Berlin, Germany - The WOMEX Jury, known as the 7 Samurai, has been revelead this week. They represent a mixture of people and regions and musical tastes. The Jury will be deciding all the showcase artists, the conferences and speakers – and selecting who will be the winner of the prestigious WOMEX Award.

To be fair and allow for maximum diversity from year to year, the jury have full independence from WOMEX. The decisions they make are entirely their own.

Berlin, Germany - This year WOMEX moves back to FIBES in Sevilla, Spain. "There just aren’t many venues big enough to host us, so we’ve decided to stop vagabonding around Europe the way we used to, trying out first this venue, then that one... It’s far better to improve upon the ones that have worked best than to start fresh in each new location," said a WOMEX spokesman." When it came to Womex 06, we thought back fondly to our biggest event so far and opted to return to our 2003 home, Sevilla, Andalusia, Spain. But with a few key enhancements.

Hong Kong is set to play host to the biggest names in the entertainment business as they gather at the inaugural Music Matters Conference to plot the roadmap for the music industry’s future.

Supported and managed by EMI, SONY BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music and Warner Music, together with the industry governing body the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI), Music Matters – the first-ever Asia Pacific Music Forum (APMF) –will take place at the luxury Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong on May 10-11, 2006.

Newcastle, UK - With the ceremonial granting of the WOMEX Award 2005 to Zanzibar's legendary Bi Kidude, the world's biggest expo for World Music and global sounds came to an end at The Sage Gateshead in Newcastle (UK) on Sunday, October 30. The singer, well in her nineties yet still sporting a bonecrushing handshake, received the honors in recognition of her more than 80 years of singing and serving as a cultural mediator and advisor of the younger generations, including on matters of sex and marriage, which make her a proper symbol of World Music's liberating and strengthening powers in general.

Essen, Germany - With the ceremonial granting of the WOMEX Award 2004 to Marc Hollander and Crammed Discs for 25 years of visionary grass roots work on the blooming plant of world music, the world's biggest expo for world music and global sounds has come to an end at Zeche Zollverein / Essen, on Sunday, October 31st, 2004.

Abidjan, Ivory Coast - From March 3 through March 10 Abidjan (Ivory Coast) will host the 5th Edition of MASA, the Market for African Performing. The trade show will feature numerous showcases of African artists, including music, dance and theater. Most artists and delegates come from French-speaking West Africa, France and Belgium but there will also be artists from South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana.