Tag Archives: festival director

Newsletter #11 May 2019

I am Araceli Tzigane. Welcome to Mapamundi Música’s May’s monthly newsletter. I am a bit exhausted after arranging flights for many musicians and destinations… and remembering the last flight’s quarrel at the check-in desk. And at the Canadian Music Week I verified once more that I am not alone… Check below to discover why.

Apart of this, this issue includes one more mini interview about the challenges for festivals, in this case with Mads Olesen, from 5 Continents festival, and some more topics. 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 
Summary: Mini interview with festival director: Mads Olesen from 5 Continents (Switzerland) – Mapamundi Música shares: tips for flying with instruments, by Folk Alliance – Find me in… – New (and still) open calls.
**** 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 

If you haven´t read them, you can find the previous interviews clicking on the names: Michal Schmidt (Folk Holidays, CZ) – Jun-Lin Yeoh (Rainforest WMF, MY) – Luis Lles (Pirineos Sur, ES) – Amitava Bhattacharya (Sur Jahan, IN) – Nicolas Ribalet (Sukiyaki Meets the World, JP) – Sergio Zaera (Poborina Folk, ES) – Per Idar Almås (Førdefestivalen, NO) – Bożena Szota (EthnoPort, PL) – Ken Day (Urkult, SE)

 

MINI INTERVIEW WITH MADS OLESEN FROM 5 CONTINENTS

Its complete name is Festival des 5 Continents and takes place in Martigny, Switzerland. This year’s edition will happen from 13th to 16th of June and I will attend for the first time. I am eager!

The concerts program is splitted in Concerts World and Concerts Local Global. The names are quite meaningful: international artists and artists settled locally, doing world music, respectively, and two different and complementary objetives. Check more at the website.

Mads Olesen is the Délégué aux Affaires culturelles at Martigny and his words are very enlightening about the spirit of a festival like this, a spirit that probably most of us, involved in the world music in any role or position, share. Thank you for your answers, Mads!

MM – What do you search in an artist when you program? 
MO – Artistic quality within « Worldmusic », passion, authencity and the capacity to transmit his/her music to the public.

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
MO – The Festival of the 5 Continents exist since 1994 and we can put out two main ideas: The first one is to permit our public to discover world music and cultures from all over the planet. The next one is to engage ourself through the festival for a better « together-living ». (Martigny is a small city in the Alps but 35% of the population comes from abroad and we are 110 nationalities living together). The festival is a symbol of peaceful together-living.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 
MO – The Festival is completely free, all concerts are free. To offer this, we have to do a big job to find money and to raise funds. We did it for 26 years. But every year this is a hard business. But the result is that everybody can come and listen for free to more then 30 concerts, events, art exhitions…All the communities in the town are working with the Festival. We serve thousands of meals and this is done in favour of the Festival. It is a quite a hard organisation, BUT the result is solidarity and local engagement. This year we start up an ecological process to make the Festival a real sustainable event with recycling on all levels,…
MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours? 
MO – To offer a high level artistic quality program together with the fact that the Festival is free. To keep a high level of local engagement in an international event (about 100 artists from 20 countries, 15 communities in 2019).
MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival. 
MO – A Festival with a high degree of friendliness, free world class music in the middle of the Alps.

 

Picture: super nice of Mads’s Facebook former profile picture.

 

MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA SHARES…

The tips for flying with instruments, and more news, by the Folk Alliance International! 

Being us, the people involved on live music, one of the most regular clients of the flight companies, it is depressing how badly we are treated many times when flying with instruments. No matter if they are hold baggage or hand baggage: the problems will probably show up.

At the Canadian Music Week I had the pleasure to talk with Aengus Finnan, executive director of the Folk Alliance International (at the picture) and to discover this guide with deep and useful information for flying with instruments not to miss by musicians and managers.

Aengus told me also about the Nordic Folk Alliance Conference 2019 that is a milestone in the organization’s internationalization, and about which you’ll learn more in their newsletter of May, to which you can also subscribe. In parallel, the conference of Folk Alliance International will take place in New Orleans in January 2020. 

FIND ME IN…

Some dates of interest for the international audience could be:
More dates, in the next issue.

 

CALLS FOR APPLICATIONS

These professional fairs and festivals have applications open right now:

 

Newsletter #10 April 2019

I am Araceli Tzigane. Welcome to Mapamundi Música’s April’s monthly newsletter. A good part of the world is celebrating today. I hope you are having a great Easter or a superb Pesach.

