Summary 👇  Editorial. Easter, Babel Music XP and LiveMX Talk with Juan Antonio Vázquez, (Mundofonías, Transglobal World Music Chart, LíMUR, Mil Mundos…) Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects Open calls: Ntwala Oh Yeah!, Premio Andrea Parodi, So Alive Music Conference, Visa for Music, Mercat de Música Viva de Vic Meet me at ✈️

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Hello, how are you?

I hope well. I am. Starting the week prior to Babel Music XP, that will take place from 28th to 30th of March. The dates for this year’s event in Marseille coincide with Catholic Holy Week. In Spain, it’s a time of vacations and/or processions, with many traditions, such as those related to food. During mourning days, meat is not eaten. A typical dish during this time is “potaje,” made with chickpeas, spinach, and desalted cod. And, of course, plenty of typical sweets, like “torrijas,” which are stale bread from previous days soaked in sugar, milk, and cinnamon, then fried in olive oil.

In terms of music, during the processions, sometimes brass and percussion bands play. Other processions are silent. In some places, devout believers sing “saetas” as the images (which are statues on an adorned pedestal, carried on the shoulders of faithful believers) pass by. Saetas are verses sung a capella, about the suffering of Christ and the Virgin Mary. Sometimes they also have social or political criticism, including it subtly. Here’s one sung by Mari Nieto de Vigüela.

Whether you’re religious or not, a procession in Spain in a city with a tradition of them can be a very powerful experience that I recommend.

But this year, I won’t be able to attend. I’ll be in Marseille from Wednesday to Sunday of next week. We call it “Resurrection Sunday.”.

As I write these lines, I am waiting for the outcome of the first call for proposals from LiveMX, a grant initiative under the framework of Music Moves Europe. We from the European Folk Network, of which I am part of the board, have applied. And the publication of the results is imminent. I am very anxious about it because, if we succeed, we will carry out a spectacular project. The second call for this grant is announced for May 2024. The objective of this LiveMX project is “to help the sector develop and strengthen its skills, abilities, processes, and resources to adapt and thrive in such a dynamic industry.” And it is focused on three specific topics: Music export, Live Music venues, and Digital circulation and engagement. The conditions of this grant are very good. You can check the details at https://livemx.eu/. I hope to bring good news in next month’s edition regarding the application of the European Folk Network.

In this edition, for the first time, I feature a specialized journalist as the protagonist. Juan Antonio Vázquez has been promoting world music through media outlets for over 30 years. You may already be familiar with some of his activities, but here he shares with us the vision behind his work and how he has created initiatives from scratch when necessary.

I remind you once again that this newsletter is open, free of charge, to content of relevance for the global community involved in one way or another in world musics. Contact me if you have something to share. And if you are coming to Babel Music XP, see you there!

Enjoy the read!

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:

JUAN ANTONIO VÁZQUEZ. Specialiced journalist (Mundofonías, Transglobal World Music Chart, Mil Mundos…)

I have Juan Antonio Vázquez very close at hand. However, that doesn’t make him any less interesting, and he is the first person I interviewed here with his profile, that is to say, whose main activity related to music is media dissemination. His career is very long and prolific. If you don’t know yet, I’ll tell you that I work with him on Mundofonías, and he is also one of the three administrators and founders of the Transglobal World Music Chart. Mapamundi Música also started with him. Juan Antonio also has other initiatives in which I do not collaborate, such as the program Mil Mundos, which he hosts on Radio Clásica, one of the channels of Radio Nacional de España (Spanish National Radio). And, as I mentioned in the previous edition, he has just launched LIMúR, of which I am one of the panelists.

Juan Antonio is one of the people with the greatest commitment and generosity in everything he does regarding world music. I hope delving into his trajectory and vision is of interest to you.

Mapamundi Música: Why do you do this? Why are you engaged in the dissemination of world musics?

Juan Antonio Vázquez: I’ve always been drawn to and interested in folk music, authentic music that arises from the people. These are the kinds of music that have been generated by communities and, at the same time, have served to build community. They were there before musical tastes became generalized. In other words, they were music for everyone, not just for fans of a particular style, because they reflected the feelings and wishes of the people. I say “the people” in this case, instead of “peoples,” in plural, because those feelings and wishes, those sorrows and joys, those experiences and concerns are universal, common to everyone, to anyone. They belong to the people, wherever you may be.

