Tag Archives: Babel Music XP

Magazine #30 December’20 – The power of the human will. MOST Music, Fengaros Festival, Music Before Shabbat and +

Summary ?

  • In depth with MOST Music, bridge for Balkan music
  • Experience again Before Babel Music XP
  • Mini-interview with the team of Fengaros Festival (Cyprus)
  • Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects
  • Open calls, because in spite of everything, life goes on

How are you? I have to confess that I am starting to get emotionally exhausted from this situation although I have great hope for the vaccination. I bring you a story that has lit up my heart today.

I illustrate these words with a photo from this past Sunday. It is in the street in front of the cathedral that señor Justo has been building for 60 years, without any knowledge of architecture and with recycled materials and the money from donations and sponsors. He is now 95 years old and his work is half finished. I don’t think I’ll see him finished in life and the future is uncertain. It is not a cathedral recognised by the Church and has no institutional support, but I would like to think that such a work will not end up collapsing in abandonment.

Regardless of your religious beliefs, this is an example of the power of human will that can serve us all. You can learn about his story and see more pictures of the building (also inside), which looks like it came from a dream, here and here you are a documentary with English subtitles with interviews with señor Justo.

I hope that this story brings you a moment of happiness and that you enjoy the rest of the content, which I find very interesting and also contains examples of dedication and passion, so needed in our reality.

Do you want to share any useful experience you have had during this difficult time or another content relevant for our community of the global music?

Contact me. And if you find this interesting, share it with your friends. You can read the previous issues here. 

Thanks for your attention and remember that you can check our website to learn about our offers and the artists we work with.

Araceli Tzigane | info@mundimapa.com | +34 676 30 28 82 

Subscription is available here. 

IN DEPTH WITH THE TEAM OF MOST MUSIC 

Throughout several previous editions of this magazine I have been sharing some news and interviews with the festivals selected in the MOST Music project (find the links under this interview) and now I have the pleasure of sharing some of the team’s reflections, based on the questions that have come up when I read deeply the website. By the way, the MOST Music website is very detailed and, if you have not visited it, I highly recommend you to do so, both for knowing the project well and for understanding this interview.

Here I will only mention two aspects:

  • MOST Project has four main areas of activity, focused on artists (export), festivals (exchange, and it includes festivals in several regions of Europe), urban policies and management training for emerging professionals.
  • And the activity is focused on the Balkan countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo (I copy exactly from their website: This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia.
These interview below has been answered by members of the MOST Team: András Sőrés, project manager; Balázs Weyer, programme director.
– – – – –

Mapamundi Música (MM): The project MOST Music is quite complex, involves many participants from four main categories: artists, managers, festivals and institutions. Who had the first idea about this? What was the first objective that he/she wanted to get from this project?

MOST Project team (MPT): MOST Music as a project has been a long time in the making. Members of the consortium have been curating this idea for a long while. The idea started out from V4 and European Capital of Culture projects. Initially partners were applying for funds many times and modifying the project plan according to tender evaluations so that it could realize itself. The first objective is what we have been emphasizing on all platforms: a way for the Balkan world music industry’s untapped potential to be channeled into and better connected with the rest of Europe, where infrastructure is oftentimes better. 

MM: Following the previous question, when did this idea appear in your mind? How was the procedure between this first idea and the design of the complete project? How many profiles have been involved in the design? And during the development, now that it is being done, which are the profiles involved (I mean the team, not the artists, managers, festivals and policy makers that are the participants in the 4 branches)?  

MPT: We applied to Creative Europe four times before the funds were granted. The project plan was modified and expanded according to the detailed feedback that European tenders offer. The fourth version of the tender was accepted.

In terms of project design, you of course know that there are 9 partners in the consortium that’s led by Hangvető, headquartered in Budapest. Leading means that Hangvető takes on project management duties. Otherwise consortium members vote on work teams for each pillar, so that certain partners are responsible for certain pillars. These duties are also rotating, so that each partner will have managed each pillar by the end of the project. Managing a pillar means making executive decisions and deciding on experts involved (such as mentors and trainers).

MM: About the artists part. Every year, 10 artists will be enrolled in this program to receive support and greater visibility. How was the procedure of selection? Is there any jury? If so, who selected the jury and which were the criteria to select them? 

MPT: The selection procedure is decided by a professional jury. Jury members are also involved on a rotating basis from partner organizations. In the first round of MOST Music the members of the jury were Balázs Weyer, programme director of Hangvető, Budapest; Olsi Sulejmani, president of Balkan World Music Management; and Simon Broughton, editor-in-chief of Songlines Magazine.

