EFN Newsletter May 2025 #30

EFN editor
May 27
11 min read

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:

🔹News from EFN:

▫️ EFN will be present at the 13th European Forum on Music, 'Celebrating Musical Diversity" (Brussels 11-12);

▫️ Election to EFN's General Assembly group – call for candidates;

▫️ Reminders of the Annual Conference and the European Folk Day;

🔹News from our members:

▫️ Transglobal World Music Festival Awards, open to the folk festivals, by Araceli Tzigane, Mapamundi Música;

▫️ Open Call by SHUM.Rave for musicians and electronic artists interested in working with the Crimean Tatar musical heritage, by Iryna Lobanok, Ukrainian Institute;

▫️ After Folk_ME, Hungarian Heritage House Launches Another Groundbreaking Digital Platform: Craft_ME to Preserve and Teach Folk Culture, by Linda Diligens, Hungarian Heritage House

🔸Our next featured member is Frank Reglin, from Germany

🔹Our next featured artist is the Roma singer and superstar from Skopje Esma Redžepova

🔸Special section: on this edition, we have some relevant news from the other side of the Atlantic:

▫️FAI's Statement about the NEA and Defending Cultural Funding

▫️Ethno USA goes 'On the Road' and Applications are rolling for our 2025 residency!

✍️ 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

🔸Meet us at the European Forum on Music: 11-12 June, Brussels

Two members of the board, Steven Vanderaspoilden and Araceli Tzigane, and the coordinator Nod Knowles, will attend this forum. According to the website, "during this EFM we will discuss the importance of protecting and promoting musical and cultural diversity and how it can be enshrined in EU policies for culture making use of music’s great potential as a driver for change also in light of the increasing emphasis on competitiveness in EU policies."All the details about the Forum are available here.

🔸Election to the General Assembly group – call for candidates

At the last AGM, the members voted to set up the General Assembly Strategy Group – with places for 3 people elected by the Members of EFN. It is now time to start the election procedure and this is a repeat of the Call for Candidates. If any member wish to stand for election, candidates must submit a statement (of a maximum of 200 words) of their candidacy plus a photograph to the EFN Administrator via info@europeanfolknetwork.com by the deadline of 30 May.

The deadline for nominations is 17.00 CEST on Friday 30 May. The nominated candidates will be announced on Monday 2 June; voting will be held online between 5 and 12 June; the results of the election will be announced on 13 June; and the General Assembly group will meet at the time of the AGM in the following week.

🔸REMINDER: 2025 EFN Conference - Registration is now open - for EFN members and also non members - Please note: The special conference hotel discount rate is available until 30 May.

Manresa – the beautiful historic city in the heart of Catalonia, home to the immersive Fira Mediterrania, now in its 28th year – is the host for the 6th annual European Folk Network Conference on 10 & 11 October 2025.

For the 2025 Conference EFN and Fira Manresa offer a unique opportunity to explore the many showcase concerts whilst meeting and sharing ideas with a host of other people and organisations active in the folk arts from across Europe.The conference programme, to be announced shortly, will concentrate on issues of direct relevance to the folk arts sector, alongside discussion groups on EFN's active plans and interests shared by and with EFN members.

Conference registration fees cover:

All conference sessions over two full days
Barcelona airport pick-ups and return transfers
Discount rates for bookings at the four star Hotel Don Cándido in Terrassa
Daily transport from Terrassa to Manresa
Access to Fira Mediterrània showcase events
Delegate lunch in the splendid Kursaal Theatre
Welcome reception hosted by wine producers D.O. Pla de Bages

Where to stay:

Accommodation is limited in Manresa so the official (four star) Conference hotel is in Terrassa - 25 minutes away - and there will be free transport every day for delegates to and from the Conference venue in Manresa. If you want to book the Conference hotel you will receive the discount code for the hotel immediately after you register for the Conference. Places are limited so please book the hotel by the deadline of 30 May.

Travel: Fira Mediterrania will provide free pick-up and return transport for delegates to and from Barcelona airport. There are also train and bus services to Manresa from Barcelona and other Spanish cities.

