amazing work, you need to be super productive to be seen as equal as others. Otherwise you are just, you know, doing simple things, you are still that poor refugee in that corner.

The issue is about identity and to be recognised. I have personally seen projects that aim for women empowerment for the middle eastern, women with immigration experience, which most of the frame of work came from the analyses of the European women rights movements, not really from what those women have been through their whole life in Middle East.
I have seen that actually even in the most professional organisations that are working in this field, not only in Germany but in other European countries as well, this kind of mistakes happen. We need to see the bigger image and understand the dynamics of these new communities: it’s not one block, it’s not one need, and it’s not one thing. More importantly, it’s not only the survival kit that they need.

‘We need to see the bigger image and understand the dynamics of these new communities: it’s not one block, it’s not one need’

Another important point is to understand the sense of safeness on different levels. We imagine when it comes to deal with people with forced immigration experience that the physical and economical safeness are the only needed levels of safeness, but if we want to help on a deeper level in order to flourish the future of this diverse community, is by giving powerful tools that these groups could flourish on their own way, that they don’t stay in that place where they maybe struggling to express themselves, to be seen, or to be recognised… therefore, there should be more creative ways for empowerment where they could take their own creativity out to the world around them. That’s a point connected to Community Music for example, and it’s directed for musicians and non-musicians to bring communities together and to develop on personal and on collective levels.

MM: This you have said brings a lot of ideas to my mind. For instance, maybe you know this band from Belgium, Refugees for Refugees, who changed their name to Refa, because they wanted to stop being considered like refugees. They wanted just to be a band of music and they wanted not to be separated from the rest of the cultural world.
And I was also thinking about… You are working with music and sometimes in the history, when there has been huge emigrations and exile, the immigrants have forgotten or totally abandoned their cultural background. For instance, the Jews after the Holocaust, they went to United States and they abandoned totally the Klezmer music, they stopped talking Yiddish. Something that is still happening: when Israel was created many people rejected totally the klezmer music because that was the music from the ancestors in Europe, because they wanted to leave behind all that a horrible story. And only the second or third generations are taking back this legacy for them. So I see, at least in Europe, there are options for keeping this. The people who are like you, you are maintaining your roots, you are not rejecting your roots in trying to be assimilated and, in a fast way, forgetting your roots. Also I was thinking that sometimes, in the field of world musics, let’s say, this concepts of the refugees or different cultures or cultures that are persecuted are used to sell specifically. So they are they are a sales tool. Sometimes I see bands that are quite not very good as artists, I think, but they are successful because of the political background of these people. So this is very exploded. Sometimes it is more important than the artistic talent.So yeah, I understand what you mean. You are a musician you have a high profile of talent. I’m sure you have studied and worked a lot to be a guitarist as you are, and you feel like that all that is left behind because the definition of you is that you are a refugee or you are an immigrant. You say that you are presented like that. I think it is on purpose sometimes, because it is like a more sellable, it is easier to sell to the public. Because it is also a way to differentiate you, maybe, you specifically, Alan, comparing to other musicians who play classical guitar. Your differentiation from them, the easiest is that you are a Syrian and all these things…

Well, it’s really terrible to confuse all these ethnicities, backgrounds and languages… Really I understand because I have been working with this kind of issues for more than 20 years, so I have a strong sensitivity on how to define the people, but I see it’s difficult because here in our countries… In Spain, well, we have also this situation because we have a national languages, also. The situation in Spain is quite good for understanding this, because we have other languages inside our country and they are official languages. So we recognize and we know they are a minority and we know they are endangered and they are losing speakers, but they are respected. It’s not like other countries that are much more centralized. I think Germany doesn’t have this diversity that we have here. So they’re not so close to this cultural diversity as we are here. For us it is natural in Spain, I think.

About the legal shape of Music For Identity

MM: Well, I will make you some questions specifically about the organization. As I’m focus on professional people on the field of music, I also want to know how the things are done, so, which is the legal shape of your organization?

AI: We are a non-profit company. I chose this legal shape. Actually it was super complicated. In Germany the bureaucracy is like in the highest level you could imagine, just to register an organization. I wanted it to be a non-profit company. It’s a non-profit organization, actually, but the “company”, because it means that we can apply for funds for projects but also we can offer services and we can be paid for. This is the difference between just to be a non-profit organisation, which is you are only counting on funds: if you have a fund then you can work, if you don’t have, then you just stay where you are. I thought about it on the long run that to have a good financial, economic situation, we should have to think differently. That’s why we chose this legal form.

MM: It’s very reasonable also because, perhaps in this shape you have decided you also trust in giving services for which people is going to pay. You are not only trusting in the support from public money. I think it changes the idea and the approach to market, let’s say. I have a private company. I think I could not have done all I do if I was not a private company for profit. I’m for profit and it changes your mind because you have to think differently, you have to put yourself in the mind and in the needs of the market and your clients. And we are talking about culture. So this is something also that is not a basic need for the people. I mean we are not selling oranges or bread, we are selling something that is quite different. So… I deal with many organisations that are not for profit and sometimes the lack of market vision is quite obvious and that’s the problem: if you don’t get funds, no matter whatever you have done… And you are exposed to the politics. The politics can change and all your activity can end from one year to the other year. So I think it is a wise decision that you can keep the both sides.

About the workshops

MM: I wanted to ask you also about what you specifically do, because you speak about the workshop method “will be in the form of impulse, discussions, group work and Community Music training”. So I understand you make workshops that last for several days or months or are regular for communities, or do you have different shapes of workshops that you offer? How is the concrete shape of your proposal for workshops?

AI: What we do in Music for Identity is a couple of main categories. One is workshops and with workshops we always use the community music as main tool. We are working on our Music for Identity Ensemble to be playing music of minorities. And our mid-term project, that needs a lot of time, investment, is to create a platform for world music sheets but, more specifically, for minorities music. Not just an archive to collect the music but in a more practical way, where we can have, let’s say, music from different minorities but in a form for different instruments. It could be for a quartet, it could be for ensembles… and so on. Things that they can be really useful and can be spread internationally. So the idea is just to have more means to spread this music.

Picture: Music For Identity Ensemble

In workshops now we have generally two main subjects: raising awareness and empowerment. Raising awareness it’s about understanding these dynamics, how you can work in music education field with minorities. And minorities, when we were working on the in the workshop, it was, again, not only ethnical minorities. It meant minorities in different ways and, of course, more specifically, marginalized minorities. Because there can be a minority in a country, that is a minority, but whose rights are preserved, and they have their tools that they could express themselves and so on. But there are marginalized minorities: there is where’s our work is more focused on.

Empowerment is more directed to the targeted groups themselves to give them more tools to express themselves, to get over their own barriers of expressing in the verbal and a physical ways, and using the music as a tool to connect in a collective way.

The Music For Identity method is that we want to talk about these issues, we want to have a conversation, we want to have a dialogue between us. We have the group work and we have different methods of how we implement all this together depending on the group need, and it’s always combined with music, Community Music exercises!

About Community Music

MM: I don’t know what you mean exactly with Community Music.

AI: Community Music is a kind of a new approach in music. It started in between the 60s and the 80s in the UK and then it started slowly in Europe and it’s being practiced now around the world. It’s an approach about connecting people. It’s not about learning an instrument in itself. Because when we think about music, we think either about learning an instrument or having a music production at the end of the day, you know.

Community Music is about music making in a collective level and both the social and the musical aspects of it are in the same importance. So it can be done anywhere, anytime, by any group, as long there is safety involved for everyone. This method can be done with musicians and non-musicians. Regardless of what experience you have in music, we can make music together. In relevance to whatever topic we have, whatever topic we want to address. So the exercises or trainings that we design are always related to the topic of the workshop. This is a method that is widely used in conflict zones. So, for example, if you want to do a music project with people in a conflict zone or you are doing it on their way of immigration or once they arrived, let’s say, it’s not the time to expect with music that they will be learning the instrument and they will make a high musical performances. It’s more that they have a path, a way, that they could could use, music as one of the aspects that they are doing through the time of the workshop, where they could express themselves with music, without words, without the need of doing words.

‘Community Music can be done anywhere, anytime, by any group, as long there is safety involved for everyone’

On a personal level, Community Music helped me to go through what’s left from the experience of war, of facing the issues of my identity growing up in a marginalised minority community. It helped me to break the barriers of the fear that we grow up in to express myself. So you have the moment, your moment in, not only by yourself, but in a collective way. So it’s the joy to connect with others with music making. We use body percussion, percussion instruments, dancing, movement and much more.

It’s the right method to come over the barriers of your own body, of movement, or raising your voice. In certain communities there is a lot of judgment that affect your ability to to express yourself and for example just your ability to raise your voice and sing for yourself, specially, for women, about how they should walk, how they should behave, how they should do this and that, and all of this adds up to how they could just express themselves. Or actually also for men, which they have their own criteria to act and be seen as men. This is not only for gender but also in many other contexts. For example in the time of war, the way you are moving, the way your body is reacting, your own connection to your body and the connection of your body to the surrounding is affected by this high level of stress, where you need always to be in extreme survival mode in order to survive, and this adds up also to how you express yourself in the future.

As a professional musician, my personal favourite point about Community Music is to deconstruct the hierarchy of perfectionism that is leading the connection between professional musicians. We usually give our attention and respect on the basis of who has the highest level of performance. Here we learn how to see each other at eye level and to believe that I can learn from every musician something new regardless of how ‘’non-perfect’’ musicians they are. We are humans, and for sure humans aren’t perfect creatures.

‘As a professional musician, my personal favourite point about Community Music is to deconstruct the hierarchy of perfectionism that is leading the connection between professional musicians’

MM: This you are explaining about the Community Music reminds me the use of the music in the tradition in which music was not the objective. Music was the context, let’s say. In Spain and probably in your land also, everybody participated in the music. It doesn’t matter if you are a great singer it or not. Indeed it is still being done here in Spain. There are meetings where the people meet and they play and we have a music that is not songs, it is a style. You know probably a bit of Flamenco. And Flamenco is also style, it’s not songs. I mean, for instance, bulería is a style. If you know bulería and you play bulería with the guitar, if I know bulería I can sing with you at any moment without any rehearsal. So this is still being done. And of course, some people sing more beautifully, others less beautifully, more are more agile in the dance, others do what they can… but it has been like that in the tradition. But at some moment the music and the dance stopped being part of the people and it started to be only something from the artists and people stopped singing and stopped dancing. Here we keep it a bit in some specific contexts, but it reminds me a lot what you are explaining of Community Music. This it is not something for making a wonderful art, it is about participation and being part of the community.

AI: The main focus is not about this high elite music performance, but it’s also without compromising the quality of music. Because you can always do something more complex depending on the participants knowledge of music. If in your group, who are participating are musicians, and you want to do community music with them, there is no music sheets, there is, of course, Community Music and you want to do and improve free improvisation of them, but also connecting them in a more social level. It’s also, as much as possible, without compromising the quality, but that’s not the main focus.

MM: Of course, in, let’s say, the natural context of this music, you can hear wonderful things. Indeed, we have recordings from 80 years ago, people in the villages, and it’s really wonderful, they were great performers but they were normal people and we have kept that because it is a beautiful art, also not only a picture of the moment. It is also something that is a pleasure to hear nowadays, yeah. I think it is quite related to this.

And one of the things that I have really liked to do and I am still in the path of doing is to provide to the people again the participation themselves in the music and, as I work with traditional musics, for me it’s like an objective. It is very difficult because people are very shy sometimes. I think through dance it is a bit easier than through singing. People, to sing… they are so so shy in the Western World. I think they don’t want to sing.

AI: But this is the thing, you know, why are we shy, why we feel that? It’s because of this sense of judgment. Growing up with these stress patterns will make anyone to have struggles to sing freely. This is where Community Music comes! It’s a safe space where we can experiment together and in many exercise there is no right or wrong with what you perform. It’s a space where you could express yourself and nobody will judge you.

About the music in Spain I could totally relate to that because the Mediterranean countries they share very similar culture of music and it is a very good example that, before or like this kind of regions that they use the music, of course, way much differently than, let’s say in Central Europe, where now really music is, you know, for musicians and so on.

