 | Daniela Teuber, Director of Production
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| Daniela Teuber made her first steps in the music industry working for GermanSounds –The German Music Export office in 2004. After finishing her degree in Business and Arts Management in the Swabian city of Künzelsau, Daniela moved to Brisbane, Australia to join the team of AIR – The Association of Independent Record Labels. Despite falling in love with Australia, she returned to Germany in late 2006 and took on a marketing position at Rolf Budde Musikverlage. Before starting as Director of Production at WOMEX in early 2009, she had also worked for Four Artists Booking Agentur looking after German band Tokio Hotel. At WOMEX she is now responsible for overall production as well as the trade fair, registration, finance and special projects. |
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 | Kay Verdon, Director of Conferences & Special Projects
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| Brussels born to British/Danish parents Kay grew up ping ponging between these 3 countries. After short stints in film and urban regeneration projects she joined the European Music Office where she developed EU funded cooperation projects with its members (music export/information offices) to facilitate the mobility of European artists. Spurred by her passion for African dance and travels within the continent, Kay has also followed closely EU development policies and advised structures on funding opportunities within the ACP region. |
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 | Anna Pötzsch, Director of Media & Communications
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| Born and raised on the edge of the Taunus forest, Anna went off to Bamako (Mali) after her A-levels for an au-pair placement. She studied communications in Siegen, Berlin and Nantes (France) and spent one year jobbing in London (UK), where she lost her heart to the Jamaican offbeat. In 2002 she dived into the Piranha pool: She was in charge of WOMEX Showcases in 2003 and 2004, took care of PR & Marketing at Piranha Events in 2005 and 2006 and eventually returned to WOMEX to manage the Media & Communications department. In 2007 she gave birth to big Rachid. |
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 | Alexander Walter, Director of Music Programming
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| Born in Ulm he moved to Stuttgart and in 2001 to Berlin. He studied social sciences at Berlin's Humboldt University with a one-year stopover at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and finished his thesis about migration in connection with the German labour market. Back in school days he was involved in organising concerts and now and then works as a private drum teacher. |
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 | Claudia Budke, Head of Registration
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| Claudia Budke was born and raised in Lower Saxony. After receiving her high school diploma she started studying English, literature- and media-studies in Osnabrück. Her interest in the history and literature of the Emerald Isle brought her to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she stayed for a year. In 2000, soon after returning to Germany, she moved to Berlin and resumed her studies at the Free University. Next to her studies she worked as a volunteer for the British and Irish film festival britspotting for three years and also started working for Deutsche Welle-TV, where she works in the English editorial department to this day. 2008 will be her first year with the WOMEX family. |
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 | Bryony Middleton, Media & Communications Assistant
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| Bryony, from West Midlands in England, joined the WOMEX team in 2009. Her enthusiasm for world music was awakened while travelling in West Africa and fueled by working at UK music festivals as a student for many years. Since graduating with an MA in German and History of Art (University of Edinburgh) she worked in television research before hopping over to Berlin and happily landing in the WOMEX office. |
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 | Lara Schürmann, Media & Communications Assistant
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| Lara Schürmann was born in Osnabrück, Germany. In 2007 she started to study International Media and Entertainment Management in the Netherlands and moved to Berlin for an internship supporting the WOMEX team for the next five months. She worked at the European Media Art Festival and the Independent Filmfestival in Osnabrück. |
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 | Linda Kirmse, Showcase Assistant
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| Linda, originally from Berlin, studies Regional Sciences of Latin America in Cologne. While spending six month as an Erasmus student in Sevilla, Spain, she volunteered for WOMEX 08. Since August she has been back in Berlin to do an internship with the showcase team for WOMEX 09. |
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 | Birgitte Lund Rants, Production Assistant
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| Birgitte Lund Rants is from Denmark and studies Business, Language, Culture at Copenhagen Business School. For several years she worked for the Danish event halls Forum Copenhagen and Bella Center, last mentioned is where WOMEX 2009-2011 will take place. After spending half a year in Berlin in her gap year 2008, she recently returned to do an internship for the Director of Production. |
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 | Lucas Ranke, Conference Assistant
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| Originally from Wuppertal in Germany, Lucas studies 'International Media and Entertainment Management' in the Netherlands and has just recently joined Womex in Berlin to do an internship and help the team with the organisation of this year's congress. Lucas is an avid listener of culturally diverse music and especially pleased to promote it throughout the world. |
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| WOMEX Supervisory Board |
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 | Christoph Borkowsky, President
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| A.k.a. "Akbar", action anthropologist and AS Roma fan, is the president of the Piranha group of companies based in Berlin-Kreuzberg, one of the leading international producers of global-centric music, including Piranha Events, Piranha Musik and Piranha WOMEX. From 1988 - 2001 he directed Berlin's big summer festival 'HeimatKlänge' ("Home sounds from home planet earth"), from 1999 - 2006 'WOMEX - the world music expo', and since 2000 'Piranha Musik', with more than 100 album relases so far. In the 90ies he started the Bands United, Clubs United and Fete de la Musique events in Berlin, from 2004 - 2007 he headed the jury of the local 'Karneval der Kulturen', and in 2006 he co-chaired 'Libero', a cultural network for the world championship in the German capital. In 2008 he received the "German world music oscar" Ehren- RUTH. He also serves as a board member of the first German music export office, the 'Berlin Music Commission' - a local music industry cluster of labels, clubs, music publishers and event producers, the 'Gesellschaft für Traditionelle Musik Berlin' and the 'Musikwissenschaftliche Seminar' at Berlin's Humboldt-University. |
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 | Brigitte Bieg, Head of Supervising Board |
| Brigitte Bieg was born near Stuttgart in the south of Germany. In 1974 she moved to then-West Berlin and soon got involved in the bubbling night club circuit of the walled city. Even co-founding and serving as Managing Director of Piranha Kultur, the parent company of WOMEX, in 1987, did not stop her from staying co-owner of the Slumberland beach bar. This was the first to popularize putting sand on the floor and world music in the sound system. Since 2005 she divides her time between Barbados and Berlin, and is currently the head of the WOMEX supervising board. |
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 | Ben Mandelson, Founding Director
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Born in Liverpool and living in London / UK, Ben Mandelson is a leading freelance record producer working in all areas of world music. He is the co-founder and A&R manager / house producer for GlobeStyle Records label in London, where he produced artists in many parts of Europe and other continents - 99 so far. Besides Globestyle, he has produced for Music & Words (NL), Piranha (D), Polygram (SF), Sony (JP), Xenophile (USA), Rogue (UK), World Music Network (UK), Sony/BMG (CZ), and Rice Records (JP). Ben was a founding member of the world music cult band 3 Mustaphas 3 and founding director of WOMEX 1994-1997. He is now a member of Billy Bragg's orchestra, The Blokes.
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