Musiques Métisses is an annual French music festival held in early summer. The festival was created in 1976 by Christian Mousset in
Angoulême
Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture.
Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. In 2015, the American author
Eddy L.Harris took over as president of the festival.
History
Musiques Métisses was originally named "Jazz en France"
and was first devoted to jazz, French, and European improvised music. The festival quickly began to integrate popular and urban music from
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
,
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
, the
Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
, and the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...
.
It was the first event in France to highlight artists from the country's colonial territories, whose audience was limited, until then, to the
DOM-TOM's audience.
In 1985, the festival was renamed "Musiques Métisses." The festival played a pioneering role by showcasing the richness and diversity of current music of the South and its importance in the "world sound." Many internationally renowned musicians made their French stage debut in Angoulême. Some well-known performers include
Salif Keita,
Johnny Clegg
Jonathan Paul Clegg, (7 June 195316 July 2019) was a South African musician, singer-songwriter, dancer, anthropologist and Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist.
He first performed as part of a duo - ''Johnny & Sipho'' - ...
,
Bonga,
Geoffrey Oryema, Khaled,
Cheb Mami
Mohamed Khelifati (; born 11 July 1966), better known by his stage name Cheb Mami (), is an Algerians, Algerian musician and singer-songwriter. He sings and speaks in Algerian Arabic and sometimes in Mashriqi Arabic, Eastern Arabic dialects or ...
,
Cesaria Evora,
Compay Segundo
Máximo Francisco Repilado Muñoz Telles (18 November 1907 – 13 July 2003), known professionally as "Compay Segundo", was a Cuban trova guitarist, singer and composer.
Biography
Compay (meaning ''compadre'') Segundo, so called because he was a ...
,
Celia Cruz,
Tito Puente
Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, and record producer. He composed dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz music. He was also k ...
,
Danyèl Waro,
Rokia Traore,
Kassav,
Doudou N'diaye Rose,
Ismael Lo, Fal Frett,
Elida Almeida and many more.
The purpose of the festival is to showcase and support diversity and cultural blending. The festival facilitates the circulation of artists, contributes to the enrichment of musical colours by promoting exchange, meeting, and creation, and supports and develops the careers of young, emerging performers.
In 1999, the festival expanded to include literary meetings called "Littératures Métisses" during the festival. The literary programming is led by Bernard Magnier,
director of the Africa collection at the publishing house
Actes Sud
Actes Sud is a French publishing house based in Arles. It was founded in 1978 by author Hubert Nyssen. By 2013, the company, then headed by Nyssen's daughter, Françoise Nyssen, had an annual turnover of 60 million euros and 60 staff members.
...
.
In 2015, Eddy L. Harris, a 10-year resident of
Charente
Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and also the r ...
, was named the new president of the festival.
He took over the presidency with the intention of saving the festival from a deficit through a 9-year turnaround plan.
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.musiques-metisses.com
World music festivals in Europe