And Community Music goes even further, where, yes, you could do together where somebody’s playing let’s say bulería and there is someone who’s dancing, there’s someone who’s singing, there is someone who’s making that percussion or by clapping and so on… And In Community Music we could also have specific exercises, to address an issue. Let’s say, if it’s about the power dynamic of communication and the power of language (for example it’s a common issue that we have male dominance in musical spaces). What does it mean if you talk in this way? Let’s say there is a dialogue between two people, three people, and you want to enter. In which way you want to enter? Do you want to dominate the dialog? Do you want to be in the background? Do you want to help? Do you want to be…? All of these dialogs can be done non-verbally with community music. The experience with gives you a space to reflect to your own style of communication and to connect it with other things.

About plans for the near future

MM: When can we participate in one of those workshops? Do you have any a plan for the next months?

AI: You are always welcome! Yes actually we are going to make a new workshop In July in Berlin and everyone interested regardless of their experience can join us but of course we can have limited number of participants. So I would suggest to keep checking our social media because we will announce about in the beginning of June and it’s free of cost! There’s also coordination with Landesmusikakadmie Berlin to offer community music workshop in Berlin, that’s why we have been selected to participate at the end of May in an international community music workshop in Italy to exchange experiences and bring new ideas with us. Another opportunity that’s currently on the table is to make workshops in the university of Arts Udk Berlin.

Our very good news for the next months is that we have a new cooperation partner ‘’Impact, Civil Society Research and Development’’ that will help us to develop our programs and to reach our future plans to bring our experience, our services to the Middle East also. After that, we want to go more internationally. But we want to start off where we know the area, the language, the place, and the needs. The idea here is to train the local musicians, so they spread this knowledge to the community.

‘We want to start off where we know the area, the language, the place, and the needs. The idea here is to train the local musicians, so they spread this knowledge to the community.’

This is a previous project in which Music For Identity was involved, in charge of the concert streaming in Amude (northern Syria) and Shiraz (in Iran), and organised by MitMachMusik, Sing Berlin Choir and Nikolaisaal Potsdam. Click the picture for a video. The is a footage from a smartphone. Better version will be available soon, so follow the social media of Music For Identity for not to miss it.

About how to be updated about their news

MM: And how can the people follow your activities and be updated?

AI: The short answer is for now people can follow our social media pages and soon check our website to get the latest updates.

The thing is we have announced about our organisation as an emergency need for the recent earthquake aid. We had this big fundraising concert that we organised in Berlin to support the Kurdish community in north of Syria, where the earthquake happened, and these families were being discriminated to not get the earthquake aid. We made this fundraising concert where we invited many Kurdish musicians. Nizamettin Ariç, a very known Kurdish singer, came to perform, along many other musicians and singers.

So now we are working to make our website, to make all the structure, of course, to have a newsletter and to announce all of these things but it it’s still in process. If it was not for that concert and the earthquake aid, I think we would have waited a bit more, although we have been doing these projects and workshops already since one year. My idea was to learn from the experience before we go to the public! To shape the structure, goals and offers through the experience and to understand our needs and struggles, all through the actual experience of the work on ground, and indeed we have learned a lot from what we done last year.

I’m careful about the level of professionality in which we want to present ourselves. And of course, all of these services are very complicated and they needed a lot of time to be analysed to the depth.

Flyer of the concert for the earthquake aid, which included the performance by Nizamettin Ariç:

Follow Music For Identity. Check their social media in: https://linktr.ee/Music_For_Identity

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

#1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in March 2023 is: Ali Farka Touré’s Voyageur (World Circuit)

Mundofonías: our three favourites of the month are Maçka radif by Christos Kaliontzidis, Bucolica by Hiram Salsano and Voyageur by Ali Farka Touré.

UPDATE ON THE EUROPEAN FOLK DAY

🔹🔸CALLING ALL MUSICIANS🔸🔹

“We are collecting artists’ favourite songs and tunes from their repertoire in a public repository of recordings for the European Folk Day’s website.

➡️ How to submit your music❓Send us your song or tune in mp3 to media@europeanfolkday.eu . Tell us your name, where the piece is from and a statement that you have the rights and you allow us to share it on the website www.europeanfolkday.eu

The European Folk Day (on & around 23 September 2023) is by you for you, by us, for us, for everyone…

The project is co-funded by the MusicAIRE programme. MusicAIRE is a European Music Council/Inova initiative with funds from the European Union – see more details of the programme awards here.”

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.

globalFEST, call for submissions is open for January Festival. DEADLINE, 27TH MAY “globalFEST’s festival takes place each January, alongside APAP and JanArtsNYC, and is one of North America’s most important global music events, attracting extensive music industry professionals, members of the press, and music fans. You can explore globalFEST’s list of previous artists HERE.” Check the conditions and apply here.

Premio Andrea Parodi. DEADLINE, 31TH MAY The application period for the 16th edition of the Andrea Parodi Prize is open until May 31, 2023. Its finals will be held in Cagliari, Italy, Oct. 12-14, 2023. Important prizes and bonuses are planned for the winner and some of the finalists, starting with a series of concerts and appearances at some of Italy’s leading quality music festivals. The application is free and must be made via the format at http://www.fondazioneandreaparodi.it. The overall winner will be entitled to a scholarship of €2,500, as well as the opportunity to perform at some of Parodi’s partner festivals in 2024, such as the European Jazz Expo (Sardinia) and Folkest (Friuli), as well as in the Andrea Parodi Prize itself. Check the website for further details.

– REPEATING FROM THE PREVIOUS EDITION –

MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA, IN CHARGE OF THE SPANISH PARTICIPATION AS PARTNERING COUNTRY IN THE CZECH MUSIC CROSSROADS

The Czech Music Crossroads has invited Mapamundi Música to take charge of the participation of Spain as a partnering country in the 2023 edition.

🎙️Me and the artists are available for questions and interviews.

It is an honour. In response, I have proposed three of our artists, three gems, representing three cultures, three languages of the kaleidoscope that is this land from which I am writing to you:
🔸Vigüela, from the centre, Toledo, the land of Don Quixote, Castilian untamed culture. They will perform with their new line up of quintet.
🔸Xabi Aburruzaga, from the Basque Country, with one of his most representative instruments, the trikitixa. He will play with two musicians and two dancers.
🔸And Xurxo Fernandes, from Galicia, with the tradition of the strong voices and the tambourine, in his project Levaino!, which connects the Atlantic with the Mediterranean. They will be a septet.

MEET ME AT

Will we meet? Drop me a line!

8-9 June – Mediterranean Music Festival in Zurich, for the concerts by Ali Doğan Gönültaş and Di Gasn Trio.
28 June – 2 July 2023, Czech Music Crossroads, Ostrava.
And later I will travel a lot with Ali Doğan Gönültaş and his musicians, who will play in July in Spain and in Germany. We will be in Valencia, Rudolstadt and Huesca and they will also play in Koblenz for Horizonte Festival on 22nd of July. But on that occasion I will be in Palma de Mallorca for my first concert with Yiannis Dionysiou.

WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS

Mapamundi Música is an agency of management and booking. Learn more here. Check our proposals at our website.

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.

April 23. New showcase by Folkest, with Andrea del Favero, the new Rete Italiana de World Music, open calls + #58

Summary 👇

Editorial
Talk with Andrea del Favero from the Italian festival Folkest and their new showcase
The new Rete Italiana della World Music: presentation by Erasmo Treglia, Maddalena Scagnelli and Gigi Di Luca
Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects
Update on the European Folk Day
Open calls and more news from professional events
Mapamundi Música, in charge of the Spanish participation as partnering country in the Czech Music Crossroads
Meet me at…

Sign up and receive this email in your email, here 📧

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Hello, how are you? I am very well. I started to write this edition the night before travelling again to Istanbul for the concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş. I have continued writing it there and am sending it once back.

The photo illustrating these words today is from last Sunday there in Istanbul, with Kutay Derin Kuğay and with Ali. I talked about Kutay in the previous edition. This meeting was a delight for me as Kutay, as a panelist of Transglobal World Music Chart, told Ali to submit his album for the chart and that is how I learnt about Ali. After that we started a collaboration for his internationalization that is being very fruitful. Besides this, Kutay has done amazing things throughout his life, so at some point he will take center stage in this space.

After the postponement due to the earthquakes, Ali’s concert took place on 14th of April. Finally it has been possible and we have recorded it in multi-camera video, so soon I will start to spread some bits and pieces. The effects of the tragedy have not gone away and there is still a need for assistance in the region. Ali and a host of other artists will be performing at a charity festival between the 21st and 23rd in Istanbul. You have more information here.

But somehow in this edition several contents related to Italy have come together. The truth is that there are a handful of professionals in the country who are adding a lot of fuel to the fire. The presence of Puglia Sounds has been a regular feature in professional circles for some time now. More recently, initiatives such as Italian World Beat are gaining momentum, and this year they will be holding an international professional event for the third time (which will be held in Naples for the second time). I will talk about Calabria Sona soon. And in this edition we pay attention to two very interesting initiatives. On the one hand, the veteran festival Folkest, which takes place in the Friuli region, starts a new initiative with an international showcase accompanied by professional activities. Andrea del Favero gives us many more details. And, on the other hand, we talk about the Rete Italiana Della World Music, with a summary of the presentation they made at Babel Music XP and some statements I asked Erasmo Treglia, who is a member of the board of directors. This is not the only thing about Italy. Read on to find other content specifically about an event in Italy, with an open call.

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:
ANDREA DEL FAVERO, FROM FOLKEST

Some time ago Piero Cremaschi, the person in charge of the technical side of Folkest, told me about a new line of activity inside the festival, that would include an international showcase festival and some other activities related to this. It breaks my heart not to be able to attend. On the same dates is Czech Music Crossroads, where I have to be this year. See the news below: Mapamundi Música is in charge of the participation of the artists from Spain as the guest country of this edition. But I didn’t want to stop paying attention to Folkest’s initiative and share it with you.

I would therefore like to thank Piero for this and for facilitating contact with Andrea del Favero to shed more light on this initiative and also on another topic that seems to me worthy of attention: that of minority languages and, in particular, Friulian, which is the language spoken in their region. By the way, Andrea del Favero is a key person for folk arts in Italy with a fascinating bio, of which you can learn more here.

Folkest International Folk Music Festival will take place this year from 15th of June to 3rd of July in different locations of the Friuli region. Its first edition was in 1979.

Before we begin the talk with Andrea, let’s give a few hints about the festival’s proposal, which will help us to frame Andrea’s words. From their own website (original in Italian, translation by me):
“The history of Folkest, a success achieved thanks to the undoubtedly high quality of the invited artists, to the novelty constituted by the presence of unprecedented musical traditions, to the collaboration with other social and cultural operators in the area, to local cultures and languages, within the framework of that great beacon of civilization that for centuries was the Patriarchate of Aquileia. Folkest will travel the length and breadth of highways and mountain paths, bringing everywhere a thoughtful choice of musical examples that tell us about the borders of this Old Continent of ours in a succession of songs from cultures ranging from Magna Graecia to Finland, from Ireland to the Balkans, which tell ancient legends and common stories, stories of heroes and simple people that belong to everyone and are part of the cultural pride of peoples. They are often the same stories, albeit declined in different languages.“

Without further ado, I give Andrea the floor.

Mapamundi Música: The Folkest has been running since 1979. Now in 2023, you guys started a new branch of the activities, with the “Folkest Showcase”. I have several questions about this.
1.- After so many years of the festival, why did you guys decide to start this new part of the showcase? Which are the objectives?

Andrea del Favero: We already had from 18 years a similar format, Alberto Cesa Award. But this was, and still is, for Italian Artists only. We wanted to open to all European musicians and we discussed some hypothesis together with some collegues from different European Countries. Then Covid arrived… but other friends were working on similar ideas and a new European Project was presented to EU and it worked. Now we are part of this Upbeat Platform, headed by Hangveto, together with Budapest Ritmo, PIN Music Conference, WOMEX, World Music Festival Bratislava, Saules Muzika Festival, Czech Music Crossroads, A to Jazz Festival, Tallin Music Week, Hide and Seek Festival, Méra World Music Festival, Pannonica Festival, Waves Vienna.

