[FA Worldmusic] SXSW musings

[ian at menziesmixedmedia.com]

Hey Marco and Mel,
Good to see you guys on the weekend. Having worked the NAWMC booth, sat on
the panel, gone to the showcase and also done a whole wack of other things
at SXSW this year (my first year). I was actually quite encouraged about
the level of interest in and profile for "our" music there.

I believe the time is ripe for making some meaningful inroads into the
SXSW scene for certain kinds of world music acts and I think efforts
should be maintained and enhanced to keep the forward motion going into
next year's event. I had a couple of great conversations with Austin
locals (some of them in tight with the head creative directors of the
event) and there is some real energy, looking to help with any ideas
Marco/the coalition/etc might have to build up the profile for next years
event.

There is a piece by Pareles in the NY Times today about the event and
Marco, you will be glad to know Tita Lima gets a mention. He also makes
specific mention of the growing international presence at the
conference....

"South by Southwest has become an increasingly international festival,
with more than 20 percent of the performers from abroad. One was Lonely
China Day, a band from Beijing that brought a profoundly meditative tone
to songs with lyrics from ancient Chinese poetry, inexorable guitar
buildups that could appeal to fans of Sigur Ros, and twitches of
electronic rhythm from a laptop."

I have more to say on this, but will have to post again later.....duty calls.

Ian