Tag Archives: Womex

Magazine #34 Apr’21 – The vision of Cosmopolis festival @Alkis Zopoglou, talk with Juliana Volož and + . By Mapamundi Música

Summary ? 

  • Results of the clinical research with the concert for 5000 attendants: no data yet
  • The vision of Alkis Zopoglou for Cosmopolis Festival
  • In depth Juliana Volož (J-V Promotion)
  • Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects
  • Open calls and professional events. WOMEX deadline for showcases call is soon.

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How are you? I hope well! It may not be easy to be well in these times. I have just received the news of the cancellation of the festival Poborina Folk (there is an interview with Sergio Zaera, from this festival, in a previous edition) for this next Summer. It is a multitudinous festival with activities all day long, with the public standing, moving, dancing, drinking and hugging and that is an essential part of the festival. I’m already looking forward to being able to do all that.

Nevertheless, it will end. Let’s look at the future through the eyes of two people I like a lot, Alkis Zopoglou and Juliana Volož ?. I hope you enjoy the interviews in this edition and find the other information useful. And if you have any suggestions for content, calls or useful information for our community, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música

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

Contact me if you want to share some relevant information. And if you find this interesting, share it with your friends. You can read the previous editions 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.

NOT YET PUBLISHED, THE RESULTS OF THE CLINICAL RESEARCH ABOUT CONCERTS AND COVID, WITH 5000 ATTENDANTS

In the edition of March I explained about the clinical research that consisted in a concert that took place on March 27th at the Palau Sant Jordi, in Barcelona, with 5000 attendants (the place has capacity for 20 thousand), with no social distance, with masks FFP2 and with fast antigen test before entering the venue.

The results have not yet been published. I have phoned the chief of communication of one of the hospitals involved (this one) and he said it will be done probably at the beginning of the next week.

After the concert, a positive result was detected 3 days after the concert (this is the reference of this info), so it is believed that he was infected prior to the concert and the antigen test did not detect it. I’ll keep an eye on it anyway and as soon as I find any new news, I’ll post it on Mapamundi Música’s Facebook page.

INTERVIEW WITH ALKIS ZOPOGLOU ABOUT HIS VISION FOR COSMOPOLIS FESTIVAL 

In issue 17 (November 2019) I mentioned that Alkis Zopoglou, qanunist of the Rodopi Ensemble and director of the Mediterranean Music Festival in Switzerland, had been appointed artistic director of the Cosmopolis festival, the flagship festival of his city, Kavala, two hours east of Thessaloniki on the Aegean coast.

Many things have happened since then, which have meant that the vision Alkis had for the festival could not be fully realized in 2020. Over the last few months, however, I have had the opportunity to talk to him and share his thoughts and it is a pleasure to share his insights again. Hopefully the plans for Cosmopolis can be realized as he wishes. In the meantime, let’s share some words with Alkis.

Mapamundi Música: One of the features I like most about your vision for Cosmopolis is that it is not just a series of concerts, but rather a series of activities that contribute to a better understanding of the culture behind the band or artist. Now – I have a theory about your vision: You come from the world of traditional music, you have grown up in the environment in which this music is performed and which is still strong in everyday life. And you have performed in many other countries around the world.

This traditional music is beautiful on its own, even out of context, and of course, in its own context it has an even deeper dimension. I’ve met you at several festivals playing the music of Greece in front of foreign audiences. For example, the last time we met in Lublin, Poland in 2019, or in Mallorca further ahead, and that’s really wonderful. Teaching to dance, in the workshop you did, makes the audience the protagonist. And these artistic expressions also provide a worldview that can be seen in cinema, in folk games, in handicrafts, in a typical gastronomy… I think the Cosmopolis Festival complements your experience of life in all these dimensions. It is like bringing the music as well as its context into the Kavala program. Apologies – this is more of a reflection than a question (hehehe). Let me know if you agree with my suggestion or if you would like to add something else 🙂

Alkis Zopoglou: It is true that when we refer to the tradition of a place, we do not only refer to its songs or its dances. It is rather a combination of elements and we should not exclude one from the other for the sake of impressiveness. All these things happen in a unified environment and are a continuation of one another.

For instance, if you are called to represent your tradition in front of a foreign audience far from the place where this tradition origins, it is ideal, if possible, to present song and dance as a unity. In this way, the audience gains a more rounded impression. I’m telling you this because I also have the experience of living abroad for several years. Accordingly, when you simply show a dance to a foreigner without the necessary framing, that includes elements of the space in which that dance lives in, an observer will see it more like a gymnastic exercise than an expression of tradition. However, this is not the desired effect.

On the other hand, one could argue that no one can convey the social activity of a traditional event entirely outside of its actual environment. I do agree but, in any case, it is crucial that the audience receives the most accurate depiction of reality. Thus, by presenting a variety of local activities (dance, music, folk games, people’s stories, food tastes) we motivate people to accept and understand diversity. This also aims to soften the social differences, that are nowadays one of the biggest problems in our world. We all must learn to live together and understand each other wherever we come from, and this is, after all, the profound duty of a cultural institution that deals with culture.

MM: What are you looking for when choosing artists for a program?

AK: First of all, I look for artistic ethos and passion for what they’re doing. I appreciate the authenticity in the cultural product that each artist chooses to present. Additionally, artists must artistically support what they are called upon to project and have studied it in depth, not just superficially. It is not my intention to give space to artists whose only dream is to get on a stage and gain a brief moment of fame.

MM: The festival also highlights the multicultural background of the city, with the presence of Armenians, Jews, Muslims, Roman Catholics… Thus, the festival is also a speaker of local culture and history. Do you usually have an audience from other regions of Greece or other countries? 

AK: Kavala, my city, really is a magical place, that I highly recommend you to visit.
No matter which way you look at it, it will be love at first sight. A city where its past is inseparably linked to its future. A crossroad of cultures that has hosted a multitude of people (Italians, Franks, Hungarians, Austrians, Jews, Turks, etc.) whose cultures have wandered its streets and have been assimilated by its inhabitants. A city with its own history, its stone-paved streets, its beautiful corners and its former tobacco factories “planted” all over Kavala to remind us of its vibrant past.The Cosmopolis Festival is essentially a contemporary way of connecting the city’s history with its future. Its aim is to attract people of all ages and interests by presenting a variety of activities throughout the year. During the festival, the city invites both locals and visitors to stroll around and experience its beauty and traditions. Certainly, not only people from neighboring regions, but also people from nearby countries are frequent visitors of the festival. Cosmopolis Festival provides attractive opportunities to spend a few pleasant days in our city and the people of Kavala are happy to welcome people from all over the world.

MM: In a previous edition (#17) I announced that you had become the new director of the Cosmopolis festival. That was in November 2019. So, your first edition as director was in 2020, the year of the pandemic. The international program was moved to the following year and you adapted the program to this situation. What was the 2020 edition like?

AK: It was not completely postponed. We worked hard and I think we finally succeeded to organize and carry out as many activities as were allowed by the health protocols. It was a desire of both the Mayor of the city, and me, as artistic director, that the festival was not entirely cancelled for one or two years, because this would have made it much more difficult to restart it again. We also wanted to support our local artists during these difficult times, who were hit hard by the pandemic and in the end, we managed to make the most out of the situation. I think that we also had the opportunity and time to develop a different vision of the festival which, after about 15 years of life, needed a refreshment. Now we are prepared and ready to move on to a new model, with much greater public appeal, due to the numerous new activities the festival has to offer.

MM: At the time of this interview, the pandemic situation is still complicated and there is a bit of uncertainty. Let’s assume that the festival will take place as planned, from 26 to 29 August. What will happen in Kavala during those days?  

AK: The festival now, as I mentioned in my previous answer, has been modified altogether. One of the most important changes for which a special effort has been made, is that the festival lasts much longer and it is split into different themes during the year. Its first section, the CosmoHome, begins in late spring in the yards and homes of the residents of the old town. The second section is called CosmoWorld and constitutes the peak of the festival during late August. Lastly, the third section, CosmoClasssical, focuses more on classical music and is planned for November and December. Hence, there are various activities and if you would like to learn more about the different sections, visit the website which will be fully updated by end of April. Hopefully, despite the pandemic situation, we will be able to carry out as many activities as possible.

MM: The programme includes a number of professional conferences, of which I am part of and I am very proud! Could you briefly explain what the objectives of this section of the programme are? 

AK: Our region in northern Greece is an endless source from which new artistic concerns and personalities are constantly rising. Perhaps, due to the fact that, this part of Greece borders 4 other countries and is, at the same time, connected to the Aegean Sea. In this way, there are many different stimuli and influences for the people, which probably shapes the way they see life and their overall mentality.

The aim of this action is to inform young artists already at the beginning of their careers in order for them to be best prepared for the “market” and be able to overcome every obstacle in the most effective way. This knowledge-transfer from professionals in the field to the new uprising generation will not only allow them to get in contact with the global market and hear real-life experiences, but also broaden up their horizons and shape their attitude regarding various issues so that, they can choose their own artistic path.Therefore, I hope that this program will be a very important tool for the growing of their career in the artistic scene, both in Greece but also in the global market. The local artists deserve it and I am convinced that it will prove very useful to them.

Credits:

IN DEPTH WITH JULIANA VOLOŽ

In recent months I have also had the opportunity to exchange many reflections with this colleague, a wise and passionate woman, and it is an honour now to share her thoughts on this peculiar “business” of being an agent for artists of roots music.

In preparation for this interview, I had access to Christian Pliefke‘s previous interview with him in his magazine FolkGalore. Christian is the owner of CPL Music and of Nordic Notes too. Thank you, Christian!!