The UPBEAT platform is a financial and network support system for European festivals. The goal is to support new talent, support original language music, ensure sustainability and the strengthening of the European network of festival professionals.

2.- The call for proposals has been open from 11th of February until 1st of March. Unfortunately, I was not aware on time to be able to announce it in previous editions of the newsletter. Please, for future occasions, how can I and the readers be updated of the news about the call?

ADF: This was really the first step and we did it very quickly using Upbeat network. In the future we want to involve all those who use to communicate news in the world of world music.

3.- How was the procedure of application?

ADF: A simple form on our site, very easy to fill out, containing biography, stage plan, photos and tax information.

4.- How many proposals have you received? From how many countries?

ADF: We received 63 proposals from Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Poland, Spain, Luxembourg, Holland, Albania.

5.- Related to the previous question, I’d like to ask you if you have established any set of indicators to analyze the evolution of the showcase festival in future editions. As this is the first edition, it would be great to gather some useful data to check the evolution along the future editions. That information will be very interesting for your guys and for the global community involved in this kind of musics.

ADF: As a first indicator, we thought we would look at the number of registrations collected, states of origin of artists, and number of showcases offered. A second useful indicator for us is the number of delegates and industry professionals involved. We find it very interesting to monitor over time the number of artists participating in our showcases who are then booked by participating delegates for concerts at other festivals.

6.- As this is going to be the first edition, it would be great if you guys have established a way to quantify the return of the investment. We have talked before about how complicated it is, because sometimes the return takes more than one year, because it contributes to the general branding of the artist that enhances the chances to be booked but you can’t draw a one-to-one link between the showcase festival and these results… Even so, considering that a relevant part of the return will not be identifiable, have you established any measures to trace it?

ADF: Given that, as you say, it is not easy to assess the return on investment, we consider monitoring the number of times that showcase artists are booked for concerts at other festivals. The UpBeat platform is very helpful to us in this regard.

7.- Which are the conditions for the participant artists? I think there is an interesting debate about the issues related to the showcases, how there are artists that have the barrier of the costs of the travel, that may prevent some artists from applying. And how there are artists from specific countries and regions that are over-represented in this kind of event. There are showcase festivals that don’t cover anything besides the production of the stage, others pay a fee to cover some expenses… Which is your proposal on this?

ADF: We cover the production of the stage, accommodation and 500€ for travel expenses.

8.- Can you announce the selected artists yet? If not, can you at least give us an idea of the origin of the artists?

ADF: Sure. Here they are: Alessandro D’Alessandro (ITA), Alvise Nodale (ITA), Cuerdas y teclas (SPA), Gaudio Pace Duo (ITA), Triana y Luca (SPA), Wernihora (POL), i Sordi (ITA), Dettori Moretti (ITA), Jig Robots (ITA), Linda Rukaj (ALB), METE (ITA), Corte di Lunas (ITA), La Quadrilla (ITA).

9.- Beside the concerts of the showcasing bands, which other activities are you going to include related to this new part of the festival?

ADF: There will be workshops, meetings with authors, and meetings with professionals in the field. There will also be the final of the Alberto Cesa Prize the award dedicated to Italian musical projects that can give voice to one or more cultures from all over the world and other great concerts.

MM: And this is about a totally different topic. Your website is in Italian, English and Friulian (Furlan, in that language). The issue of minority languages is something that I personally find very interesting and thrilling. I read in the Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, published by UNESCO, that the Friulian is recognized by the Italian authorities and it is potentially in danger. On the website of EndangeredLanguages.com I read that there are 350,000- 500,000 native speakers of Friulian, but from what I have seen about other languages, I think the data they show are overestimated.

ADF: Folkest was born in 1979 as a festival of European Ethnic Minorities. All minority languages are in danger today, we know, but this is very old data, indeed. The University of Udine estimates 450/600 thousand speaking people and about 250 thousand people who don’t speak it but understand it. We also have about 2 million emigrants all over the world, mostly in France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Argentina, Australia. The half of these still speak in Friulian language.

MM: They say that “Many children learn the language, but often stop using it at school age”.

ADF: This was true years ago, when we reached school age we were forced to speak only Italian. The Italian linguistic model was so strong, also due to the radio, television, newspapers, and many kids stopped using Friulian. I did the same for a couple of years too when I was at classical high school.

MM: As you are there, what is the situation in society? Is Friulian used in daily life?

ADF: Friulian language is commonly used in everyday life in most of the Friuli area. Remember that today our region is called Friuli Venezia Giulia, but Venezia Giulia means Trieste and some other not Friulian speaking municipalities. We have some school lessons in Friulian language too.

MM: Besides having the website in Friulian, is there any other activity from the festival related to this language?

ADF: Official languages in Folkest Office are Friulian and English, and some Italian sometimes 😉 …
When we introduce the concerts, we speak indifferently in Italian or Friulian.

THANK YOU, ANDREA AND TEAM!

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A NEW NETWORK IS BORN:
RETE ITALIANA DELLA WORLD MUSIC

Well, the truth is that the Rette has been around for a while now. Its first public event was on July 5, 2022.

According to their website, “the Italian World Music Network is a non-profit association based in Rome promoted by some of the most important Italian world music, folk and popular music festivals. The associative project intends to network and promote the activities of associations and cultural operators who, through the organization of events and music festivals with a high social and environmental impact, carry out an important work of protection, dissemination and enhancement of the cultural heritage of our country.”

I learnt about the Rete Italiana de World Music in Babel Music XP. There was a presentation there and I will make a summary. In the picture, Maddalena Scagnelli, Erasmo Treglia and Gigi Di Luca.

Erasmo Treglia explained that the network includes around 25 world music festivals. Mostly of them are historical festivals and others started 4 or 5 years ago. Mostly of them are in the provinces and some in big cities. And according to Erasmo, the main objective is to let the institutions, like the Ministry of Culture, know that these festivals exist, all over Italy and are essential for cultural activities in peripheral areas. There are festivals 35 years old that invite big names of the world music, where a lot of public attends, there is a big interest all over the area, and nobody else knows. Not only because of a problem of communication but also because the festivals are separated between them. Each one makes something in their region and nothing happens on a national level. So the first objective of the activity of the network is to let the institutions know, specially in Italy, and of course abroad too, that they exist, that it is a reality and that they have a big experience.

“One of the network’s objectives is to raise the awareness of the Italian government, both from the State and from the regions.”

There were some other artistic directors in Babel Music XP who talked in the presentation conference. Maddalena Scagnelli from Appennino Festival, in Emilia-Romagna, was one of them. She introduced her festival and talked about some of the musical traditions of their region. She also explained a meaningful anecdote: while watching the Italian TV, she saw a program that explained that wine and food are already considered cultural products of Italy. And she considers it is time also to return this consideration into the music too, as a cultural international product. She explained that the financial support for these festivals is crucial and it is very different according to the area. And one of the network’s objectives is to raise the awareness of the Italian government, both from the State and from the regions. She also explained that Italy is a world itself, related to the diversity of the musics you can find in each part of the country. But this field of music is quite underestimated in Italy. She explained that other music styles like classical, jazz and contemporary have dedicated funds from the government. With the network they want to highlight the richness of Italian world music too.

“To organize a festival in these little villages is a special form of resistance but the institutions don’t understand it like that.”

After Maddalena’s talk, Erasmo explained how the little villages in the mountain, especially in the last years, are getting empty. And how to organize a festival in these little villages is a special form of resistance but the institutions don’t understand it like that, they consider they make the festivals because they love music. He wants the institutions to recognize the work of the festivals, that takes all year long to make an event of 4 or 5 days. Nowadays they don’t have this recognition.

And also Gigi di Luca, from Ethnos, talked. His festival is in the region of Naples. I made a summary of the presentation he made in Napoli World in December, that you can find in this previous edition.
As in the talk in Napoli, Gigi explained the work that the festival makes related to the community and the extra complications that means to be in a region that is characterized by criminality. He explained that as he works with world music, he can explain many things related to the history of the different communities all over the world. He could not do it if he worked, for instance, with classical music.

“One of the problems in Italy is the bureaucracy: if you have to pay 100 euros you may have to produce 100 pages.”

After Gigi’s talk, Erasmo explained that another of the problems they face in Italy is the bureaucracy. He explained that, for instance, if you have to pay 100 euros you may have to produce 100 pages. The network wants to be able to talk with the institutions to make this more simple. This kind of problem can be more important than budget.

At the end, we had the chance to ask questions and I asked them which are going to be the next steps. Maddalena explained that they are planning to make something on 23rd of September, associated with the European Folk Day.

“There are musicians that play all over the world and represent Italy, of different genres. So one of the next steps is to tell to the institutions that there is this reality.”

Erasmo explained that at the moment they are 20 and in the future they may be 40 or 50 and it is not a problem because Italy is full of very interesting experiences like these 20. These are not the best, they are just some of the festivals in Italy, but if you go to any region, for instance, Sicily, there are interesting festivals, also in Sardinia. They want to fix some points now and after that, they will try to work in numbers. At the same time they will start communication with the institutions. And they are sure that staying together can give them the chance to do something that alone they can’t do. That is the aim of a network: to be a lobby. He explained that this year, the Minister of Culture said that they support the most representative musical genres from Italy: contemporary music and jazz. But the country is full of musicians, organisers and festivals that do other things. There are musicians that play all over the world and represent Italy, of different genres. So one of the next steps is to tell to the institutions that there is this reality. Erasmo highlighted that they need not only funds, but also attention. Maddalena explained that in the year they will organice together an event, probably in Rome, to show the greatness of Italian folk music.

After Babel Music XP I reviewed the recording of their talk to make this summary you have above and I sent a couple of questions more to Erasmo:

Mapamundi Música: In the future, will you consider to open membership to organizations other than festivals, such as management agencies or theatres that program world music concerts?
Erasmo Treglia: It is important for us to make our network stronger and more active in implementing its programme. In the future we would also like to associate other figures such as agencies, musicians, but we would like to have a more solid form first.

MM: How can we keep up to date with your news?
ET: We are trying to set up a secretariat to inform all members but also anyone else who would like to be informed of activities, opportunities, programmes, etc. At the moment there are no plans for a newsletter but for communication via social media. Having an office and someone working at least bi-weekly for the network is undoubtedly the element that guarantees success. And we are working for this.

I am thankful to Erasmo, who, as well as a festival director and member of the board of the Rete, is a very interesting musician and part of the wonderful band Acquaragia Drom. If you don’t know them, check this superb piece, the Tammurriata del Camafro, one of my favourite songs ever!

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BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

#1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in March 2023 is: Kimi Djabaté’s Dindin

Mundofonías: our three favourites of the month are Sokou!, by Clément Janinet & Adama Sidibé, the compilation A beginner’s guide to sublime frequencies, volumes 1 & 2 and Martin György Kalotaszegen, by Erdőfű.

#1 for Balkan World Music Chart of the first quarter of 2023 is the album Dobrila & Dorian Duo 2.

Check the top 10, here.

UPDATE ON THE EUROPEAN FOLK DAY

In the previous edition I already mentioned that the date of this event coordinated by the European Folk Network will be 23 September. The team is working to set up a specific website and articulate ways to participate. In the meantime, for those of you interested in keeping up to date with practical details as they develop, you can register here.

The project is co-funded by the MusicAIRE programme. MusicAIRE is a European Music Council/Inova initiative with funds from the European Union – see more details of the programme awards here.

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.

globalFEST, call for submissions is open for January Festival. NEW IN THE NEWSLETTER. “globalFEST’s festival takes place each January, alongside APAP and JanArtsNYC, and is one of North America’s most important global music events, attracting extensive music industry professionals, members of the press, and music fans. You can explore globalFEST’s list of previous artists HERE.” Check the conditions and apply here.

Premio Andrea Parodi. NEW IN THE NEWSLETTER. The application period for the 16th edition of the Andrea Parodi Prize is open until May 31, 2023. Its finals will be held in Cagliari, Italy, Oct. 12-14, 2023. Important prizes and bonuses are planned for the winner and some of the finalists, starting with a series of concerts and appearances at some of Italy’s leading quality music festivals. The application is free and must be made via the format at http://www.fondazioneandreaparodi.it. The overall winner will be entitled to a scholarship of €2,500, as well as the opportunity to perform at some of Parodi’s partner festivals in 2024, such as the European Jazz Expo (Sardinia) and Folkest (Friuli), as well as in the Andrea Parodi Prize itself. Check the website for further details.