The selection criteria (apart from citizenship of at least one of the 9 target countries) are as follows:
●    artist’s international potential
●    diversity of selected artists by style, to match the profile of showcase events
●    popularity/artistic quality
●    long-term engagement with the project
●    artist’s basic infrastructure (web, communication…)
●    artist’s local audience size
●    quality of existing audio and video material (technical and artistically)
●    diversity of selected artists by sub-scenes in world music (e.g. sevdah, brass bands, etc.)
●    diversity of selected artists by gender
●    diversity of selected artists by geography

MM: In the current selection of artists there are no artists from Albania, Croatia, Montenegro or North Macedonia. Of course, this has been the first round of selection and in future rounds they may be. But this arose some questions about this:
1.    Did you receive applications from those countries? Albania and Croatia, for instance, have musical styles that are recognized by the UNESCO as immaterial legacy. Didn’t you have applications?
2.    If you didn’t have applications from those countries or if you had very few ones, which do you think are the reasons?
3.    As with the artists, has it happened the same with the call for management training?

MPT: We had open calls in all the countries listed here, so the reason why one or the other might not be represented in a certain pillar is that there weren’t any or a lot of applicants from them. We have participants from Croatia and North Macedonia in other pillars, such as Management Training and Festival Exchange. However, Albania and Montenegro were hard for us to reach, we had very few applications altogether. In Montenegro one hardship was that we did not have a partner with their local network to help us spread the word. But all in all, we must certainly work on our communication in those regions in future rounds.

MM: About the part of urban policies, you mention “Projects will then be presented by the tandem (urban creative + policy maker)”. So, I understand you will involve policy makers. Let me see if I understand well. Would those be, for instance, the councillor of culture of a city? I mean, they are real politicians or people assigned by politicians, that can make real decisions, aren’t they? I think so, as you mention that “winning initiatives will be implemented in their respective cities.” How did you get the engagement of those people? Are they guaranteeing some budget from their cities to develop the winning initiatives?

MPT: We are only starting up MOST Music and the environment we planned it for was for a very different normal, so please excuse me, but I can only answer in terms of our goals, plans, and hopes, and not in terms of anything that has already been actualized.

Our goal is to involve real decision-makers: politicians, municipalities, local governments, and more. We hope that such connections between creative industry professionals and decision-makers will bring a certain openness and sensitivity to the situation of creative professionals.

MM: About the budget, the project is co-funded by Creative Europe. Can you tell me the overall budget? Which were the other co-funders?  

MPT: The overall budget is 4 million Euros, half of that is provided by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme (2 million Euros). The rest of the funding was raised by partner organizations and varies from country to country. 

MM: So far, apart from the emergence of the pandemic, that has made you change some activities to an online environment, did any other event or new idea arose that made you rethink any of the activities planned? 

MPT: Online activities are currently happening in three pillars – we just finished a week-long online training in the Balkan Music Exchange pillar and are currently in the process of training Urban Creatives and Management Trainees, both are longer, less time-intensive training programmes. Of course one key element of this whole programme is networking and making professional connections – this is not impossible per se, but it’s certainly not as natural as it could be if we could meet up in real life, as originally planned. We are making every effort to substitute these offline connections in online ways, and to bring in new opportunities for participants to meet and network, such as providing them passes to virtualWOMEX, and more.

Previous interviews about festivals included in MOST Music project are available: 

Note that some of these interviews are from before the start of MOST Music and before the pandemic.

EXPERIENCE AGAIN BEFORE BABEL MUSIC XP

As announced previously, Before Babel Music Xp took place in online format, on days 26 and 27 of November. They have now released the conferenfes in shape of podcast. Find them here.

I participated in a round table: New collaborations and solidarity for professionals relaunching their careers. Here below you see the moderator, Ludovic Tomas, and me with the other participants: Birgit Ellinghaus, Umair Jaffar, Emad Mabrouk and Amobé Mévégué.

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CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR FESTIVALS 

In this occasion, we travel to Cyprus, to talk with the team of the Fengaros Festival.

MINI INTERVIEW WITH MARIA KAIMAKLIOTI, ANDREAS TRACHONITIS & LEFTERIS MOUMTZIS FROM THE FENGAROS FESTIVAL (CYPRUS)

 

The Fengaros Festival takes place since 2011 in Kato Drys, a village with less than 150 inhabitants in the district of Larnaca, Cyprus, and combines a festival with concerts and an educational project called “Music Village”. 

Mapamundi Música (MM) – What do you search for in an artist when you program?

Fengaros Festival team (FFT) –  Besides music that catches our attention, Fengaros Festival – especially the festival founders, Lefteris Moumtzis and Andreas Trachonitis, particularly look for artists that play very well live, have entertaining and sophisticated stage presence and whose music is authentic and unique. This might not be whatever is mainstream according to western media.