 

This is a very brief summary of the interview with Christian:

Juliana graduated in chemistry in Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia). After that, she worked for 10 years in marine chemistry and marine biology at the Institute of Oceanography in Tallinn. This work gave her the opportunity to travel through different cities of the Baltic States at the Soviet times. In 1989 she moved with her family to Stockholm and started to be an active photographer. In 1998, they moved to Germany. The chance to become an agent came when the Georgian band The Shin asked her for support to play in Russia. After some encouraging experiences, Juliana opened her own agency in 2007. 
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Mapamundi Música – Dear Juliana, it is my pleasure to share your insights. You are one of the referential agents from Europe in the world music circuit and, despite our background is a bit different, I feel identified with some of the events of your life, like the fact of developing an initiative related to music, in an organic way, not from a conscious project of entrepreneurship but because a passion that aroused and found a way to grow into something that would become a profession. With these questions, I will try to delve in your personality, as well as to highlight relevant info for artists searching for agents and inspiring infos for our colleagues.

You graduated in chemistry from Tallinn University of Technology and have worked for 10 years in marine chemistry and marine biology at the Institute of Oceanography in Tallinn. Which or which ones of the skills or knowledge you got from those experiences have been the most useful for your career as an agent of musicians?

Juliana Volož – I am used  to structuring and organizing things. It helps me to have an overview and see the entire process “from above” so to say. Also, during my work as a marine chemist, I was communicating with my international colleagues from all countries around the Baltic sea. It was my first experience of international networking 🙂

MM – Apart from that or those skills, which other do you think are essential to succeed in this field of work? 

JV – First of all one should like music, he is representing :). I think one very essential skill is to like to communicate and do it sincerely.

MM – Any particular advice for a fellow newcomer or someone who wants to get started in this field?

JV – Be passionate about the bands you represent, as if you have a spark, you can ignite others.
Be honest in accounting. It is much easier to have it clear and transparent, that to hide something.
Keep your reputation spotless: the bad news spreads much faster and sticks stronger than the good one 😉 Be quick in communication. It creates trust with your partners.

MM – And now, for the artists. I’m sure you get requests from artists every day to be their manager. I am sure because it happens to me too, and many colleagues tell me the same thing. Do you have any recommendations for the artists, so that they can improve the way they communicate when they do it for this purpose? 

JV – I like when the artists really check to whom they write and what kind of music this person represents to avoid confusion. Sometimes I get proposals from classical musicians, or cover pop singers saying I checked your website and I am sure my music perfectly suits your roster… I always ask them which roster they mean 🙂

Anyways, the mail should be short, with the photo of the band, short description, a couple of links to good quality videos, links to a streaming platform and social media.

MM – Do you think it makes sense for the artists to try to find an agent? 

JV – Definitely! As the agent work is very time consuming and based on the experience and personal contacts, a good agent could save a lot of creative time for the artist.

MM – Have you ever started a stable collaboration with a band or artist that approached you in their search of an agent? 

JV – Mostly I choose bands myself, but in some cases I also start working with the bands that approach me. The cooperation could work if several conditions coincide: I like the music, I see that this band is ready for cooperation and export. One example of successful cooperation is Tuvan band Khoomei Beat. They have approached me in 2018. I liked their music and saw the potential in it. At the same time I could tell that this band has some work to do before we could talk about cooperation. I told them what I am expecting from them and suggested they come back when they are ready. They approached me in one year and proved that they fulfilled my requirements :). I was really impressed and we started to cooperate. It was right before the pandemic hit…

MM – I think there will be still, at least for many years, a lot of artists and a much smaller number of agents, that is the current situation. This makes me think that we are not in a very interesting business, otherwise there would be many more agents working in world music. Nevertheless, it seems the artists require us. Something seems to be wrong, what is it?

JV – The business itself is interesting, but the type of music we are representing is niche music with a relatively small audience. The target group in many big and established countries, is not particularly young and dynamic. In small countries, on the contrary, rooted music is getting more and more popular among young people as part of their identity.

MM – Especially in the last year, many of us, independent agents or micro-companies, have felt a bit alone and misunderstood. I have heard claims from colleagues from different countries arguing they have not been considered in the support for the arts after the ravages of the pandemic. My experience in Spain has not been exactly like that (I have got support because I am an independent worker in a field with loss of income, not because I worked with art, and the support in Spain depends a lot on the region, so the situation is a bit complex), but yes other countries colleague’s. With this in mind, I have several questions:
We are required by the artists but, at the same time, it seems we are a bit invisible. Do you feel that? 

JV – Most of the agents and managers are invisible, because our task is to help the artists to become more visible, not to become visible ourselves :).  What makes me and many of my colleagues frustrated is that since spring 2020 with few exceptions we can not book live concerts.

MM – How could we explain briefly which is the value we, the agents, provide to the value chain? 

JV – We are part of a team, where each member does what he knows best. We use our experience and network to bring bands to different markets and let them to concentrate on what they do best – making music

MM – My last question. Explain in one or two sentences, to the wider culture community, the reasons to book musicians from around the world that give a relevant presence to their roots. 

JV – I like to compare music with trees.  The music, inspired by tradition, has stronger roots, it is more stable and gives more power to its leaves, blossoms and fruits. This music gives something which makes us rich – the cultural treasure passed by generations.

Credits:

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

BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

  • About Mundofonías, our monthly favourites are the albums: In transition, by Scott Stobbe Collection, Maasai footsteps, by Anuang’a Fernando & Maasai Vocals and El fabuloso sonido de Andrés Vargas Pinedo, by Andrés Vargas Pinedo and bands. This is the edition in which we announced them.

OPEN CALLS AND PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

  • WOMEX:

The call for proposals is open until Friday 16th April. This is the website for the application. And, wow, I am so happy! In 2022, it will take place in Lisbon, one of my favourite cities in the world! 

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  • European Folk Network:

Saturday, April 24th. It will take place the second session of the European Folk Network virtual meeting, “Spring Forward #2”. You can register for the second and third editions, here. The second edition will include a round table with several personalities from the folk and the traditional music scene in Europe.

I am proudly part of the board for the last months and I really encourage you to join us for this session as well as to follow the page on Facebook and to sing up for the announcements here. The speakers have made a little video to tease you to join! Watch them by clicking their name: Alistair Anderson, Svetlana Spajic, Linda Dyrnes, Janusz Prusinowski and there will also talk Alban Cogrel, president of FAMDT (France’s traditional music association).

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  • Canadian Music Week:

Artist submissions for CMV virtual festival are now open. Deadline: April 18th, at Midnight EST.

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  • Mundial Montreal – job opportunity for event producer!:

Artist submissions period will be open soon. This is their latest newsletter. Note they are searching for an event producer.

 

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.

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 #28 October’20 – Mera Festival, World Music Lab Italy, a success story and +

Summary ? 

  • Mini interviews with festival manager: András Bethlendi from Mera World Music Festival (continuing the series of interviews about challenges for festivals and about MOST Music participants)
  • In deep with World Music Lab Italy, by Eric E. van Monckhoven
  • Transferring the emotion of the contact with the public to an online environment: our experience of Conciertajo, by Vigüela + Mapamundi. – Don’t miss to read this, because I reveal bellow all we did and I am available for any questions – 
  • News from the charts and sister projects
  • What’s next?

How are you? Until not so many weeks ago I was planining to be in Budapest right now. You too? Instead, I am in my confined city, Alcorcón. This is the week of Womex, a special moment in the year, after Fira Mediterrània. Very sad in these circumstances ?

However, life goes on and, before paying attention to other colleagues’ iniatives, in this edition I illustrate this editorial not with a portrait of me, but with a moment of the Conciertajo, the online live interactive event we made last Saturday with Vigüela for International Labour Organization. Click the picture to see the event. It has been a thrilling success that deserves to be explained in more detail ✌️. I reveal it all for you more below.

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.

CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR FESTIVALS 

This festival that is our focus today is also included in the project MOST, about which I talked in a previous issue. Other interviews with festivals involved in this project are:
And from before, they were also interviews these directors of festivals also included in MOST:

MINI INTERVIEW WITH ANDRÁS BETHLENDI FROM THE MERA WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL (MERA, ROMANIA) 

You’ll see below an aerial image of the location of Mera World Music Festival, in the Romanian location of Mera, very near to the airport of Cluj-Napoja. I think that picture includes around 1/4 of the village. It is a very little village that you can visit right now in Google Maps street view ?. I am writting this words from a confined city, at least until next Friday. I have never been there in the flesh and I think it is really appealing, a festival that has a global focus and that, at the same time, enhances the value of the local culture, which music is distinctive and captivating.

As the world overcomes this situation, let’s talk to András about their festival, how it has been affected, and let’s wish they will be able to make a full edition in 2021.

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

András Bethlendi –  Méra World Music Festival is an international world music festival with an acknowledged focus on local music. Therefore, on one hand, we are looking for local artists who can play the traditional music from Transylvania or Romania, on the other hand, we are looking for artists from abroad who can play authentic folk music or music inspired from their local musical traditions.

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
AB – We have multiple universal objectives. On the international level, we try to show the rich folk culture of Méra and the region of Kalotaszeg/Țara Călatei to the world. Therefore on this level, we are the global promoters of this region. On a local level, we believe that through our project we can empower the local culture, and we can form the taste of the youngest generation to the benefit of the local community and culture.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival?
AB – We are a small festival with a tiny budget, so it is challenging to find those international artists, who are so much attracted by the magic of our barn stage, that decide to participate in our festival despite the modest fee what we can offer.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours?
AB – COVID-19 has changed the rules by which cultural management works nowadays. The biggest challenge is to recalibrate our project in a way which makes possible to organise the next edition.

MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival.
AB – In Méra World Music while you can get engaged to the local culture of Transylvania in its most pure form, you will also have the opportunity to dance to Latin-American or African beats.

MM – What has happened with Mera 2020 in the current situation of the pandemic?
AB – Because of the global pandemic, the Festival couldn’t be organised in August as we wished originally. Though, in September we organised a lite edition of it, called Méra World Music LITE, with 100 participants per day.

Credits:

  • The portrait of András is one of his facebook profiles, credited to Bethlendi Tamás
  • The logo is from their facebook site
  • The other pictures are from the website of the festival

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

ABOUT WORLD MUSIC LAB ITALY, IN DEEP WITH ERIC E. VAN MONCKHOVEN (MUSIC4YOU)

Eric is a Belgian settled in Sicily, founder of the agency Music4you. He is one of the regulars at Womex and other events, so you might have met him.

The last time we met was in Brussels at the meeting of the European Folk Network, last November. He is the kind of profile with whom I can feel more or less identified: an independent agent working from a country of the South of Europe facing many difficulties and surpassing them with courage.

He contacted me in July with the idea of translating some of the content from Mapamundi Música’s monthly newsletter into the Italian in his new initative: World Music Lab Italy. I welcomed the idea with open arms and the first one has been the interview with Olivier Rey from Babel Music XP, that you can read here in English and now also here in Italian.

I am very happy that Eric wanted to share this content to make it easier for the Italian community of world music. And I though his World Music Lab Italy deserves more attention too. So find here below a little interview about it.

Mapamundi Música – What is WorldMusicLab?
Eric Van Monckhoven – World Music Lab is a combination of two concepts: World Music & Business Lab. Many artists, including those involved with world music (world, folk, roots, trad, ethnic, etc.), do not see their activity as a business. They don’t easily understand that accepting to become an entrepreneur or making a living with their music shall not automatically transform them into greedy capitalists. Very few artists make a living being only “creators”.
If you’re not sponsored by someone or some institution, you need to access the market, distribute your products and services and sell them to be able to pay your bill at the end of the months. This is an integral part of today’s musician job. You can always dream that a label or an agent shall make the work for you, but this will not happen easily, unless you already have some reputation. And when it happens, if you don’t know anything about contracts, sales, production, etc. you might go the wrong way.
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“Many artists, including those involved with world music, do not see their activity as a business.”

The main idea behind World Music Lab is to help artists become their own bosses, get acquainted with the business side of their activity and be able to create a blueprint that works for them. For us this means “education and training”.World Music Lab is still a very small baby. We have to assess the artists’ needs, and also test and validate the idea and concept. It all starts with Italy because I’m based in Sicily.

Mapamundi Música –  Why did it start?
EVM – It started during the covid-19 crisis. In March, I was in lockdown and I saw that I could not go anywhere with my activity as a booking agent. I had to look into a new direction that was not too far from what I’m doing as an agent. By experience, I know that artists do not get proper training in “musician business”. Most of the time, they have good artistic proposals (not always), but they don’t know how to market and sell them. In the end, much of my job has to do with coaching the artists with whom I’m collaborating, give them a blueprint to develop their career, and help them get to the next level.

In Italy, very little is done in such a direction. Of course, I might be wrong because I’m not involved that much with the music sector in Italy. But it looks to me that music schools do not train artists in the music business. There are some master courses at the university level, etc. but the approach is very academic and it’s not for everyone. I’ve always been interested in capacity building and action-learning. Action-learning tackles problems through a process of first asking questions to clarify the exact nature of the problem, reflecting and identifying possible solutions, and only then taking action.

“Much of my job has to do with coaching the artists with whom I’m collaborating, give them a blueprint to develop their career, and help them get to the next level.”

Italy is a big country and there is no true effort to support music creators at large. Some music genres are supported, but when it comes to world music, much is left to the artists themselves and the private initiative. Nothing to compare with what happens in France or Scandinavia, to say something.The year 2017 saw the birth of Italian World Beat (IWB), a new brand and platform to promote the Italian world music sector, in particular at regional and international events like Babel Med Music, Womex, Visa for Music, etc. The idea came from two music professionals who put their own money, contacts, and experience in the project to bring under one roof artists, festivals, venues, labels, etc. representative of the sector. The result was amazing and highly welcome by the international world music community.

However, much work still needs to be done in Italy to strengthen the sector, especially at the “grassroots” level with the artists. World Music Lab-Italy can be seen as a startup project of IWB, even if we have not formalized it yet because of the situation of emergency imposed by the novel coronavirus. But we shall meet soon and see what steps can be taken together to put the project forward.

Mapamundi Música –  What are the services that you offer?
EVM – At this pre-startup stage, we are offering a basic information service through our blog/website (beta version) and facebook page. We also have a monthly newsletter and we have published two mini-guides: the first one deals with the use of VirtualWomex and the second one is introducing the artists to the European showcase festivals, which are good places to market themselves, grow their list of contacts, etc. All the information is available in Italian because the use of English is a real barrier for many Italians.

Mapamundi Música –  What are the future plans?
EVM – We hope to become a training provider for world music artists (both online and offline), with a specific focus on business and digital education, and internationalization (music export). This of course does not mean that we’ll need to create all the courses and learning paths ourselves. We’ll have to build working partnerships with various stakeholders. There are already a lot of valid contents available on the internet produced by artists and professionals on how musicians can run their own business and benefit from various income streams. Here again, the main issue is the language. Most of what is available is in English.

“We’ll have to build working partnerships with various stakeholders.”

But without looking so far, our future plan is to run some workshops in various Italian cities to discuss the project with the potential beneficiaries, scout their needs, collect their ideas, and check their interest. We had planned to run such workshops earlier this year but the covid crisis has forced us to slow down our enthusiasm. And while many things can be done online, I believe strongly in face-to-face meetings.

We are also working on a short introductory course that shall explore some important issues: how the music industry is changing in the digital age? What does that mean for independent artists? How to build a personal brand? How to find a niche and grow a fanbase? Based on the participation in the introductory course, artists could choose to enter a kind of startup acceleration program or more conventional blended education programs on specific topic (music marketing & promotion, production, etc.).

.

Mapamundi Música –  Who are you and what else do you do (related to music)?
EVM – I’m originally from Belgium but I feel to be a citizen of the world. For almost 40 years I have helped local communities, social enterprises, non-profit organizations all over the world as an eco-social consultant and grant writer.

Besides that, I have always had a strong passion for music. But I’m not a musician. In every country I visited – in Africa, the Mediterranean, Finland, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia – I’ve been impressed by the diversity and richness of local cultural and musical traditions. I decided to bring my own contribution and started Music4You to promote some artists with whom I have a special feeling and affinity and find them gig opportunities. My motto is “Live Music with Roots”. Of course, this was before Covid-19.

Credits:

  • Portrait of Eric, provided by him
  • World Music Lab Italy logo, from the site at Facebook
  • Banner from the Facebook cover of Musci4you
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TRANSFERRING THE EMOTION OF THE CONTACT WITH THE PUBLIC TO AN ONLINE ENVIRONMENT: OUR EXPERIENCE OF CONCIERTAJO, BY VIGÜELA + MAPAMUNDI

In the previous edition I talked about our plan for this online event, Conciertajo.com. It has been part of LaborArte festival, by the Spanish office of the International Labour Organization (ILO). 

It took place the last Saturday and I think it was a success in various aspects. The main one is that we got to transfer the emotion of the direct contact with the public, to an online environment. How did we get that? There are several features that allowed us to get that:

  • For one month we developed the engagement of the public. We provided them several ways for the participation in the creation of the lyrics. We have been publishing special videos done with lyrics that were sent by the followers or that have been created about the topics that are relevant for them (confinement, health workers, masks, the situation of the cultural workers, the shocking news about our crown…). Check the videos here.
  • We made a contest of stories. The one that won is a portrait of Andrés José, a Colombian immigrant in Valencia, who ends up working as a delivery man on a bicycle to support his family (parents and two younger sisters). The first day he works on that, his little sister is very happy because he comes back home very early: his bicycle has been stolen. Juan Antonio Torres made it in shape of a romance with the zambomba. Check it here.
  • Some more videos were made for media friends, like WorldMusicCentral and Mundofonías.
  • During the event I was presenting, explaining the band the requests and comments from the chat and chatting with the public.
  • Of the repertoire for an event of two hours it was prefixed only the 4 first pieces and the very last one. Between that, that band sang about the topics that the public was asking, using the traditional styles (jota, several variants of fandango, seguidilla, son). For this, we prepared more than 100 new couplets organiced in the main topics of our nowadays and of the field of world of ILO. And the band decided the specific style to apply to those lyrics in that very moment.
  • All this was accompained by a campaign of advertisements in Youtube, Facebook, TikTok and Spotify.
  • The technical part was very professional, the responsible of video was Jaime Massieu and the sound engineer was Toni Quintana. The location is so nice that it looks like a ethnography museum but it is not: it was Juan Antonio Torres’ house in El Carpio de Tajo.

NEWS FROM THE CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS

Some brief news from some of the world music charts:

  • Transglobal World Music Chart turns 5 years old! Happy birthday to my partners, founders and administrators, Juan Antonio Vázquez and Ángel Romero! And thanks and congratulations to all the panelists! We are 59 people, quite diverse, I think. Nevertheless we have the objective of increasing that diversity, specially from the regions that are still underrepresented.
  • A big change is announced from World Music Charts Europe. After so many years of work, Johannes Theurer passes the baton to Milan Tesař, music director in Radio Proglas, from Brno, in Czech Republic. Congratulations, Milan! 
  • Balkan World Music Chart is now in Facebook. Visit the site here.
About Mundofonías, our monthly favourites are the last albums by Sandeep Das & The Hum Ensemble, Dembo Konte & Kausu Kuyateh and Yukihiro Atsumi. For some weeks now the radio show is been broadcasted in Radio Universidade de Coimbra, in Portugal. It is a big joy to reach more friends in my beloved Portugal. 

