This autumn, the Consortium of World Music Presenters will introduce the debut of Global Music Month 2020. The event is a month-long, online festival of world music featuring concerts, presentations and panels. Running from August 29th through October 1st. Global Music Month 2020 will combine over 15 different U.S. and Canadian festivals and presenters’ events under one banner for a celebration of world music from across the globe.
Confirmed artists will include Agoci Band (Haiti), Ak Dan Gang Chil (Korea), Alsarah and the Nubatones (USA), Asmâa Hamzaoui & Bnat Timbouktou (Morocco), Balla Kouyate & Yacouba Sissoko (Mali/USA), Banda de los Muertos (USA), Chicago Immigrant Orchestra (USA), Huun Huur-Tu & Carmen Rizzo (Tuva), LADAMA (Brazil/Colombia/USA/Venezuela), Lakou Mizik (Haiti), Nation Beat (Brazil/USA), Paris Combo (France), Rahim Alhaj (Iraq), Ragamala: A Tribute to Ravi Shankar (India), Spam Allstars (USA), Väsen with Mike Marshall and Darol Anger (Sweden/USA), Vivalda Dula (Angola), with more artists to be announced. Some festivals will broadcast live and others will unearth archival festival performances. Each event will be distinctive — with no duplicate performers.
Founded in 2004, the Consortium of World Music Presenters is a collective of over 15 not-for-profit and for-profit world music presenters and festivals based in the United States and Canada, including World Music Festival Chicago; The Lotus Festival in Bloomington, Indiana; ¡Globalquerque! in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and the NY Gypsy Festival.
The Consortium meets annually to share resources for booking traditional and contemporary music groups from around the world for the September and October concert season. The Consortium has been behind the live debut of dozens of international acts to North America, including Nigeria’s Seun Kuti, Mali’s Vieux Farka Toure, and Colombia’s Bomba Estereo.
Global Music Month 2020 marks the first time that The Consortium of World Music Presenters will come together to co-present a series. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, the Consortium will pool its resources and pivot to an online, digital concert experience.
Each presenter and festival will still serve their loyal, local music loving patrons, but will now also share a wider audience of global music fans. Each festival and presenter will stream and broadcast events on their own websites, social media channels and networks. The full calendar of Global Music Month 2020 events will be listed and linked from globalmusicmonth.org, a shared website that will also list all festivals and presenter’s information with links to each participating organization.
Global Music Month 2020 Participating Members:
Afro Roots Festival, Miami, FL, USA
Arts Midwest World Fest, Midwest, USA
Ashkenaz Festival, Toronto, Canada
BU Global Music Festival/Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
Flushing Town Hall, Queens, NY, USA
Global Roots Festival/Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA
¡Globalquerque!, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, Bloomington, IN, USA
Madison World Music Festival/University of Madison, WI, USA
NY Gypsy Festival/ Drom, New York, NY, USA
Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL, USA
Pop Montreal, Montreal, Canada
Small World Festival, Toronto, Canada
West Lafayette Global Fest Purdue University/West Lafayette, IN, USA
World Music Festival Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
World Music Institute, New York, NY, USA