SoAlive Music Conference. It will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria, on October 19-21. It is a Balkan focused music conference & showcase festival. On their website they give many interesting reasons to apply. For instance: “Touring on the Balkans is actually much easier and more reliable than people would expect. Starting in Sofia, which has a major international airport in the centre of the Balkans and is a 3 to 6 hour drive to most major cities in the region, you are looking at a perfect routing for a 2 weeks tour.” The showcase application period is open until April 30th, 23:59 CEST. This is the website of the application.

WOMEX 2023: registration open. NEW IN THE NEWSLETTER. WOMEX will take place in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, from 25 to 29 October 2023. Registrations for WOMEX are available as a five-day package and provide access to the full WOMEX 23 programme: Expo, Conference Programme (Panels, Networking & Mentoring Sessions, Associated Presentations), Showcase concerts and Club Summit, Film screenings, One-year access to virtualWOMEX. The deadline for Smart Rate is Friday 02 June 2023. This is the website for the registration.

MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA, IN CHARGE OF THE SPANISH PARTICIPATION AS PARTNERING COUNTRY IN THE CZECH MUSIC CROSSROADS

The Czech Music Crossroads has invited Mapamundi Música to take charge of the participation of Spain as a partnering country in the 2023 edition.

🎙️Me and the artists are available for questions and interviews.

It is an honour. In response, I have proposed three of our artists, three gems, representing three cultures, three languages of the kaleidoscope that is this land from which I am writing to you:
🔸Vigüela, from the centre, Toledo, the land of Don Quixote, Castilian untamed culture.
🔸Xabi Aburruzaga, from the Basque Country, with one of his most representative instruments, the trikitixa.
🔸And Xurxo Fernandes, from Galicia, with the tradition of the strong voices and the tambourine, in his project Levaino!, which connects the Atlantic with the Mediterranean.

MEET ME AT

Will we meet? Drop me a line!

8-9 June – Mediterranean Music Festival in Zurich, for the concerts by Ali Doğan Gönültaş and Di Gasn Trio.
28 June – 2 July 2023, Czech Music Crossroads, Ostrava.

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Mar. 23. Interview with Asya Music Management, Rastak from the Exile, talk with A to JazZ, new event in Angola, many open calls + #57

Summary 👇

Editorial
Talk with Asya Arslantaş from Asya Music Management
Some thrilling insights about Rastak’s exile, by their manager Behzad Pournaghi
Introducing a new world music showcase festival, the first one in Bulgaria, “AtoJazz”, on a talk with the director, Peter Dimitrov
New event in Angola and call for artists: Ntwala Oh Yeah! Festival
Cultural diplomacy in war times: Ukrainian Institute Kyiv
Call for contents from #AuxSons
Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects
Update on the European Folk Day
Open calls and more news from professional events 💼
A small space for Mapamundi Música’s proposals
Meet me at ✈️

If you like this content, send it to a friend ⬅️

Hello, how are you?

On this occasion I am bringing back a photo taken in an edition of Babel Med, the only one in which I had a stand. Babel Med died (and, somehow, it has been resurrected). That year, 2018, we sent proposals (I sent a handful, but I speak in plural for me and for all colleagues) but the event was cancelled. We were not reimbursed for the cost of the applications (I’ve checked the ones from that year, each one 15 euros, I sent 3). But well, it wasn’t very sensible to make firewood from the fallen tree. But recently a colleague told me about it, pointing out that it was wrong not to refund the money. She thinks she asked for the refund but she was not totally sure either. I will give them the benefit of the doubt.In any case, it was a pity about that loss. So as I have said several times, I am looking forward to this reincarnation, Babel Music XP, which is coming soon: 23-25 March. If you come, I’ll be there.

Let’s leave the past where it is. Back to what this edition of the newsletter is about. In this edition of the newsletter I will share an interview with a Turkish colleague. As I mentioned in the previous edition, in mid-February I was in Istanbul for a concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş. It was postponed due to the earthquake tragedy. Even so, I had the opportunity to meet several people and have very interesting conversations that have led to the beginning of friendships. With Dr. Martin Greve, German musicologist and ethnomusicologist, specialised in history of Turkish art music in the 20th century, I spent a very interesting evening of talk. He had the happy idea to invite Asya Arslantaş. She is a woman who works independently as an agent and manager in Turkey, with the brand Asya Music & Management. So, more or less like me, but in Turkey. We contrasted some experiences and compared our contexts. She is our protagonist today. I am sure you will find her insights very interesting. I feel very close to her words.

In Istanbul I also had a great time with Nick Hobbs, owner of Charmenko, who lives there. And Ali gave me a demonstration of the Anatolian Kurdish song workshop, which he will soon be teaching in Europe. He also showed me his neighbourhood, Gazi.

All in all, you can imagine that I didn’t do any of the typical tourism, but I would like to embellish this editorial with a photo from Üsküdar, on the Asian side of Istanbul, wishing Turkey a future of stability and the possibility of development in all respects. I hope to witness this in my lifetime.

This edition of the newsletter is the longest I have done so far and I have gone through many different emotions as I have gone through it. I think all the content is of great interest. I hope you do too.

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:

ASYA ARSLANTAŞ, FROM ASYA MUSIC & MANAGEMENT

As I explained above, I met Asya in person recently in Istanbul. I already knew her from Facebook and I knew she had worked in Turkey with musicians with whom I have worked here (like Ruben Monteiro from Albaluna). That evening in Istanbul we talked a lot and realised some common challenges we often face.

Normally I make an introduction myself about the organisation or person, but in this case Asya has done the job for me. This is how she introduces her work herself:

“Music is the oldest and universal way of communication in the most common expression. Two people who grew up far away from each other and in different cultural factors, but somehow came together; thanks to a kind of archaic musical memory, they can communicate by the language of sounds without having to overcome all these differences. For this reason, we think that music is the communication itself, and we try to listen to the real sound of the music, which is transformed by being instrumentalized in the understanding of entertainment, and try to bring this sound to the stages.

Asya Music Management conducts musical research; managing and booking works of some musicians in the World Music category, while delivering musical meetings with artistic performances to audiences, it produces and manages event contents aimed at the continuity of artistic depth. It offers a management, booking and organization approach with a new perspective based on musical research.”

Without further delay, let’s start the interview.

Mapamundi Música: Which is your background, what made you become an agent for world music artists?

Asya Arslantaş: This story consists of two parts. I’ve graduated in Geography. But I never worked as a teacher. I was always into listening, especially instruments, ever since I could remember. I listened not only for fun mostly to see into the way of people, cultures and their expressions. It was like curiosity to other possibilities of life. I was trying to perceive life with the help of music. This was super private to me, cause I was a bit of a distant personality. I was making a radio programme online and broadcast the music I collected from other local cultures as an anonymous broadcaster. I had a significant digital archive which I worked on. Meanwhile I took a part-time unpaid job in a local radio as a producer. I was editing the programmes, sound recording, in the background. My musical taste didn’t appeal to radio listeners so I haven’t made a programme about world music. I was there only to learn about production.

After I graduated university I got a regular job in a government department. Besides, I kept researching music and interviewed musicians and was very active in civil society. The things I had witnessed as an officer in a government department for nearly 2 years had changed me dramatically, so I ended up in deep internal and external conflicts. I couldn’t stand it anymore and quit. This experience literally changed my value judgments, my way of life totally. It was a turning point. It became a life-changing decision to establish a job according to my interests. A world music agency. But in a kind of different way.

Mapamundi Música: Define your value proposition.

Asya Arslantaş: I really give importance to musicians grounding on their own cultural music in this superficial time. I am not conservative nor have limits but we need to know our cultural motifs for carrying it to the future even if it is metamorphic. I believe someone could have more to say as long as she/he comprehends their own culture. That’s what is happening today. There are talented groups achieving that.

The sincere approach to music is as important as being a master player to me. Some local and humble musician get me more than world renowned masters. I enjoy listening to songs that have soul whether as masterfully or not. Perhaps I have this approach because I am not a musician but I think that I am able to distinguish the essence of performance as a loyal listener. Because it speaks to me. Music already requires us to make progress in its nature, pushing the performer to more but in case the source of motivation is to be ‘the most known one’ I think there is something missing. That’s why I am interested in music directly. That’s what is directing my portfolio.

Mapamundi Música: Which are the professional objectives you would like to achieve in the mid term?

Asya Arslantaş: My aim is to create conceptual musical projects not only booking concerts. I did this in Izmir a fews years ago under İzmir Metropolitan Municipality cultural and art activities. It was a first world music days that attained great interest by audiencies in Izmir. I created and managed all the processes which consisted of 10 concerts taking place within 3 months. It was a musical journey around the Mediterranean from Greece, Crete, Serbia, Spain to İsrael extending to Turkey. There was a soul in these musical days and great effort. My career precedence is creation and sharing, not only booking. Nevertheless, the current unstabilized situation doesn’t let us shape the future. Music market here is getting worse. That’s why I want to expand abroad.

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?

Asya Arslantaş: Having Geography education put me so much and broadened my perspective. It branches many subs like anthropogeography, physical geography, cultural, political, medical, oceanography, urban and more in it I can’t count here. For instance, we were able to study both the Pacific ocean floor, jet streams, agriculture of South America and a traditional wedding ceremony of middle Asia at the same time. This gave me both a local and universal point of view while I was into discovering the world. Also I took research methods lessons. So I knew how to research and approach other cultures, as having a full formation. I consider music as like a personal geographical element interacting with each other and at the same time I can hear the unique differences. Besides, I was organizing the official process of international people face to face when I was at the government department, so this made me obtain the ability of organization and recognize differences of foreign culture.

Mapamundi Música: Apart from that or those skills, which other do you think are essential to succeed in this field of work?

Asya Arslantaş: Definitely requires to be patience and practical thinking. There is no determined method to this job, and no one guides you. So you should play your own game. People might think how easy this job is but inside of it is the opposite, as you know very well. Musicians have a different rhythm, personalised expectations than others. No matter what, you should have mutual respect for artists you work together with. This is a collaboration, not a chain of command. It is not enough to provide the stage and backstage needs, we should have a sense of co-creating during the process even if for only one concert.

We should keep up with our music space and tendencies to be aware and stay up to date. Mapamundi Musica and Transglobal World Music Chart are some of precious sources for that purpose which I have been following for years.

Mapamundi Música: Any particular advice for a fellow newcomer or someone who wants to get started in this field?

Asya Arslantaş: I can advise that they should have work planning if anyone decides to get into this field independently. There is a huge difference between personnel of an agency which is already known, or working as a private agency. As a small scale agency, the first steps hardly pay off, portfolio and opportunities are limited, you are not recognized, you face financial borders. But we should not give up. Because all these experiences lead you to have an individual, particular way which is resulted in your own signature.

Everything goes along with the help of contacts today. Even if we have the best, no one discovers us unless we promote us to all suitable stages, halls, festivals. And most of them would never respond to you! So better be determined and don’t take it personally.

Mapamundi Música: You are settled in Turkey. Could you give any tip to our colleagues or to the artist about how to enter the market of Turkey, if it makes sense to try?

Asya Arslantaş: There is a huge interest in Anatolian music by European musicians. They are coming to take workshops, search, be part of performances or make projects. I am going to share my musical archive with a French musician tomorrow for example. But there are no any foreign world music agencies here. I see that some agencies promote Turkish music, which we left behind, as a Turkish music on European stages.This is like re-listening to the 70’s,80’s to us. However I must grant them the right that this is the easier way considering Turkey’s economic issues and even while we are thinking of expanding abroad.

Agencies should be aware that Turkish music audiences have an extended musical taste, there are potentials on diverse genres, and but on the contrary unfortunately not enough concert halls to work for world music and totally mentality of work which mostly goes through persons on these stages. World music is remaining as a limited field of interest in Turkey.

Mapamundi Música: And now, for the artists. How do you choose the artists with whom you work?

