Mini-interview with Marié Abe from Boston University Global Music Festival, open calls and coronavirus confinement won´t last forever!
Greetings from my house/office, that is the usual working place for Mapamundi Música. We are now in the third day of confinement that has been set all over Spain the last Sunday. You are probably confined too. All of us, the community of world musics, as well as most of the sectors of activity, are losing much. But other people are even suffering the disease and dying and you and I have hope in the future.
Just like you, the last days I have seen how the results of the work made during many months have just vanished. Not just mine, but of many friends too. In April I would have travelled to Lisbon for our first concert (postponed) of the series in the Museum of Orient in Lisbon, to Hamburg for the Silk Road Series by alba Kultur (cancelled) and to Warsaw for the Mazurkas of the World Festival (postponed without specified dates). What will happen in May, nobody knows…
But we all know this situation will end and our lifes and works will continue, enhanced after some rest and reflection. So in this magazine I send you again the Open Calls section, that has two new entries, and you’ll find also a new interview with a festival director, Marié Abé, from the BU Global Music Fest, to take place in Boston in September. It would be a pity if all this situation made even more difficult for the courageous people like them to give a place for foreign artists because of increased complications about visas to enter the USA.
Enjoy, I hope this words will give you some joy in this difficult time. Remember you can send any suggestion of contents for the next editions. And if you like this, share it and tell it to your friends. I share once more our playlist to accompany the reading –>.
Thanks for your attention.
Araceli Tzigane – info@mundimapa.com – +34 676 30 28 82
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Summary:
· Mini interview with festival manager: Marié Abe from BU Global Music Festival (USA)
· Open calls not to miss
· Find me at…
CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR FESTIVALS
MINI INTERVIEW WITH MARIE ABÉ FROM BOSTON UNIVERSITY GLOBAL MUSIC FESTIVAL
The BU Global Music Festival takes place in Boston, USA. It will be held this year for the third time, if the global catastrophes allow it, on days 25 and 26 of September. It is an annual celebration of musical cultures around the world. It is organized by the Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology of Boston University in collaboration with the BU Arts Initiative. The program includes showcasing musicians and performing artists steeped in folkloric, vernacular, popular and traditional musics around the world, as well as workshops, panel discussions, lectures, and other educational offerings.
Marié Abe is the artistic director. She is an associate professor of music in the Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology at Boston University, and an affiliated faculty at the BU Center for Studies of Asia, African Studies Center, and American and New England Studies Program. Marié is also a musician, an active performer and improviser of the accordion, collaborating with artists from the United States, Japan, and beyond, and currently member of the Boston-based Ethiopian groove collective Debo Band. She is answering our little interview in this occasion.
MM – What do you search in an artist when you create the programme? MA: I look for four things:
· artistically compelling, soul-grabbing, unique sounds in their music;
· badassery in their expression, whether that be in boundary-defying experimental sounds or maintaining and expanding a tradition they’re located within diversity across the artists,
· making sure to represent at least half but usually more than half being women, highlighting at least one indigenous group a year;
· artists who embody integrity between their musical sounds and their vision for the world.
MA: For me, global doesn’t mean “abroad” or “international”—Boston is an inherently global city with vibrant immigrant histories and immigrant communities, and it’s about highlight that as much as bringing international artists whose music people may never had exposure to before.
The BU Global Music Festival is an annual celebration of musical cultures around the world featuring high-caliber, international artists as well as vibrant local musical communities, bringing the wider musical world to the doorstep of thousands of students, adults, young people, and families throughout the Boston area.Through exploration of diverse musical cultures, BU Global Music Festival offers a chance for the audience—and this means not only the university community but the city and beyond, which is why we make this festival free and open to the public—to experience and understand human sameness and differences across cultures, and aspires to develop interest, respect, and engagement with our neighbors, near and far, through musical performance and education.
MA: Artist visas in the age of anti-immigrant policies, and securing funds to keep the festival free and open to the public.
MA: Same as above! Visas for artists, and funding for the arts. Also, I wish media would honor and highlight the arts more. It’s hard to spread the word to the wider world, and strong media support would be helpful.
MA: In one weekend, you’ll get to have your soul and body shaken by powerful music by world-class high-caliber musicians from around the globe that you may never have had a chance to listen to before, and personally interact with them and learn more about their music and where they’re from at workshops—all for FREE!
Thanks to Marié Abe and Ty Furman (producer of the festival, who also supported me to create this content). I really with you a super successful third edition.
- Marié Abe portrait, provided by herself
- Banner of the festival, from its website
OPEN CALLS
Transglobal World Music Chart Festival Awards. This is open all the year but note that some time in advance of your 
festival is needed to find the evaluator. This award’s proceduce needs the attendance of a person in your event: one of the panelists or an independent journalist or person of culture. Check the link and send any questions, also in answer to this email as I am the coordinator of this award.
Mercat de Música Viva de Vic. Open until 31st March. Its edition 32 will take place from 16th to 19th of September in the Catalan city of Vic. It includes around 60 showcases and a bunch of concerts are selected for the “festival” format (the rest are fair showcases for professionals).
OUR LATEST ACHIEVEMENT, POSTPONED TO STILL DON’T KNOW…
In the previous newsletter I talked about our Silk Road series of concerts in Museum of Orient, Lisbon.
The concert by Sahib Pashasade and Kamram Karimov will be postponed and we don’t have a new date yet. The second concert would be on 8th of May by Nouruz Ensemble (in the picture). If we can keep this date, it will be good news for everybody.
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FIND ME AT…
- From 13 to 16 of May, Ljubljana & Maribor, for Druga Godba. I still have hope that this will be possible.
- From 3-6 June, in Poland with Gulaza in Wroclaw and with Monsieur Doumani in Katowice. I hope this all about the virus will be just a dark memory at this time.
- For later, I am or was suppossed to travel for instance to Kavala for Kosmopolis Festival (still set in the same dates in July), to Malaysia for Rainforest World Music Festival (postponed without specified dates) and others, let’s see.
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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 46 stations in 17 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.