We want to also provide a platform for local Cypriot acts and while we encourage all Cypriot acts to get in touch with us, one of our criteria is to see that the local acts are thinking about long-term plans for their career. We try to learn about more local acts by watching them and meeting them at live shows.

We started Fengaros Music Village in 2014, three years after Fengaros Festival was founded. FMV takes place one week ahead of the festival and is a series of workshops that allows for participants to meet each other, jam together, and potentially form new bands. We’ve booked a good handful of acts that were formed from Fengaros Music Village (FMV), or took off after FMV, or that came to our attention at the workshops in the past. We also think about the festival audience a lot. We understand that there is heavy reliance on the Greek music scene, however one of our goals is to unravel this and also create partnerships with the surrounding region. We know how our audience reacts to various genres and we are in a happy position where the audience is challenged but at the end of the day, they trust the festival.

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
FFT – Our main objective is to produce a festival with acts that we want to show to our audience and that we believe is important for Cypriots to hear. Another important goal is to produce a festival that fits and reflects our identity. Our festival does not try to copy the many fantastic festivals abroad. It’s impossible because of the many unique aspects that come into play simply by being a festival in Cyprus. We are an island; our culture and experiences have overlaps with the west and east; it’s extremely hot in the summer… Every aspect of Fengaros reflects this unique position, including the lineup, festival grounds and administrative procedures. So an important goal is to showcase this unique perspective, offer something that is not necessarily presented by the radio and mainstream media, and create reminders to embrace many aspects of Cypriot experiences, such as rural landscapes and interesting locations.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival?
FFT – A difficulty is dealing with local policies and funding opportunities. Most of the limited institutions in Cyprus are still very much in development and require intense pushing towards arts policies that make sense and that are formulated by those with experience in arts, international festivals and tourism.
A second issue is travel – flight tickets are expensive to Cyprus, not to mention the environmental cost.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours?
FFT – Apart from economic hurdles, our main goal is being able to sustain the trust and attention that our audience has for Fengaros. It’s important to expose the audience to our entire programme.

MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival.
FFT – Fengaros is three days of living in a traditional Cypriot village discovering new experiences every turn you take, all the while being surrounded by music and artists that seriously believe in the power of music.

MM – What has happened with the edition of 2020 in the current situation of the pandemic?
FFT – Although there were not any official laws against festivals in the summer, we decided in the springtime to postpone our festival to July 29-31 2021. Cases were between 0-10 each day in July 2020 and we were able to go ahead with safely hosting our series of workshops at Fengaros Music Village although with slight changes in our instructors lineup. This turned out to be hugely successful and we had double our usual turnout, even with many precautionary restrictions in place! We are now planning an online edition of Fengaros for early 2021 that will showcase Cypriot acts to local and international audiences. Stay tuned!

Credits:

  • The portraits are provided by the team.
  • The banner is from the website of the festival.
  • The landscapes are from the festival’s Facebook page.
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BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

  • About Mundofonías, our monthly favourites are the albums Wiązanka by Wowakin, Silver Sanctuary by Zedashe and At Royal College of Music, Stockholm by Akkarai Sisters.
  • Transglobal World Music Chart has moved the annual charts to September, but some news will come soon.
  • Our colleagues from World Music Charts Europe have announced their list for 2020, and it is available here. They have recently made a big change, passing the management to Radio Proglas, in Brno, Czech Republic, with Milan Tesař as the new coordinator.
  • The Songlines Awards for 2020 have been announced this last Sunday and the show is available in their website. The winners this year are: Best Artist: Bassekoy Kouyaté, Best Group: Cimarrón, Africa: Blick Bassy, Americas: Leyla McCalla, Asia: Jambinai, Europe: Lankum, Fusion: Kefaya + Elaha Soroor, World Pioneers Award: Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela, Newcomer award: Elaha Soroor.
  • After one year of one weekly email of Music Before Shabbat and hosting the editions inside the website of Mapamundi Música, I decided to launch a new website for this initiative. The last Friday, www.musicbeforeshabbat.com was launched, with all the editions and the new one, for Shabbat of Hanukkah. 

 

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

OPEN CALLS

  • The Afro Pepites Show 10th edition. Since 2009 the Afro Pepites Show connects artists to professionals and fans of African cultures. The call for artistic projects is open until 15 january 2021. This time it will be online. More info and registration, here.
  • Fira Mediterrània de Manresa. The call for artistic projects is open until Wednesday 27 January at 24h. It will take place from 14 to 17 of October 2021. More info and submissions, here. 