In the world we live in, the tradition of the planet’s cultures has largely been broken, and connectedly, there’s been a consolidation of the cult of particular musical tastes, fostered by the music market to sell its products, and also by the need for self-identification of followers of a particular style or artist. We’ve moved from a time when communities cultivated their music without conceiving that someone might not like it, because it was intertwined with their daily lives, to a fragmentation where identities and communities are no longer built based on coexistence or proximity, but on gregarious identification.

Given this situation, one might think that the appreciation for so-called world music is just one among the various musical tastes one can choose from. Hence the origin of the label “world music” as a “file under” category, so that this music has a specific and differentiated location in record stores where fans can find it. But appreciating this music can be more enriching than just being a follower of a musical style: it can help one discover that, as it arises from the people and those common, universal drives and feelings, it can therefore be felt as one’s own, if one allows it. And from that sense of connection, one can enjoy even more the infinite diversity and richness of its forms and expressions.

When does this magic happen? For me, certainly, it’s not when one tries to dress up, sweeten, simplify, or “make accessible” these folk-rooted music, by coating them with the already known and overused formulas and aesthetics of commercial music. This doesn’t mean advocating for a purism that is scandalized when the codes of traditional music are transgressed. On the contrary, when such transgression, experimentation, or blending is done from the heart, from an honest desire for creation and exploration by musicians, the results can be marvellous and open up new musical universes. This has constantly happened throughout history, with musicians traveling from one place to another, carrying the names of instruments and musical styles from one end of the globe to the other, learning from here, drawing from there, and incorporating all of it into their music.

So, my stance is, let’s say, belligerent, in the sense that it takes sides in that latent war between music and attitudes that arise from the common (albeit expressed in its enormous diversity), the authentic, the alive, the honest, as opposed to disposable music, designed as a mere product, manufactured for mere consumption, to pass the time, and meanwhile, nothing happens in your life. Yes, of course, beautiful non-musical things can happen while you listen to it: you can fall in love, a couple can kiss, but nothing worthwhile on the musical plane.

MM: Which do you consider are the values in the international community that deals with these musics?

JAV: This community brings together people with very diverse interests. Some are there just to sell their product, but the very characteristics of these musics that I mentioned before, and the way they can serve to forge bonds between very diverse people, mean that among those of us who dedicate ourselves to them, there are more people with open and supportive sensibilities than in other sectors. Values like fighting against racism, sexism, wars, climate catastrophe, global inequality, or in favor of indigenous peoples, impoverished communities, and the defense of cultural and linguistic richness abound. In other words, they end up being political stances, against injustice and uniformity. These common points also generate a certain feeling of affinity or brotherhood among those of us who are involved in these musics in one way or another.

MM: When did you begin to make it? I mean, which was your first experience?

JAV: My first forays into radio were, oh, back in 1986, doing internships at a generalist station, although I started introducing music that wasn’t very common on those airwaves, mainly Iberian folk. Shortly after, I started doing my own programs on free radios in Madrid, like Onda Verde, where for several years in the 90s, I did the program “Insospechópolis.” Also in the early nineties, I wrote my first reviews and articles in the press, in the magazine Música Global.

MM: Explain the following steps, how has your career developed, what else have you done?

JVA: My first professional experience in radio (meaning, getting paid) was at Efe Radio, the radio service of the Agencia Efe, an important news agency. For over four years, between 1994 and 1998, I produced the program “Levando Anclas,” which was broadcast on many Spanish municipal stations and also, for some seasons, in Latin America and the United States. I had submitted a demo to make a program called “Con Efe de Folk” (With F for folk). They didn’t like the idea, but they liked how I did it, so they proposed I make a program “with all kinds of music.” Over time, I managed to dedicate the weekend editions to roots music from around the world.