Asya Arslantaş: I am being told by my circle of musicians that it looks like I manage the music which I like. That’s true. No matter if it is famous or not, I prefer work for artistic and deep music. I mostly take into consideration the level of instrumental performance, and content of composition.

Mapamundi Música: I’m sure you get requests from artists every day to be their manager or agent. 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?

Asya Arslantaş: Yes I do. I can understand artists in this sense. They need someone who can represent them properly, however there are not many agencies working on the world music field. But I am not mainly an artist manager, I am project manager and book agency. I have only one group that I am manager of, Sinafi Trio. We have to go for fit artists for stages, hall, festivals; so mostly we have to say no regardless how great they are.

These are the Sinafi Trio, the band of which Asya is the manager, performing Arnisi, a piece composed by Elena Moudiri Chasiotou, the singer and percussionist:

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 of an agent?

Asya Arslantaş: 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 of an agent?

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 that the artists require us. Something seems to be wrong, what is it?

Asya Arslantaş: We are not in popular culture so it doesn’t make money. People like us feel the need to have another source of income besides music. We need to have ground to get forward. Interest of musicians for world music is growing but there is a deficiency of supply from the stage side. It seems that we are a sort of demand before the stages, supplier before the artists. I think that’s the way it is going to be unless world music turns into popular culture. Most good artists make market music to get by. Who can blame them?

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.

Asya Arslantaş: The answer is in its name, which is world music. This is about how cultures influence each other by remaining their cultural core. That’s a personal preference depending on my musical background as a listener. I am thinking that if I worked on only my own culture, I would stick in a narrow perspective about music. Moreover, the world is not only about our own habitat, we contribute to each other by cultural transmissions. People listen to others when it comes to music. There are no meaningless nationalist polemics in it. It is not only about the neighbors. For example I remember a Japanese was into Teke Region music or a Portuguese was playing Neşet Ertaş from the heart by sensing. Shortly, I like these interactions.

Mapamundi Música: Please, feel free to add anything else you want to share.

Asya Arslantaş: Thank you for interviewing me. It is very informative to share personal experiences in the same field.

Thanks to you, Asya!!!

The pictures have been provided by Asya. The logo is from her Facebook profile. You can also follow her activites also on her Instagram.

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SHARING INSIGHTS FROM THE EXILE

BEHZAD POURNAGHI, CO-FOUNDER AND BAND MANAGER OF THE IRANIAN BAND RASTAK

I remember perfectly well the first thing I heard of Rastak. I loved it. It was this:

I’ve listened to it again now and I really liked it again. I sent it to my mother, which is what I do when I really like something. She also liked it a lot.

When I was in Istanbul in February I learnt from Kutay Derin Kuğay that the band Rastak had left Iran and settled in Istanbul. I find it terribly painful and I think they deserve a space to explain a few things. It seems that the world is getting worse. I refuse to believe it. I am very grateful to Behzad Pournaghi for sharing these reflections. If you are interested in talking to him about hiring Rastak, I talk to him on his LinkedIn and he also has Facebook. His phone is +90 552 662 7086 and his email is Behzad.p@rastakmusic.com.

I have no business relationship with them and have not been paid. I have not been paid for any content in this newsletter. I don’t refuse, but if I ever include sponsored content, it will be clear that it is advertising. But I would like Rastak to be able to continue making music. I will now give way to Behzad’s declarations.

Mapamundi Música: Tell me in a paragraph what is Rastak (foundation year, styles of music, number of members, instruments you play… some basics).

Behzad Pournaghi: Rastak is one of the most well-known bands in Iranian contemporary folk music, formed as an experimental music group in 1997. Rastak seeks to collect, record, and interpret Iranian folk music for a global audience. With a focus on Iranian folk music, Rastak has become one of the most famous ensembles in Iran, playing a mix of tunes from different parts of Iran.

Rastak incorporates language, culture, and history, merging traditional instruments and forms with contemporary rhythms. Rastak has tried combining well-known tunes with less well-known ones to shorten the generational gap and create a geographical bridge in Iran’s music.

Currently, the band consists of 8 musicians from various ethnic backgrounds and is based in Istanbul. The band members play different Iranian, Traditional, and folk musical instruments. Rastak put all these instruments together and practically used them in their orchestra.

Siroos Sepehri: band director, tar player
Seyed Farzad Moradi: lead vocalist, divan, setar, dotar, qupoz, tanbur, oud
Seyed Behzad Moradi: lead vocalist, percussion, tanbur
Maedeh Doosti: kamancheh, kamancheh alto
Majid Poosti: percussions
Akbar Esmaeilipour Farsangi: tar, setar, oud
Sahar Rashidi Torbati: qanun
Selami Gördeli: zurna, duduk, mey

MM: Tell me 2 or 3 selected links to learn more about you guys.

BP:

MM: I’ve learned recently that all the band has moved to Turkey. I have to tell you that I was very sad to hear that. It seems like a critical decision. I think I and all readers are aware that the situation in Iran has been difficult for a long time for musicians and now even more so. But this seems like a decision with no turning back. Perhaps you would like to send a message to the international community related to music rooted in the identity of peoples about this. Please say what you consider.

BP: The Migration. We have been independent of any government or private sector since the beginning. Despite the group’s financial challenges, we maintained our financial and operational independence during these years. Of course, we could only do it by implementing a system with financial and business discipline, which is exemplary for music groups. It sets us free of limiting and restraining boundaries and enables us to follow our passion for new ways to improve our music and performance.

The life of Iranian musicians in Iran is difficult. Despite Iran’s long and rich music history, the government has imposed strict regulations on music, making it difficult for musicians to present their creations freely (learn more in IranHumanRights.org). Musicians must adhere to the government’s moral standards, which can severely limit their creative freedom, such as female artists’ involvement, lyrics censorship, and even in the purest folk storytelling.

For instance, unfortunately, Iran’s government creates many obstacles to women’s activities in art, especially music. We have fought against this problem for years in our ways, including refusing to perform without our female members, and endured many difficulties. Despite obstacles, we have been among the few groups that insisted on having our female artists in the band during the 25 years of our activity.

These regulations have significantly impacted Iranian music bands’ ability to participate in international music festivals. Iranian bands are not allowed to perform at international music festivals abroad without a permit from “The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.” In fact, for any live performance inside and outside, musicians need a permit from the ministry. Furthermore, Iranian musicians are prohibited from performing in specific venues and countries considered “politically unacceptable” by the government.

These restrictions and rules have led many individual musicians and bands to migrate to other countries to find a more tolerant environment to practice their art.

MM: Besides making a concert, do you offer any other services? I mean, for instance, studio musicians for recordings, composition for films/documentaries… whatever you are offering to the world in the frame of the music of Rastak.

BP: Ongoing Projects

Borderless at Home

In 2019 we started a project called “Borderless at Home.” In this project, we are working on the music of Iran’s neighboring countries to be a messenger of peace while depicting the beauty of Middle Eastern music and culture. With all the limitations in Iran, working on that project and collaborating with international artists was tough. Since we moved to Turkey, we have been aiming to work on the project more. We have already met good artists and look forward to collaborating and working with them. We plan to expand this cooperation to other countries.

Listen to “Borderless at Home” on Spotify.

Upcoming Projects and Initiatives

In the coming years, especially in 2023, we look forward to attending world music festivals and promoting and introducing our music to a broader audience more freely. Music festivals can help us reach more audiences and expose us to new fans who may not have heard our music. In addition, it can also help to generate buzz and excitement, which can lead to media attention.

Besides live performances, researching, and creating our music, we have made film music and documentaries. Please check it on our Youtube channel here.

Since the beginning of its journey, Rastak has been collaborating with great musicians from different parts of Iran. Now, we are welcomingly open to working/collaborating with international musicians.

Lastly, we are open to working with game developers to make music for games that need some Middle Eastern music touch.

Thank you very much, Behzad!

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INTRODUCING A NEW WORLD MUSIC SHOWCASE FESTIVAL

TALK WITH PETER DIMITROV, DIRECTOR OF A TO JAZZ

I first heard about this new showcase from Alkis Zopoglou, who will be attending this first edition as a delegate. Shortly afterwards, Arlette Hovinga passed on information to Mundofonias and we started a conversation. Thanks to her we have these statements from Peter Dimitrov, director of the A to Jazz festival, which was born in 2011. And now, in 2023, it incorporates for the first time what they announce as the “first world music showcase festival in Bulgaria”. I wish them every success and that it will be repeated for many years to come. Within the festival, the showcase will take place on 6 July. The festival will last until day 9th of July and it will take place in Sofia: “South Park II is between Park Center Mall and Swimming complex “Spartak”, along the “Arsenalski” Blvd.” Exactly, here. But let’s leave it to Peter to explain much more.

Mapamundi Música: The showcase “AtoJazz” is announced as “Bulgaria’s first-ever world music showcase, organized by A to JazZ festival, one of the country’s most important annual events, and Upbeat, the European platform for world music”. I think that, besides the name, the festival is not exclusively about jazz, is it? Which is the focus of the festival, or, in other words, what do the different artists that you program have in common?

Peter Dimitrov: Actually, the name of the festival says everything – A to JazZ has always presented diverse music genres – jazz and beyond, blues, world music etc, and we are open to program even more. Our mission is to promote jazz, world, improvised music and other not so popular genres to a new young audience, making this music accessible to more people.

Different artists have in common the most important thing for any artist – the audience. Our audience is one of the things we are most proud of – more than 50 000 people every year enjoy different musicians and cultures from the globe, seeing the festival as a whole experience with different artists, vibes and cultural richness. I can say that the focus of A to JazZ is the magic of the music and the reactions of the audience and the artists are proving this statement. Actually jazz is so broad term and when we say “A to” it gives us great freedom.

When we joined Upbeat – The European showcase platform for world music last year, we believed that this is a great opportunity to show purposefully the richness of the world music and new talents. And here we are – with one additional festival day of the festival which is dedicated to present a fantastic selection of showcase artists. This is the first world music showcase in Bulgaria and one of the just three showcases happened in our country, being the part of our efforts to put back Sofia and Bulgaria on the musical map as an active part of the cultural processes in Europe.

MM: What is Upbeat and what is the relationship between it and your showcase?

PD: Upbeat – The European showcase platform for world music is an alliance of organizations believing in the immense richness of different cultures and their music in particular, and in the future of developing of the genre. That’s why all in Upbeat are working on helping young artists in world music to reach the international scene not only doing showcases for them, but also with education. All our 14 members are professional organizations and festivals such as Budapest Ritmo, Womex, Tallinn Music Week, PIN, Czech Music Crossroads etc., are dedicated in presenting and supporting young musicians. And world and jazz music gives much more cultural diversity than any other genre. Thanks to the financial support of the European Union, Upbeat is like a dream come true, but with many challenges ahead, because of the responsibility we bear to young musicians and the future of the profession. That’s why we are so motivated to support new talents, support of music in original language, sustainability, and strengthening the European network of industry professionals.

MM: The call for applications has been open for artists of world music from Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Georgia, Tunisia and Ukraine. Why these countries? I am especially curious about Tunisia and Georgia, because they are not in the Balkans and they are not in Europe.

PD: A to JazZ Showcase is open for all EU countries plus the ones you mentioned. Tunisia and Georgia are also in the focus of Creative Europe program and we believe that they both are giving more and more cultural diversity when we talk about music. This is the first year of Upbeat platform and our pilot showcase, so we are very strict on our own rules in order to establish a strong and successful Upbeat platform in favor of the artists and the profession.

MM: Do you have the intention of making this showcase event every year?

PD: Absolutely. We don’t need one-off initiatives and events – every success needs accumulation of efforts, energy and knowledge.

MM: Do you think you will include more countries?

PD: Again – absolutely. But as I mentioned above, being a first year of our showcase, we are taking it step by step in the scale we can afford at this stage.

MM: Do you have a definition of “world music”? I ask this because the showcase is addressed to world music artists. I have to say that like the term and I use it (often in plural, “world musics”). I defend it, so thank you.

