Tom Frouge, Owner,Avokado Artists, Management and Consulting; Co-founder and producer, ¡Globalquerque!; Programmer, Slacker.com World and New Age
What 3-4 WOMEX showcase artist discoveries stood out for you?
None were really discoveries (in fact I was a wee bit underwhelmed by the total selection). Two of them we had been after for ¡Globalquerque! 2009, one we are already talking to re: ¡G! 2010! I am a bad WOMEX showcase-goer, as I don't really move around unless the band simply doesn't do it for me. If I am digging a set I stay for it all.... (I would be a bad ¡Globalquerque! attendee as I think about it!) I so obviously missed some good showcases as a result, but I am not complaining, because the ones I dug were worth it.
Hasna el Becharia - Trance-y Gnawan grooves by a master, how can you go wrong?
Hanggai - Chinese "cowboys" with beer and a sense of humor!
Oreka TX - resurrection of the nearly forgotten txalaparta that is then used for cultural cross pollination.
Socalled - too whacky not to like - and ya gotta love Frederick the gnome!
If I could add more I would say Deolinda, but mostly because I want to do a stage treatment of their material. It would kick ass if it was harnessed as theater.... and I loved the mando player in Addis Acoustic Project! Oh, and Da Cruz - Old school, club funk - and she reminds me of my old girlfriend a bit (at least from the back of the venue)!
What 1-2 CDs did you take from WOMEX that are you most excited about?
HARD Question!
1. Pietra Montecorvino - Italiana - Been a fan since I discovered her a couple of years ago; Leonard Cohen's and Chrissie Hynde's illegitimate Italian love child...
2. Reelroad - Russian World Beat - "By far the best new discovery at ¡Globalquerque! 2008" - Dirty Linen
....and the Croatian music I got...
What 3-4 WOMEX showcase artist discoveries stood out for you?
None were really discoveries (in fact I was a wee bit underwhelmed by the total selection). Two of them we had been after for ¡Globalquerque! 2009, one we are already talking to re: ¡G! 2010! I am a bad WOMEX showcase-goer, as I don't really move around unless the band simply doesn't do it for me. If I am digging a set I stay for it all.... (I would be a bad ¡Globalquerque! attendee as I think about it!) I so obviously missed some good showcases as a result, but I am not complaining, because the ones I dug were worth it.
Hanggai - Chinese "cowboys" with beer and a sense of humor!
Oreka TX - resurrection of the nearly forgotten txalaparta that is then used for cultural cross pollination.
Socalled - too whacky not to like - and ya gotta love Frederick the gnome!
If I could add more I would say Deolinda, but mostly because I want to do a stage treatment of their material. It would kick ass if it was harnessed as theater.... and I loved the mando player in Addis Acoustic Project! Oh, and Da Cruz - Old school, club funk - and she reminds me of my old girlfriend a bit (at least from the back of the venue)!
What 1-2 CDs did you take from WOMEX that are you most excited about?
HARD Question!
1. Pietra Montecorvino - Italiana - Been a fan since I discovered her a couple of years ago; Leonard Cohen's and Chrissie Hynde's illegitimate Italian love child...
2. Reelroad - Russian World Beat - "By far the best new discovery at ¡Globalquerque! 2008" - Dirty Linen
....and the Croatian music I got...
What lesson or new idea spurred your thinking while at a WOMEX (from a panel, in the trade hall, or a personal conversation)?
Well, don't know if it was a lesson, but the session on new US Visa policy TOTALLY bummed me out. I guess it did further spur on my thinking that we really need to hold the new US administration's and our representative's feet to the fire on SOOOOO many fronts.
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