WHAT’S NEXT?

Yes, this is the week of Womex so you are more than aware. More dates to write down:

  • On 5th November I will participate in Noam Vazana‘s proyect of interviews in the frame of her Why DIY initiative. I am proud for being considered interesting enough to be in this list of interviewed that includes, between many others, Davide Mancini (check also my interview with him about the festival Musicastrada, here), Minna Huuskonen, Martyna Markowska or Balázs Weyer.
  • Mundial Montreal will host a special edition, online too, on November 23-24. It will be the 10th edition of this meeting / festival.  
  • Before Babel Music XP. The previous online event, wishing that the Babel Music XP in flesh will be possible in March 2021, will take place on November 26-27. Remember that there is an interview with Olivier Rey from Babel Music XP, here.
Forward to a friend right from here Forward to a friend right from 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 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. 

Do you like our newsletter? Tell us! Forward it to your friends! To sign up, click HERE.

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

 

Magazine #20 February 2020

Mini-interview with Georgia Dötzer from Rialto WM Festival, Birgit Ellinghaus, open calls and +

 

What to do now better than listening great music while reading this magazine, made by us and for us, the community of world / folk / traditional music all over the world? I am Araceli Tzigane. Accompany your reading with our playlist! You know: just click the logo –>.

So, welcome to Mapamundi Música‘s magazine, issue #20! I will not enlarge any further this intro, as the content below is gold.

Just remember: any suggestion of contents for the next editions? Let us know. And if you like this, share it and tell it to your friends! 

Thanks for your attention.

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

Feel free to resend this newsletter to your friends if you like it. Subscription is available here.

Summary: 

· Job announcement from Global Fest
· Open calls not to miss
· Mini interview with festival manager: Georgia Dötzer from Rialto World Music Festival (Cyprus)
· In deep with Birgit Ellinghaus from alba KULTUR
· Don’t miss our Spanish acts recommended by AECID
· One of our latests achievements, I have to share this ?
· Find me at…
This newsletter is open to sponsorship. Feel free to ask for details.

GLOBAL FEST SEARCHES FOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Global Fest is a music platform with many activities. One of them is the festival they hold in New York in January.

There want to fill a job vacancy that is a new position for their organization. A full-time position to start in April 2020. Its responsibilities include fundraising, development and expansion of the board of directors, developing and renewing relationships with prospective funders and sponsors, etc. To learn more and to apply, click here.

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.

 

Mundial Montreal (Canada). Open until 1st April. Its 10th edition will take place from 17th to 20th of November. The official selection includes around 30 artists to play in showcases of 25 minutes. Delegates from all the continents use to attend. 

 

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).

 

WOMEX (this year, in Budapest). Open until 13th March. This is the referential fair for world music, with around 3 thousand delegates every year. I think Womex is really known by the 99,99 %.

 

**** 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 GEORGIA DÖTZER FROM RIALTO WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL

Limassol, at the South of the island of Cyprus, and July… The idea that comes to the mind is hot Sun, beach, roasted halloumi cheese with frozen white wine… and, for the past 14 years, also world music! Yes, because Rialto World Music Festival in been held in Limassol since 2006.

It started as a series of events dedicated to diversity and tolerance and now, in 2020, it will become 15! I want to congratulate Ms. Georgia Dötzer, the “mastermind behind the success of Rialto World Music Festival” in words of her compatriot Antonis Antoniou, from Monsieur Doumani, and the team. Many more to come, Ms. Dötzer! In the meantime, let me share some of your insights.

MM – What do you search in an artist when you create the programme? 
GD: The quality, the different sound, the uniqueness and the attractive stage performance.

 

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
GD: To highlight the diverse and rich universe of the world music. To promote the common elements and the differences in music, as a universal language connecting people. In this framework also to promote Cyprus and our festival as a bridge between them.

 

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 
GD: The promotion and the right communication of the ensembles and their music, especially when they are not quite known.

 

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours?
GD: Of course the high flight cost of the groups from abroad. Also to attract young audiences and to broaden the existing one. To make the festival more attractive for the tourists and visitors of Cyprus.

 

MM – In one sentence, summarise the reason/s to go to your festival. 
GD:  To listen, meet and get to know groups and musicians who share a rich cultural past and also develop a contemporary musical present, with common origins and influences, organizing a series of events, mostly music, which draw their inspiration from the tradition of each country around the Mediterranean.
Pictures’ credits:
  • One of Georgia’s Facebook profile pictures
  • Cover of the festival’s Facebook page
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) – Mads Olesen (5 Continents, CH) – Karolina Waszczuk & Bartek Drozd (Jagiellonian Fair, PL) – Alkis Zopoglou (Mediterranean Music Festival, GR/CH) – Tom Frouge (Globalquerque, US) – Braulio Pérez (Música en el Parque, ES) – Bojan Djordjevic (Todo Mundo, RS) – Park Jechun (Jeonju Int’s Sori Festival) –  Jarmila Vlčková (World Music Festival Bratislava – SK) – Leo Ličof (Okarina – SI)

IN DEEP WITH… 

Birgit Ellinghaus from alba KULTUR

I like this picture of Birgit. I like it because I feel it shows how I perceive her: talking with a combination of pedagogy, strenght and conviction, attentively to the other’s understanding and reaction.

Since 1989 she directs the arts management agency alba Kultur, settled in Cologne, Germany, with which she has developed hundreds of projects, building bridges between cultures. She is also advisor of many international organizations focused on culture and diversity and an inspiration for me and probably for many others.

MM – In these 30 years, alba Kultur has took traditional music to high culture frames, has participated in strategic projects with many international organizations, has developed a network of partners in your region that allows to organice long tours of bands from many places and backgrounds, most of them far away from the mainstream styles… just to name a few of the dreams achieved. What is the next challenge? 

Birgit Ellinghaus – For all projects I followed the understanding, that there is a dual nature of culture: musical works, concerts and artistic programms standing for cultural identities and are expressions of traditions and life plans, which are not possible to be mesured in terms of money or market values. Nevertheless there are elements in our field of work, which touch the economical aspects, e.g. tickets, CDs or digital music is sold and artists earn their life with music and need reasonable fees. But my priorities of work were always to support and promote strongly of the non economical aspects and expressions in the music field.

  • The advanced globalization and the actual priority of European culture policy for creative industries with the economic streamlining of the music sector has effects in all european countries. For my personal work see a challenge to work on the opening of the uge public financed music sector for more diversity of local-global musics expressing identity on all levels: commissioning of new works, programming of contemporary and trad music from all arround the world, strengthening of intangible cultural heritage, support of democratic organisation and participartion of migrant musicians in the cultural-political cultural dialogue in Germany and Europe.
  • Another challenge is the cultural exchange through music with artists from developping countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America: how could we give access to Europe, if the boarders are more and more closed (all questions of artist mobility and visa). How could we organize carbon neutral tours and concerts not only within Europe, but as well with artists from other continents?
  • And another challenge is about the role of the artist/musician as a critical soul of society in times of racism, anti semitism and islamophobia. How to protect the freedom of artistic expression and how to use the knowledge and potential of artists for reconciliation and peace building?

MM – I have the idea that you were a pioneer when you started with alba Kultur, so you might have had to face a big lack of knowledge about the music you work with, in the people who made decisions of programming. In my experience, Germany is now much open, both the public and the culture workers, to this contents than, for instance, in my country, Spain, where we have little knowledge and also many prejudices about what is world music. Could you give any advice on how to make the decision makers interested in this? 

BE – I don’t want to give any advise, because each country, each activists and professional and artists has to developpe his/her own suitable views and strategies. We are all specialists and knowledge keepers of our own culture!

What I could, is to share my experience: when I started to work many years ago, it was very helpful to know about other models of work, other’s cultural expressions, to learn from others and to consider myself as a permanent student. In my personal work, I found a lot of inspiration, e.g. from the music scene in France and from the Oriental philosophies, but as well through my travels and the rich exchange with collegues and artists all around the world.

And over the years I understand, that cultural change never goes straight ahead. It’s a ongoing process. Sometimes I felt hopeless and thought the things wouldn’t turn ever for the better and/ or I had to face a lot of ignorance or resistance from stakeholder in venues and festivals, funding bodies, by politicians, media and artists. And than suddenly I saw new doors opening… I always tried to keep my curiosity and my flexibility within my agenda and my convictions. Change and development are questions of generations and need patience. These questions go much further as the individual contribution and capacity and life.

MM – I know that you work with the same strength and passion than when we met, around 11 or 12 years ago. And I think you feel that your kind of vision and what alba Kultur provides to the society is still as essential as it was at that moment and, probably, as it was when alba Kultur started. I think that 30 years ago, the world music was quite unknown for the public and for the cultural agents. Some years after, it became a boom about it. And in the last times it seems we are lossing spots for the visibility in the media and that some relevant agents, like big festivals, have been abandoning this kind of music and moving to more commercial programs. I have some questions about this:
Are your objectives now the same as they were when you started? I believe that your objectives are totally related to the service that you consider the society needs.
BE – Yes !