For me, this is the week before travelling abroad for half of the next month, to Poland and to Canada. Learn below where to find me in those locations.

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 
Summary: Mini interview with festival director: Ken Day from Urkult (Sweden) – Mapamundi Música introduces: Temas de música: Gamelán – Songlines Music Awards nominees – Find me in… – New (and still) open calls

**** 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
If you haven´t read them, you can find the previous interviews clicking on the names: Michal Schmidt (Folk Holidays, CZ) – Jun-Lin Yeoh (Rainforest WMF, MY) – Luis Lles (Pirineos Sur, ES) – Amitava Bhattacharya (Sur Jahan, IN) – Nicolas Ribalet (Sukiyaki Meets the World, JP) – Sergio Zaera (Poborina Folk, ES) – Per Idar Almås (Førdefestivalen, NO) – Bożena Szota (EthnoPort, PL)

 

MINI INTERVIEW WITH KEN DAY FROM URKULT
In the faraway village of Näsåker, with barely more than 500 inhabitants, for 3 days, this “welcoming and loving festival where thousands of people can get together and experience something unique” takes place since 1995. Great music, wonderful landscape, peace atmosphere, a market that is an experience by itself, many food options with reasonable prices… well worth the plan of visiting the center of Sweden at the beginning of August. I know well, as I was there with Vigüela in 2016 and it is one of our best memories. For instance, this trip at the “happy train” full of artists and volunteers. Watch the video under the interview! Ken Day is the heart of Urkult.

 

Thanks for the answers and the best wishes for Urkult 2019, Ken!

 

MM – What do you search in an artist when you program? 
KD – Music that swings and moves people… Music for all ears!

 

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
KD – The local, international and environmental perspectives. To bring the world to a little village in the inland of northern Sweden!

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 
KD – Finding places for all our guests (and artists) to stay safely and cleanly.

 

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours? 
KD – Economy is always an issue. We are almost 100% ticket financed. We want to balance reasonable ticket proces with keeping the size at a manageable level, so that all our guests have a great experience.

 

MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival. 
KD – Meetings with friends, family and artists from all over the world.

 

Picture: one of Ken’s Facebook profile pictures

 

Concert at Urkult’s “Happy Train” with Vigüela, August 2016
MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA INTRODUCES…

Temas de música – Gamelán, by Juan Antonio Vázquez, for Radio Clásica – National Radio of Spain
During March, Juan Antonio Vázquez, my partner of Mundofonías, has been doing a radio show focused on Gamelan music. He has delved in this intriguing tradition, both in the most ancestral as in the most heterodox. It is in Spanish but the music is really worthy of it even if you don´t understand the speech. These are the 10 episodes:

SONGLINES MUSIC AWARDS NOMINEES
Songlines celebrates its 11th edition of Music Awards and the nominees are public now. Their team of international contributors selected the nominees in the geographical categories and the Best Artist and Best Group nominees were voted by the Songlines readers.

 

We share the list below and with special joy for our collaborators Monsieur Doumani (who are currently touring in Europe, check below) and Don Kipper. For more information, visit Songlines website.

 

Congratulations to all for the great work and good luck! 

  • Best artist: Gaye Su Akyol, Fatoumara Diawara, Amira Kleir, Mariza.
  • Best group: 47Soul, Afro Celt Sound System, Afrika Mammas, Monsieur Doumani.
  • Africa & Middle East: 3MA, Gaye Su Akyol, Fatoumata Diawara, Angélique Kidjo.
  • Americas: Orquesta Akokán, Bixiga 70, Mélissa Laveaux, Totó la Momposina.
  • Asia & Pacific: Anandi Bhattacharya, Anda Union, Gurrumul, Small Island Big Song.
  • Europe: Dreamers’ Circus, Mariza, Mercedes Peón, Sam Sweeney.
  • Fusion: Ammar 808, BCUC, Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita, Don Kipper.
FIND ME IN…

I have the privilege of travelling much the next months. I share with you these dates that, by the way, are interesting events. Will we happen to meet? 🙂

CALLS FOR APPLICATIONS

These professional fairs and festivals have applications open right now:
· Projects presentations at Fira Mediterrània de Manresa: application is open until 6th May. More info and application, here. 
· Visa por Music, Rabat, Morocco. Apply here. Until 15th of May. 
· Premio Andrea Parodi: the contest application is open until 31st May. The contest will take place in Cagliary from 8th to 10th November. More info and application, 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 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. 

Newsletter #8 February 2019

I am Araceli Tzigane. Welcome to Mapamundi Música’s February monthly newsletter.

In the last edition we announced the leaving of David Ibañez from the artistic direction of the Fira Mediterrània and still today the new director is not published. We will share the news at our Facebook and our Instagram as soon as we know, so you can follow us there. The Fira is nowadays the most important fair of world music in the South of Europe, specially since Babel Med stopped after 2017’s edition. It is also a superb festival. Did you know they got the 4th position at TWMC Festival Awards? Yes, you know: we announced it in February newsletter. Application for the procedure of the Festival Awards is open.

Below, we continue the series of little interviews with festival directors and with many more useful infos for the community.

And, before, this last month many things have happened here:
· We have had the announcement of early general elections in Spain in April that, added to the local elections in May, have the country in a very volatile situation, with all the impact this has in the not-mass culture…
· We also have had back in Spain the Janusz Prusinowski Kompania, with a thrilling concert last Friday and they return next Sunday. Their 4th album, Po śladach, is haunting.
· I travelled to Switzerland for the premiere of the Mediterranean Odyssey concert, of which we’ll share videos soon. I had the luck of listening by my side one of the best singers of the world, Drosos Koutsokostas, from Rodopi Ensemble (better videos, soon).
· We’ve been also working with Spain is Music, of which you have more info below. 

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

Summary: AC/E´s application for support opens in March. New (and still) open calls. Mapamundi introduces… On tour. Mini interview with festival director: Per Idar Almås, from Førdefestivalen (Norway)

Do you like our newsletter? To sign up, click HERE.

DO YOU WANT A SPANISH ARTISTS IN YOUR PROGRAM? AC/E’S CALL FOR SUPPORT WILL BE OPEN DURING MARCH

Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) is a public entity dedicated to promoting the culture and heritage of Spain. In March they open the call to request support for the logistic expenses related to Spanish artists and experts in cultural issues, for events abroad taking place in the second half of the year.

The application must be done by the foreign institution/programmer and Mapamundi Música has supported some clients in previous editions to fullfill the procedure, that in fact is not difficult. The results are usually published quite soon (around the 3rd week of April).
We can offer you our band Vigüela (in the picture) and we can help you also if you need any other artist profile.
CALLS FOR APPLICATIONS
These professional fairs have applications open right now:
· IX Targowisko Instrumentów, Warsaw. FOR INSTRUMENTS MAKERS. The call for proposals is open until 22th of February, next Friday. Apply here.
· WOMEX. The call for proposals is open until 22th of March. Apply here.
· Fira Mediterrània de Manresa. We are still anxiously waiting for knowing who is the new artistic director. The application is open now, until 4th of March at 15h local time. Apply here.
· Mercat de Música Viva de Vic. Open call for the 31st edition, until 29th of March. Apply here.
· Mundial Montreal. Open call for the 9th edition, until 1st of April. Apply here.
MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA INTRODUCES… 

Spain is Music. A new thrilling collaboration between us and this travel agency and consultancy firm is just starting. Their approach to travel design is boutique-like, totally personalized and result of a deep investigation of the most authentic experiences.

We proudly colaborate next month with them, providing a workshop of music and cooking by Vigüela for a group of Canadian travellers. In the meantime we are designing new initiatives and now I want to invite you to subscribe to their mailing list, here. You’ll get interesting tips about Spain’s music, gastronomy, rituals, festivities…

Picture: Pablo Camino, director of Spain is Music.

ON TOUR. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR ARTISTS TOURING IN YOUR AREA NEXT SUMMER
· Vigüela will be in Germany in the 3rd week of July and in UK at the end of August and we are working on more dates and countries. Remember you can request support from AC/E for the logistic needs. In any case, if you are interested in them, just ask and we’ll make our best to reach an agreement. Remember we can offer the band alone and also the Polish-Spanish collaboration with Janusz Prusinowski Kompania and Maria Siwiec.
· Monsieur Doumani will be in Germany in the 3rd week of July and they have confirmed many other dates in Europe for next Summer and Autumn. Ask us. And we get them in Spain again, very soon: 2nd of April. Yeah!
· Rodopi Ensemble‘s first concert in Spain is confirmed: 18th July, in Palma de Mallorca. They are settled in Thessaloniki and available all year.
· Gulaza are constantly touring. Ask us for the date of your interest. Their showcase at WOMEX was “the most extraordinary and talked about concert in WOMEX 2018” according to BBC Sounds.
We work with more artists and special concerts and collaborations. Check them at our website.
**** 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 