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. And we lead also the Asociación para la Difusión de los Estilos.

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. 

This newsletter is open to sponsorship. Feel free to ask for details.

 

Magazine #29 November’20 – Thrilling experience by Kajsa Bacos, festivals Kamičak Etno & Hillside, Mundial Montreal & before-Babel Music XP and +!

Summary ? 

  • A relevant date for our community (and a reason to be more than proud for me): before-Babel Music XP.
  • A thrilling experience facing the pandemic with live music, by Kajsa Bacos from Kulturverket Onsjö.
  • Mini interviews with festival manager: Anđela Galić from Kamičak Etno Festival and Samir Baijal from Hillside Festival (continuing the series of interviews about challenges for festivals and about MOST Music participants)
  • News from the charts and sister projects
  • What’s next? Mundial Montreal and before-Babel Med XP!
How are you? I hope well. I am not quite happy. My toilet has been flooded due to a breakdown, in a way that I thought that happened only in the films. I am soaked and I am waiting for the plumber… In the meantime, I got to close the water valve and I don’t have water in the house and, did you know? We are in the middle of a pandemic ?
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However, life goes on and during the rest of this month there are some exciting events to pay attention to and interesting colleagues to learn from.

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Do you want to share any useful experience you have had during this difficult time or another content relevant for our community of the global music?

Contact me. And if you find this interesting, share it with your friends. You can read the previous issues here. 

Thanks for your attention and remember that during the reading you can listen to some great music by our artists collaborators –>

Araceli Tzigane | info@mundimapa.com | +34 676 30 28 82 

Subscription is available here.

BRIEFTLY, A RELEVANT DATE FOR OUR COMMUNITY

In the latest editions the rebirth of Babel Med, now Babel Music XP, have had some place. I am happy to remind you once more that the before-Babel will take place online on 26 and 27 of November and I will happy particitipate in a round table: New collaborations and solidarity for professionals relaunching their careers. It will be moderated by Ludovic Tomas and I will share the table with Birgit Ellinghaus, Umair Jaffar, Emad Mabrouk and Amobé Mévégué. What a pleasure.


By the way, if you want to learn more about me, check the interview that Erick van Monckhoven made me for his World Music Lab Italia. Remember I made an interview with him in this previous edition. I am pleased that he found my insights interesting and I opened totally.

And the interview announced in the previous edition, with Noam Vazana in her project Why Do it Yourself Music, is available here. We talked more than one hour and it was really fantastic! I felt such an easy communication with this wise lady!

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THE EXPERIENCE OF KAJSA BACOS FROM KULTURVERKET ONSJÖ (HALMSTAD, SWEDEN)

In the latest edition I asked if any of the readers would like to share their experiences of the last months in dealing with the pandemic and the activity of live music and Kajsa Bacos (her portrait is from her profile at Womex website), from Kulturverket Onsjö, in Halmstad, in the province of Halland replied with this experience:

“From April to August we closed down completely. We planned Summer concerts in July but when the rain poured down for 2 weeks we gave that up. We can seldom trust the weather, so it is difficult to plan outside concerts.

In September we started with concerts. We have a small place and 50-60 persona are the maximum. 45 feels full. So we decided to use our funding thus: Instead of one concert with 2 sets (1,5 hour), we had two concerts with one set (60 minutes). The musicians had an hour to rest and eat in between.

“It was a success. People who have been isolated for long, who can’t even go shopping, came.” 

We told the audience that for the first concert only risk group persona were welcome. And only 15 people for each concert. That is 70 + or persons with an underlying condition. The response was big, so we ended up with two concerts for the risk group.It was a success. People who have been isolated for long, who can’t even go shopping, came. We can do this for our venue is not commercially driven, our funding pays for the music.

This way, we keep people happy, we use the funding that either could be paid without the musicians playing or we could pay it back to the government, the musicians are really happy to meet an audience, we show that we still do good work, and we keep our cooperations running, and our network intact. We can’t just give up while we wait for better times. 

“We have to work, musicians have to play. People who come here are really good at keeping a social distance. We just have to learn to adjust. And continue.” 

We have many times organized events for marginalized groups like children, immigrants etc. In Western Europe today we have more and more old people and because of the pandemic they are marginalized. We need to keep their spirits up also. They can’t see their families, go places, go to dinners. I planned carefully so they arrived in separate groups 10 minutes apart so there was no queue. They came in through one entrance and the musicians came in another. I desinfected all handles, put chairs 1,5 metres apart. And if I didn’t know somebody, I interviewed them on their lifestyle. If they had been at a social event recently they couldn’t come.

