Roskilde Festival World Music Award

From 2009 to 2011, Roskilde Festival presents the Roskilde Festival World Music Award (RFWMA) worth 30,000 euro. In 2009, Malian musician Rokia Traoré won the RFWMA. She has founded La Fondation Passarelle which works on professionalizing the Malian music culture. The foundation has created training facilities, a studio as well as training projects, among these kônoya, a singing technique project attended by 16 young singers selected from 60 candidates. And Traoré is very aware of the way music can make a difference  for young people : “They just need opportunities, and perspectives to show how amazing they can be”, says Rokia Traoré.

2500 Malians attended the premiere

The purpose of La Fondation Passarelle is to train and make practical experience possible in artistic and cultural activities in Mali. And the Malian diva has no doubts about the benefit of the project:” I think there is no word to describe what happened in 2010 with these youngsters,” says Traoré. "Through a premiere of the show that was created at the end of training, we are pleased to have introduced La Fondation Passerelle and its work to over 2500 people on the bank at Palais de la Culture of Bamako," says Rokia Traoré.

Making a difference

RFWMA can be presented to societies or organisations that work with creating musical development in locally based music genres – to ensure a cultural stepping-stone for children and young people in third world countries. The award is presented by Roskilde Festival Charity Society on the background of recommendations from Roskilde Festival, Womex and EFWMF. "We’re very pleased to see that last year’s award winner has spent the money well on exciting projects that really make a difference," says Peter Hvalkof from Roskilde Festival.

This year, the RFWMA will be presented on Sunday 31 October on the closing day of WOMEX 2011.

New Zealand Music Expo /16th-17th March 2011

 

Sounds Aotearoa 2011 is New Zealand's only music industry conference, expo and artist showcase all rolled up into a two-day event. The event attracts international delegates as well as music industry representatives from all over New Zealand. It is designed to facilitate exposure, networking, capacity building and business promotion. You won't find a better opportunity in New Zealand to interact with music industry professionals.  

The types of people who are likely to attend Sounds Aotearoa 2011 include: record companies, recording artists, producers and studios, festival and event reps, distribution and marketing companies, media, publicists, students, managers, agents, technicians and engineers, service providers, funding agencies... and more!

Sounds Aotearoa features a conference programme and expo during the day and artist showcases/performances in the evenings. Please visit the website for details.

Sounds Aotearoa 2011 brings together people from the whole spectrum of the music industry so if you've got goals in the national or international music scene Sounds Aotearoa in New Plymouth, Taranaki, is the place for you to be on 16 and 17 March 2011. Stay on for WOMAD New Zealand 2011 which starts the following day (18 March) and you'll experience five days of unique and outstanding music from all around the globe.

More information: www.soundsaotearoa.co.nz.

PAMS, worth discovering

People, Ideas and Korean performing arts

www.pams.or.kr

The 6th Performing Arts Market in Seoul(PAMS) is held from October 11 to 15, 2010 in Seoul. As a channel for accessing performing arts of Korea and beyond, encountering people from the field, and sharing ideas and know-how, this annual international market is visited by more than 1,500 participants from Korea and abroad.  

Along with PAMS Choice showcases, booth exhibition and networking meetings, PAMS 2010 features special focus on 'Nordic Performing Arts' forum and showcases and 'Creative Cooperation: Conception to Circulation' forum.

PAMS 2010 is timed to coincide with the Seoul Performing Arts Festival, the Seoul International Dance Festival and the Theater Olympics.  

Visit PAMS and broaden your discovery!
Your inquiry is welcome at registration@pams.or.kr or +82(0)2 708 2282

Registration

Type		Period	Fee	How to register?
Individual	Early-Bird	Aug.2 - Sep.5	USD 100	On-line registration at www.pams.or.kr
	Late	Sep.6 - Sep.26	USD 200
	Walk-up	Oct.11 - Oct.15	USD 300 (USD60/day)	PAMS registration desk National Theater Korea

Jerusalem Festival 2010: Fifteen luminous years of vibrant melodies

More info: www.yabous.org

In memoriam: Sten Sandahl

Sten in loving memory 

In the early hours of June 30th 2010 Mr Sten Sandahl, after a heroic struggle with cancer, finally had to admit defeat and quietly passed on. How does one sum up a long life, what parting words best befits a sad farewell?

Sten spent most of his life in the service of music. For eight years he was a lecturer at the Department for Musicology at the University of Stockholm and then practised what he taught for twenty five years as producer at Concerts Sweden. He was also, from his early teens to his last months, an enthusiastic musician playing in a number of different constellations of Swedish jazz groups.

Throughout his years at Concerts Sweden his commitment to promoting traditional and world music will be remembered as the most dedicated effort to connect Sweden with the rest of the music world. He relentlessly worked at showcasing Swedish musicians in international arenas. He almost singlehandedly introduced, and eventually built, working networks of festival and concert promoters for world music in Sweden.

Sten was convinced that music is instrumental for man's ability to grow, develop and function as a social being and that we need to acknowledge, while embracing our global community, the values we can find in local traditions passed on from generation to generation. He thus had a particular concern that the emerging global society can result in an impoverishment of the traditional music in all cultures. He worried that old musicians die and disappear with generations of knowledge about their musical traditions without getting a chance to pass their music on to the young. And he noted that while we spend millions to save endangered species of animals, at the same time we allow amazing manifestations of culture to disappear for lack of documentation or reproduction. But Sten wasn't a man to harbour such thoughts without acting upon them. He spent a lot of time and energy on recording projects Vietnam, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Cap Verde, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Montenegro, and Macedonia, all released on the Caprice label under the humble title “Music from…”, all resulting in national and international tours for the featured artists.

But academic and professional achievements are only part of what makes a man. Sten did, (as most of us try) his best at being a loving husband and caring father. By his family – and his vast international family of friends – he will be sadly missed.

He was the proverbial man of letters and generous in sharing his thoughts, experiences and personal networks with the rest of us. He was often at the heart of social gatherings, an natural entertainer with many thoughtful observations and, on occasion, a teller of terribly, terribly bad jokes. Now his deeds are done and he has, most regrettably, moved on, leaving behind a void in the lives of many. With whom can we now have the strangely mixed discussions about music, football, bullfighting and what the drunken old Scotsman actually said to the sheep?

He was a good man and a good friend. One I feel most privileged to call my own.

Hans Hjorth