WELCOME AND SUMMARY
Welcome to the new edition of this communication and outreach initiative of the EFN. Feel free to forward it to your friends and colleagues. Receiving this newsletter is open to anyone for free, here. Read to the end to find out how to submit content for future editions.
This is what you'll find below:
🔸Reminder: the 2023 EFN Conference in Manchester, England - 19-20 October 🔸Updates about the European Folk Day 23 September 2023 🔸EFN welcomes new members: from Spain, David Sierra; from Scotland, Eileen Budd; from Italy, Calabriasona/Italysona; from France, Patrik Larralde; from Latvia, Inese Roze 🔸News from our members: from Fira Mediterrània de Manresa, the third edition of the Roots Workshop, the Fira's support programme for creators 🔸Our next featured member is Mapamundi Música 🔸Our next featured artist is the Hungarian multi-instrumentalist Lajkó Félix
✍️ Do you want to participate? At the end of the newsletter you will find how you can contribute to future editions, whether you are an EFN member or not. And of course EFN is always looking for new members and at the end of this newsletter there is a note about how and why to join, with links to the membership pages of the website and the application form.
Thanks for your attention, have a fruitful reading and, please, forward this to any person who could be interested!
News from EFN
🔸Reminder: EFN's 4th annual Conference in Manchester
EFN'S 2023 CONFERENCE will be held in Manchester, England on 19 - 21 October, generously hosted by our partner (and member) English Folk Expo (EFEx).
The full Conference programme will be announced by summer 2023.
The registration fee of €60 covers daytime conference catering and some basic costs.
Registration for the 4th annual EFN Conference also gives EFN Members who joined before this announcement FREE registration to EFEx events (including Manchester Folk Festival) fromThursday 19 to Sunday 22 October 2023.
EFN Individual Members who register for the Conference can access ONE free registration to all EFEx events. EFN Organisation Members who register for the Conference can access a maximum of TWO free registrations to EFEx. The EFEx registration must be done immediately after registration for the Conference (a confirmation message and an email will give the link) - there is a deadline of 1 July for this registration to EFEx. MEMBERS CAN REGISTER HERE NOW!
New Members of EFN and additIonal people from an EFN Member Organisation who also register for the Conference will be able to register for EFEx at a special discount rate - these people should register NEW & ADDITIONAL EFN MEMBERS CAN REGISTER HERE.
Non-Members of EFN can of course also register just for the EFN Conference. NON-MEMBERS CAN REGISTER HERE.
Updates about the European Folk Day* By the editors
Remember: the first ever European Folk Day will take place on 23rd of September.
Here are some tips: 🔸How can I participate? Participation is open to anyone and it can have very many different forms. Learn more here. 🔸Music repository. We are making available to the public and the media a repository of artists' favourite pieces. The call is open! Learn more and listen to the pieces that are already available, here. 🔸One-sheet press release, available in many languages. The purpose is to have it in all possible languages spoken in Europe. The official languages are already in the process of being translated. If you want to translate any other language, please let us know so we can coordinate it. Check the available ones, here.
For any questions, contact us as needed, at these email addresses:
For general and administrative information: info@europeanfolkday.eu
For questions about participation: participate@europeanfolkday.eu
For media enquiries: media@europeanfolkday.eu
* Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union and therefore the European Union cannot be held responsible for them.
EFN WELCOMES FIVE NEW MEMBERS By EFN editors
New members are joining EFN every month – from festivals to storytellers, from national organisations to individual artists and workshops. Here are five more new members:
🔸From Spain, David Sierra
From Spain, freelance agent David Sierra joined at the end of April. He describes what he does as combining “various activities such as music management and booking….organizing events and tours for Spanish artists around some of the most important festivals, venues and theatres in Spain and abroad” and also “booking some international artists coming to Spain.”
David says his artists “come from an extensive variety of musical backgrounds…. reflecting the rich diversity of today's world music landscape.”
David Sierra joined EFN because “As a professional of the folk and world music industry, I'm really interested in being part of the European Folk Network. My professional background in traditional music, especially the Spanish one, could be useful for the rest of the members. With more than 15 years of experience working with some of the most important folk festivals around the world, this is the perfect moment for me to join the EFN. I believe that, in an increasingly globalized world, the different roles that work in traditional music must be united to share our knowledge and experiences.”