These are the Conference registration options:

EFN Members €95
Non members of EFN €125
Students €50

Register for the Conference HERE

🔸European Folk Day 2025

Save The Date also for the European Folk Day – 23 September! It’s your chance to participate in the Folk Day – on the Day itself or in the days surrounding it.

We also want to give a special nod to the Make Music Day UK team, who sent us their open call. You can find it, here. It is an invitation to celebrate the Summer Solstice, in the frame of the international Day of Music: 21st of June.

News from the members

🔹Transglobal World Music Festival Awards, open to the folk festivals

By Araceli Tzigane, Mapamundi Música

The call for cantidates for the the Festival Awards by Transglobal World Music Chart is open and willing to receive proposals by folk festivals. The procedure, definitions and criteria are here: https://www.transglobalwmc.com/festival-awards-definitions-and-criteria/

If you don't have a folk festival of your own and you want to inform any festival you like about this, feel free to share this information.

🔹Open Call by SHUM. Rave for musicians and electronic artists interested in working with the Crimean Tatar musical heritage

By Iryna Lobanok, Ukrainian Institute

A Ukrainian NGO SHUM.Rave has been researching Crimean Tatar traditional music and instruments with the aim of creating the SHUM: Qırım sample pack, which includes over 120 musical fragments.

The project is looking for musicians and electronic artists who would like to use the samples to produce their own music. The music pieces will have an opportunity to be features in a documentary about the life of the Crimean Tatar community and to be included into a music compilation.

Deadline for submitting tracks is June 6, 2025.

More info and a link to register for the project:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L1T518gWFqhRyt3V1UN1fgcPkcl9p_5y/view?usp=sharing

🔹After Folk_ME, Hungarian Heritage House Launches Another Groundbreaking Digital Platform: Craft_ME to Preserve and Teach Folk Culture

By Linda Diligens, Hungarian Heritage House (Hagyományok Háza)

Hungarian Heritage House announces the expansion of its digital innovation strategy that started with Folk_ME last year and continues to grow with a new pioneering platform: Craft_ME. These initiatives set a new standard for the digital preservation and education of not only the Hungarian but other European folk traditions also, making authentic cultural knowledge accessible to a global audience.

More information about Folk_ME: https://folk-me.com/en

More information about Craft_ME: https://craft-me.cc/hu

Full press release, here.

Featured Member: Frank Reglin

When he became a member in 2019, this is how he introduced himself:

"I am active in the field of folk- and worldmusic since 1960. Since then I played in various skiffle bands and folk groups in the North of Germany. 1984 I was one of the founding members of PROFOLK- the national association of song, folk & world music in Germany. Regularly visits to WOMEX, Art & Ethno Forum In Balchik etc."

The picture is from his Facebook profile.

About the question on what you can give to the European Folk Network as a member, his answer was "Nearly 60 years knowledge of the German Folk- and Worldmusic scene includlng festivals and clubs, musicians, agencies/for me it's important to connect peoples working in this scene in Europe, thinking of the Chinese saying: Its better to light a candle, than complain about darkness!."

Featured Artist: Esma Redžepova

By Araceli Tzigane

In recent times, I’ve found myself wondering where the current-day Esma Redžepova (1943-2016) might be. Is there any folk music star today with a similar impact from the Balkans? I don’t think so — but I’d love to be wrong. As I listened to the recordings while preparing this bio, the beauty of the music and her performance almost brought me to tears. It seems only fair to draw the attention of new generations to artists like her.

Her life also created a legacy that goes far beyond the realm of art. Let’s take a look.

Portrait of Esma, by Arbenllapashticaaa - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

According to CTXT (from the original in Spanish, and it is really recommendable), "Redžepova was born in Topana, the old Roma neighborhood of Skopje, and her childhood was marked by poverty and a strong calling to sing. Esma’s father, who had lost a leg in a bombing during World War II, went back and forth on crutches to earn a living as a shoeshiner. Meanwhile, her mother sewed traditional trousers for the wealthier Roma families.

