Michael Orlove, senior programs director, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
What 3-4 WOMEX showcase artist discoveries stood out for you?
My choices (in no particular order). The four below represent groups I had never seen before and I thought were simply OUTSTANDING.
1. Kouyate-Neerman
2. Staff Benda Bilili
3. Mamane Barka
4. Barbara Fortuna
What CDs did you take from WOMEX that are you most excited about?
1. Analog Africa's newest compilations (AKA Samy Ben Redjeb). Still going through the 100 or so CDs I brought back but the early winners are below. Samy is in his own category as a 'crate digger' and the stuff he finds in various African countries is incredible. His latest 'discoveries' of Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou are a wonderful listen.
2. Danyel Waro. Danyel is an artist I saw over a decade ago in Paris and he is someone I would love to present in Chicago. He is from the Reunion Islands and one of the main purveyors of Maloya...the musical style mixing African, Madagascan and Indian origins. If you haven't heard his music, check it out...
What else spurred your thinking while at a WOMEX?
1. Staff Benda Bilili...their story is so incredibly moving and motivational. We should all be able to learn (and be inspired) from them.
2. Gerald Seligman's final speech. A great champion of our field of music, he did a phenomenal job the past three years leading the WOMEX conference and a variety of satellite events. His final speech brought a giant smile to my face reminding me of why I remain 'doing what I do' having the luck to be a part of this wonderful community we all belong to. A class act, Gerald left us with words to live by:
This is my last WOMEX as General Director, and I hope you'll indulge me a few final words.
It's been an honor to serve in the midst of this remarkable, international group of artists and professionals. Events production can be hell, but what makes it all worthwhile is the community we all comprise. As ends in themselves, this isn't about making money though we all need to survive. It isn't about ulterior motives, conflicts of interest, capitalizing on the
efforts, arts and good intentions of others, though, inevitably, there are
those who may view it that way.
This community is about a very special blend of international solidarity, wide-eyed, not naive, open-hearted, not close-minded.
Many in the media, in politics, in society use racial, religious or national
differences to raise tension to conflict, and conflict to clash. And on the
back of the inevitable backlash limit access to society, close doors to
those in need, isolate the immigrant communities within our own borders.
But others, bless them, will plead in the face of rising xenophobia, please
please people we must be tolerant.
But that's not what we do, is it? We, all of us, we don't tolerate
difference. We celebrate difference. It's the air we breathe, the lands we
travel, the partnerships we form, the friends we make, the music and artists
we do our daily best to nurture and support.
I must say. You are so many of the best people it is my good fortune to
know. I salute you, I salute you, I salute you.
