French Support for New York City\’s Globalfest

New York City, USA – The Cultural Services of the French Embassy
to the U.S., the French Music Export Office, and the AFAA are sponsoring

globalFEST, a January 8 combination festival and showcase in New York City
of world music artists.

While French cafe exponent Paris Combo is the most obvious French import
featured at the event, Emmanuel Morlet, director of music at the Cultural
Services of the French Embassy, points out, “People in America are starting
to realize the diversity of music and cultures that are central to the overall
music scene in France.
Rokia
Traore, Lokua Kanza, and
Mory
Kanté and hundreds of other high quality world music artists have very
successful careers in France. “They are Francophone and they often live in France, tour France
regularly, are produced by French labels, and launch to other international
stages from France. France is not the cliché that many people have in their
mind, it is a country of diversity and cultural dialogue.”

The French agencies in New York use a very savvy model which leverages
government money to raise additional support from foundations, businesses, and
other private sources; both in America and in France. “The world needs to be
a lot more tolerant and open minded these days. It is clear,” says Morlet. “But
we would not help promote this diversity of artists if it wasn’t for the
exceptional quality of these musicians. Yes, we would be very happy to try to
export more French chanson, but without understanding the lyrics, that is harder
for American audiences to enjoy. And we work directly with presenters and other
industry professionals in America, and a lot of them want to present world music.”