 

MINI INTERVIEW WITH PER IDAR ALMÅS FROM FØRDEFESTIVALEN

Førde Traditional and World Music Festival takes place in Norway at the beginning of July in many different and beautiful locations that combine nature with traditional and modern architecture. The program is a chant for understanding and always includes a huge variety of proposals. The festival has had Hilde Bjørkum as artistic director until the edition of 2019, that happens to be the 30th anniversary of the festival. Congratulations, team! The artistic director now is Per Idar Almås, who has been working at the Bergen International Festival and as artistic director in a chamber music festival near Førde. We wish him a super nice experience and joys in this important position. Hilde continues supporting the festival in special projects. Both of them are in the picture, taken from her facebook profile. The answers to the questions are by Per.

Thank you, Per, for your answers, thank you, Hilde, for your vision along these years.

MM – What do you search in an artist when you program? 
PIA –  We are searching for quality and uniqueness for all artists coming to our festival. Also, each year we are having a festival theme, and it’s a goal to have artists connected to that as well.

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
PIA – Førdefestivalen wants to have artists from all over the world represented at our festival. It’s a very important thing for us to present international traditional music to our audience as well as our own traditonal music. It is getting more and more important with cultural understanding and exchange in this world, to break down boundaries and walls (our theme this year is “30 years without borders”).

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 
PIA – For the programming it is always a challenge to find the right mix of artists on the program, as there is so many good artists out there that we would love to present. We have so many artists who would like to come that we can`t even answer them all, unfortunately.MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours? 
PIA – One thing that we have done in Førde in the past and that has become a bit more difficult in Norway now, is to get funding for youth exchange programs for Norwegian and international young musicians, which is sad because I really believe in the value of this concept. We are working on finding ways to do it, and I hope we soon can do this again.MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival. 
PIA – For one week in July the small city of Førde invites the world to town, with the best artists, the best music, the most beutiful nature and we’ll do our best to be the best hosts possible. Welcome!

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. 

Newsletter #7 January 2019

I am Araceli Tzigane. Welcome to Mapamundi Música’s January monthly newsletter. I hope you have had a great beginning of year if you happen to be in one of the cultures in which we have agreed on changing the year on 31st of December of our consensual calendar. If not, I hope you have had great time too!

As we announced, the results of the Transglobal WMC Festival Awards are already published. The agenda of fairs and meetings goes on and I want to send a farewell full of gratitude to David Ibáñez, now former artistic director of Fira Mediterrània de Manresa, who trusted us and booked from us Carles Dénia in 2015 and Janusz Prusinowski Trio with Manu Sabaté in 2018. David, we’ll miss you and wish you the best success of the world! The Fira is currently in the process of selecting the new artistic director. We will inform about the selection in our next monthly newsletter.We continue the series of little interviews with festival directors and in this occasion it is a festival from my own country: Poborina Folk. And below you’ll find also some open calls for you to check, including one from Mapamundi Música.

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
Summary: Festival awards. New (and still) open calls. Miniinterview with festival director: Sergio Zaera, from Poborina Folk (Spain)

Do you like our newsletter? To sign up, click HERE.

TRANSGLOBAL WORLD MUSIC CHART FESTIVAL AWARDS

The results of the first edition of these Festival Awards have been published this morning. The top 10 of global results is this. Check the website for the results in the different categories and some learn about the criteria, procedure and definitions.

Global top 10:
1.    (In a tie): Jeonju Int’l Sori Festival & WOMADelaide
3.    World Music Festival Bratislava
4.    Fira Mediterrània de Manresa
5.    Ethnoport Poznan
6.    Urkult
7.    Cordas World Music Festival
8.    Rainforest World Music Festival
9.    Førdefestivalen
10.  Lowell Folk Festival

Transglobal World Music Chart Festival Awards is an initiative of our sister project, Transglobal WMC and it is focused on world music / folk / traditional music festivals. Just to name a few of other festival awards that have included world music festivals in their results:

· Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe. There have been so far 2 editions: 2015-2016 and 2017. Will it happen again? We’ll try to find it out and, in the mean time, they also provide the EFFE Label, Europe’s quality stamp for remarkable arts festivals and the application period is currently open.· Iberian Festival Awards, not exclusively for world music festivals and oriented to Iberian festivals and this year the awards ceremony  will take place on 13th of March.

· And… what more? We are planning to make a comprehensive list to share it with the world music community. If you have any tip, let us know. If we get a bunch of awards we’ll edit a document and will share it publicly.

