My WOMEX Diary
My WOMEX Diary
By Sean Mcloughlin, ECDP Global Village Lead
October 2024
Alongside ECDP’s Creative Director Indi Sandhu, I attended the highly anticipated 30th edition of WOMEX, the prestigious Worldwide Music Expo, which this year was hosted by the UK in Manchester. Held at the iconic Bridgewater Hall, we enjoyed promoting our Global Village brand, developing ideas with potential hosts and partners, and sourcing talent at the many showcases, conferences, networking and cultural exchange opportunities.
We had a busy four days starting on the opening night (Wednesday 23 Oct) watching showcases at the beautiful Bridgewater Hall venue by artists representing the UK World music scene and meeting other delegates from around the World. After the opening showcase we went to Band on the Wall to Going South (South Asian music showcase) where we saw Bobby Friction and band hosted by music managers and promoters Continental Drifts, we meet with all the artists and manager Chris Tofu after the performance and discussed how we can all work together on Global Village events in the future.
On day 2 (Thursday 24 Oct) we spent the morning trawling around the various exhibition stands at the Manchester Central venue meeting companies from around the world, finding out which artists are on tour next year and what other festivals from different countries are producing and promoting. In the afternoon we attended the Catalysing Global Music Initiatives conference, hosted by Brighter Sounds, Arts Council England (ACE), British Council and British Underground. In the evening we saw showcase performances by Aysanabee from Canada (Manchester Central), Orchestra Baobab (Manchester Central, Exchange) from Benin/Togo/Senegal and finally Strange Boy (Albert Hall) from Ireland.
Day 3 (Friday 25 Oct) we attended the launch of the Arts Council’s Routes publication which was a networking event for arts council representatives across the UK, we had the opportunity to meet members of the senior management team along with other National Portfolio Organisations and organisations funded by ACE. In the afternoon we had another session looking around the exhibition stands at Manchester Central and networking with delegates. In the evening we had a meeting with influential music manager DJ Sheikh who runs his own music label ‘Kiss Records’ and also programmes Melas up and down the country.
Day 4 (Saturday 26 Oct) we attended Afrobeats around the World conference hosted by Carpe Diem Solutions, Diageo & Chocolate City Music followed by Revitalising the South Asian Independent Music Eco System conference hosted by Akashik & PRS for Music (UK/India). In the afternoon we attended the launch of ‘Routes’ at the exhibition space which was hosted by ‘Horizons’, which is the collective name for all of the UKs agencies representing World music at WOMEX. In the evening we attended showcases at the new Aviva Studios Warehouse venue (home of Factory International) where we saw Queralt Lahoz (Spain), Clare sands (Ireland) and Justin Adams & Mauro Durante (UK/Italy). We finished our WOMEX trip at the historical venue Albert Hall with showcase of N’famady Kouyatá (Guinea/UK).
Our WOMEX experience was inspiring, and we hope that all the conversations, shared ideas, new contacts and fantastic talent will feed their way into our ongoing development of Global Village, and into next year’s exciting programme of events.
Pictured above (from left to right): BBC Asian Network Presenter Bobby Friction, Promoter Chris Tofu, Bhangra Superstar BEE2, ECDP Creative Director Indi Sandhu, Global Village Lead Sean Mcloughlin
About Womex
WOMEX – Worldwide Music Expo – is the most international and culturally diverse music meeting in the world and the biggest conference of the global music scene, featuring a trade fair, talks, films and showcase concerts.
Over 2,600 professionals (including 260 performing artists) come together every October from 90 countries, making WOMEX the leading networking platform for the world music industry. Its musical spectrum is unparalleled in the international showcase performance market, ranging from the most traditional to the new global local underground, embracing folk, roots, jazz, local and diaspora cultures as much as urban and electronic sounds from all over the globe.
WOMEX hosts 7 stages, around 700 exhibiting companies, 100+ speakers, films, an opening concert and an award ceremony across five packed networking days and rather short nights.
WOMEX and its community aim to support and strengthen the role of culture around the globe and to spread its values through nurturing and promoting creativity and music. As a result, the local and global music community is able to – and needs to – contribute to cross-cultural understanding in a welcoming, tolerant, diverse and productive manner.
The event remains devoted to facilitating and promoting the global music industry and providing a platform to connect, inspire and share experiences, enabling new partnerships across transcontinental markets and an open economic and international cultural dialogue.