We have to work, musicians have to play. People who come here are really good at keeping a social distance. We just have to learn to adjust. And continue.

No musician has been indefinitely cancelled, we have just postponed ther concert. There is a life after corona.”

Thank you very much, Kajsa!!! 
This is the Kulturverket place, from Google Maps Street View:

 

CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR FESTIVALS 

In this occasion, we have two interviews: about Kamičak Etno Festival, from Croatia (that continues the series of festivals included in project MOST) and about Hillside Festival, from Canada. I really hope they can retake their usual shape soon. To attend a concert or festival, gathering together with people you don’t know, but that are willing to share a emotional experience, is inimitable. It is a ritual, from the moment you chose the clothes you will wear. Or even from before. I am thanksful to Kajsa, Anđela and Samir and so many people that are keeping the flame alive in this time of added dificulties.


MINI INTERVIEW WITH ANĐELA GALIĆ FROM THE KAMIČAK ETHNO FESTIVAL (SINJ, CROATIA) 

 

The third edition was planned to be held on days day 21 and 22 of August at the 18th century fortress of Sinj, in Croatia. This edition included concerts by Croatian, Argentine, Serbian, Macedonian, Bosnian and Irish artists, traditional crafts made by local producers and gastronomic local specialties.

The edition of this year had to be cancelled and although some things will have to be rethought, the festival is included in MOST Project and planned to come back in 2021. Anđela Galić, organizer of the festival, shares their insights and vision.

Mapamundi Música – What do you search for in an artist when you program?

Anđela Galić –  We are looking for creative, talented, individuals or groups whose music grows out of a certain musical tradition but at the same moment brings contemporary approach to its interpretation. Kind of music that brings interesting fusion of styles and stays in your ears for a long time.

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
AG – We want to profile our Festival as one of the best world music festivals in Croatia, but also in the wider Balkan region. Our goal is to make Sinj (Croatia) and Kamičak Ethno Festival a recognizable festival gem where you can hear great performers from all around the world.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival?
AG – The most complicated and difficult part is to provide enough funds, which implies constant engagement on the application of the festival to various funding tenders. Also the hard part is the fact that if you want to orginaze good festival you need a lot of planning and organization, which means involvement of many people, in our case volunteers, without whom the realization of the Festival would not be possible.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours?
AG – Due to the epidemiological situation it is difficult and uncertain to plan ahead. Anything that involves complex organization and engagement of international artists is considerably aggravated at the moment. The whole situation is extremely unpredictable for all involved in music industry and requires quick adaptation to new circumstances.

MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival.
AG – Excellent music in beautiful ambience of historic fortress at the top of the city with a view of the entire Cetina region, are just some of the reasons to visit Kamičak Ethno Festival. Plus, great fun is guaranteed.

MM – What has happened with the edition of 2020 in the current situation of the pandemic?
AG – Sure, except from canceling the last edition, we have to think about alternatives for next edition, so we are considering limiting the number of visitors or organizing festival only with local performers.

Credits:

  • The portrait of Anđela is provided by herself.
  • The logo is from their facebook site
  • The aereal picture is from the website of the festival
  • The picture of the concert is from the facebook site (concert by Patrick Walker Trio at the edition of 2019)

MINI INTERVIEW WITH SAMIR BAIJAL FROM THE HILLSIDE FESTIVAL (GUELPH, CANADA)  

 

I am sure you will agree with me in the idea that it sounds like magic: to spend three days of Summer in an island in a lake in Canada, full of music, with a program in which diversity of culture, of musical heritage and style, of age, geography and influence is a guiding line. This is what the Hillside Festival state about itself on the website. It helds two editions, the Summer one and also another, in February.

This year the Winter edition was normal but the Summer one had to take an alternative shape: Homeside 2020. Samir Baijal, the artistic director, explains more about the festival in general and about this special edition too.

Mapamundi Música – What do you search for in an artist when you program?
Samir Baijal –  Once I appreciate that they are a skilled and strong live artist, it is always about trying to picture them on one of our stages. We program all kinds of music and our audience is very open to new artists and form all around the world so I think of how they will respond. I look for performers who can have a strong connection to the audience and in most case willing to collaborate with other artists at the festival.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival?
SB – Typically, it would be the weather gets harsh as we on an island outdoors.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours?
SB – Maintaining a festival that is non-commercial that has strong values and environmental/sustainable practices – hence also maintaining a unique identity in a very competitive market. But right now it is enduring the period of the pandemic when we are not able our regular event(s) and revenue is not possible.

MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival.
SB – A family friendly festival in a beautiful setting, that challenges the audience to check their tastes at the gate and with more than just music.

