The tenth edition of Babel Med Music Forum – Forum des Musiques du Monde was held in the French city of Marseilles from March 20 to 22, 2014. It’s considered the second largest European Congress for world music, after WOMEX.
As a reminder, we need to recall that during the previous edition in 2013 the forum took place in the context of Marseilles as European Cultural Capital, a fact that led to very high levels in all its activities, while this year the figures have returned to similar numbers as in previous years, without suffering significant variants. The organizers gave us the following figures: 12,000 concert goers in the three nights of concerts. As far as registrations, 2,000 professionals registered and there were 160 stands (booths) in the trade fair.
The venue that hosted the Forum was, as in previous editions, the Dock-du-Suds. This industrial building converted to new uses is located near the new harbor, within an area of modern buildings and new hotels, where every time we attend we can see the great urban changes that are occurring in this Marseilles neighborhood.
This year, the concerts were hosted only in three stages. The largest of these, the “Salle des sucres” presented larger format groups. In the same building, the “Cabaret” space showcased the more acoustic and intimate concerts and well as the ethno-electronic performances. Meanwhile the third stage called “Chapiteau” , was located in a huge tent outside the building.
In the area of conferences, round tables and presentations we counted 20, some of them quite busy and followed with interest, due to the great concern about today’s music industry.
Of a total of 34 concerts scheduled, I’ll mentioned the ones that impressed me the most:
On Thursday March 20, the highlight for many of us journalists and programmers, probably the best showcase during this edition was undoubtedly Fargana Qasimova Ensemble, a quartet led by singer Fargana Qasimova, daughter of legendary musician Alim Qasimov, a leading cultural figure of Azerbaijan. The performance that lasted forty-five minutes straight without interruption was magical and hypnotic, highlighting above all Fargana’s performance.
Also noteworthy were the concerts performed by Sissy Zhou, and Mor Karbasi. Young Chinese instrumentalist Sissy Zhou, specializing in Chinese zither, showed us her elegant virtuosity with this ancient Asian oriental instrument, treating us to beautiful musical landscapes. The Israeli singer resident in Seville, Mor Karbasi, who came preceded by good press, is nicknamed “The modern Ladino diva” and did not disappoint. During her performance she offered a wide variety of songs from her extensive repertoire, wearing a transparent and clear voice.
Other concerts were held that night, but without any weight, by Lebanese musician Rabih Abou-Khalil, an Arabic lute master. Cape Verde singer Neuza, Tuareg/Algerian Imzad, and Finnish harmonica quartet Svang, among others.
The artistic activity on Friday, March 21 was arguably the weakest of the program. We highlight the performance of Malian group Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba. Other artists that we saw but who did not present anything new, was Italian songwriter Gianmaria Testa, the Dutch group Amsterdam Klezmer Band, Portuguese singer Lula Pena, Kurdish ensemble Nishtiman, and were disappointed by the commercial ethno-pop of Rita, an Iranian singer living in Israel. Of the three electro-ethno proposals, Arash Khalatbari from Reunion Island; Peruvian trio Dengue, Dengue, Dengue; and Breton artist Klismen, none of them offered anything creative, here we will rely on the phrase “much ado about nothing.”
The picture changed during Saturday and the bar was raised for great concerts. Particularly the following artists: the acoustic act Duo Sabil and French string quartet Quator Béla, who showed us with sensitivity and quality, the poetic musical harmony that can exist between East and West. The spectacular staging of Kenyan female vocal quartet Gargar. We vibrated and danced with the good show by Ve Zou Via, played dynamically by two polyphonic groups, the Provencal / Occitan ensemble Lo Cor de la Plana and female quartet Assurd, from Naples. We liked Marseilles’ singer born in the Comoros Islands, Ahamada Smis, accompanied by two great instrumentalists, who performed his repertoire of protest and social songs.
At a somewhat lower level, Maya Kamaty from Reunion Island, her artistic proposal between French music and pop, was marred by an excessive electric accompaniment; and South American expats living in Barcelona Che Sudaka, with their mestizo / Latin rock entertained the party animal crowd.
The five awards were handed out during Babel Med this year were: Babel Med Award and Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region to Gianmaria Testa and Rabih Abou- Khalil.
“Adami” World Music Award to Krismenn. Mondomix Magazine Award to Krismenn. France World Music Award to Gargar, and the Orange Foundation Award to Mor Karbasi.
In short, we can give a remarkably high score to Babel Med’s programming this year. It is of the very few world music congresses, I would say almost unique, where you can discover new artists, or where you have the opportunity to see live those whom you only know from their recordings.
On the whole, we can say that the festival management trio, Chastanier-Sami-Aubert, know how to operate a compact event, with a development that allows them to open new perspectives, and stand firm in each edition of Babel Med Music.
Author: Albert Reguant
Albert Reguant is a Catalan journalist, born in Barcelona. He is a member of the workshops of folk music and world music of the European Broadcasting Union (UER/EBU) as well as well as a member of the “World Music Charts Europe”. He has a radio show called Les Rutes del So at Ona Sants Montjuïc de Barcelona.
Website: http://www.wmce.de
