I am Araceli Tzigane. Welcome to Mapamundi Música’s November newsletter. Here we are, working on the next season bookings and novelties!

At WOMEX I attended the presentation of Creative Europe offices from Spain, Netherlands, Portugal and UK-Wales, where Music Moves Europe, the “overarching framework for the European Commission’s initiatives and actions in support of the European music sector“, was presented. What can we expect from this, as agents of the world music scene? Find below a brief summary to get an idea. 

We include in this newsletter another little interview with a festival director. If you have any suggestion of contents for the next editions, let us know. Thanks for your attention.

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

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CREATIVE EUROPE AND MUSIC MOVES EUROPE

This article is specially interesting for Europeans and I think it is also informative for the other continents. But if you were not interested, please, don´t miss the interview with the enlighting Amitava, below.

And this is very serious so it doesn´t include any picture. I promise much warmer content below. But now…

Music Moves Europe (MME from now on) is currently on a step of “preparatory action”, with the motto of “Boosting European music diversity and talent”. Undoubtedly, we the agents of world music know much about diversity and talent. How can it be useful for us? At the moment, the four calls related to this preparatory actions are closed and the results not published yet. But, what have been done so far and how is the world music scene involved, if so? Find all the official details, here. And I continue with my insights: one of the key events has been an “in-depth conversation with the music sector in Europe”, which results are published here. In pages 49 and 50 you can find the participant’s list. I don´t know each and everyone but it seems there is a lack of agents of world music scene. Just to name the one that instantly springs to mind: Womex. Not even the world leader trade fair that has been gathering data for 24 years and that has exported their expertise to other continents was present there.

MME actions include also a talent award for popular and contemporary music, whose winners will be announced next January. This prize is successor of the former one, with that boombastic name of European Border Breakers Awards, which 2018 winner are here. Ah, I got it: to break European borders, it is a must to sing in English, no matter where you are from*. Congratulations.

Can we keep any hope about Creative Europe for world music scene? Well, apart of considering that our world music scene may need a deep self-analysis too, while checking the results of the latests calls for cooperation, I found a project that got support and whose creators are focused on world music. That is the project 2020 Troubadours, lead by Via Lactea, the Belgian agency, in cooperation with FlonsFlons from France, EtnoFest from Serbia and Mediawave from Hungary. Via Lactea are kindly sharing the complete application form in their website. Congratulations and much success and joy for all the team of Troubadaurs 2020!

* Salvador Sobral sings 3 songs in Portuguese and one in Spanish in his last album Excuse me. The rest are in English. His song for EBBA was in Portuguese. A happy exception.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 
AB – Getting the right music band within budget (he smiles). Ours is a non commercial festival and we don’t much approach corporate sponsor. We do the festival from our own budget and thus limited too.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours? 
AB – Its 8 years old festival, more or less the process is streamlined, Internationally people know about the festival. Audience is eager to attend it. So not much of challenge really.

MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival. 
AB – There may not be a festival like this, that’s what all participating bands and audience says each year. All bands stay together for 3 days in Kolkata, travel together to Goa and then stay together again. So, friendship get developed, new music happens then and later. We also present a traditional music based opening and create a festival band with members from all bands to present at Grand Finale. Our traditional folk stage is also very popular.

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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.