PD: World music is originating or influenced by the musical traditions of the countries of the whole world, including ethnic, folk, etc. elements, known also as global music. So I am on your side of the defense 🙂

MM: Connected with the previous question. As I am an administrator of Transglobal World Music Chart and I also make Mundofonías radio show, sometimes we receive albums that we consider that are clearly not world music. I even remember once, in a context of emerging bands (this must have been in 2007, it was in Spain), in which there were several categories. The world music award was won by an artist that was much more into jazz. He registered for world music and he won (and the world music artists were quite lacklustre). Are you having this kind of issue, I mean, are you receiving applications of proposals that are clearly not of world music?

PD: This is very important question and the answer is YES – we received dozens of non world music applications…”But why do you define my music as a non-world music, since we use some odd rhythms and using one traditional instrument?”…So, is Sting’s Desert Rose world music? It’s a fine line. And it’s an issue, but we are trying to focus on what is the ratio between the traditional sound and the genre the music is based on, if any. I believe this is the key I to solving this challenge.

MM: In the press release you explain that “successful applicants don’t just get access to panels and training and mentoring sessions, but are offered a travel budget and accommodation”, to keep participation accessible for all. Do you think we are starting a change of approach in this sense, in the field of showcase festivals?

PD: Each festival have its own purposes, rules and reasons for them. The big showcase festivals are real business forums, and if an artist reach a showcase slot there, so this artist goes in a real business situation and can take all the advantages and benefits from them. And if you want to present yourself and to sell your products to the big fishes in the big ocean you have to be ready, well prepared for that. And it costs money. Our music is our own business and we have not only to produce it, but to put it on the market, to promote it and to sell it. I am trumpet player and believe me I’m sure what I am talking about from an artist perspective. To be ready, the best for artists is to go to few smaller showcases before that, to establish their own network, to be already known. It happens step by step. That’s why I can’t say it’s a change of approach, I say “take all benefits you can take before to go to the big ocean, like Upbeat, and prepare yourself. And it may even turn out that you don’t need to go to the big ocean 🙂

MM: Now about the festival, not the showcase. What do you search for in an artist when you program?

PD: Energy, vibe and magic – everything which could connect to our audience of thousands people in the festival park. Nothing specific and very specific and the same time 🙂 The most interesting thing is that we programed some totally unknown artists for the Bulgarian audience such was Ilhan Ersahin’s Istanbul sessions last year and the people gone crazy! Then the amazing show of Roosevelt Collier, who was also unknown here… It was like a stadium rock show, I still can’t believe how passioned and open is our audience. As I mentioned, we are open – the audience is open. We believe in music at all and we don’t focus only on traditional jazz or something like that.

MM: Which are the global objectives of your festival?

PD: To put Bulgaria on the festival and cultural map, being more and more international and to attract audiences, artists and professionals here. And not only – to collaborate closer with the Balkans festivals and organizations in order to make our region stronger in the international market and to act united as a big new market, since we all are underestimated and even discriminated on the field of culture… You can see Bulgarian, Romanian, Greek, Serbian etc. artists on the big European scene, showcase or festival very rare. And everything we do – A to JazZ Festival, showcases, networks, initiatives, etc. is dedicated to this purpose. Bulgaria has huge potential and cultural heritage, and I believe all potential sides could benefit from a future collaboration with us.

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

PD: Of course – work with the intuitions. Here we are still facing some misunderstanding from the institutions of the value of the culture – even beside the cultural and social impact of it. Supporting culture is an investment in the future. You can’t touch it, you can’t eat it, but all people can feel it. And feeling of way of life and its quality. Investment in culture is a long term processes – the results comes in 5 – 10 – 15 years, especially when you educate young people. We have to educate young people, our new audiences and its our obligation. Just to mentioned that we are using public money no more than 22 % of the festival budget, since we developed our own business model to make A to JazZ ecumenically sustainable in the future.

MM: In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival.

PD: As one of the Mezzo TV producer Amos Rosenberg said “It’s a jazz Woodstock”. Open air Love, Youth and Vibes, because of magic of music. It’s a real urban festival culture in Sofia. Looking forward seeing you on 6-9 July at A to JazZ Festival, just 2 hours from your city.

Thank you, Arlette, thank you, Peter!!!
The pictures have been provided by Arlette. The logo is from the festival’s Facebook page.

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CALL FOR ARTISTS FROM ANGOLA

NTWALA OH YEAH! FESTIVAL

A few days I received a WhatsApp from A’mosi Just a Label. It was about a new event, Ntwala Oh Yeah! Festival, to take place in Luanda in June 2-4. It is presented as “an itinerant cultural meetign place among the performing arts, including music, visual arts, spoken word, literature and dance”. Call is addressed to 15 artists from Angola and 10 international artists. Appealing enough to get deeper into it. I have put the brochure that he sent to me, here. I read it and I sent some concrete questions to A’mosi. I recommend you to read if before reading the interview.

And here you are the questions and answers:

Mapamundi Música: What do you offer to the international artists who may want to participate?

A’mosi Just a Label: Since we just starting, we have not budget to cover the artists travel but few professionals. What we have for non local participants artists is the incentive of €1.000 for a group or solo artist. This incentive goes to the locals too.

Mapamundi Música: Will you add them in an artistic residency? Will they have any training, talks, speed dating with professionals…?

A’mosi Just a Label: We have not rooms for many things yet, we starting to build everything. This means that for the time being there’s no such things as residencies, training.
We would have talks but only with the two of our copyrights societies and one non local copyrights society, and one local artist. Plus a space where art professionals and the artists themselves can meet to connect.

Mapamundi Música: What will you cover for them? You mentioned accommodation and meals, but no travel. Is this right? Where would they have to arrive?

A’mosi Just a Label: We have sensitiveness for each living creature in this world, believe me, and we wish we could provide all conditions as required for everyone invited to the festival, but unfortunately we don’t. Therefore we trying to do with little to keep the arts alive in our community.
We currently negotiating with local hotels where everybody could be well-accommodated and have the local transport on time.
Our invitation goes also for those who have the capability of helping us lift up.

Mapamundi Música: In your brochure you mention the participation of international delegates. You say “International delegates participating in each edition of our festival will include RFI, KEXP, Gilles Peterson, Pan African Music, Afropunk and Trace TV, Kaya FM”. What will they do?

A’mosi Just a Label: Let me tell you first that since I have been acknowledged as a person, I have never seen a pure cultural and international festival but entertaining festivals in Angola. Think what am trying to do is something that lots of people wish to see including myself, and am doing it with great effort. You don’t get support for this kind of events everydays in my country. It’s a fantasy in its essence. I have not much, but I have my people backing me up.
My wish is to introduce the Angolan arts to the world. Maybe you should consider my intentions soulful and pragmatic.
These all delegates you see enlisted to the festival, I find them as institutions that can take the name of my people’s art out there, so are the non local artists. The share with them is to accelerate the dynamic of things into the international market.

Mapamundi Música: Who can apply to participate?

A’mosi Just a Label: Only artists of the disciplines mentioned on our catalog.

Mapamundi Música: How can an international artist apply to participate? Is there any procedure?

A’mosi Just a Label: Calls open on march 13 and the submission deadline is April 5. After it we launch them through the international platforms. Candidates to apply are aged 18 to further age. Applications are only accepted through our regular e-mail available on our social media, kononosoularts@gmail.com.
Applicants are advised to follow up on the full completion and delivery of the requested material, as Ntwala Oh Yeah! will not contact applicants if any part of their application is incomplete. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
To apply, applicants should write us and specify the the discipline they interested in applying for.
Applicants must send their EPK/bio in PDF or weblink. Do not hesitate to contact us for any additional questions.

Thank you very much, A’mosi! Success to Ntwala Oh Yeah!

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CULTURAL DIPLOMACY IN WAR TIMES

TALK WITH MARIANA BONDARENKO (JAZZ MUSIC PROGRAMME MANAGER) AND SVITLANA LENCHENKO (HEAD OF MUSIC) OF THE UKRAINIAN INSTITUTE KYIV

On the previous edition I talked with Dartsya Tarkovska, from Music Export Ukraine. The team from the Ukrainian Institute were unable to reach in time because of the complicated situation in the city, with frequent power outages, so this newsletter is open again to a voice from Ukraine. The fateful anniversary has passed and the madness continues… I am glad that Mariana and Svitlana can continue with their activity and thankful for their insights.

According to their own presentation, the Ukrainian Institute Kyiv is a state institution acting in the field of cultural diplomacy. The institution’s activities are aimed at improving the understanding and perception of Ukraine in the world and the development of its cultural ties with other countries. Established by the Government of Ukraine, the Institute operates under the administration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is their website.

I send some questions to them. These are the answers.

Mapamundi Música: What is the current situation for the musicians in Ukraine? Is there still any possibility to make a living by performing for the ones settled in the country?

Mariana Bondarenko (MB): Many musicians have united now to protect our culture and our democracy, they all give numerous benefit concerts in Ukraine and all over the world to spread a word about Ukraine: they played in the subways in Kharkiv to support families with their kids and pets who have been living there already for the first months of the war. Arthub Odesa launched an online music marathon “Cultural power” featuring concerts to support Ukrainian army and refugees fleeing from occupied and dangerous territories. Music battalion started its activity already since 2014 and constantly provides benefit concerts and other initiatives in Ukraine. In Lviv since March Music cultural front was initiated, who started their first activities with jazz concerts at the railway station to support refugees and then organized many live streams from the bomb shelters. Many Ukrainian jazz musicians organize charity concerts all over the world.

For concert venues it has been challenging time, but luckily some jazz clubs reopened already since April in Kyiv, Odesa, Rivne, further also in Chernihiv, Uman, Drohobych. Lviv hosted a lot of musicians from all over Ukraine and thus made it possible to continue making music and performing. It inspired Institute of cultural strategy in Lviv to initiate a new project “relocation” who was premiered in the frame of Jazz Bez festival and engaged musicians from Lviv and other Ukrainian regions like Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa, and others. Our brave festival organizers managed to make real wonders and held Kyiv Bouquet Stage, jubilee Art Jazz Festival in Rivne and Jazz Bez in Lviv, Przemysl, Rivne and Uman with international line-up. Music has never stopped – whether on the stages, during sirens or in the bomb shelters, it keeps people alive and gives hope. CDs are being released despite all the struggles musicians are facing now.

For those musicians who have been working for cultural institutions or music schools, academies etc., it has remained the main source of their income. For freelance musicians it has become a real challenge, as after difficult Covid-times with online concerts that were not that much successful as one could imagine in the very beginning, the full-scale invasion has completely changed the way of life for many of them. Some had to leave Ukraine and look for new perspectives abroad, some others tried to find some new gigs, a lot of them went to Ukrainian army and changed their music instruments to weapons. Unfortunately, there are also quite many musicians who have left their main occupation and had to look for new jobs in other spheres of life, as they were not able to continue to play music and live for that.

Svitlana Lenchenko (SL): Many concert halls and clubs are not able to organize events in times of war, especially after the missile attacks that damaged power line infrastructure and caused the blackout. But still, there are events, concerts and activities of the Ukrainian musicians taking place not only in Kyiv, but almost in every town and even in de-occupied Kherson. Most of these are dedicated to fundraising, and many have been done without electricity. The use of generators for concerts and rehearsals has become a regular occurrence for the Ukrainian music scene.

In addition, many promotional groups and concert agencies have gone out of business because it is not manageable now to invite international guests to the event in Ukraine, not many artists took up the challenge and came to Ukraine in 2022. However, it turns out that Ukrainian musicians are in the spotlight and the public is very appreciative of the opportunity to attend the concert, listen to Ukrainian music, spend some pleasant time and of course make a donation to the Ukrainian army, which is almost everywhere included in the entrance fee.

Mapamundi Música: The mission of your organization is “Strengthening Ukraine internationally and domestically as a subject using the tools of cultural diplomacy. We promote better knowledge and understanding of Ukraine internationally, and develop cultural relations between Ukraine and other countries.” Since the beginning of the war, have you had to rethink your objectives, your way of working, your messages or any other issues, to keep on with that mission? In what way?