MM – Is the situation now, better or worse than when you started?
BE – It’s different. E.g. just reminding about communication and means of media production: I started before there was the FAX technology existing. Communication in general and specially with artists from other continents was very slow and often related to personal traveling – by myself or by friends, who served as couriers to spred the news and brought material about an artist or a festival, etc. The recording of music was very complicated, because the digital CDs and video technology just started. Communication and travel was very expensive and a privilege for only few people too.Now we have access to all and everything world wide (or nearly). Today with internet, messengers and global mobility we receive so much and so speed information, that we are lost to make the use of it. And sometimes we forget, that still there are parts and cultures of the world which are not connected to this digitalized and globalized streams, because of censorship and missing respect to human rights, because of technology, economy or education gaps or nature disasters.

 

MM – How much do you think that the political situation affects our community of the world music?
BE – The world music community globally is facing the general conditions of life today. But for me the question is rather: does the world music community stands maybe (at least partly) for ethics and elements of identity, who might give some interesting answers for the future ? E.g. see some texts by Doc Kasimir Bisou (Jean-Michel Lucas).If the answer to the previous question is that it affects us strongly, what can we, the people like us, working on this from different roles, do to, somehow, protect us? We have not to protect us as community. I believe this community should stand actively for human rights, for the role of culture in the Sustainable Development Goals, for cultural diversity world wide, for freedom of expression, for the rights of indiginous people and other minorities, for the protection of identity, etc. This could guide us in the cultural exchange and a real dialogue eye level through music.

 

MM – You have had to deal with complications about visas and probably also with misunderstandings and even “not understandings” on purpose. Do you have any advice for our colleagues to deal with these not so funny cultural shocks? 
BE – The questions of visa I do not see in the context of cultural misunderstandings. Visa are part of international politics and an intended diplomatic tool to keep certain people out of a territory, e.g. certain nationalities from the US and other countries. The formal and soft restrictions and obstacles are intended.In my eyes, the best way to avoid cultural shocks on a personal level, is to learn more about the culture of the other on as many ways as possible (reading, internet, personal encounters, learning the language and the music etc.), to expand the respectfull understanding through cultural exchange from early childhood.

 

MM – What are the plans for 2020? The ones that you can share with us, of course. BE – Hopefully we could realized the actual projects sucessfully:
  • 20. Jubilee Saison of Klangkosmos NRW (January – June 2020). Website, here. PDF download, here.
  • Silk Road Easter Festival – A Musical Journey from Venice to China at Elbphilharmonie (April 2020). Website, here.
  • Music Summit “Migrants Music Manifesto” with residency, laboratory, concerts and international conference in September 2020 in Cologne. Website, here. (Programm is coming soon).
Credits:

OUR SPANISH ACTS RECOMMENDED BY AECID

Recently we have received the first request to book Entavía through the catalogue by AECID of the recommended artists for the Spanish embassies all over the world. We have two artists in that catalogue. The Spanish embassies have to chose artists from that catalogue when they want to book or support Spanish artists for any event.
The AECID Music Catalog is the main tool for promotion, dissemination and cultural programming outside Spain, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation. The Catalog is prepared by a committee of experts and includes a selection of proposals of quality from all musical genres.

OUR LATEST ACHIEVEMENT

Silk Road series of concerts in Museum of Orient, Lisbon. The true is that this was born as a attempt to extend alba Kultur’s program at the Iberian peninsule. It was not possible to do it like that because of the format (intensive program in some days vs. extended in some months) but that put the seed for another series with similar topic, to be hold in Lisbon with one concert in April, another in May and another in June.

This nice man of the picture is Sahib Pashazade and he is an amazing soloist of tar from Azerbaijan. I had the joy of attending his concert with Kamram Karimov at the contest Sharq Taronalari in 2017, where they won the Grand Prix. They will play in this series at the beginning of April. It is such a joy to collaborate with these outstanding artists! Further details will follow in the next issue of this newsletter.

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

FIND ME AT…

Some interesting dates for the community (and where you can find me if you happened to be there, just let me know):
  • Iberian Festival Awards. At this event I will go accompanying Juan Antonio Vázquez, who is jury. 14th March. Lisbon.
  • Mid of April. Hamburg. Silk Road Easter Festival
  • From 3-6 June, in Poland with Gulaza in Wroclaw and with Monsieur Doumani in Katowice.

Do you like our newsletter? Tell us! Resend it to your friends! To sign up, click HERE.

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

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 #16 October 2019

I am Araceli Tzigane. Welcome to Mapamundi Música‘s October’s newsletter.

I write you from the office now, after returning from Jeonju Int’l Sori Festival where I was with Janusz Prusinowski Kompania and Manu Sabaté and the Fira Mediterrània de Manresa, where we premiered the collaboration between Vigüela and the Valencian Josep Aparicio “Apa” and Eduard Navarro. Here below I am with my right hand, Sherezade, at our stand at Fira.

But I am already packing the woolen caps and the scarfs to head to Tampere. It’s WOMEX time! I will be pleased to meet again so many old and new friends from the world music community. Find me at Sounds from Spain.

For the meantime, enjoy these appealing contents: a mini-interview, with Bojan Djordjevic, from festival Todo Mundo (Belgrade), a deeper plunge in the European Folk Network with Nod Knowles and the usual sections of the newsletter.

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 

Feel free to resend this newsletter to your friends if you like it. Subscription is available here. 

Summary: 

· Mini interview with festival manager: Bojan Djordjevic from Todo Mundo (Belgrade, Serbia).
· Nod Knowles, administrator of the European Folk Network, explains some details in depth.
· Find me at…
**** Do you have a world music festival and you want to be included in our mini interviews? Contact us. ****
This newsletter is open to sponsorship. Feel free to ask for details.

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) – Mads Olesen (5 Continents, CH) – Karolina Waszczuk & Bartek Drozd (Jagiellonian Fair, PL) – Alkis Zopoglou (Mediterranean Music Festival, GR/CH) – Tom Frouge (Globalquerque, US) – Braulio Pérez (Música en el Parque, ES)

MINI INTERVIEW WITH BOJAN DJORDJEVIC FROM
FESTIVAL TODO MUNDO

Bojan Djordjevic, together with Oliver Djordjevic, Marija Vitas and Svetlana Spajic are the board of the World Music Association Serbia, whose work of dissemination is huge and of high quality. Check their website.
Bojan is also journalist of Radio Belgrade 3, panelist of the World Music Charts Europe and the artistic director of the Festival Todo Mundo, that takes place in Belgrade at the end of September and beginning of October.

 

I must confess that I match greatly with Bojan’s taste. This year he booked the apple of my eyes, Vigüela, and the last year, Monsieur Doumani. But, apart of this, in the last edition they have had the great Hungarian band Babra, the Armenian-Turkish duo of Vardan Hovanissian and Emre Gultekin, the band of Sephardic music Shira U’Tfila and others. Check the website of the festival.I am pleased and thanksful for the opportunity of spreading the insights of this man that is a benchmark of the world music community.

 

MM – What do you search in an artist when you create the programme? BD: The easiest answer would be: high quality, but this is what we all (hopefully) are searching for.
Most of the festival program is our personal “taste”, but we cannot bring todo mundo to Belgrade at once. What I like is that artists are standing strong with the music they play, that one feels dedication. Mostly we do not go for highly commercial groups, as we find that already on many spots.
Even in the new world with all the media, there are things that has to be discovered and are worthwhile to be discovered.
On the other hand it is nice to know that the artists are with their feet on the ground and understanding the reality in this part of Europe.

 

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?

BD: I think that there is great music played in every corner of the world, we just have to be curious and discover it.
The festival name shows that as well – therefore music from many countries should be presented.
Of course we always wish to have focus on some region, country, instrument or style, and also to present few local artists, but apart from that we want to have not more than one group from each country. And, not to forget, sometimes is important to bring artists, who, beside the high quality have also social impact – like Vardan Hovanissian & Emre Gultekin this year, or to bring here artists from the countries that have not been presented here before, – I am sure less than 1% of people knows anything about music from Cyprus, so presenting high quality act like Monsieur Doumani was very important.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 

BD: Living in Serbia means you always have to fight with financial issues. Culture and music has been supported, but in the way, that every year one have to fight from the start and the results of supporting decisions are known late April and that is why we had to move the festival for the second half of the year.
The other issue is how to deliver our message to more people when the media are mostly going for commercial music. Few years ago media situation was different. There were more options to present this music on radio and TV programs and in the magazines, now most of them are much more into the politics, reality and sports. So, we have to find new ways to reach the people, as social media networks are not enough.
Combination of new and old approach seems like the solution at this moment.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours?

BD: Doing festival like this is great pleasure. On the other hand, as I said, there are so many great bands that deserve to be presented here. But, we cannot have 20 concerts at the festival. Even 10 is bit too much. So, we have to keep our desires under the control 🙂
And, when we do not have as many concerts as we would love to, we have to be careful about presentation of the local world music scene.
There is lots of great music coming from Serbia nowadays, some new and young artists coming, but also we have to present some of the great and well known names.

MM – In one sentence, summarise the reason/s to go to your festival. 

BD: Festival is done with great love and enthusiasm and musicians felt that and are willin’ to stay here longer. The other reason is contact with the audience – usually after the show the contact is so friendly that audience and artists are going together for a glass of wine or beer and stay into the discussion almost till the morning.
That means the atmosphere is great and you feel it from the start. Beside that we have two concerts per evening, so anyone has time to search around Belgrade and discover some secret or well known places in the friendly city.
On top of all that you can hear many great concerts at the festival where all artists are treated equally – we do not have support group nor headliners.

Pictures’ credits:
  • Bojan at the last edition of Festival Todo Mundo, courtesy of Marija Vitas.
  • Cover picture of Todo Mundo at Facebook.
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EUROPEAN FOLK NETWORK IS BORN

In the previous issue of this newsletter we announced the birth of the EFN, linked its website and noted the first meeting, planned for 28 & 29 November in Brussels. Mapamundi Música is founder member and I want to encourage the community to join too.