MM – What has happened with Hillside Festival 2020? I think you were able to make the February edition normally, but for the Summer edition, you reshaped it for an online format. How was it? 
SB – We called it Hillside Homeside 2020. It went better than we expected, the event was completely free to view and what we noticed the most is how much the audience appreciated us offering this presentation. It felt very personal and I think that it was a sense of connection between our patrons and our festival during a very challenging and unprecedented time.

MM – How did you shape the experience of the attendants?
SB – This was to be our 37th year, so we had a series called 37 songs where 37 artists offered a personalized recording of a song and monologue/message to the Hillside viewer. There were virtual workshops on everything from yoga to cooking and also links to our craft and food vendors – we had some archival footage with current day interviews (called Now and Then). We used the same different stage template as if it were on site.

MM – How did you get their engagement? 
SB – We had our mailing list, newsletter and media gave a lot of coverage that it was happening.

MM – Any positive insight of this reshaped edition, that you could even keep for future editions when the pandemic ended?
SB – I think we would put more attention on more specific archiving and look at showing these during the year.

Credits:

  • The portrait of Samir is from his profile at Womex
  • The logo is from their facebook site
  • The aereal picture and the picture of the workshop are from the website of the festival
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NEWS FROM THE CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

  • In the previous edition I announced that Transglobal World Music Chart turned 5 years old. I am happy to announce now that the compilation album The Best of Transglobal World Music Chart 2020, will be released by ARC Music in January. Follow our Facebook and visit our website of News to be updated and learn more. And during the last weeks we have incorporated new panelists, from Brazil, UK, Cuba and India.
  • About Mundofonías, our monthly favourites are the last albums by Niqolah Seeva, Kaito Winse and The Rheingans Sisters. For some weeks now the radio show is been broadcasted in Ràdio Túria, in L’Eliana, Valencia, Spain. 

WHAT’S NEXT?

In spite of everything, we are still in the season of professional dates. 
  • Mundial Montreal. The professional’s platform will be working from tomorrow to day 28th. Yesterday I decided to sign up and the true is that I am quite excited! 
  • Before Babel Music XP. As announced above, it will take place on November 26-27.  I a proudly included in the program. Remember that there is an interview with Olivier Rey from Babel Music XP, here.

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. And we lead also the Asociación para la Difusión de los Estilos.

Feel free to request info if you wish. For further information about us, get in touch by email, telephone (+34 676 30 28 82), our website or at our Facebook. 

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Magazine #26 August’20 | Babel Music XP, Mikołajki Folkowe & a life that deserves a movie

Magazine #26 | August’20. Babel Music XP, Mikołajki Folkowe & a life that deserves a movie

How are you? Today it would be my grandmother Manuela’s birthday, August 18th. And I still miss her quite often. Even so, I’m glad she’s not going through this nightmare. They already had their disaster… In Spain we are having upbreaks of the virus, you might now. This picture is 10 days old. Masks were already mandatory all over the country, all the time, but this was done somewhere deserted in Castilla-La Mancha, between two magnificent windmills, with no one around. The municipality is Tembleque, in Toledo province.

The day after the picture, we had the first concert by Vigüela after the start of the situation. It was openair, with control of access, with mandatory masks and hydroalcoholic gel for the hands and paired chairs with distance between them. Beside some rare cases, in Spain the population is following the safety measures. We felt totally safe and the public too. This is how the place looked like before the arrival of the public:

 

We still can do this kind of little events, but the restrictions are increasing. In other countries, like Israel, the restrictions are even bigger: there, they can’t host more than 20 people in the audience.

Today, Tuesday 18th, we are together in El Carpio de Tajo, preparing some things related to the online events we will have in September.

Nevertheless, music doesn’t stop and our community keeps the flame alive with thrilling plans. Read the interview with Olivier from Babel Music XP, the reincarnation of Babel Med, and with Agnieszka from Mikołajki Folkowe. All the good for you!

Remember that you can send any suggestion of content for the next editions. And if you like this, tell me and share it with your friends. You can read the previous issues here. 

Thanks for your attention and remember that during the reading you can listen to some great music by our artists collaborators –>

Araceli Tzigane | info@mundimapa.com | +34 676 30 28 82 

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Summary: 
· How is it going to be: Babel Music XP with an interview with Olivier Rey
· Mini interviews with festival manager: Agnieszka Matecka from Mikołajki Folkowe
· In deep with Andrzej Bieńkowski, a life devoted to the dissemination of the traditional music

BABEL MUSIC XP, THE NEW PROFESSIONAL DATE FOR THE COMMUNITY

I call it “new” because, despite collecting the legacy of Babel Med, Babel Music XP has a new vision, a new team and new ambitions. As already mentioned in the previous edition, it will start in two parts: a professional meeting in November 26th-27th and trade fair with concerts in March 25-27th, in Marseille. Olivier Rey, from Dock des Sud, kindly answered our questions. 
Mapamundi Música: What has happened that made this rebirth possible? 
Olivier Rey: A lot of energy and conviction, a new dialogue with institutionnal partner and a new collaboration with Zone Franche.