For more info, check his website.
🔸From Scotland, Eileen Budd
Eileen Budd is a storyteller from Scotland. She says: “I tour Scotland sharing Scottish folktales, folk history, folk traditions and related folk objects of Scotland with schools, museums and libraries. Many of the folk objects I use for teaching were commissioned from Scottish artists using traditional craft skills. I also share folktales from my family’s storytelling tradition on Instagram and my podcast: Scottish Folk.”
Eileen explains her reasons for joining EFN like this: “I bring over 20 years experience and contacts working in the museums industry on both local and national levels. I grew up in a family with a strong oral storytelling tradition and it is my personal mission to share these stories to keep the traditions alive. I hope membership will provide opportunities to network and support similar initiatives.”
For more info, check her Instagram.
🔸From Italy, Calabriasona/Italysona
Italy’s Calabriasona/Italysona joined EFN as an organisation. They say: “CabriaSona is a cultural circuit, and an independently run boutique and full-service music agency specialised in music from Calabria, one of Italy’s Southern regions.”
“At Calabriasona, we believe that music and culture are strong drivers for tourism and sustainable local development, especially in a region with a rich and diverse historical and natural heritage.
Since 2012, our agency is assembling an eclectic roster of artists who, through research and innovation, put a new light on the cultural and musical heritage of the region – which also includes the Calabrian Tarantella, the music of the old Calabrian Greek minority, and Arbereshe people or Albanians from Italy.”
Joining EFN is obviously of great interest to Calabriasona: “We strive for long-term working relationships and are always open to new collaborations that can help boost our artists’ careers.
We are always ready to give our contribution to improve our sector. We want to join forces so that world music has ever greater interest for institutions and for young audiences as well.”
For more info, check their website.
🔸From France, Patrik Larralde
Patrik Larralde from France is an individual member and has plans to make a trip around Europe meeting other traditional musicians and making a new documentary film. He says: “I play trikitxa, Alboka and Panderoa instruments. I play across my country. I compose new traditional music and I compose music for the Basque dance groups.”
For more information, check his website.
🔸From Latvia, Inese Roze
Inese Roze, another individual member, comes from Latvia – she tells us that: “I am working with Latvian intangible cultural heritage – traditional music and crafts and I am leader of NGO Traditional Culture Initiative Centre ‘KasTe’, folk group ‘Ore’ and Drabeši manor Traditional Crafts House.”
Inese has a clear view of why she joined EFN: “I have experience in folk music field, leading a lot of projects and folk group, so I can share it. Benefits could be – familiarity with experience of other people and organizations working in this field, communicate and cooperate with others, make partnerships.”
For more information, check KasTe's website.
News from EFN members
THE THIRD EDITION OF THE ROOTS WORKSHOP, THE FIRA'S SUPPORT PROGRAMME FOR CREATORS
By Anna Vilanova, from Fira Mediterrània de Manresa
In search of collaborations and a market, the artistic projects will have co-production support from around 30 entities, companies and institutions.
The Fira Mediterrània de Manresa is including 23 artistic projects in the 2023 Roots Workshop programme, aimed at guiding and supporting creators who are presenting new artistic works based on folk and traditional culture. This time around, the projects that are part of this programme, which is celebrating its third year, are organised in three different blocks: the International Workshop, live arts and the community projects.
The projects within this experimental space are undertaken in collaboration with other institutions and entities to foster synergies and collaborations between different players in the cultural sector, and to boost their viability and reach. This collaborative work is one of the main focuses of the Workshop's efforts, and is essential to building the circuit and opening up a market for all these projects. The other two areas of focus are guiding artists during the research, creation, production and performance phases, and the promotion of pairings and exchanges between contemporary creators and folk culture associations.
Learn more about it, on their website.
