Moving . . .

Watch this space. Or rather, watch this URL (http://erichludwig.com). Very shortly you’ll be on my Drupal site.

The Costs (and Economic Benefits) of Throwing Parties/Concerts/Festivals

I just read a fascinating quick take on finances of a festival written by Patrick Jarenwattananon over on great NPR blog ‘A Blog Supreme’ (full text of the article below the fold). This is especially interesting to me as we evaluate the financial aspects of throwing our JUMP! parties. We’re currently losing money on each party, but are self-financing the party. Obviously, sponsorship would be a great way to bring in some money and break even (even just 30% of our costs as in the article).

For the economic benefit piece – we’re employing around 8-10 people at the venue for one night, as well as a band, our DJ/VJ/percussion crew, and giving some serious business to a local restaurant. So our parties drive money to somewhere between 10-25 people. Pretty nice for a one-night show. But the losses add up, so even though the losses mean some tax write-offs, they certainly aren’t sustainable.

Anyway, I’m fascinated by the numbers on these things and finding balance. I’m of course trying to figure out how to maximize profit (to keep the parties going), maximize artist payments (something I hold near & dear to my heart), and minimize my own financial risk (or loss), keep prices as low as possible (to keep parties accessible to the most number of people), and maximize the cultural experience and the fun factor.

The full article:

Published: December 22, 2010

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Ever wondered how much money actually gets thrown around at a major jazz festival? The French festival Jazz in Marciac recently divulged some financial data from its 2010 edition, and Frédéric Noiret of the newspaper La Dépêche du Midi recently reported on it. If my Google Translate + cognate recognition are correct, here are some highlights:

Jazz in Marciac generated over 7 million Euros’ worth of economic benefit for the Marciac region.

The festival’s overall budget is 3,455,000 Euro. Public financing makes up 421,000 Euro, while private sponsorship provides 354,000 Euro. Thus, the festival is 72.1 percent self-financed, accounting for additional revenue.

225,000 people came for the festival (up 2.3 percent), and 66,500 tickets (up 8.46 percent) for paid shows were sold.

The festival depended on its 800 volunteers. They would have cost 950,000 Euro to employ at minimum wage alone. However, the festival did host 400 of those volunteers on site for a total of 6,000 person-nights.

17,500 meals were served in all, including musicians, technical crew, staff and volunteers. The volunteers accounted for 11,190 meals alone.

Currently, one Euro is worth around 1.31 U.S. dollars, which is about the exchange rate at the time of the festival this past summer.

I’ve never studied the accounting sheets in depth for other festivals, but one element looks to me to be rather extraordinary. For a festival of such magnitude to generate 72.1% of its revenue by itself — largely in ticket sales, one imagines, though “l’autofinancement” isn’t exactly defined — is a serious achievement. Even Jazz in Marciac says that 2010 was a banner year (an “année record”) for them.

But it isn’t shocking that these sorts of things bring in so much money for their communities. The arts seem to require a lot of money, especially when you bring in Wynton Marsalis, Diana Krall, Chick Corea, Jamie Cullum, Chucho Valdes, Ahmad Jamal and Esperanza Spalding, plus tons of other artists. (That was just in 2010.) But the arts can also be even more massive economic engines; in this case, the economic benefit to the area far outstrips taxpayer cost. Plus, how do you put a value on human creativity? [La Dépêche du Midi: Festival Jazz in Marciac tient la forme (French) / Jazz in Marciac festival takes shape (automated English translation)]

P.S. A nice English-language article profiles the Marciac festival, a gigantic production which takes over a tiny rural town for two weeks every year. [Copyright 2010 National Public Radio]

Grow JUMP! Together

Hello world . . .

This has been a huge day for me. First, and most important – my dear little sister gave birth to a beautiful baby boy (William Milton). You can bet there will be pictures soon. Check my flickr page for updates soon….

On this auspicious day, the stars also aligned to let us launch our Kickstarter campaign to build JUMP!

Let me break this down a little bit – JUMP! is the monthly party that I started in the spring of this year with Adam Gibbons. Adam is a DJ, producer, artist, visionary – and I am blessed to say – now is a dear friend. He and I had this crazy idea that we could combine his successful Uhuru Afrika monthly parties (which feature deep soulful afro-centric house music) with my passion for live music and together we could create some amazing dance parties. Well, over the past year, we’ve taken this idea from dream to reality – throwing 5 amazing parties at a fantastic space in Harvard Square called Oberon. This is where Kickstarter comes in.

Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative ideas and ambitious endeavors. Basically it allows creators to reach out to fans, friends, family, and the whole wide world and gather a tremendous source of money and encouragement to further creative goals.

