Re-thinking ‘World Music’

Singer Mariana Sadovka Photo by Kluczenko

Last Friday I was in Cologne to hear a panel discussion on the topic of world music sponsored by the regional public radio station WDR 3. The speakers, key players in Cologne’s performing arts and cultural policy scene, traded comments about the changes taking place in the field of contemporary music and the need to provide training and exposure to young musicians that would build their global music sensitivity and fluency. At the forefront of the discussion was a proposed Center for World Music envisioned for Cologne. The initiative is being spearheaded by Alba Kultur, a Cologne-based nonprofit devoted to promoting global music productions whose founder spoke passionately about the project. Though some questions were raised about the feasibility of such a center, there was a general consensus among the panelists that the project was a worthy one.


The panel was made up of senior-level professionals presenting expert opinions framed within the context of their respective institutions (UNESCO National Commission, contemporary music and dance schools, nonprofit organization, radio station). Though interesting, the discussion lacked the voice of a professional musician, particularly one that plays the non-western music in question. This shortcoming was somewhat remedied by a lively Q&A session during which several musicians spoke up about their personal experiences. One musician insisted that cross-cultural and international music was happening on its own, without the help of formal institutions and cited his experience getting involved in klezmer music. Another musician, from Argentina but having lived and worked in Germany for much of his career, made a similar point, stressing the need for spaces to perform and reach audiences over the need for research, theories and institutions dedicated to world music.

Exploring art’s radius

“The participation in an act of creativity enables people to think and feel outside of their realities.” These words from Basma El Husseiny, an arts manager and cultural activist in Egypt, set the tone for the Radius of Art conference hosted by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin in February.

Participants at the Radius of Art conference in Berlin

Attended by over 250 artists, policy makers, researchers, educators and funders from around the world, the conference sought to open an international dialogue on the effects of art and culture on social transformation. Panel discussions, workshops, and artist presentations addressed four themes—Art for Social Transformation, Public Art, Art toward Cultures of Sustainability, and Cultural Policy Strategies and Funding Structures.

I was fortunate to be able to attend with my colleagues from the German Commission for UNESCO and to present on a panel on artists at risk with my former colleague from freeDimensional, Todd Lester.

Several key questions emerged over the course of the two-day conference: What power relationships precondition the funding and support of socially-engaged art, particularly when dealing with North to South development and cooperation policy? How can we talk about arts in the public and political sphere in a language that is understandable by all its agents and stakeholders? In a time of urgent ecological and social problems, what role does creativity play? How can policies and funding structures be supportive without risking limiting art’s existence to a prescribed set of functions? At times, the questions in the air and the diversity of both perspectives and positions of the attendees, resulted in (for me) disorienting cacophony.