Featured Member: Mapamundi Música
When they became a member this is how they presented themselves:
To provide a disproportionate value to the ones that trust us, exceeding the expectations, is our driving force. Mapamundi Música is the agency dedicated to management and booking of artists working on traditions of the peoples. We offer you outstanding artists, devoted and service quality-oriented as well as kind and open persons. We take your administrative and communicational needs as our own commitments: you can trust us. Round out your program with activities added up to the concert: we offer you workshops or lectures or even showcooking!
Furthermore, we develop special productions that build bridges between cultures and projects that provide a deeper knowledge of the culture of the peoples."
And about what they can give to the European Folk Network as a member and what they thought that would be the benefits of membership, they explained that:
"We can give more visibility to the EFN, that can also bring more members.
We can make concrete work, like writing applications or developing specific projects, in terms of communication, production, designing the activities.
We can be the Iberian member, while others come in.
We can benefit for networking, with the direct contact of other members. We can also benefit of the access to information and contact with third parties. We can benefit with having a bigger dissemination of our vision, that I think is at least partly shared with the other members."
Learn more on their website.
Remember: the Featured Artist section is open to the contributions of the members of the EFN. If you want to talk about someone contact efneditors@gmail.com.
Featured Artist: Lajkó Félix By Araceli Tzigane
According to Discogs, Lajkó Félix is a "Serbian-born Hungarian violinist, zither player and composer. He plays a variation of musical styles: traditional string music of the Pannonian plain, Romani music, folk music, classical music, rock, blues, jazz and improvised melodies".He was born in December 17, 1974 in Bačka Topola, "a town in the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Voivodina", according to his official bio. Nowadays it is Serbia. It is 150 kms to the West from Timisoara and 230 to the South from Budapest. He plays violin and zither and is a composer.
In the link of the bio you can read the full version. I will just get a short part here: "Having started out with playing the zither, Lajkó quit the musical high school of Subotica at sophomore grade to go to Budapest with a borrowed violin and become a member of the Dresch Quartet. He has been commuting between Budapest, Hungary and Subotica, Serbia ever since, representing and culturally connecting Hungary and his native Voivodina region."
A few days ago I somehow came across this video on Youtube on the channel Anormal Sessions. I find it all exultantly beautiful. The description explains this: "Recorded live, Félix and Violist Brasnyó Antal glide over the waters of Lillafüred in a wooden boat. A private concert for the trees and of course, for the birds". In the channel description they explain that "All of our sessions are live music videos, meaning both image and audio are recorded at the same time during the shoot". They really have hidden the microphones well! Enjoy:
His discography began in 1994. So far he has 17 references, including two live albums and one in collaboration with the Polish band Vołosi.
Let's watch him now playing the zyther in this piece that was included in his album Mező:
The picture at the top is from the official website of the artist
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS NEWSLETTER Are you already a member? Then, remember that you can submit contents for this monthly newsletter. Email your content to efneditors@gmail.com, for these sections:
· News from EFN Members. Brief announcements – of around 100 words and a link.
· Featured artist. A profile with around 200 words, an embedded video and one link. Members are invited to submit profiles, considering solo and ensemble living or not living artists who have achieved lifelong artistic and technical quality or historical significance in the field of folk art from or developed in or settled in Europe. If you have any artists in mind that you'd like to feature, please ask in advance, just to be sure there is no other member already doing it.
And whether you are a member or not, you can participate in this section:
· Special sections. For instance, an interview with someone from an institution that is not a member or a thematic article by a guest writer or anything that can appear and be considered as interesting. This section can also host guest writers that are not members. If you'd like to share any content, contact us in advance to schedule it by emailing efneditors@gmail.com
Of course, self promotional articles lacking interest won't be accepted. In case of doubt, the EFN board will be consulted and will decide.
BECOMING A MEMBER? EFN membership is growing rapidly – why not join the network of traditional arts organisers and artists that stretches across Europe from the Irish Sea to the Baltic, the Mediterranean to the Black Sea? Find out more about membership and download an application form from www.europeanfolknetwork.com/membership.
DO YOU WANT TO SUPPORT THE EFN MORE? The EFN welcomes donations. We do a lot with little money. Imagine what we can do with a little more :) Let us know how much do you want to donate and we'll issue an invoice for your organization.
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