MM: Why did Babel Med stop?
OR: Probably a lack of understanding with our principal partner, Region Sud, mixed with some political change and decision at this moment. That was the main reasons for the money cuts. In 2017, It was violent for all the members involved in the organisation of Babel Med Music.

“That’s our ambition: to become again a international platform for the music sector, a Mediterranean gate for music exchange”
But we have to say, maybe, the event hadn’t evolved enough. In 2005, Babel Med Music was pioneer – with Womex – in  world music forum. 14 years later, many meetings had grown everywhere with success and music had changed: creativity, tools, business, live, interactions between artists, pros, audience. So Babel Med Music was great to connect all the music family under the same roof (and we want to keep this human atmosphere which is specifical to Babel) but we have now “to upgrade”  the event whith this new context.

That’s our ambition: to become again a international platform for the music sector, a Mediterranean gate for music exchange, to develope economical impact for the world music sector and also to add some new societal contents connected to the musical sphere (innovation, women’s role in the music industry, environmental responsability…).

I have to say that, today, discussions are much more appeased with Region Sud which supports us in this rebirth. We are grateful for this new essential chapter between us.

MM: The name of this initiative is not exactly the same. It was Babel Med, it is Babel Music XP. Has this change of name any transcendental meaning? What is the meaning of “XP”?
OR: We have to mean the change and also to affirm our heritage. So we propose a new experience (XP) of Babel. As we have a much different experience in music. And for many pro in the world, Babel Music is linked with Marseille. So we can be proud of that.

“Past, present and future of music from the world is our credo.”
MM: You have already closed the application period for the showcases. Will the event keep the same artistic line? Babel Med’s offer of showcases was very diverse, with many acts related to the cultures that have been historically connected to France, but not exclusively. There were from totally acoustic and quite traditional performances to miscegenated and electric ones. Will this approach be kept?
OR: Yes, from acoustic to digital music, we want to propose a photography of world music at the instant. Past, present and future of music from the world is our credo.
Same artistic line than Babel Med Music:  open-minded to the world sounds…

MM: I think that many of the selected acts for Babel Med were produced or represented by French companies. Correct me if I am wrong, as I don’t have the data, this is just my insight after the editions I attended so I might be biased. Will Babel Music XP be more open to other countries’ presenters than Babel Med was? 
OR: The selection of bands which have to answer to the call for application. Historically, it was 50% produced or represented by French companies. Today, we have many propositions from Europe, Argentina, Caribean, North African, Mediterranean area, Indian Ocean and Francophonic Africa.  Our project is to work with different musical ambassadors all over the world who can incite local producers to answer to the call for application. That’s a point to expand.
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MM: Who are the people in the jury for the selection of showcases?
OR: They are artistic directors, programmers of festival, journalists or artists. We’ll publish the list this Autumn. The only thing we can say today is the “honorary patron” for this year is Gilles Peterson. He’s an outstanding headhunter and he’s at the same time DJ, producer, label founder, media… A different approach of worldmusic…
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MM: What will happen in the pre-edition in November? If the current situation of the pandemic didn’t allow it to be as planned, do you have a plan B?

OR: The pre-edition in november is a particular rebirth with Covid-crisis. All the musical sector have to gather, to discuss and to imagine new collaboration in this context. The Before Babel Music XP must be used for that. In November, we organize professionnal meetings (without stand or forum) and few concerts. In March we’ll find again the fundaments of Babel: international exhibition, stands, agora, meetings and presentations for pros and 30 concerts for pros and general public.

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MM: Which is the calendar for the next steps? I mean, to register for the events in November, to register for March’s event, to publish the line up of selected artists…
OR: More news in September (and the selection for March will be revealed in November – or at the early December.

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Credits:

  • The portrait of Olivier is provided by himself and the photographer is Jean de Peña.
  • The banner is their cover picture in Facebook.

**** Do you have a world music festival and you want to be included in our mini interviews? Contact us. ****

CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR FESTIVALS 

And this festival that is our focus today is also included in the project MOST, about which I talked in a previous issue.

