Tag Archives: Folk Alliance

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 #6 December 2018

I am Araceli Tzigane. Welcome to Mapamundi Música’s December monthly newsletter. The next one will be in 2019 so it is the moment to wish to all you guys, the world music people, 
a superb end of the year, strenght, wisdom and much success for 2019.  

It is the time of the year where the charts and lists are published so we review a bunch of them. The results of the Transglobal WMC Festival Awards will be published at the very end of the year. I invite you to subscribe to its news lists. The activity of fairs and meetings continue soon and we’ll pay attention to some of those events to come. We continue the series of little interviews with festival directors and in this occasion we look at Japan, with Sukiyaki Meets the World, by Nicolas Ribalet.

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: Charts time. Open calls. Meetings to come. Miniinterview with festival director: Nicolas Ribalet.
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CHARTS TIME

Of the thousands of charts published at this time of the year, we have to select a few ones. Some albums have had great success, for instance Soar, by Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita, that is probably the superwinner of the year. Also Fatoumata Diawara‘s Fenfo, Monsieur Doumani‘s Angathin and the compilation of Dur-Dur Band have got much success. Congratulations to them, to all the artists and record labels for the amazing and devoted work one year more! And congratulations also to Maria Kalaniemi for her State Prize for Music. 

· Transglobal World Music Chart. The chart is composed nowadays by 58 disseminators from the 5 continents. I am proudly founder and administrator together with Juan Antonio Vázquez and Ángel Romero. Our top 10 is:  
1. Monsieur Doumani – Angathin – Monsieur Doumani
2. Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita – Soar – Bendigedig
3. Fatoumata Diawara – Fenfo – Montuno / Shanachie / Wagram
4. El Naán – La Danza de las Semillas – El Naán
5. Ammar 808 – Maghreb United – Glitterbeat
6. Gabacho Maroc – Tawassol – 10h10 / Cristal
7. The Turbans – The Turbans – Six Degrees
8. SANS – Kulku – Cloud Valley
9. Vigüela – A Tiempo Real – ARC Music
10. Samba Touré – Wande – Glitterbeat
Check the complete list HERE.
· World Music Charts Europe. The panel is composed by more than 40 radio DJs from European public radios. Their top 10 is:
1. Fatoumata Diawara – Fenfo – 3eme Bureau / Wagram
2. 3MA / Rajery, Driss El Maloumi, Ballaké Sissoko – Anarouz – Mad Minute Music
3. Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita – Soar – Bendigedig
4. Marta Gómez – La alegría y el canto – Aluna
5. Dirtmusic – Bu Bir Ruya – Glitterbeat
6. Samba Touré – Wande – Glitterbeat      
7. Djénéba & Fousco – Kayeba Khasso – Lusafrica
8. Dur-Dur Band – Dur-Dur of Somalia: Volume 1, Volume 2 & Previously Unreleased Tracks – Analog Africa
9. Monsieur Doumani – Angathin – Monsieur Doumani
10. Calypso Rose – So Calypso! – Because Music
Check the complete list HERE.

· fRoots Best of 2018 by the Critics Pool. The selection is made by many critics from the world. I am proudly one of them. How many are we? The last years it is not public. Check the analysis of the 33rd edition of the annual Critics Pool made by fRoots staff HERE.

Album of the year:
1. Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita – Soar – Bendigedig
2. Anna + Elizabeth – The Invisible Comes to Us – Smithsonian Folkways
3. Fatoumata Diawara – Fenfo – Montuno
4. The Rheingans Sisters – Bright Field – Root Beat
5. Lisa O’Neil – Heard A Long Gone Song – River Lea 
Reissue/ Compilation Albums Of 2018:
1. Dur-Dur Band – Dur-Dur of Somalia: Volume 1, Volume 2 & Previously Unreleased Tracks – Analog Africa
2. V.A. – Listen All Around: 1950s Popular Music From The Congo, Tanganyika, Zanzibar And Kenya – Dust-To-Digital
3. Bob Dylan – More Blood, More Tracks: The Bootleg Series Vol. 14 –  Sony Music
Check the complete list HERE.

