Polish Opening and Kato Connections Stage at WOMEX 17
Berlin/Katowice:Three renowned Polish bands will open WOMEX 17 in Katowice on 25 October this year and freshen up the perceptions of folk music together with the Aukso chamber orchestra in the city's famous NOSPR concert hall. For the following days, hands-on conference sessions as well as the line-up of a 'Kato Connections' stage were confirmed today by WOMEX organisers and their local partners.
After the Official Showcase Selection line-up of the 23rd edition of WOMEX was announced last month, the Kato Connections stage, revealed today, adds to the already diverse concert programme, celebrating the host city's very own musical diversity. Nine artists will perform as part of this programme, representing three of Katowice’s global connections with three artists representing Poland, three artists representing Poland's neighbouring countries and three artists representing the UNESCO Music Cities of Salvador, Ghent and Katowice itself.
"For Katowice, a UNESCO Creative City of Music, it is very important that as many as 8 Polish groups will present their talents at the WOMEX fair and festival at the opening concert and at the regional stage. When we entered the prestigious UNESCO Creative Cities Network, we undertook to follow a proactive policy that fosters development of musical creative industries. This strategy is perfectly complemented by the WOMEX fair and festival taking place in Katowice."
Marcin Krupa, the Mayor of Katowice
With registrations going well and stand bookings going fast, 2,400 professionals plus public audience are expected to enjoy in the world's most diverse showcase festival in Katowice's newly-built cultural zone. Read more about the UNESCO City of Music Katowiceand its cultural zone hosting the WOMEX main venues.
The largest parts of the concert programme are official now, but the WOMEX 17 is still not complete! More region-focused conferences, the WOMEX Award winners, offWOMEX Showcases and the film programme are to follow in the upcoming weeks.
Opening WOMEX 17 in Katowice this year, a trio of renowned Polish folk groups will freshen up perceptions of what folk music can be in the 21st century. Vołosi, Kapela Maliszów and Lautari all reinvent regional music traditions in their very own way and are open to outside influences, making them the ideal starting point for the first ever WOMEX in Poland.
The specially-crafted opening concert will take place on Wednesday, 25 October, in the marvellous, recently-built NOSPR concert hall. The performing artists stand for a young generation which has been changing the understanding of traditional music in Poland. Young, but already breaking through and performing on international stages all around the globe.
All three groups will show their original interpretations of the Polish musical heritage individually as well as performing together with the Aukso chamber orchestra. Similar to the three groups, the Aukso chamber orchestra (named after a Greek word meaning to grow or increase) is known for its openness and – under the direction of their principal conductor Marek Moś – regularly performs programmes featuring contemporary composers such as Penderecki and Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood.
Vołosi are already known to WOMEX delegates from their showcase performance in Santiago de Compostela in 2014.
The WOMEX 17 Opening is supported by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Kato Connections Celebrates The Diversity of the Region
Katowice is nothing short of a musical hub, a catalyst for many an artistic exchange throughout the wider region of Silesia, Poland, and the entire cosmos of Central and Eastern Europe. Kato Connections is WOMEX's way of celebrating this. The Kato Connections stage will outline the musical diversity of the host city, which carries the title of UNESCO City of Music.
Nine artists will perform as part of this programme, representing Katowice’s many connections from regional to international:
Three artists representing Poland:
Hanba!
Maniucha & Ksawery
Trio Wozniak/Wachowiak/Kinaszewska
Three artists representing Poland's neighbours:
Banda (Slovakia)
Haz’art Trio (Tunisia/Switzerland/Germany)
Marta Topferova & Milokraj (Czech Republic)
Three artists representing ‘Cities of Music’ of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network:
Marcin Wyrostek Band (Poland) representing Katowice
Kato Connections is the (inter-)regional addition to the WOMEX 17 showcase programme which is further comprised of the Official Selection and the DJ Summit, as well as the offWOMEX stage and the WOMEX Artist Award (both coming soon).
The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, ImiT (Institution of Music and Dance), World Music from Slovakia, Czech Music Office, Arts and Theatre Institute and the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
Conference – Take-Home Know-How For Global Music Pros
Twelve sessions are now confirmed, already giving an idea on the trends of this year's WOMEX 17 Conference. The conference jury selection, made from hundreds of proposals worldwide, includes regional focus sessions, for example about China, India and Russia, as well as a session comparing the recorded music markets of France, Germany and Poland by Guillaume Leblanc, Florian Drücke and Marek Staszewski, all head figures of the three respective national phonographic industry institutions.
A second strand of the 2017 conference programme are hands-on sessions, providing very concrete knowledge to delegates. This starts with die-hard business topics such as how delegates can refine an artist brand, make a 'kick-ass' record (with Ivan Duran from Stonetree Records), overcome outdated musical categories (with Vanessa Reed of PRS Foundation) or sync license their music better. The programme also includes a series of dialogues on current issues: how to build movements in the US, how to improve artists mobility, support independent venues in the Arab world as well as on how to enable an entire community to access global music.
"With such a long history of practical, provocative, and engaging professional development sessions, WOMEX has always been at the nexus of art and ideas. As a believer that world music, in particular, has the ability to provoke authentic dialogues around social and political issues, and initiate shifts to the status quo, I’m honored to be selected to serve as a WOMEX Conference Samurai and have Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA) contribute to a growing global dialogue."
WOMEX 17 jury member Kaisha S. Johnson, WOCA Founding Director
About WOMEX
WOMEX is "The most important international professional market of world music of every kind. This international fair brings together professionals from the worlds of folk, roots, ethnic and traditional music and also includes concerts, conferences and documentary films. It contributes to networking as an effective means of promoting music and culture of all kinds across frontiers." UNESCO Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity
Acknowledged as the most international hub of all professional music meetings worldwide in general, and as the most important annual gathering of the global music community in particular, the 22nd edition of WOMEX brought over 2,400 delegates and more than 60 musical acts from 79 countries altogether to its 2016 host city, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia Spain.
More than 60 acts on 7 WOMEX Showcase Festival stages including the Opening Concert; 717 exhibiting companies at the Trade Fair; more than 80 speakers and mentors at the Conference; Film Screenings and the Award Ceremony made for 5 packed networking days and rather short nights.
Since its first edition in 1994, WOMEX has been roaming all across Europe from Berlin (1994), via Brussels (1995), Marseille (1997), Stockholm (1998), Berlin (1999 + 2000), Rotterdam (2001), Essen (2002 + 2004), Newcastle (2005), Sevilla (2003 + 2006-2008), Copenhagen (2009-2011), Thessaloniki (2012), Cardiff (2013) Santiago de Compostela (2014 + 2016) and Budapest (2015).
In 2017, WOMEX will take place in the UNESCO city of music Katowice, Silesia, Poland from 25 - 29 October.
WOMEX is produced by Piranha Arts, Berlin. Local host and partners for WOMEX 17 in Katowice are ICP Group (Poland Concept).
The Piranha event portfolio also includes Classical:NEXT, the global meeting for all art music innovators (next edition Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 17 - 20 May 2017);
plus worldwide consultancy & special projects such as:
- Atlantic Music Expo (Praia, Cabo Verde, 10-13 April 2017);
- Sound of the Xity (Beijing, China, 26-28 April 2017),
- Primera Linea (Havana, Cuba, 20 - 23 September 2017);
- Circulart (Medellín, Colombia, 9 - 12 November 2017);
