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

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

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New record label: Mapamundi Música Records 🥳

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Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects

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

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

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

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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.

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.

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

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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: 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.

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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. 

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NEW RECORD LABEL: MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA RECORDS

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🔹🔸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:

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.

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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.

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.