In this occasion we have had the chance to ask Nod Knowles, the administrator of the network, some questions to get in more detail into some points. If you haven´t checked the website, I recommend you to do it before reading the interview. It is here.

Nod Knowles, former President of Europe Jazz Network, has had an international career including as Head of Music at Scottish Arts Council, CEO of Bath Festivals, one of the founding organisers of the European Folk Network (EFN) – and also of the UK/Ireland Jazz Promotion Network (JPN) and, currently, initiator and manager of an artistic exchange programme with the Netherlands.
He has held a number of advisory roles (e.g. with British Council, Arts Council Northern Ireland and Arts Council Wales) and as an independent consultant for over 40 years he has worked with a wide range of artists and organisations in research, review, policy, funding, education, project management and artistic direction. 

 

Mapamundi Música: The EFN has been made public few weeks ago but the initial idea is much older, isn´t it? What is the background of this initiative? 
Nod Knowles: The genesis of the network originated after a research project – commissioned by the Burnsong organisation in Scotland – reported on the potential for establishing a Scottish-European base for the American folk music organisation Folk Alliance. Whilst the research found that proposition was not viable, it found one of several underlying reasons for this –  the surprising fact that there was no structure linking folk organisations in Europe (whereas most other aspects of music – e.g. jazz, opera – and the arts in general – had well-established, often EU-funded network structures).

That report and subsequent discussion papers and meetings on the idea of a European folk network were shared with delegates to various showcases and many European organisers were invited to informal consultations and meetings, as were officers from other UK and European agencies including British Council and Kunstenpunt (now Poppunt) from Flanders. The results of planning meetings from 2015 onwards had to be put on hold for at least two years due to purely temporary personal circumstances but in 2018 a small group took the initiative again and in early 2019 the network was formally structured and legally registered.

MM: A basic website that explains the aims and ambitions is already available but I’d like to ask you about one of the areas of activity, that I think is one of the biggest needs of our community: policy and advocacy. In previous issues of our newsletter it was mentioned the lack of representation in relevant contexts of policies. Is there already any concrete planned initiative related to this topic?
NK: The EFN will need to build up its contacts with policy makers in European countries and in pan-European agencies such as the EU. This will not happen overnight but will be the work of the next couple of years. Contact is already being made with various national and international authorities and EFN will place advocacy at the heart of future planning – its influence will strengthen as the network develops.

MM: Regarding the previous question, the EFN is registered in Brussels, I think that it is for obvious reasons of proximity with the European centers of decisions. Have you had any contact with any authority? If so, which feedback did you get?
NK: We are not yet in direct touch with EU authorities but that will be one of the key plans for the future (see the answer above).

MM: The EFN has already scheduled a meeting in Brussels for days 28 and 29 of November. Can you share with us any of the topics that will be discussed?
NK: The agenda for the conference will be shaped by the members – we are asking for suggestions and subjects but there will be plenty of opportunity to introduce subjects during the conference. Because it is a first meeting of the members, the agenda will focus on discussion of members’ priorities and realistic plans for future work

MM: Is there any profile of persons or organizations that the EFN is specially in need of?
NK: Just more members from every country in Europe – and not just EU countries but all of the continent, from Iceland to Russia to Portugal.

MM: And, finally, tell the readers why should they join the EFN.
NK: Members should look at the vision and aims of the network. By joining they contribute to the collective impact and voice of the network and can contribute to the work of the network.

The main benefits of membership are opportunities to meet, share and collaborate with others, increasing members’ own contacts, the collective influence of a strong sector, and the mobility of artists and organisers in Europe.

Thank you, Nod!

FIND ME AT…

Some interesting dates for the community (and where you can find me if you happened to be there, just let me know):
  • WOMEX. Tampere (Finland). 23rd – 27th October. We’ll have a table for Mapamundi Música at the booth of Sounds from Spain and a showcase by Monsieur Doumani on Thursday at 24h.
  • Torres Vedras (Portugal). 8th November. Festival Accordeões do Mundo, for the concert by Janusz Prusinowski Trio focused on harmonia polska.
  • Oslo (Norway). 14th-17th November, for Folkelarm.
  • Israel Showcase for Jazz and Worldwide Music. 20th-23th November. I will be in Tel Aviv and available for meetings on days 18-20, before the festival.
  • Brussels (Belgium). 28th-29th November, for the first meeting of the European Folk Network.
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This newsletter is open to sponsorship. Feel free to ask for details.

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 #14 August 2019

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

This week is specially thrilling for me… Why? 

Our Mari Nieto, the female singer of Vigüela (in the picture), settled in a village of less than 2000 inhabitants, mother of 4 and grandmother of 4, told me once that she had two dreams: to visit Norway, and we got it, attending Førdefestivalen, and to visit Samarkand! She will have to renew her list of dreams… 

Next Saturday I travel with Vigüela to Sharq Taronalari, in Samarkand. We both cry of joy thinking about it… By the way, I will celebrate my birthday there, that is on 26th of August. Compliments will be welcome! 🙂

In Mapamundi Música we are not fullfulling dreams of our collaborators everyday but I believe we are provinding some beauty, brightness and understanding to our community and to the world. I can’t hide my gratitude to the ones that trusted us and joined us in their goals and visions.

Find below some useful infos, including the new period to apply for grants from Acción Cultural Española, the main insights after our first edition of Transiberia Mundi and, for the first time, an interview with a festival director for the USA: Tom Frouge, from Globalquerque. And much much more.

Feel free to resend this newsletter to your friends if you like it. Subscription is available here.
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 manager: Tom Frouge from Globalquerque (USA) 
· Post insights of Transiberia Mundi
· Open call: Acción Cultural Española, mobility grants application open in September
· Find me at…
· And Mapamundi’s concert calendar for September includes the premiere of an awesome Turkish artist in Portugal. Check below!

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

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

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) – Mads Olesen (5 Continents, CH) – Karolina Waszczuk & Bartek Drozd (Jagiellonian Fair, PL) – Alkis Zopoglou (Mediterranean Music Festival, GR/CH)

MINI INTERVIEW WITH TOM FROUGE FROM GLOBALQUERQUE

Globalquerque! is New Mexico’s Annual Celebration of World Music and Culture. It is held each September in Albuquerque (New Mexico), at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. This year 2019 it will celebrate its 15th edition. Check the details at the website.

 

It is very heartening to know that also at the USA there is people like Tom and his partner Neal Copperman that work with the vision of building bridges, crossing borders and tearing down walls. Thank you, guys, an much success for the 15th edition!

 

MM – What do you search in an artist when you create the programme? 

TF: That is a question we get a lot!  We program music from the very traditional to the very NOT traditional (check out our first announced confirmed acts!), so what is our criteria? The best answer I can give is that the artists that we select to perform on our stages, aside from being fabulous musicians and ready to perform on the festival circuit, must have at least a couple of toes artistically and creatively in the culture from which they come, regardless of how contemporary or cutting edge they may be. For example, you can be a hip hop artist from Palestine or an electronica artist from Argentina, but when your set is finished, we want our audience to say that was a killer ARGENTINE electronica artist or a fantastic PALESTINIAN hip hop artist and not simply, oh, that was a really good electronica artist that sings in Spanish or, I liked the hip hop group that sang in Arabic.  It is about being a great artist AND representing your culture.


MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?

TF: This ties in somewhat to the answer to the first question. ¡Globalquerque! is all about cross-culture understanding through the arts. All our programming, from the music, to the outreach, to the films, to our international dance lessons, to our school program, right down to the food served in our Global Village Of Craft, Culture & Cuisine – todo – is about recognizing our similarities while exploring and celebrating our differences. It may sound cliche, but we believe the more you understand other cultures, the harder it is to bomb them!At ¡Globalquerque! we believe in the power of community and the power of the arts to build bridges. We strive to create a space where no person is “the other”. It’s a trip around a peace-filled, inclusive world. On top of all that, it is an adventure full of discovery and a monster 3-stage, 2-day, music party!

 

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 
TF:  The new tax regulations in the US for visiting artists have been challenging. Some groups have postponed US tours in order to get a handle on the new realities, so we lost some we were in discussions with this year. Visas are always a potential issue, particularly in the unfortunate political climate we find ourselves in. Another challenge we sometimes run into that may be a bit unique to us is routing issues. New Mexico is a bit off the beaten track and sometimes it results in groups skipping us due to travel costs or logistics. The possible silver lining there is it has pushed us to look at creative solutions and alternate routing scenarios, such as acts coming up through México from the south, and that has yearly made our line up somewhat different than other festivals in our time period.

 

 

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours?TF: First and foremost: funding. ¡Globalquerque! is a festival put on by a couple of guys. It is not put on by a city or university or big institution that has a yearly budget, set funding and a staff that are getting weekly paychecks. We rise or fall on our own. Each year we need to go out and procure funding from different sources to make the festival happen. It is truly a labor of love!Secondly, it is attracting new audience. The thing we hear over and over again from first time ¡Globalquerque! attendees is “I had no idea this festival was THIS!” It is a challenge to explain the scope of the festival on paper as it is such an experiential event. Once people experience it though, they are hooked. It’s moving the fence-sitters off the fence that we work hard at trying to accomplish.

MM – In one sentence, summarise the reason/s to go to your festival. 

TF: It’s our Quinceañera! And ¡Globalquerque! is all about culture, identity, inclusion, diversity, discovery, building bridges, crossing borders, tearing down walls – and kicking up dust and howling at the harvest moon to some of the best music on the planet as the smell of lavender and roasting green chiles float on the New Mexico desert air.

