The 28th edition of WOMEX – the Worldwide Music Expo kicked off last night hitting all the right notes loud and clear in Lisbon, Portugal, with an official Opening ceremony: Lisbon Sounds, in one of Lisbon's most historic and beautiful 1920s concert hall Teatro Tivoli. With more than 1,000 guests in attendance, the concert hall was filled with rich sounds of this exciting city spread around in all directions, confirming the position of Portugal as an exemplar of the interaction of cultures, music and traditions.
WOMEX 22 Opening: Lisbon Sounds offered a showcase of music made in Portugal and its intersection with different artistic languages, reinventing and uniting the voices, styles, imagination and instruments from Portuguese popular culture. The Opening evening featured mesmerising live performances from four Portuguese artists: Beatriz Felicio, Club Makumba, Expresso Transatlântico and Júlio Resende.
The evening reception was supported by WHY Portugal, with Produtores Associados curation and AudioGest and Fundação GDA.
The Opening speeches were made by:
This year's local partner António Miguel Guimarães from AMG Music opened the speeches and thanked and acknowledged everyone involved in bringing WOMEX to Portugal for the second time. He shared:
"Initiatives like WOMEX, we are pleased and proud to represent and promote in Portugal: to establish links and to share and communicate experiences from around the world through music. We create dialogues; we create culture; we create hope. WOMEX Lisbon starts here and now!"
Followed by Diogo Moura, councillor for Culture, Lisbon City Council.
"Culture is always a space of dialogue, mutual knowledge and mutual recognition, and we have a chance to start this dialogue...culture is a shared responsibility and it gives the context for people to be together. The triangle between local authorities, national government and private entities is a virtuous one and it gives oxygen to creation and culture."
WOMEX 22 Lisbon: What's coming ahead...
The doors to WOMEX 22 opened at the Altice Arena yesterday to a stands-sold-out Trade Fair buzzing with delegates from all around the World.
As the most diverse and important global music networking platform, WOMEX 22 will welcome more delegates in the coming days, transforming Lisbon this week into the definitive centre of the global music scene.
During the daytime, the next four days, the delegates at WOMEX will be fully immersed in the music business, packed with inspiring talks, sessions, films, workshops, day showcases, with a busy trade fair uniting global music artists, companies and professionals. The Altice Arena will become a hub for all international gatherings - a meeting space for networking, for reflecting on and discussing music and culture, and for meeting future collaborators, and for exchanging, imagining and finding opportunities between artists and companies worldwide. By evening, WOMEX will take over the many marvellous venues in the city centre, and transform them into a playground for all music lovers to experience the best of live music worldwide in one of the World's most beautiful cities.
article posted by:Gideon Elfgen, Piranha Arts