Do you like our newsletter? To sign up, click HERE.

CALLS FOR APPLICATIONS

· We, I mean, Mapamundi Música, have open a gathering of proposals for an intimate and little line-ups concert series. Calling for duos to quartets, able to play with no amplification. Send your info, here. 

These professional fairs have applications for showcases open right now:

· Mapas (Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain). Application open until February 15th. TODAY, it closes at 22h in Canary Islands time. You have some few hours after we sent this! 
· Fira Mediterrània de Manresa. As announced above, the artistic direction is changing but the application is open now, until 4th of March at 15h local time. Apply here.
· Mercat de Música Viva de Vic. Open call for the 31st edition, until 29th of March. Apply here.

FLASH NEWS

· fRoots magazine is awarded with “Lifetime Achievement Award” from Folk Alliance International conference. Congratulations, Ian Anderson and team of fRoots!

· Check here the list of the “50 Greatest World Music Albums of the Last Five Years” by Jo Frost and Simon Broughton from Songlines. I agree with many and I would have included some wonders like Po Kolana W Niebie, by Janusz Prusinowski Trio or Angathin by Monsieur Doumani, but it is great to remember so many beauties like Saz’iso’s or Söndörgő’s albums. Thank you, Jo and Simon!

**** 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 

 

MINI INTERVIEW WITH SERGIO ZAERA FROM POBORINA FOLK

In this occasion we pay attention to a festival from our country. The picture of Sergio doesn´t evoke the usual image of Spain but the true is that our country is super diverse and El Pobo, in Teruel province, one of the most depopulated areas in Europe, Winter time is cold and, very often, snowy.

Poborina Folk talks place in this little village since 1999 in the weekend most near to the Summer solstice. The program includes concerts of local and international artists, activities inspired on the tradition and the rural environment, like singing the albada for San Juan, traditional cooking and workshops. Sergio is part of a big team of enthusiastic lovers of music and party.

MM – What do you search in an artist when you program?
SZ –  First of all, we want them to make a style of music that fits somehow in the festival and which live show was able to capture the attention of the public. And, after that, as programmers, we must consider the budget we have, as some of the bands that we explore, some times we can´t affort to pay them.

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
SZ – Poborina Folk has proved during the over time that it is a festival that has successfully adapted to the passage of time without giving up the objectives it was born with, that are to disseminate folk music, opting for providing to the public a wide variety of styles and full filling the cultural proposals with family activities.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 
SZ – The fact of being held in a locality that does not exceed 50 inhabitants during the year and has limited infrastructures undoubtedly conditions the organization of the festival. For example, we do not have any type of accommodation for groups or visitors in El Pobo. Despite the economic difficulties, we want to maintain the free nature of the festival, so we must optimize resources. Note that the entire festival is organized by volunteers. However, these difficulties mean that the festival has a special charm and has managed to maintain its identity, differentiating itself from other events.MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours? 
SZ – In our case, after 20 editions, the main challenge is to give continuity to the project, maintaining a varied program, with high-quality, that helps to maintain the magical atmosphere that surrounds the festival. We are proud to count year after year with a loyal audience that is accompanied by new people who discover the festival for the first time and are pleasantly surprised.MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival. 
SZ – Discover the magic of celebrating the summer solstice in Poborina Folk.
Picture: Sergio Zaera in a picture stolen from his facebook.

 

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. 

Newsletter #5 November 2018

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

Summary: Music Moves Europe. Mini interview with festival director: Amitava Bhattacharya

Do you like our newsletter? To sign up, click HERE.

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.

** 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.
After the mini interviews with the director of Folk Holidays, Michal Schmidt, of Rainforest World Music Festival, Jun-Lin Yeoh, and of Pirineos Sur, Luis Lles, in this occasion we travel to Bengal to visit Banglanatak Dot Com, the company lead by our  guest.

 

MINI INTERVIEW WITH AMITAVA BHATTACHARYA FROM SUR JAHAN FESTIVAL

Sur Jahan, formerly named Sufi Sutra, takes place in Kolkata (1-3 February) and Goa (6-8 February). Banglanatak Dot Com is a company dedicated to culture for development and they carry out many other initiatives related to traditional music, art and handicraft for the improvement of living conditions, as well as for enabling the access to others’ cultures.

MM – What do you search in an artist when you program?
AB – We want to present diversity of culture. And thus each year we try to present variations with excellence. We also try to keep women participation. We don’t much entertain electric instrument or electronic music. Vocal is a must for our festival. Usual size of the band is 4 to 7.