MINI INTERVIEW WITH AGNIESZKA MATECKA FROM THE MIKOŁAJKI FOLKOWE FESTIVAL (LUBLIN, POLAND)

For already 29 years, Agnieszka and her team have been developing this festival in the beautiful city of Lublin, at the East of Poland. Remember this city hosts also the Jagiellonian Fair, about which we talked with Karolina Waszczuk and Bartek Drozd in this issue.

I met Agnieszka in person was in Scotland, the last September, at The Visit. I hope they will be able to make a proper celebration of the 30 anniversary, and ephemeris worth celebrating. In the meantime, let’s discover more in her own words.
Mapamundi Música – What do you search in an artist when you create the programme? 
Agnieszka Matecka: Mikołajki Folkowe is an intimate festival which takes place in December indoors. We can invite no more than 8-10 artists (groups) a year, this is why we choose the performers very carefully so that their music meets the expectations of our audience. Musicians both from Poland and abroad (3-4 bands) perform at the festival. We typically organize concerts on two stages (for 400 and 150 people). At the main Saturday concert there are usually larger and lively bands who play, as we call it, “folk of the centre”. On the other hand, the Sunday concert, on the smaller stage, presents more avant-garde, experimental music.
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MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
AM: Mikołajki Folkowe is an interdisciplinary festival. The goal of our festival is to popularize culture, especially traditional music, in a form that is accessible to modern audiences, while respecting in crudo music. Therefore, an important part of the festival is the competition for beginner musicians, to which foreign artists can also apply. We try to follow the idea that folk culture must be alive in order to survive. It cannot be an archaic closed form.We also want to show through workshops that everyone can benefit from folk culture for their own needs. One does not have to be an educated musician, dancer or visual artist.Another goal of the festival is to break down the national prejudices in accordance with a saying “culture is the best ambassador of nations”. Mikołajki Folkowe is accompanied by an interdisciplinary international scientific conference.We also promote handicraft inspired by folk art, through organizing a handicraft fair.
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MM: What are the most complicated or difficult issues you have to deal with at your festival?
AM: It’s hard to say. After 30 years of work, we have already developed many patterns of conduct. Each year seems different, poses new challenges, but with a well-coordinated organizational team all difficulties can be overcome.
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MM: What are the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposal like yours right now?
AM: Maintaining the interest of the audience and creating an interesting program, taking into account the financial and spatial capacity of the event.
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MM: In one sentence, summarize the reasons why you should go to your festival.
AM: Mikołajki Folkowe is almost a family festival. Owing to its date, all people interested in the same cultural phenomenon stay in one building for three days. One can feel an extraordinary bond that develops among the audience.
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MM: Is this the experience we are experiencing now, the coronavirus crisis, changing your festival in any way (apart from postponing this year’s edition, if so)?
AM: This year’s festival takes place in December (10-13/12) and we still hope it will go on normally. We follow the news about the virus on an ongoing basis and consider various scenarios. In previous years we used to have the program ready before the summer holidays. We are currently waiting for the situation to develop. Will it be a festival with bands from abroad, or a typically Polish edition? How many viewers will be able to take part in the festival and what will happen to revenue from ticket sale? We are also ready for the “virtual variant” of the festival, we plan to broadcast concerts. There are so many unknowns, now there are holidays, but from September we are getting back to hard work. It is a pity that it happened to us just at the 30th jubilee festival.
—-

Thank you very much, Agnieszka! 

Pictures’ credits:
  • Portrait from her FB profile
  • Banner, cover of the Facebook page of the festival

IN DEEP WITH ANDRZEJ BIEŃKOWSKI

Andrzej’s life would be perfect for a film or a novel without having to invent anything. Learn more, here. 

In this occasion the content is not going to be included here. This is just an announcement of the report that is published at the website Culture.pl about and with an interview with a person that devoted his life and made many sacrifices in order to record and disseminate the legacy of the rural music from his country.

I had the luck of visiting Andrzej in his house in Warsaw 3 years ago, when I made this picture.

More recently, my friend Ewa Gomółka made me the big favour to meet him and record his answers to some questions, thought out using the memory of what he had already told me before and with some new curiosities. She made the translation from Polish to English, so you can imagine what a huge work she did.

By the way, the website Culture.pl is an amazing source of information related to Poland and to the events, culture and art of this country that has been in the axis of the hurricane of Europe’s History.

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 49 stations in 18 countries). We produce the Transglobal World Music Chart with our partner Ángel Romero from WorldMusicCentral.com. And we lead also the Asociación para la Difusión de los Estilos.

Feel free to request info if you wish. For further information about us, get in touch by email, telephone (+34 676 30 28 82), our website or at our Facebook. 

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This newsletter is open to sponsorship. Feel free to ask for details.