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Musiques Métisses
Christian Mousset's festival turns thirty
Paris
01/06/2005 -
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I don't like to look back too much. But nonetheless, it has been thirty years of amazing encounters, musical discoveries and a real exchange with the public. For me, it's been thirty years of good times. At the end of the day, I feel I've achieved something, I've tried to get people to listen to and discover types of music that don't get much of a hearing in France or Europe. I think I've had a few successes, even though things haven't always worked out as I want. I'm happy enough with the past thirty years. Not so much for me and my work, but for the people who have been supported or discovered by this festival.
Let's talk statistics. How big are the audiences? Who comes to the festival?
We started off like all festivals. We had a thousand people over three days. It was basically a festival set up by a few friends, and we'd all put in a bit of money. Obviously, things have developed since then. Now we get between 50,000 and 60,000 people over four or five days. And then there are the side events and there is everything that happens around the festival as well. This is a fairly big festival with a lot of people coming back each year, both in urban and rural areas, since we do a lot of residencies in the region with musicians from all over the place, we get young people together with musicians, we do workshops. I think the festival is pretty well integrated into the Charente region. Not just in Angoulême, but all over the Charente. We have Charente people who participate, but we also have people coming from elsewhere. And we have professionals who come to hear and sign up new acts; we have lots of Parisians for example. But it is first and foremost a festival with a large regional audience.
Each year is a real challenge budget-wise. Organising the financing the festival can sometimes be a real headache. Can you say something about how you went about it this year?
Essentially, we've had the same budget for the past few years. It takes in the festival and also the regional events and certain other initiatives throughout the year. It's not just about the five days of the festival. The budget is around a million euros in difficult years, and can rise to 1.2 or 1.3 million euros in good years. That's including two or three hundred musicians, three stages, travel expenses and accommodation, etc.
Are you at all self-financing?
We generate 30 percent of the budget. The rest comes from subsidies, sponsoring, material support, etc. We get 30 percent of the budget from ticket sales, a little more some years. This year, I hope to reach 40 percent.
Throughout its history, the festival has been a launching pad for the careers of a number of artists. Cesaria Evora started off her international career there, so did Johnny Clegg. But today, world music has reached saturation point. What can the festival still offer?
First, there are still more artists to discover. But above all, I think what we have to do now is not only discover new artists but sustain them as well. That means that when you really believe in an artist and think he or she has potential, you should support their career. Take someone like Rokia Traoré. She's performed four or five times at the festival, I've tried as hard as I can to boost her profile, introducing her to producers, tour organisers etc. It's about developing new things. It's not enough to discover new talents, you have to sustain their development. Artists who, sometimes, have a musical background that is less pop and less commercial than others. I'm still always on the lookout for new talents as well, in order to broaden horizons. There is still a lot to be done, even if the world music concept is now a little debased and even if you find some substandard music there, as you do in all genres. There are still artists and creators out there, we shouldn't forget it. That's what's important. And rather than saying; "I'm the first person to do such-and-such", it seems more interesting to me to support an artist, and develop their career rather than say I discovered an artist, and then leave them to it.
In fact, you were ahead of the curve with world music. Thinking about the arrival of world music in France before it became the rage as it is now, that was really something. Then came the ideas about melting-pot music and about diversity, which strengthened your initial intuitions. But for this 30th anniversary, we get the impression we're seeing the same faces, known crowd-pleasers in any case and not many young talents. How do you explain that?
I agree. This is our thirtieth, and I wanted to indulge myself. At the same time, your observations aren't totally right. We have Nathalie Natiembe, who is a young singer from Réunion, who is hardly well-known. And there's Charles Kely, a young guitarist from Madagascar. The problem is we can't make a new discovery every year, especially when it's our thirtieth anniversary. Let's say certain backers and also some of our festival-goers in Angoulême applied some friendly pressure, and I have to take account of our public as well. They wanted something in the spirit of an anniversary, something festive. And the public likes to hear from artists they've already seen at previous festivals. So this year, I didn't really balance things as I usually do, that's to say have as many "discoveries" as there are festival "regulars".
Soeuf Elbadawi
Translation : Hugo Wilcken
22/05/2007 -
22/05/2002 -
