WOMEX Heads To Greece

There’s no doubt the local economy will benefit from the arrival of more than 2,000 delegates, which means next year’s WOMEX should be assured of a warm welcome in the Greek city of Thessaloniki.

It’s the country’s second-largest city and has produced some of Greece’s greatest musicians, artists, poets and thinkers. Situated on the northern fringe of the Thermaic Gulf, it also has miles of beautiful beaches.

There appears to have been some behind-the-scenes problems over its selection as the host city for 2012. The announcement came just 24 hours before Cardiff, Wales, was named as the host city for 2013.

The Welsh city beat Dublin and Glasgow to be the first UK venue to host WOMEX since it visited Newcastle in 2005.
Since it started in 1994 in Berlin, where the WOMEX organisation is still based, the annual gathering has developed into a moveable feast.

It returned to the German capital in 1999 and 2000, but also visited Brussels, Marseille, Stockholm, Rotterdam, Essen, Newcastle upon Tyne and Seville from 1995 to 2008.

This year the annual gathering for those involved in the development of world music is at Copenhagen Forum Oct. 26-30, the last of three editions to be held there.

More than 750 acts from all over the globe pitched for one of this year’s showcase slots, so the three dozen or so that won will likely represent the best of upcoming talent.

The daytime discussions include Mehmet Ulug from Turkish promoter Pozitif Productions, which is involved with booking Istanbul’s 450-capacity Babylon jazz club and the 21-year-old Akbank Jazz Festival.

Also speaking will be Oliver Belopeta from Macedonia’s Skopje Jazz Festival and others discussing how we respond to artists whose music easily straddles both jazz and world music genres.

This year WOMEX’s trade stand space was taken up so quickly that organisers are working on changing the floor plan in The Forum in order to create room for more booths.

Last year’s WOMEX attracted 2,440 delegates from 94 countries.