By the age of ten, Esma was already showing her strong will when she defied her family’s ban on becoming a singer — a profession deemed unworthy of a respectable woman. From the outset, she broke away from the arranged marriage her parents had planned for her, threatening to hang herself in the town square, since marriage would mean the end of any dedication to music. Determined to follow her dream, the young girl secretly entered a talent show broadcast by Radio Skopje. Although her father slapped her across the face when he found out, that moment would mark the beginning of her career as an artist."

There, on Radio Skopje, the accordionist musician Stevo Teodosievski heard Esma and was so impressed that he asked her father for permission to include her in his ensemble. Though her parents were hesitant, fearing the stigma around female singers, Teodosievski convinced them by promising to protect her virtue and education. At age 14, Esma began touring with the group. Stevo was 23 years older than her but he would become not only her manager, but also her husband. They would get married in 1968.

By 1959, they moved to Belgrade and started recording. Esma’s song Čaje Šukarije became a regional hit, and the ensemble gained national attention. Her powerful voice and charisma led to international fame — in 1962 she became the first Yugoslav artist to perform at Paris’s Olympia theatre. Throughout the 60s and 70s, she and the ensemble toured intensively, sometimes playing up to five shows a day.

The song Čaje Šukarije could be thought to be traditional but it was composed by Teodosievski. It means "beautiful young lady". The song became a cultural symbol of the Roma people and was performed by Esma in more than 30 languages on stages around the world. The lyrics, in Romani, speak of a beautiful young woman and carry a tone of pride, attraction, and admiration. The video is old but the performance is well worthy. Not only Esma's: all the musicians are absolutely fantastic!

She married Teodosievski in 1968, and around that time, they began taking in young Roma boys to train them in music. This led to the widespread belief that the couple had adopted 48 children, but in reality, only five were legally their wards; the rest lived with them temporarily while they received musical instruction and performance training. In recognition of her humanitarian efforts, the Macedonian government nominated Redžepova twice for the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1976, during a performance in Chandigarh, India, the couple were honored with the titles Queen and King of Gypsy Music.

Teodosievski died of cancer in 1997, and the collapse of Yugoslavia soon after deeply affected Redžepova. Instead of retiring, she reinvented herself, collaborating with Balkan pop singers and folk bands, riding the growing wave of Western interest in Roma music.

She became a prominent figure in the world music scene until her death in 2016. Suffering from chronic diabetes, Esma's energy gradually declined, and a bout of bronchopneumonia overwhelmed her once-powerful lungs at the age of 73. One of her latest performances, just a few months before her passing, was this for KEXP in the USA.

Dzelem, Dzelem is the official anthem of the Roma people since 1971. This is a recording from 2010. Esma was singing wonderfully. The melody is from the tradition and the lyrics are by Žarko Jovanović, a Serbian Romani musician. According to Daniel Vojak (full bio here), Jovanović survived three concentration camps, Banjica, Sajmište and in Trepča, from where he escaped and joined the Ibar partisan movement. During the war, most of his family were killed.

Esma's life is well documented so you can find easily more information about her. The references used here are:

May her memory be a blessing.

Special section:

🔸 FAI's Statement about the NEA and Defending Cultural Funding

Adapted by the editors from the information provided by FAI

Our North American partner Folk Alliance International (FAI) is deeply disappointed by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) recent decision to withdraw an offer for a $50,000 grant award to support their annual conference and online programming. This funding was intended to support vital spaces for connection, cultural cross-pollination, and community through folk music and the preservation of American traditions.

Check the full statement, here.

🔸 Ethno USA goes 'On the Road' and Applications are rolling for our 2025 residency!

Adapted by the editors from the information provided by FAI

Ethno USA 2025 is a 11-day residency from September 4th - 15th, 2025, taking place in Greensboro, North Carolina. Each year, 30 young musicians (18-30) from around the world, alongside 4 artistic mentors, come together to create a one-of-a-kind ‘Ethnorchestra’.

Applications for the 5th edition of Ethno USA are now open. For more information and application, visit this website.

For more info: Ethno USA links

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 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 you want to donate and we'll issue an invoice for your organization.