· Mundofonías’ Favis. This is the chart made exclusively by Juan Antonio Vázquez and me, the makers of Mundofonías radio show. It is a list of selected albums, not a ranking. The order is aleatory:

· Damily – Valimbilo – Les Disques Bongo Joe
· Vigüela – A tiempo real – ARC Music
· Malagasy Guitar Masters – Volo hazo – Buda Musique
· Sepideh Meshki & Mojtaba Asgari – Impatient of separation – PHM Records
· Gateiros de Lisboa – A história – Uguru
· WoWaKin – Kraj za miastem – WoWaKin
· Grupo Mono Blanco – ¡Fandango! Sones jarochos de Veracruz – Smithsonian Folkways
· El Naán – La danza de las semillas – El Naán
· The Turbans – The Turbans – Six Degrees
· Monsieur Doumani – Angathin – Monsieur Doumani
· Don Kipper – Seven sisters – Riverboat / World Music Network
· Domna Samiou – Music from Greece – Caprice Records
· Baro Bialo – Vagabondages – Collectif Çok Malko
· Amsterdam Klezmer Band & Söndörgő – Szikra – Vetnasj

Compilations:
· V.A. – Ocora: Le monde des musiques traditionnelles – Ocora-Radio France
· V.A. – Listen all around: The golden age of Central and East African music – Dust-to-Digital
· V.A. – Ragas Live retrospective – Brooklyn Raga Massive / Pioneer Works
· V.A. – Chikhates et Chioukhs de l’aïta: Anthologie – Atlas Azawan

· Grammy. Just to name a few world music artists nominated in several categories: Orquesta Akokán, Fatoumata Diawara, Bombino, Seun Kuti, Yiddish Glory or Opium Moon. Bravo!

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CALLS FOR APPLICATIONS

These two professional fairs have applications for showcases open right now:

· Atlantic Music Expo (Praia, Cabo Verde). Application open until December 31st!!!
· Mapas (Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain). Application open until February 15th.

COMING EVENTS
· APAP World Music Pre-Conference, probably the most early rising proffesional event on the year, will take place on days 3rd and 4th of January in New York. It is produced by the team of Globalfest (that will take place on 6th of January) and rock paper scissors.
· Folk Alliance Conference 2019 will be in Montreal, Canada, from 13th to 17th. In this edition, the conference theme will explore the artistic process from inspiration to vocation.
· Mediterranean Music Festival. Switzerland. Of the festivals to take place in the following months, I am personally moved by this because it will hold the world premiere of Mediterranean Odyssey: Rebetiko meets Fado und Cante Alentejano, with artists of À Porta do Cante, the fado singer Maura and the superb artists ofRodopi Ensemble, with the music direction of Alkis Zopoglou and the advice of Prof. Lambros Liavas.

**** 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), Luís Lles (Pirineos Sur, ES), Amitava Bhattacharya (Sur Jahan, IN).

 

MINI INTERVIEW WITH NICOLAS RIBALET FROM SUKIYAKI MEETS THE WORLD

Sukiyaki Meets The World takes place in August in Nanto-city (Hokuriku region, Japan) every year since 1991. It is entirely organized by local citizens (250 persons). With 4 stages and 12,000 visitors every year, it is the oldest and biggest event in Japan completely dedicated to Word Music. With more than 150 workshop, residence program, all the generations of the city are involved, throughout the year.

MM – What do you search in an artist when you program?
NR – Quality, creativity, originality. Projects have to be solid enough to attract attention in the medias in Japan, and to sale tickets (high fares in Japan). They also have to be professional enough to adapt their working method to the Japanese market.

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
NR – Development of the cultural activities in Nanto region, education of the local community, diffusion of the world music in Japan.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 
NR – The interest for foreign music is limited in Japan, and often restricted to (very) narrow niches. It is very complicated to gather those cores into a same event.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours? 
NR – The Sukiyaki festival runs since 1991 (28th edition this year). It is fully organized by volunteers/citizens. Keeping the dynamic, educating new staff, adapting the structure are complex challenges.

MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival. 
NR – Taking place in the small village of Nanto, surrounded by rice fields, it gathers the homemade taste of the local community and the highest artistic quality since 1991.

Picture: Nicolas’ 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.