Indian Ocean Music Market, New Major Networking Event for the Indian Ocean Region

A major new music market was announced this week. Scènes Australes will presents, in partnership with the Conseil Régional of Reunion Island, the first Indian Ocean Music Market. “Our ambition is to create a professional networking event to encourage exchange, encounters and opportunities for artists and professionals of the Indian Ocean region – and to expand their outreach to programmers and music industry professionals from Europe, the Americas, Australia and Asia,” said the press release. “A parallel interest will be in furthering the professionalization of local artists and industry as they benefit from meeting and networking with one another and from mentoring by international colleagues.”

The Indian Ocean Music Market will be held from the 7th to the 9th of June, 2011, in the days leading up the Sakifo Festival, Edition No 8 which runs from the 10th through 12th of June in La Reunion.

The Indian Ocean region offers a large market potential. In recent years new music markets have appeared in South Africa and Australia, complimenting those that already exist in Europe and North America. Reunion Island is privileged by its geographical location and plays a leading role as nautical meeting point in the vast ocean region.

The Music Market will represent all manner of regional local musical culture, both traditional and popular.

The launch of the event requires the spirited participation of professional guests from each music network, including Scènes Australes, given its experience and knowledge in the field, and the support of the world music network Zone Franche.

Co-Managing Directors are Mr. Gerald Seligman (ex-General Manager of WOMEX; President, Caravan Arts Consultancy) and Ms. Dominique Thiange (European consultant, Cultural Industries, ACP; Conseil Francophone de la Chanson). Additional coordination will be provided by Zone Franche (Christine Semba, Director and Camille Damoiseau, Coordinator) on the organization of the conferences, workshops and ”one to one” sessions

A series of workshops will be offered where professionals will meet on a broad variety of topics related to the music industry in the Indian Ocean. They will share ideas, contacts and concepts in order to improve the career development conditions for Indian Ocean artists and entrepreneurs.

The workshops will be divided into two general categories: Practical and Organizational. The Practical will feature sessions on touring, venues and festivals, management, labels, self help and press and promotion. The Organizational sessions will include networking and master classes, including the sharing of best practices, for local, regional and international interaction.

While the final program is still subject to change, here are some of the many artists scheduled to perform: Lo Gyro (Réunion), Hanitra (Madagascar), Blue King Brown (Australia), Kaf Malabar (Réunion), Mix N Blend (South Africa), Simangavole (Réunion), Ykson (New Caledonia), Davy Sicard (Réunion), Grace Barbe (Seychelles), Nathalie Natiembe (Réunion), BlackMenBluz (Mauritius), Firmin Viry (Réunion), Kartic and Gotam (India), Blackroots (Zanzibar), The Bombay Royale (Australia), Tsenga 2 (Comores), Ziskakan (Réunion) and more…

The final day of the Indian Ocean Music Market leads into the opening of the 8th Edition of the renowned Sakifo Festival where more artists from the Indian Ocean and all over the world will gather to perform at the festival site and select stages throughout Saint-Pierre, La Reunion.

For more information on The Indian Ocean Music Market, contact Vanessa
Pyndiah vanessa@iomma.net or
info@iomma.net

For more information on the Sakifo festival, visit www.sakifo.com/2011/