At the same time, I continued to collaborate with different magazines, such as World Music 1, Popular 1, Tierra, Rock Sounds, Batonga!, Ritmos del Mundo, Interfolk… I also remained involved in the world of free radios, doing political programs, but never neglecting musical ones, like “El Embolao,” with Rafa Ruiz, which started on Onda Latina and continued on Radio Resistencia, a libertarian station, in the authentic sense of the word, that we set up from scratch as an assembly collective. From the marvellous experiences of those times, emerged much of the inspiration for the book published years later by the writer and, at the time, comrade-in-waves, Conchi Moya: “Sin Pedir Permiso” (Without Asking Permission).

In 2001, I started doing “Mapamundi”… The name rings a bell, huh. It was on Radio Círculo, the station of the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. At first, I did it alone, but in 2006 Araceli Tzigane joined, that’s you, kind interviewer. Basically, it’s the same program we’ve been doing until now, 23 years later: two hours a week with the most wonderful music from around the planet. Only, since 2009, the program changed its name to “Mundofonías,” when it started broadcasting on Radio Exterior, the international channel of Radio Nacional de España (RNE). The reason for this change was that, at that time, we began to organize live music activities, promoting concerts and musical cycles, so when we entered the state public radio, we preferred to differentiate both endeavors using different names.

On Radio Exterior, “Mundofonías” aired between 2009 and 2012. It was a pleasure to develop our work there, thanks to the support of colleagues in the house like María Eulate, whose program “Travesías” we had started doing a small weekly section on, and Josefina Benéitez, who was the director of Radio Exterior at the time. In November 2012, without prior notice, a new director, whose name I prefer not to remember, decided that our program should not continue. It was the time when institutional promotion of the so-called “Marca España” (Spain Brand) was desired, and according to him, this consisted of playing exclusively Spanish music. Our arguments to defend the continuity of the program seemed convincing: what better “Marca España” than having a quality and reference program dedicated to music from around the world, like those you can find in prestigious similar radio services, such as Radio France Internationale or BBC World. Or that our program was the most demanded to be broadcast on other stations, based on the collaboration and exchange agreements they had signed with RNE, and some of them had indeed signed to be able to broadcast our program…

But no, there was no way or reason that could work. But we didn’t want to stop doing “Mundofonías.” So we contacted the stations that were already broadcasting it, under those agreements with RNE, to offer it to them for free as an independent production, and they all said yes. Thus, “Mundofonías” continued, airing on Radio UNAM in Mexico City, as well as on other university stations in Latin America; on Multicult.fm in Berlin; on free radios, like the Galician Rádio Filispim, etc. Shortly after, we returned to the airwaves of Radio Círculo in Madrid and, since then, we have continued to add stations, up to fifty currently, in eighteen countries. Our philosophy since leaving Radio Exterior has been to offer this content as a free and public service for non-profit stations, by prior agreement: cultural, associative, community, educational stations…

MM: Please, explain each of the activities you are currently developing. The radio shows, Transglobal WMC… anything else?

JVA: Apart from “Mundofonías,” whose evolution I’ve already explained in broad strokes, I continue to do programs on Radio Nacional de España since those years. On Radio 5, I host a program about the history of words, languages, etymologies, and things like that: “El Palabrero,” which has been on the air since 2012. And I’m also on Radio Clásica, also on RNE, where I’ve been hosting various music programs since 2016, such as “La Ruta de las Especias,” “A la Fuente,” or the one I currently present, “Mil Mundos.”

In 2015, together with my colleague from “Mundofonías,” Araceli Tzigane, and Ángel Romero, a promoter of reference portals like World Music Central, we launched the Transglobal World Music Chart, a monthly album list compiled from the votes of a panel of disseminators that we’ve always aimed to make as diverse and global as possible, with members from most regions of the world. At the same time, the goal was to democratize the possibility for artists and labels to promote their albums. So, we implemented a completely digital and free procedure so that anyone, from anywhere in the world, could send us their works, and these would be immediately distributed in digital format to the panelists for evaluation and taken into account for voting. In this way, we aimed for only the quality of the album, the musical work, to be taken into account, without economic outlay or physical distance being an impediment.