Pictures’ credits:

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INSIGHTS POST TRANSIBERIA MUNDI

The picture of me at the top of this issue was took during my speech for musicians and newbie managers during Transiberia Mundi and here you have me and Carlos Gomes after the last act of this first edition. Picture by Elzbieta Kwinta.

As I have already sent specific info about this event, I will just direct you to the previous communication, that you can find here. And at the event at Facebook we were sharing picture and videos in real time.

PICE, THE PROGRAM FOR MOBILITY BY ACCIÓN CULTURAL ESPAÑOLA (AC/E), OPEN CALL IN SEPTEMBER

During September, Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) will have opened the application period to request support for the logistic expenses for booking a Spanish artist or expert, for events abroad taking place from January to June, both included. The official info is at their website.

From Mapamundi Música we have supported clients in previous editions, to fullfill the procedure, that is not complicated. The chances to get it are not 100% but note that the results are published around the 3rd week of October, so it allows you to opt for a plan B in case of need.

We offer you our Spanish band Vigüela, of course, and also myself as a lecturer.

FIND ME AT…

Some interesting dates for the community (and where you can find me if you happened to be there, just let me know):
  • Spain, my homeland, where I am now for a few days: premiere of Wowakin Trio in Spain 🙂 23rd August at Festival Folk Plasencia.
  • Samarkand (Uzbekistan). 24th – 31st August. As mentioned above, with Vigüela at Sharq Taronalari.
  • Tavira (Portugal). 5th – 8th September. At the Mediterranean Diet Fair, with concerts byMonsieur Doumani and the premiere in the country by Cüneyt Sepetçi & Orchestra Dolapdere!
  • Perth (Scotland). 16th – 20th September. The Visit (event produced for Showcase Scothland Expo by Active Events).
  • Jeonju (South Korea). 29th September – 7th October. At Sori Festival, with the collaboration concert by Janusz Prusinowski Kompania and Manu Sabaté. My first time in South Korea and it is to attend this superb festival!
  • Fira Mediterránia de Manresa (Cataluña). 10th – 13th October. Mapamundi Música will have a stand and a showcase: Vigüela with the Valencia artists Apa and Eduard Navarro. Check here theresult of the first rehearsal.
Reward for work: baked rice,
Valencian style ?

 

  • WOMEX, yes. Tampere (Finland). 23rd – 27th October. We’ll have a table for Mapamundi Música at the booth of Sounds from Spain and a showcase by Monsieur Doumani on Thursday at 24h.
More dates, in the next issue.

MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA CONCERT CALENDAR

Remember: Mapamundi Música’s concerts calendar is here at our website and also at ourFacebook events. In September we bring to Portugal an artist that I met in EthnoPort Poznan: the amazing Turkish Gypsy clarinetist Cüneyt Sepetçi & Orchestra Dolapdere! They will play at the Mediterranean Diet Fair in Tavira, at Algarve region, in Portugal, on 7th of September.

We are having much joy from Portuguese institutions lately. Apart of this and of Transiberia Mundi, in November we will have our first concert in Portugal with our beloved Janusz Prusinowski and his partners. More news soon!

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 #12 June 2019

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

Greetings from Alcorcón, the city where we are settled, 12 kms far from Madrid on the way to our beloved Portugal. I will stay here for two weeks, preparing a July with travels to five European countries…

This last weekend I was at the festival 5 Continents, in Martigny, Switzerland. I will review it brieftly at Mundofonías soon but I must say now what a great work of the festival’s team and what a deep vision of how a festival can be a tool for developement of the communities in many senses. And, for me, it has been super inspiring and a real strengthener for my challenges to come.

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 managers: Karolina Waszczuk and Bartek Drozd from Jagiellonian Fair (Poland) – Mapamundi introduces… Transiberia Productions – Find me in… – It worths its own section: WOMEX‘s first confirmations

**** 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) – Mads Olesen (5 Continents, CH)
MINI INTERVIEW WITH KAROLINA WASZCZUK AND BARTEK DROZD FROM JARMARK JAGIELLOŃSKI (JAGIELLONIAN FAIR)

The approach to traditional art nowadays is very delicate. Quite often, we listen artists saying that they “evolve” the tradition and many times there is a big lack of deep knowledge and understanding of that tradition that they claim to evolve. And the result is a watered-down product that upholds itself by means of romantic ideas of a lost time of rural innocence… instead of by means of the music and its own aesthetic quality.

Perhaps, the situation in Spain is worse than in other countries, as it seems to be a clear disdain for whatever music comes from the rural world… unless if it is “modernizated” and supposedly adapted for a contemporary audience that would reject the traditional music by itself. My experience says another thing. The public is not interested in those halfway products supported by a self-embarrassment rhetoric.

That’s why this interview makes me very happy. The Jagiellonian Fair takes place in Lublin, at the East of Poland, from 16th to 18th of August in this edition, and its young team has some clear ideas and wise vision about how to create a frame for tradition in a recreational urban contemporary environment. Probably that’s why they gather thousands of people with a concerts program based mainly in quite not commercial shows. Check more at the website.

Karolina Waszczuk is the director of the festival and Bartek Drodz is the programme manager. These are their answers to the mini-interview. Thank you! 

MM – What do you search in an artist when you create the programme? 

Karolina Waszczuk: An important aspect that we take into account when selecting groups or artists to invite is awareness of tradition and traditional music. We look at how they are represented and how their elements are used and processed. We value artists who research traditional culture on their own and know cultural contexts. That makes their messages stronger and clearer.

Bartek Drozd: One of the key values is the sense of community, place, music and especially people themselves. The programme is created in a way that makes it possible for several worlds to meet: the world of the authentic, roots village culture, the one that reconstructs traditional music and the one that uses and performs it on a conceptual level. There is a kind of mutual respect that allows us to look at traditional music cultures in various ways, while at the same time, it brings out their never-changing values, uniqueness and improvisations. I think that respect for one’s own culture is a key element, and at the same time, it is the bridge between these worlds.

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?

Karolina Waszczuk:  We show traditional cultures of many, often distant, regions and yet we find shared elements, patterns, symbols, techniques. We want to show that culture has no borders; borders are created by the system. Language is not a barrier but a means of communication. We encourage learning about traditional culture through different areas, we pay attention to its continuation, its current state, and the inspirations it activates.

Bartek Drozd: One of  the most incredible qualities of traditional culture is its universality and timelessness. Many elements repeat, often on several levels and they become the driving force behind new activities. In Poland we continue to see the incredible colours of traditional culture and how they interweave. An unattractive, old, dusted thing gains new value. The element of surprise we try to sneak into our activities allows us to look at traditional music in a completely different, yet still the same, context.

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 

Karolina Waszczuk:  Like many festivals, we struggle most of all with financial issues. We are eager to do many things, but the budget limits us. The festival is free, none of the events are ticketed. The Fair, where we meet folk artists selling and presenting their crafts is free of charge for them. We cover the costs of their stalls and accommodation. We do not treat the artists as merchants; we invite real artists who form unique niches. They often spend many long days on their creations – making them requires knowledge, skill and experience. We want to show that what the artists invited to the Fair offer is authentic, genuine and one of a kind.

Another frequent problem is the lack of understanding on the part of those who are not invited to the Fair. As Organisers, we select artists whose work is of interest to us, we do not invite commercial merchants, and not every amateur artist is guaranteed a place at the Festival. We have a limited number of places and a restricted space so we cannot always invite all the artists from previous years, especially when we want to make room for new artists and present new regions. The choices we make are tough.

Bartek Drozd: Another challenge is also, in a sense, educating the attendees. Many of them approach tradition superficially, be it music or art. We encounter a lot of situations where we try to explain why some proposals related to music or art and crafts cannot appear at our festival. It is a difficult task but yields good results, as we can observe from the 13 years of the Jagiellonian Fair.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours?

Karolina Waszczuk: With a festival as big as this one, there are a great many challenges. One of them is how to show traditional culture in a setting that is not its natural habitat. How to show the character, appearance and function of respective aspects of cultural phenomena in the most authentic way, but one that’s adjusted to the space and the setting of the festival. In Poland, traditional culture is still considered inferior as there is a lack of education in this area.

Bartek Drozd: It’s a challenge, but at the same time our mission and an important task. We pay attention to quality, detail, elements. We observe a tendency to treat traditional culture superficially. And yet, it is only in the depth of traditions, year by year, step by step that we get to know its real value and meaning. And not just us, I hope, but also our audiences. And I think this is a great challenge that requires responsibility and we are aware of it.

MM – In one sentence, summarise the reason/s to go to your festival. 
It is the best interdisciplinary festival in Poland where you can discover traditional music in very different ways and get to know, through workshops and meetings, traditional culture, music, children’s games, authentic crafts and folk art of about 300 artists from Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania or Slovakia.

Pictures’ credits:

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MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA INTRODUCES… 

Carlos Gomes, who you see at this amazing picture by Ivo Canelas, is the founder and director of Transiberia Productions, cultural management company, settled in Lisbon.

Our careers share the fact that in a certain point of time, we changed our professional path: me, from psychology and human resources management, he, from architecture. Both of us, caught in a dream where music would be the pillar of our lifes. And the dream is coming true.

Maybe it is was just a matter of time that we found each other and started to collaborate. In the next issue of this newsletter you’ll know more but, in the meantime, check Transiberia’s Facebook and like it to know more!