MB: UI is a young institution, this year it will celebrate its first 5th anniversary. So, the mission we formulated has started to realize in challenging times: 2020 and 2021 of COVID and then 2022 the start of the full-scale invasion of Russia. Since 24th February we faced the situation that our budget for programmes was fully frozen, and having an actioned-packed programme ahead without any budget we had to fully restructure our programmes and the way of work. Luckily, our European partners gave us a helping hand and many of the planned events still took place. Moreover, we had to put focus on advocacy of Ukrainian identity in culture, showing our country as an independent and free democracy that tries to get rid of colonization by Russia.

One of our tasks is also to show art and culture in the war, as many of our artists have left their main occupation and went to defend their country with weapons in their hands: we first presented at WOMEX an exhibition “Ukrainian jazzmen at war”. Now the exhibition is in Warsaw and then will be exhibited at Budapest Ritmo and at jazzahead! Since the beginning of the year Ukrainian Institute is also working on this topic and is looking for the stories from different spheres of culture.

SL: After Feb 24th, we officially asked our international partners for solidarity and support and called them to put on pause collaboration with Russian cultural scene until the end of the war they began, to suspend Russian participation in international cultural events such as festivals, biennials, exhibitions, art and literature fairs, to cancel any cooperation with Russian artists, and to help Ukraine by stopping any cultural cooperation with the Russian Federation and communicate their decision publicly. So that became one of our key messages, together with our strategic objectives and programme priorities that didn’t change very much – the representation of Ukrainian culture and the strengthening of Ukraine’s voice had already been our baseline.

Mapamundi Música: Have you noticed a greater interest on the international scene in your proposals? If so, has it been sustained over time, now that a year has passed?

SL: Now, one year after the start of the full-scale invasion, we can say that the solidarity shown by the international partners was really enormous. In addition to the projects which had been planned beforehand, there have been numerous new requests and enquiries from representatives of the international music industry to advise Ukrainian participants of different musical genres to take part in the festivals, concerts, panel discussions, interviews, etc and to programme their performances. Our team did not only succeed in implementing the plans, but also in organizing a series of new events and collaborations.

As for the interest in our proposals and the Ukrainian context generally – I think now it’s not just a sign of solidarity with the people of Ukraine, but it is also a matter of discovering the diversity of Ukrainian music and reinforcing its international positions.

MB: One of the most important partnerships we gained last year is the one with Europe Jazz Network that succeeded in further projects and initiatives:
– the interactive list of Ukrainian musicians who had to leave the country since the beginning of war, was published on EJN website and spread among all their members, in such way helping them gaining more visibility among international actors of jazz industry.
– joining Jazz Panorama programme adding Ukrainian jazz guide on EJN website.
– we also took part at EJN conference as delegates at the official opening ceremony with the concert of experimental duo of Dennis Adu and Koloah.

We have started a big chapter of cooperation with Swedish partners. We are greatful to our friends Musikcentrum Öst who provided residence for Ukrainian musicians and composers staying in Stockholm. Special thanks to Semente Cultural Productions in Stockholm for 2 big joint projects: first participance of Ukrainian jazz bands at 5^th International Women Jazz Festival in Stockholm with the focus on Ukraine that is a real statement and great sign of solidarity. We also will have a collaboration project DUETS concert series by Ukrainian bandurist Georgy Matviyiv with Swedish drummer and percussionist Peter Danemo.

Thanks to cooperation with Knutpunkt, there was a unique possibility for 2 UA bands who participated at International Women Jazz Festival to make a #standwithukraine tour from 9th to 12th March in 5 Swedish cities.

In 2022, Ukrainian Institute together with jazzahead! team also initiated first official participance of Ukraine at jazzahead! in Bremen featuring the first Ukrainian national stand, delegation at the conference as well as concerts by Ukrainian musicians. The first printed music catalogue “Jazz from Ukraine” was also presented there. It was a really historic moment, as all Ukrainian jazz community has dreamt about it for ages.

Fruitful work and negotiations at jazzahead! has succeeded with the first official Ukrainian delegation at WOMEX with national stand, exhibition, film screening, participance at the conference networking sessions and concert of Ukrainian-canadian band Balaklava Blues.

Mapamundi Música: Could you recommend any online resources to get deeper into Ukrainian culture?

MB: Here are some links that we gathered with our team that could be interesting for you:

- Introductory course «Ukraine: History, Culture, and Identities» developed by the Ukrainian Institute, educational studio EdEra, and the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, offered on Coursera
- Ukrainian Culture : Understanding the Country and Its People online course on Udemy
- Online course “Crimea: History and People“
- Timothy Snyder: The Making of Modern Ukraine, Yale University course
- Timothy Snyder: Germany’s Historical Responsibility For Ukraine
- Ukrainian-German historical dialogues – 4 seminars organised by the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance and Bamberg:UA (Deutsch)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy
- English-language podcast “Explaining Ukraine”
- Ukraïnica – a database and syllabus-building tool to help you teach Ukraine created by The Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI)
- Forum for Ukrainian Studies
- Ukraїner a platform of information about events in Ukraine
- Websites ukraine.ua and https://war.ukraine.ua/ both created by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Ukrainian Institute.

SL: As a sign of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, you can receive scores of music pieces by Ukrainian composers and perform them in support of Ukraine in your city. Here you can find scores of ukrainian composers, that could fits to your programme better: https://ukrainianlive.org/ukrainian-scores

Ukrainian music, like the entire Ukrainian culture, is unique and has a very ancient history.
Explore 10 pieces of Ukrainian classical music:

1. Mykola Leontovych – Shchedryk, 1916 – youtu.be/Giukato3LI8
2. Mykola Lysenko – Overture to ‘Taras Bulba’ opera, 1880-1890 – youtu.be/bv7gm3cf8Bw
3. Boris Lyatoshinsky – Symphony No. 3, 1st edition, 1950 – youtu.be/c3abzxh_1hU
4. Yevhen Stankovych – Chamber Symphony № 3, 1982 – youtu.be/DmLIAHqJ-gg
5. Myroslav Skoryk – Hutsul Triptych, 1964 – youtu.be/Ji1p_nRPZ5Y
6. Svyatoslav Lunyov — ‘Tutti’ for large symphony orchestra, 2005 – youtu.be/YOTIHdRe3GY
7. Alla Zagaykevych — ‘Air mechanics’, 2005 – bit.ly/3M0s41O
8. Maxym Shalygin — Symphony for solo violin ‘Letters to Anna’, 2009–2010 – youtu.be/AWMapadMp2s
9. Leonid Hrabovsky — ‘Credo’, 2019 – bit.ly/3JB5vz5
10. Valentyn Sylvestrov – Symphony №5, 1980-1982 – youtu.be/Byb6yMR_PfM

Explore these modern music projects inspired by Ukrainian culture, history, and nature:

1. Dakha Braha – Monakh – youtu.be/aFJ717atqaw
2. Alyona Alyona – Pushka – bit.ly/3x0WfBJ
3. Jamala – 1944 – youtu.be/wNECV2h-y58
4. Onuka – Svitanok – youtu.be/PXXPInypdhY
5. Eve8 – Ukrainian Castles – bit.ly/3uO1qlH
6. Go_A – Shum – youtu.be/lqvzDkgok_g
7. Artbat – Live for Cercle – youtu.be/hENgrbIMiy4
8. Heinali – Madrigals – bit.ly/3u2TdLj
9. Kazka – Plakala – youtu.be/5Fv19KVVya8

Mapamundi Música: Do you have any request to the international community, specially the one related to music?

SL: First of all – we ask the international community to suspend all your projects that involve Russian institutions and individuals and not engage in any cooperation with Russian culture sector.
Today, Ukraine’s musical scene is highly fragile and unstable. It is truly important to showcase and support Ukrainian artists, bands, musicians and producers. Many of them lost their income, and the war tour schedule is something that is incomprehensible.

Our modern, classical, jazz and indie music must become more recognizable at the international level, so helping us with building cultural ties and representing our music is a strong act of support in this day and age.

MB: We would be happy to proceed with the Extra Sound programme elaborated by Ukrainian Institute – it’s a long-lasting programme that foresees participance of Ukrainian musicians in international key music events (showcases, festivals and other initiatives) to provide intercultural dialogue between Ukraine and the world. So, we are inviting international music festival organizers to include Ukrainian musicians in their programmes.

We are also looking forward to music media cooperation. It is important that Ukrainian music is presented in radio, TV shows. Special thanks to Mapamundi for this interest to Ukrainian music and our situation now, and your professional approach. I am really happy these materials will be spread among your audience. We are ready to provide professional audience with information on music in Ukraine, music in the wartime, artistic proposals, and further information needed to help better understanding UA culture in order to provide intense international collaborations among musicians, cooperation on institutional level and finding partnerships among festivals, concert venues and other representatives of music industry.

Mapamundi Música: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

MB: On behalf of all representatives of Ukrainian music sector I would like to thank to all our partners and friends abroad who have their open hearts and are willing to support us, to cooperate and to see Ukraine not as a victim, but a sustainable partner to continue professional intercultural dialogue between our countries. I strongly believe in cultural diplomacy, altogether we will definitely win.

Thank you very much, Mariana and Svitlana!

The portraits are from the website of the Ukrainian Institute.

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CALL FOR CONTENTS FROM #AUXSONS

I recently had a chat with the #AuxSons team. They define it as “a collaborative, militant and solidary web media”. It was a very interesting conversation and I think they will be making important news in the near future.

For now, I just wanted to let you know that this is a really collaborative media and I think it might be of interest to many readers. You have a section with record releases. I know I am read by artists, managers and labels, so it might be of interest to you to publish record releases.

You can register and the registration is checked manually. The publication is also subject to moderation. I’ve just registered and will be experimenting soon so I may be talking about #AuxSons again soon.

Angèle Cossée, from the editorial team, sent me some instructions to share with you:

“#AuxSons is French collaborative media shining light on worldwide music. You can create an account on our plateforme and contribute with article proposals to give visibility to your projects. We then moderate the submitted content before publishing them, and sharing on our social media and newsletter, if they comply with our specifications and our editorial line. Here’s how it works:

– « News » : presentation of initiatives or singular, innovative projects / presentation of the artistic direction of a festival / presentation of a recent clip (published in the current month or so)
1. create an account on #AuxSons if you have not already done so: https://www.auxsons.com/en/sign-up/
2. once the account is validated, log in: https://www.auxsons.com/en/connexion/
3. go to: https://www.auxsons.com/en/contribute/ / click on the green button “Publish News”, enter title, text, image etc.
4. click on the yellow button “Submit post” for moderation

– « New Releases » : presentation of a recent distributed album or EP (published in the past 6 months)
1. create an account on #AuxSons if you have not already done so: https://www.auxsons.com/en/sign-up/
2. once the account is validated, log in: https://www.auxsons.com/en/connexion/
3. go to: https://www.auxsons.com/en/contribute/ / click on the red button “Publish New Release”, enter title, text, image etc.
4. click on the yellow button “Submit post” for moderation.

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

Two recent editions of Mundofonías have been dedicated to productions made by Kutay Derin Kuğay. This is the first one and this is the second one. In addition to being a panelist on Transglobal World Music Chart and doing his Music of the World Istanbul program on Acik Radyo 95.0 FM, he is owner & director of 7/8 Music Productions Label since 1996. In Istanbul, he gave me a bunch of the CDs he produced and we made a review of those wonderful musics. Likewise, the Kutay Derin Kuğay Collection at the University of California Santa Barbara consists of 429 Turkish and Greek 78rpm recordings spanning the period between 1906 and 1963. Learn more about it, here.

#1 for Transglobal World Music Chart in March 2023 is: Mostar Sevdah Reunion’s album Lady Sings the Balkan Blues, edited by Snail Records.

Mundofonías: our three favourites of the month are Kaira, by Bassidi Koné, Balkan Grooves, by Trio Grekow / Peev / Tsvyatkov, and The Sound of the Soul, by Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya.

UPDATE ON THE EUROPEAN FOLK DAY

The project is co-funded by the MusicAIRE programme. MusicAIRE is a European Music Council/Inova initiative with funds from the European Union – see more details of the programme awards here.

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

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OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

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

MUM, 7th Professional Conference on Music in Extremadura in Mérida. Call open for professionals who want to attend. NEW IN THIS NEWSLETTER. It will take place in Mérida, Badajoz, Spain, on April 13-15. The information is in Spanish but it is open to international professionals too. This is the website. And this is the application form. For some kinds of professional they provide the accomodation and several meals, as well as the access to the professional events, but not the transportation to Mérida.