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
AB – Strengthening Cultural Exchange and celebrating cultural diversity is the basis of our festival Sur Jahan, which has a theme MUSIC FOR ALL, MUSIC FOR PEACE.

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.

Picture: Amitava Bhattacharya’s former Facebook profile picture.

 

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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. 

Newsletter #4 October 2018

I am Araceli Tzigane. Welcome to our October newsletter. We are very busy, as probably you, because we travel to Canary islands for Womex very soon!

I am specially excited because in this Womex there are three special facts for me:
· All the delegates will receive our compilation promo CD, inside Womex bag, when registering. See it below!
· We have the showcase by Gulaza!!!!
· Our sister initiative, Transglobal World Music Chart, has colaborated again this year with World Music Charts Europe and Womex for the selection of the Label Award and we will be present there to congratulate the winner.

We include in this newsletter other two little interviews with festival directors. I hope you’ll find them intesting. And if you have any suggestion of contents for next editions, let us know. Thanks for your attention.

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

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Summary: Womex Label Award, mini interviews with festivals directors: Jun-Lin Yeoh (Rainforest World Music Festival) and Luis Lles (Pirineos Sur).
 

WOMEX LABEL AWARD GOES TO… GLITTERBEAT!!
Yeah, it is not much surprising as they have to it for the 5th time!! Congratulations! Together with World Music Charts Europe, our sister project Transglobal World Music Chartmakes for Womex the selection of the Label Award, that is based on the broadcasting and the voting during the previous year. It will be given to the owners of Glitterbeat at the closure ceremony of Womex. Araceli will have the big pleasure of congratulating them at the stage.
** Don´t you know what is Transglobal World Music Chart? We are quite sure about that it is interesting for you. Click here **

 

MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA’S PROMO COMPILATION CD
It will be included in the Womex bag for delegates but if you are not coming to Womex and want it, just let us know.We have included some of our main proposals, with the agreement of the artists and of ARC Music, that releases the works of two of them:Vigüela and Rodopi Ensemble.
CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR FESTIVALS.
The last month we started this series of mini interviews with the director of Folk Holidays, Michal Schmidt. If you missed it, you can read it here. We launch now other two. 

 

MINI INTERVIEW WITH JUN-LIN YEOH FROM RAINFOREST WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL

Rainforest World Music Festival takes place in July in Sarawak, a Malaysian region in the island of Borneo.

MM – What do you search in an artist when you program?
JY -Something that will suit the stages and venues of the festival.
Something that will complement or be nicely different from other acts to make a nice contrast.
Something with interesting ethnic instruments.
A band with presence and projection.

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
JY – To showcase music from different cultures.
To emphasize the importance of preserving traditions.
To present non-maistream music.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 
JY  – Logistics and travel.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours? 
JY – Logistics, finance, travel.

MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival. 
MS – The unexpectedness of finding music from all over the world in Borneo.

Picture: Jun-Lin Yeoh´s Facebook profile picture
MINI INTERVIEW WITH LUIS LLES FROM PIRINEOS SUR
Pirineos Sur takes place in July in the villages of Sallent de Gállego and Lanuza, in the province of Huesca (Spain), at the top of the Pirinees.

Rainforest World Music Festival takes place in July in Sarawak, a Malaysian region in the island of Borneo.

MM – What do you search in an artist when you program?
LL – Due to the monographic character of some of the sections of the festival, we look for artists that fit in the thematic axes that the festival has each year. And then, above all, we prioritize the originality of the artist, that possesses a unique and non-transferable universe. We do not like artists who simply copy success formulas. Sometimes, we also search a certain heterodoxy or peripheral character in the artist. This always how the most interesting things happen.

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
LL – As it is a festival organized by an institution (the Diputación Provincial of Huesca), the objectives are very diverse: to boost the territory, promote cultural diversity, promote Aragonese talent, discover new trends in music, get a musical program balanced and of quality, giving relevance above all to the cultural character of the event, attracting foreign and young audiences, spreading the new tendencies of roots music…

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 
LL  – Due to the entry into force of the new Contracting Law, the main difficulty we are facing is the increasing bureaucracy and the increasing deadlines that are required for the hiring of artists, production teams, etc. Another important difficulty is that since the festival is located in a small town in the Pyrenees, it is much more difficult for us to travel, hospitality and even convince certain veteran artists (and therefore less predisposed to certain adventures) to come to play to a so recondite and, nevertheless, so beautiful place.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours? 
LL – The main challenge, without a doubt, is to survive two issues:
1) the increasing bureaucracy associated with holding a festival organized by a public entity (it is much more complicated than when the organizer of the festival is a private company) and
2) the “festivalitis”* that this Spain suffers and that makes the competition harder and harder. We must remember that when Pirineos Sur emerged, on the horizon there was almost no other festival in Spain, and I do not mean a world music festival, but of any kind of music. In 1992, Spain was a desert in terms of festivals.

MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival. 
LL – It is a friendly festival, fully enjoyable without stress, family oriented, with very attractive proposals that prioritize diversity above all. In short, it is THE festival of the quality of life.

* This term refers to a overabundance of festivals in Spain.

Picture: Luis Lles en el Periódico del Alto Aragón

 

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

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 support our mission through our Mundofonías radio show, probably the leader about world music in Spanish language (on 46 stations in 17 countries), the Transglobal World Music Chart with our partner Ángel Romero from WorldMusicCentral.com, the #TremendAgenda and 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. 

 

Newsletter #3 September 2018

I am Araceli Tzigane. Welcome to our September newsletter. It is launched with a little delay because, in this meantime, a new Mapamundi member arrived to our lifes.

Sherezade is on maternity leave but she came today with her new son and allowed me to take this funny picture of them for the newsletter. Congratulations, Shere!

 Shere training her two weeks old boy for the hard work of world music –> 

In parallel, fair season arrived, so we pay attention to some ones that we have already mentioned in previous editions and a couple more.

We also start a series of mini interviews with directors of festivals, in the search of the new challenges that the festivals are facing nowadays and in the near future. We are grateful for the answers we have had so far and we’ll send all of them in this and the succeeding newsletters.

I hope you’ll find it useful. And if you have any suggestion of contents for next editions, let us know. Thanks for your attention.

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

Summary: upcoming fairs, mini interviews with festivals directors, new events included on #TremendAgenda.

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FAIRS SEASON! FIRA MEDITERRÀNIA, PAMS, WOMEX, VISA FOR MUSIC
Buyers and sellers have many occasions for business during Autumn
Many professional fairs and showcases festivals have emerged in recent years. Only time will say if it’s a bubble or a sustainable development path. In the meantime, the world music community doesn´t have time for getting bored. These are just a few of the options for gathering.
** Do you manage a professional fair and want us to talk about it? Get in touch with us **

Fira Mediterrània de Manresa, in Catalonia, celebrates its 21st edition. Many local proposals as well as a few carefully selected international performers, plus professional conferences, speed datings, a business area… in the charming environment of the city of Manresa. In this edition Mapamundi Música presents the Polish-Catalan collaboration of Janusz Prusinowski Kompania and Manu Sabaté. Learn more about Fira here.

WOMEX is undoubtedly  the queen of world music fairs. Little else is needed to say about this itinerary event that gathers near to 3000 professional from all over the world and this year will take place at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, that is officially our country, Spain, but is geographically Africa. In this edition Mapamundi Música presents the showcase by Gulaza. Learn more about WOMEX here.

Visa for Music has as first goal to highlight the artistic creation of Africa and the Middle-East. It’s 5th edition will take place, as usual, in Rabat (Morocco). It is directed by Brahim El Mazned, musical activist responsible also for the amazing compilation of 10 CDs Chikhates & Chioukhs de l’Aïta: Anthologie. The complete selection of artists for Visa for Music 2018 is still not published. Learn more about Visa for Music here.

PAMS is, in words by Juan Antonio Vázquez, who has been there in 2016 and returns next November, “a very colourful and stimulating showcase about what’s up in performing arts (music, dance, theatre…) all over the world and specifically in fascinating Eastern Asia”. Learn more about PAMS here.

 

CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR FESTIVALS.
MINI INTERVIEW WITH MICHAL SCHMIDT FROM FOLK HOLIDAYS
We start this series of mini interviews with the director of Folk Holidays, festival that takes place in Náměšť  nad Oslavou (Czeck Republic) at the beginning of August. Thank you, Michal! 
MM – What do you search in an artist when you program? 
MS – I search artist who have music as the first thing,  who are specific, who are not only entertainers, who fits to my theme of our festival, who fits to our environment, who excited me by their music.
MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
MS – The main objective is to bring eight evening special concerts blocks. The whole festival has one basic theme every year, and each concert block usually consists usually from three bands and has specific title and dramaturgy. I want to bring complete evening program as the whole, which has the own title, logic, specificity, uniqueness, discovering for visitors, delights for musicians from these concerts.
I do not want repeat concerts and I invite very often bands who are in our country at the first time
I pepare a special short residence projects with final concert.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 
MS – The most complicated issue is a financial issue. We must prepare enough incomes from grants and sponsorships from partners.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours? 
MS – The main challenge is to develop more short residence cooperation projects with a special theme.

MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival. 
MS – Our festival is chamber family 8-days festival in the environment of Rennaisance castle with specific dramaturgy of unique world music, jazz, folk concerts and workshops.

Picture: Michal Schmidt by Yvetta Stránská for http://www.world-music.cz
LATESTS POSTS AT #TREMENDAGENDA
The communication project lead by Juan Antonio Vázquez continues growing in contents. Some of the latests inserts: 

** Do you have a world music festival or concert series and want to be included at #TremendAgenda? Contact #TremendAgenda here **

MEET US AT… 
Fira Mediterrània and Womex, where we have showcases of artists of ours: Janusz Prusinowski Trio with Manu Sabaté and Gulaza, respectively.

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 support our mission through our Mundofonías radio show, probably the leader about world music in Spanish language (on 46 stations in 17 countries), the Transglobal World Music Chart with our partner Ángel Romero from WorldMusicCentral.com, the #TremendAgenda and 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. 

Newsletter #2 August 2018

Welcome to our August newsletter. During these days Sherezade is enjoying holidays and Araceli is having some office work between tour and tour. Wherever you are, we hope you’ll find it useful. And if you have any suggestion of contents for next editions, let us know. Thanks for your attention.

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

Summary: new radio show focused on Oriental music | grants for Spanish artists´ logistic expenses by AC/E | Bratislava World Music Festival | Womex Guide Rate deadline

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LA RUTA DE LAS ESPECIAS, NEW RADIO SHOW ON SPAIN’S NATIONAL RADIO
Juan Antonio Vázquez, from Mundofonías team, is producing this new radio show on RNE – Radio Clásica, during the Summer. 
If you are an artist, producer, disseminator or just interested in music from the many orients, like Arab and North African, the Turkish, the Persian, the Central Asian, the Indian subcontinent´s, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Southeast Asian… take a listen. You can get in touch with Juan Antonio at this email.
Picture: Juan Antonio Vázquez at Spain’s national radio archive

 

ACCIÓN CULTURAL ESPAÑOLA (AC/E) PERIOD TO REQUEST GRANTS WILL TAKE PLACE IN SEPTEMBER
By the PICE grants, AC/E supports finantially the logistic expenses to the institutions and festivals that want to have a Spanish artist in their program. 

This period applies for the events that will take place in the first half of the following year. In March, AC/E opens a new period, for the events taking place on the 2nd half. Check the conditions at their website.

And remember that it can be requested for Mapamundi Música’s Spanish artists El Naán and Vigüela. Feel free to request more info. We have collaborated with some festivals to get the support with success.

Picture: Mari Nieto, from Vigüela. By Pedro Mari Martín

 

BRATISLAVA WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL, FROM 13RD TO 16TH OF SEPTEMBER
The 3rd edition of the festival offers a showcase session of Slovak bands, a conference and a workshop of flamenco guitar. 
And, apart of the aforementioned, the festival includes concerts by artists from Slovakia, Chile, Ghana, Israel, Spain, Greece, Serbia, Hungary, Austria and Great Britain. The festival will also host the annual meeting of the EFWMF so many of the directors of the associated festivals will attend as delegates. Check the list here and let Araceli know if you go, as she will be there.
Picture: cover of Bratislava World Music Festival at Facebook

 

GUIDE RATE AT WOMEX DEADLINE: 17TH OF AUGUST
Until next Friday you can still get discounts and, more important, be included in the printed guide. 
You can check the current prices and register at their website. After day 17th the price gets more expensive and it won´t include the presence of delegates and companies on the printed guide.
Picture: cover of Womex page at Facebook

 

MEET US AT… 
As mentioned above, at Bratislava World Music Festival (Slovakia). After that, we’ll be very busy preparing ourselves for Fira Mediterrània and Womex, where we have showcases of artists of ours: Janusz Prusinowski Trio with Manu Sabaté and Gulaza, respectively.

Mapamundi Música is an agency of management and booking. Check our proposals at our website. We also support our mission through our Mundofonías radio show, probably the leader about world music in Spanish language (on 46 stations in 17 countries), and theTransglobal 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.