From the very beginning, we perceived a great interest in the professional community of these musics, which we are proud of because it is, again, a project driven from scratch, based on what we believe has been a very good idea and, of course, on the effort we’ve put into it. We have managed to bring together a prestigious panel of over 60 disseminators from all continents and collaborate with the international fair WOMEX in designating the best labels of the year, which is always commemorated at its closing ceremony. This has been happening since 2017 when WOMEX invited us to collaborate in this designation, which until then was only done based on the results of the World Music Charts Europe.

With that dissemination tool in hand and the prestige gained, from the Transglobal World Music Chart, we decided not to stand still and launch new initiatives, such as the Transglobal World Music Festival Awards or the Transglobal World Music Hall of Fame… and more to come!

And I’ll tell you a secret. Something new is cooking, in this case, at the Iberian level. It’s called LIMúR, acronym for the Iberian Roots Music Chart, an initiative that also brings together great disseminators from press and radio of Iberian music, whose first edition will take place very soon. One of the main inspirations for this project is the Balkan World Music Chart, of which I also have the honor of being a part.

MM: Which are the main challenges for the people that make this work of dissemination as you do?

JAV: The main thing is to maintain integrity, to be true to oneself and not to be influenced (i.e., self-censored) by considerations like “that could be very hard to listen to” or “let’s give people something that sounds more familiar.” That deteriorates the quality of your work and makes what you’re disseminating less rich. Something very important that I have felt (and I know you have too) as a listener to some radio programs that have served as inspiration and discovery has been precisely being able to listen to unique things, music that can change your life. We often receive wonderful messages of that kind about our programs: that’s what gives us life and the desire to continue transmitting. And that is not achieved by making a more banal, conformist, and predictable program.

Of course, on a professional level, it is difficult to find a place, a media outlet where you can do this. Many times, those of us who make these kinds of programs do so voluntarily and with our own means because we consider it necessary and enjoy it. Unfortunately, this is not possible for many people, as the day-to-day occupations and the need to earn a living in other endeavors make it unfeasible. In my case, it is wonderful to have the opportunity to develop this dissemination work also in a conducive, open, receptive, and curious environment, such as that of Radio Clásica, with the program “Mil Mundos” (A Thousand Worlds).

Speaking of my field of activity, which is radio, it’s clear that this kind of outreach work isn’t very feasible on commercial stations. Only stations with a commitment to public service and of a public nature are able to host such initiatives. Access to culture for the people is a right. And even more so when it concerns the culture of the people themselves, as is the case with these musics. Therefore, in a world shaped by economic interests and market whims, it’s public institutions that must ensure this right is effectively upheld. It’s not a frivolous expense, as some proponents of uniformity and general dumbing down argue: it’s about giving back to the people what belongs to the people.

It’s also about contributing to making the world less ugly, in these times when exclusionary identities seem to gain ground through lies and manipulation, financed by powerful economic interests alien to the common good, ranging from religious fundamentalism to xenophobic far-right, which essentially represent the same thing: the denial of what these musics represent as something universal, common, for everyone, for anyone.

MM: Anything you want to add will be welcome.

JAV: Well, I just want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to reflect on these matters in your wonderful bulletin. And also, of course, to congratulate you on this initiative and your valuable work as a promoter and disseminator of the musics we love.

 

Thank you very much, Juan Antonio!!!

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BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS 

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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 

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.

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• Ntwala Oh Yeah! 

  NEW IN THE NEWSLETTER.
  The call for proposals is open until Saturday, 30 March 2024

• Our calls are addressed to 15 local artists and 10 from abroad for showcases.
• April 20th is the announcement date for the selected artists.
• Participation incentives for artists will be agreed as things go along.
• We as festival, shall provide local transport, catering services for all and accommodation only for the foreign artists.

 

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.

• 28-30 March. Marseille, France. Babel Music XP
• 5th April. Venice, concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş (Candiani Groove)
• 7th April. Vienna, concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş (Sargfabrik)
• 11th April. Valencia, concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş (Músiques Religioses del Món)
• 12th April. Olot, concert by Ali Doğan Gönültaş (El Torín)
• 25th-27th April. Brussels. Festival Balkan Traffik

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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.