FIND ME IN…
Some dates of interest for the international audience could be:
  • Førde (Norway). Førdefestivalen‘s 30th edition!!! Happy birthday! I am so blessed for attending this edition, as media in this occasion.
  • Ostrava (Czech Republic). Czech Music Crossroads + Colors of Ostrava. 15th to 18th July. As speaker.
  • Koblenz (Germany). Horizonte Festival. 19th July. What a pleasure to attend this festival for which I will travel with Vigüela! Also other of our collaborators, Monsieur Doumani and Don Kipper, are programmed in this festival. Yeah!
  • Bled (Slovenia). Okarina Festival, 23th July. My first time at the country and it will be also with Vigüela.
  • Białystok (Poland). Festival Podlaska Oktawa Kultur. 27th and 28 July, also with Vigüela and thanks to the agency Wodzirej PL.
  • Evora (Portugal). 1st to 4th August. Series Transiberia Mundi, part of the programArtes À Rua by the municipality of the city.
More dates, in the next issue.
WOMEX RELEASES THE FIRST LIST OF SHOWCASES

Their application periods ended weeks or months ago and while we wait for the complete line up of Visa for Music, Fira Mediterrània de Manresa and many other useful dates, with more news announced for next Thursday, these are the already public confirmations for WOMEX. Congratulations to the selected ones and the jury! See you there, I have already booked Mapamundi Música’s table at Sounds from Spain umbrella booth!

Do you like our newsletter? Tell us! To sign up, click 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 #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 #9 March 2019

I am Araceli Tzigane. Welcome to Mapamundi Música’s March’s monthly newsletter. Before going into detail, some brief notes:
  • The period of application for grants by AC/E, for the logistic expenses of having a Spanish artists in your festival or program, ends on 31st March. Check details below and discover a new proposal.
  • The new artistic director of Fira Mediterrània is Jordi Fosas. Find below his profile and an interview with him. 
  • Visa for Music opens the application period for artists. Check below for more open calls.

And, as usual, we continue the series of little interviews with festival directors, in this case with Bożena Szota from Ethno Port Poznań, and with many more useful infos for the community.

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 

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

Summary:  Jordi Fosas, new artistic director of Fira Mediterrània de Manresa – AC/E´s application for support is open – Mapamundi Música introduces… Entavía – Mini interview with festival director: Bożena Szota from Ethno Port Poznań (Poland) – New (and still) open calls – On tour

FLASH NEWS: DON KIPPER AND MELECH MECHAYA, 14TH APRIL IN COSLADA

Last WOMEX we have a super nice moment with Josh and Tim from the band from London Don Kipper. We are happy to bring them for our first collaboration, next April, on Sunday 14th, at the event Música en Primavera, by the city council of Coslada. They will play in a double program with our Portuguese combo Melech Mechaya. Details, here.

 

WELCOME JORDI FOSAS, NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF FIRA MEDITERRÀNIA DE MANRESA 

In the words of the Fira, “Jordi Fosas has a long track record in traditional and folk culture, through his involvement with the Cercle de Cultura Tradicional i Popular (Marboleny Traditional and Folk Culture Circle) and Festival Ésdansa de Les Preses (Ésdansa de Les Preses Festival). Fosas was selected from seven candidates, and he will direct the artistic line-up for Fira’s programme over the next three years. Not only was Fosas selected for his connections with traditional and folk culture but also for the artistic project he presented and his relevant experience.”

Mapamundi is happy to share with you his answers and reflections in this little interview.

We wish you the best, Jordi. Thanks for the enlightening statements! 
MM – Congratulations on your designation to this exciting position. What made you interested in it? 
JF – Thank you! I come from the world of popular culture and I have been working for many years on traditional dance. For example, directing the ÉSdansa Festival (ESdanza) and developing in it this “ES” (that means “is”) in the present indicative, encouraging the public to dance traditional dance today and promoting the realization of contemporary proposals based on traditional language.

I have known the Fira Mediterrània from some of its possible viewpoints, as an artist, as a programmer and also as a collaborator. These last three years we have collaborated with the Fira in the development of the Premi Delfí Colomé, an initiative that we have promoted from the ÉSdansa Festival to promote new dance projects created from the traditional roots.
I thought that I could contribute my experience to the artistic direction of the Fira and for that reason I presented myself to the call.

MM – The Fira Mediterrània has an international recognition as a fair where exciting proposals in the different disciplines that it includes are always discovered. How are you guys going to face this stage with you in the direction? Are you going to change something, are you going to give more weight to any subjects, any change of format, locations…?

JF – The Fira Mediterrània has done a good work in these more than twenty years of trajectory. For this reason, we will continue building from the bridges already drawn by the previous directors. I believe that the projects are enriched and strengthened when a new director contributes from the experience of the previous directors.

In the next years we will try to reinforce our brand positioning to help us articulate a circuit and generate discourse, essential elements to achieve our goal: market for proposals with traditional roots. We want to normalize that proposals that work from the traditional root are programmed.

The basic principles or strategic lines that we will develop have the objective of achieving a creative, reflective, complicit, committed and unique Fira, and we will do it in a 360 approach, that is to say, all the time and looking for complicities. We will work from three keys:
• weaving, that is, promoting and helping new creations and productions and making intersections and pairings between creators and popular culture;
• drawing packages of meaning that help the public and professionals to visualize creative realities,
• and getting a Fira in first person from the formats that generate new forms of participation and educational projects.

MM – Which will be at this phase the evaluation criteria to select the artistic proposals?

JF – At Fira Mediterrània we want to show a tradition with no complexes, that works in the present and in excellence and this will be our criterion to draw the Fira’s programming. We conceive a Fira that works intersections with the 360 degrees of the tradition, from the heritage and all that corpus of testimonies that form the cultural heritage of society, passing through the entities of popular culture that connect this heritage with their society, until reaching the professional sector that creates from this tradition. We are especially interested in the intersections, relationships and exchanges between all these agents, especially, how artists and professional companies drink from heritage, tradition and popular culture.

MM – What will be the balance in number of shows, in terms of concerts and other traditional culture shows?

JF – We will continue backing an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary Fira that gathers proposals from all the performing arts, from theater, dance, circus, visual arts, music … whether they are indoors or outdoors and in any of their formats. Our axis of programming is the traditional Mediterranean tradition in any discipline and format and we do not set a percentage for each of them. We will follow approximately the criteria that have been considered in recent editions.

MM – In recent years, the Fira has included proposals from outside the cultural field of the Mediterranean. Will this line be maintained?

JF – Yes, we will continue to program exceptional international proposals that stimulate the work of our artists and help us articulate discourse. We will focus on concrete proposals, but also on cities, territories, cultures … to see how the dialogue between tradition and contemporaneity works. We will work on it within the Fira’s State and International Action Plan. We will show and see other ecosystems, to see how a territory a structure, a project… is organized, works and creates.

Pictures: Jordi Fosas’s Facebook profile; Llotja profesional, by Anna Brugués.

 

DO YOU WANT A SPANISH ARTIST IN YOUR PROGRAM? AC/E’S CALL FOR SUPPORT IS 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 expensesrelated 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 Entavía. Check the next news, at the Mapamundi Música introduces….

MAPAMUNDI MÚSICA INTRODUCES…

Entavía, from Salamanca province, in Castilla y León community 
As a proffesional working with folk music since 2002, I think I am very discriminating about the proposals, even more if they come from my own country. We have had great experiences with Spanish bands, like El Naán, with whom we are not working now but we keep a deep friendship and mutual admiration. Apart of them and our beloved Vigüela and associated acts, I don’t use to get often excited enough to start a collaboration to promote a Spanish folk band. It has to be very very special.

And… I first payed attention to this band, Entavía, in this videoclip for a panaderas style song with a poem written in 1931 by Miguel de Unamuno. It was like a premonition to a catastrophe that would happen some years after: the breaking down of the dam of Ribadelago, in 1959, that killed 144 of the villagers, of which only 28 bodies where found.

Entavía puts music to this thrilling poem in a tribute to the victims and a claim for the unfair treatment that Franco’s government gave to the survivors.

Last Saturday I attended their concert in Madrid. It was in a little classroom in the downtown. Copla, ajechao, son jarocho, panaderas… in a concert full of freshness and fun made the evening unforgettable. You’ll hear more about them. In the meantime, check some snippets in these videos: 

 Ajechao – Panaderas – Copla – Panaderas – Bulerías del Tío Vicente – Martinete blues

Any question about Entavía? Tell me!

CALLS FOR APPLICATIONS
These professional fairs and festivals have applications open right now:
· Visa por Music, Rabat, Morocco. Apply here. Until 15th of May.
· Cyprus Rialto World Music Festival, Limassol, Cyprus. Apply here. Until 23th of March.
· WOMEX. Still open until next Friday! 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.
**** 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 BOŻENA SZOTA FROM ETHNO PORT POZNAŃ
Over the four days of the festival, in the Polish city of Poznań hosts concerts, dance parties, performances, interdisciplinary actions, workshops, film screenings and meetings for analysis and reflection about the current and future challenges in our societies. 

 

MM – What do you search in an artist when you program? 
BS – We are searching authenticity and emotional truth, high artistic quality, original or masterful approach to traditional music

MM – Which are the global objectives of your festival?
BS – We invite artists from all, even the most distant parts of the world. And during the events accompanying the festival (films, discussions, lectures) we focus on the global issues such as migration, cultural exchange or problems with building a sense of identity in a world of global exchange

MM – What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival? 
BS – Modern forms of communication make it more easier to overcome organizational and logistic barriers. Differences in visas and tax regulations may be a problem.

MM – Which are currently the main challenges for this kind of cultural proposals like yours? 
BS – Negating the need for intercultural exchange related to the increase of xenophobic attitudes, lack of support from the Ministry of Culture and weak interest of potential sponsors of the event.

MM – In one sentence, summarize the reason/s to go to your festival. 
BS – High quality of program proposals and their diversity as well as unique atmosphere built by the community festival audience.

Picture: one of Bożena’s Facebook profile pictures

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 like our newsletter? Tell us! To sign up, click 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 #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.

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

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.