Mercat de Música Viva de Vic (MMVV): call for proposals open (for any music genres except classical). NEW IN THIS NEWSLETTER. MMVV’s 35th edition will take place in Vic (Barcelona) from September 13th-16th. This is their website. The artist registration period is open until March 31st, here. Artists will need to sign up and create a profile, as well as provide the required information. In the case of not having an management company, artists can fill in the gap with their own name. This is a relevant information for the artists and managers who make a proposal: “As been usual in the last editions of the MV, we work to offer two different program lines. For one hand, we have the MV PRO Catalan Arts! showcases which are addressed to professionals attending the fair so as to promote the booking of the new releases of the season. And for another hand, we have the Festival program, which includes proposals for general audience at the outdoors stages of Plaça Major and Zona Esportiva, on Friday and Saturday night. […] The artistic direction will select around 70 proposals based on the following selection criteria:
· Premiere of the performance or new album release.
· Identity, artistic risk and career of the artist/band.
· Experience and soundness of the artist management company.
· Economical and technical viability of the proposal.
· Definition of objectives (market, bookers profile…) and explanations about why is important for that project to be part of the program of MMVV.”

PIN International Music Conference. NEW IN THIS NEWSLETTER. It will take place in Skopje, North Makedonia, November 24-26. The call for applications is open until April 15th, here. I will bring some useful information from the submission website: “For musicians, the opportunity to perform at PIN can be invaluable. It offers a chance to showcase their talent in front of a diverse audience of music industry professionals, including agents, managers, bookers, and promoters. Additionally, the conference provides opportunities for musicians to network and learn from experienced industry experts, as well as attend informative panels and workshops.
In the past 9 years we’ve hosted the most amazing and knowledgeable delegates from Exit, Pohoda, Sziget, Glastonbury and so on and so far. The venue has been turned upside down and back to normal from Molchat Doma, Trio Mandili, Buena Vista Social Klub, Grupo Compay Secundo, The Guru Guru, Extraliscio, Mambo Kurt and it is an amazing chance for you to present your music in front of our audience.“

SoAlive Music Conference. NEW IN THIS NEWSLETTER. It will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria, on October 19-21. It is a Balkan focused music conference & showcase festival. On their website they give many interesting reasons to apply. For instance: “Touring on the Balkans is actually much easier and more reliable than people would expect. Starting in Sofia, which has a major international airport in the centre of the Balkans and is a 3 to 6 hour drive to most major cities in the region, you are looking at a perfect routing for a 2 weeks tour.” The showcase application period is open until April 30th, 23:59 CEST. This is the website of the application.

Visa for Music. NEW IN THIS NEWSLETTER. “From November 22 to 25, 2023, will be held in Rabat, the 10th edition of the first festival and professional market of music from Africa and the Middle East! This year, about thirty artists and groups from Africa and the Middle East will be selected by a jury composed of professionals from the culture and music world. The deadline for submitting applications is April 1, 2023! For more information, please contact us directly at vfmshowcase@gmail.com” To apply, fill in this form.

EXIB. NEW IN THIS NEWSLETTER. It will take place in Setubal, Portugal, on October 19-21. It is focused in Iberian countries and Latin America. Some relevant info from their application website: “EXIB Música is an exhibition of Ibero-American music, a platform for the encounter, circulation and dissemination of the musical diversity present in Portugal, Spain, Latin America, Central America and the Caribbean to Europe and the world. […] Upon confirmation of participation, the selected musical project will receive a stipend to support accommodation and subsistence expenses for artists. The organisation of the EXPO is not responsible for any investment and/or extra expenses beyond the stipend offered at the time of confirming participation. We expressly state that EXIB Música does not cover national or international transfers. […] Up to 20 artistic proposals will be selected and will be communicated before May 15, 2023 via email to the email addresses provided at the time of registration to this call. The curatorship of the IX Edition of EXIB Música will be in charge of a Curatorial Committee headed by 1 member of the EXIB Música team; 1 member of RedPem (Red de Periodistas Musicales de Iberoamérica) and 1 representative of the Portuguese music community“. The application is open until March 27th at 23:59 Portuguese time.

Atlantic Music Expo. NEW IN THIS NEWSLETTER. “The music professionals meeting for Cabo Verde, Africa, and all sides of the Atlantic”. Registration for Delegates and Stands is open. This is this website for the registration. Deadline: 7th April. It will take place from 10 to 13 of April in Praia, Cabo Verde. “Over eight editions, AME has become a powerful think tank around topics such as creolization, the role of culture in development, advocacy for the African music sector, reinforcing transatlantic music exchanges, and more. The 2019 edition drew over 370 happy delegates from 30 countries to Praia.”

Circulart. NEW IN THIS NEWSLETTER. “Circulart/ElPauer has opened its call for the 14th edition of the market. […] This year it will have a programme from 4 to 7 Performing Arts and Music from 8 to 11.” The call is open for showcases of music from anywhere but the international ones are considered “special guests”, that means under the colaboration with governments or institutions. It is also open for the “business meetings”, for artists, agencies and record labels. For more information and applications (deadline: April 18th), click here.

WOMEX 2023: call for proposals open. WOMEX will take place in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, from 25 to 29 October 2023. The application for Showcases, Club Summit, Conference & Mentoring and Films is open until midnight Friday, 17 March 2023 (CET), here.

A SMALL SPACE FOR MAPAMUNDI’S PROPOSALS

I do not usually incorporate promotional content in this newsletter. On this occasion I am going to do so because I have several issues that make me particularly happy.

1. Vigüela has a new line up. Luis García Valera has been in the group since the beginning of 2017 until late 2022. I wish him all the best with his other initiatives and with the school of traditional music that he leads in the Sierra Norte de Madrid. Vigüela now includes veterans Juan Antonio Torres, Mari Nieto and Carmen Torres, David Mollón, who joined at the beginning of 2020, and now also Jonatan Mateos, who plays violin and hurdy-gurdy. Both are a new generation of musicians, with a solid academic background and an obsession bordering on madness when it comes to traditional music and its deepest intricacies.

This photo was taken in Huelva (Andalusia), in the replica of the Pinta caravel, one of the four that Christopher Columbus sailed in search of India. It was last February 17th, before Jonatan’s first concert with the band.

If you don’t know Vigüela yet, I invite you to watch this video recorded live for the Library of Congress.

2. The Ali Doğan Gönültaş’s website is ready in its English version. Well, I could actually highlight other events that make me very happy about him, such as the concerts we have confirmed in Europe this coming summer, which I will report on specifically at a later date. In the meantime, I invite you to learn more about it and, if you like it, at Contact you have a form to sign up for the emailing of news and exclusive announcements for subscribers.

3. Hudaki Village Band, crossing Europe next Summer. The wonderful Ukrainian band continue working and bringing the call of their land to everywhere where they are wanted. They will perform in Ibiza on 1st of July, in which will be their second concert in Spain. And in the mid of the month they will be crossing Europe. They have dates available!!! Contact me.

MEET ME AT

Will we meet? Drop me a line!

23-25 March 2023, Babel Music XP.
13-18 April. I will return to Istanbul for the new date of the concert by Ali that was postponed because of the earthquake.
28 June – 2 July 2023, Czeck Music Crossroads, Ostrava.

WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS

Mapamundi Música is an agency of management and booking. Learn more here. Check our proposals at our website.

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.

Category Archives: Monthly newsletters

Summary 👇

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: ARLETTE HOVINGA, OR “THAT JAZZ GIRL”

TRANSGLOBAL WORLD MUSIC HALL OF FAME Inductees in 2023

+ FESTIVALS AWARD

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

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

OPEN CALLS

PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

MY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR

WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS

POST-WOMEX CORUÑA

WE ARE HIRING

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: MEHDI AMINIAN, FROM ROOTS REVIVAL

TRANSGLOBAL WORLD MUSIC HALL OF FAME Period for nominations, open until 26th November

THE NEWS THAT MADE ME HAPPY: The 1st album by Mapamundi Musica Record Label, Kiğı, by Ali Doğan Gönültaş Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik: Quarterly Best » 4/2023, Traditional Ethnic Music

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

OPEN CALLS

PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

MEET ME AT

Summary 👇

Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música | +34 676 30 28 82

INTRODUCING MADRID WORLD MUSIC (MWM), A NEW CONCERT SERIES, BY MADRESIERRA

VISA FOR MUSIC WILL TAKE PLACE: RABAT 22-25 NOVEMBER

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:

SAID CHAOUCH, FROM WORLDMUSIC OASIS

UPBEAT PLATFORM: BEST NEW TALENT AWARD FOR ZARINA PRVASEVDA

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

Reminder TALK AT WOMEX: RESHAPING THE NARRATIVE

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

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

MEET ME AT

Summary 👇

A&A MUSIC BOOKING, JOINT VENTURE BETWEEN MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA AND ASYA MUSIC & MANAGEMENT

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: LUDOVICO ESPOSITO

UPDATE ABOUT BABEL MUSIC XP FROM ITS DIRECTOR, OLIVIER REY

Update EUROPEAN FOLK DAY

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

Reminder

TALK AT WOMEX: RESHAPING THE NARRATIVE

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

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

MEET ME AT

WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: IMED ALIBI

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

Reminder TALK AT WOMEX: RESHAPING THE NARRATIVE

Update EUROPEAN FOLK DAY

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

MEET ME AT

WHO WE ARE AND SISTER PROJECTS

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: NABIL CANAAN

BEST NEW TALENT AWARD 2023, BY UPBEAT PLATFORM

TALK AT WOMEX: RESHAPING THE NARRATIVE. GENDER, AUTHORITY AND NEW APPROACHES TO MUSIC JOURNALISM

A PERSONAL FAREWELL TO MAD SHEER KHAN

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

MEET ME AT

Summary 👇

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: DANIEL ROSENBERG

NEW RECORD LABEL: MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA RECORDS

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

UPDATE ON THE EUROPEAN FOLK DAY

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

NEXT WEEK IN OSTRAVA… AND WHERE TO FIND ME AFTER MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA, IN CHARGE OF THE SPANISH PARTICIPATION AS PARTNERING COUNTRY IN THE CZECH MUSIC CROSSROADS

Next week I will be traveling to Ostrava for the Czech Music Crossroads. It will be the third time I attend this event, and the first time I have my own artists participating. This year, Mapamundi Música is bringing Spain as the guest country, with three of our artists.

AND AFTER OSTRAVA:

MEET ME AT

Summary 👇

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: ANDREA DEL FAVERO, FROM FOLKEST

A NEW NETWORK IS BORN: RETE ITALIANA DELLA WORLD MUSIC

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

UPDATE ON THE EUROPEAN FOLK DAY

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

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA, IN CHARGE OF THE SPANISH PARTICIPATION AS PARTNERING COUNTRY IN THE CZECH MUSIC CROSSROADS

MEET ME AT

Summary 👇

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:
ARLETTE HOVINGA, OR “THAT JAZZ GIRL”

TRANSGLOBAL WORLD MUSIC HALL OF FAME
Inductees in 2023

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:
MEHDI AMINIAN, FROM ROOTS REVIVAL

TRANSGLOBAL WORLD MUSIC HALL OF FAME
Period for nominations, open until 26th November

THE NEWS THAT MADE ME HAPPY:
The 1st album by Mapamundi Musica Record Label, Kiğı, by Ali Doğan Gönültaş Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik: Quarterly Best » 4/2023, Traditional Ethnic Music

Reminder
TALK AT WOMEX: RESHAPING THE NARRATIVE

Update
EUROPEAN FOLK DAY

Reminder
TALK AT WOMEX: RESHAPING THE NARRATIVE

Update
EUROPEAN FOLK DAY

NEXT WEEK IN OSTRAVA… AND WHERE TO FIND ME AFTER
MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA, IN CHARGE OF THE SPANISH PARTICIPATION AS PARTNERING COUNTRY IN THE CZECH MUSIC CROSSROADS

AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR:
ANDREA DEL FAVERO, FROM FOLKEST

A NEW NETWORK IS BORN:
RETE ITALIANA DELLA WORLD MUSIC