We are seeking to raise $3,000 through our current campaign (which ends December 17, 2010). You can read a little more about why we need to finance this party on our Kickstarter page. Additionally, I’ll tell you that we’ve been building this party off personal investments from Adam and myself. We need to expand our efforts a bit – do more and better promotion and press outreach, provide higher guarantees to bands (for a couple reasons I’ll dive into below), ensure we can cover other expenses for bands (hotels, backline (drums, amps, etc), food), and then start to do the other things we’re dreaming of to fully transform Oberon into our vision of a modern urban african club.

We think that with $3,000 we can do all these things, and get the party to a sustainable level pretty quickly. We’ve been pulling in between 150-200 people to each party thus far, and think that once we’re up in the 200-300 range coming through the door on a nightly basis, we’ll be in a really good and sustainable place.

If you can assist in any way in this effort, I will be humbly grateful. You can assist by spreading the word and pointing folks to our Kickstarter campaign (links below). You can assist by coming out to our next party (Thursday, December 16th featuring Kaleta & Zozo Afrobeat). You can assist by contributing to the campaign, in any amount. Really. $1 is appreciated. $100 is appreciated. And $1,000 is appreciated.

Whatever you feel like contributing to our efforts to build the party. Besides some pretty awesome rewards, we promise to continue throwing the best dance parties you’ve ever been to in Boston (or anywhere else!).

If you have questions about this campaign, please let me know, and I’ll be happy to address them.

Now, enough reading – please help us spread the word and fund this party!

Links below.

With humility, love, respect, and thankfulness.

-erich

LINKS:

• Kickstarter Campaign: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1039658929/grow-jump-together
• Short link for campaign: http://goo.gl/TLOun
• Video on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/16911916
• Video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDA75b7wHx4
• Uhuru Afrika & JUMP! website: http://uhuruafrika.com/
• Uhuru Afrika & JUMP! on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/uhuruafrika or http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42001721402

Boston MoGlo Music Calendar

I’m trying to find ways of better exposing this  calendar of musical happenings in and around Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville that I think are interesting. I like the term “Modern Global” to describe the music I’m interested in – thanks to Darek Mazzone @ KEXP for pushing this term. To me – it describes a music aware of a wider global context, contemporary, and if I have a choice – fun and danceable. So, not all the great music happening around me makes this list, but I think the stuff on here is good – you’ll have a great time if you go to any of these shows – I guarantee. Note that I *do* include stuff I create/promote (Uhuru Afrika + JUMP! for example) on this list – so it is not un-biased.

Click this link to display the calendar.

If you want to share this with folks, please do. Use this short link for ease… http://goo.gl/wGBm

Erich Ludwig on Greater Somerville

Last Thursday, I went on Greater Somerville with the neighborhood activist and local media personality Joe Lynch and co-host KyAnn Anderson. It was a fun time, but you can judge for yourself below. Some links below the video (which should appear below, but if not you can go here to watch :: http://greatersomerville.wordpress.com/). Also, go to the Greater Somerville page and leave a comment.

Also – one correction – this year is the 50 year anniversary of Mali’s Independence (not 40 as I said on the air – oops, bad math!)!!

LINKS: (Basically, my references for everything I said during the 28 minutes….)

• http://wadabo.com/ – West African Dance in Boston – daily classes in west African dance in Cambridge and beyond
• Moshito – South African Music Industry yearly conference – http://www.moshito.co.za/page.php?p_id=1
• http://mp3.mondomix.com/ – Mondomix Music & Calabash Music – mp3 downloads of global independent music
• http://www.mondomix.com/ – Mondomix Worldwide Music and Culture Magazine
• http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/ – driven by Calabash Music database and catalog
• Nat Geo Music – record label – http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/label/en_US
• Photos of my trip to South Africa – http://www.flickr.com/photos/erichludwig/collections/72157624364594620/
• list of countries in Africa – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_in_Africa
• Uhuru Afrika – http://uhuruafrika.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42001721402
• Music Voyager – http://www.musicvoyager.com/ – Jacob Edgar’s global music show
• Cumbancha – http://www.cumbancha.com/ – Jacob Edgar’s record label
• SoundTracks - http://www.pbs.org/soundtracks/ – PBS global music and news program featuring local reporter Marco Werman

Local artists mentioned in piece:

• Balla Kouyate – http://ballakouyate.com/
• Boubacar Diabate – http://www.sambalolo.net/
• Deraldo Ferreira – http://www.capoeira-angola.com/

Local folks who have built the path on the ground on which I walk with my musical work:

• Maure Aronson and WorldMusic – http://www.worldmusic.org/
• Dana Westover and Johnny D’s – http://www.johnnyds.com/
• Julia Goldrosen and WMBR – http://wmbr.mit.edu/

Uhuru Afrika’s JUMP! – my newest venture takes place at Oberon (http://www.cluboberon.com/) in Harvard Square, and has featured the following acts so far:

• Lamine Toure & Groupe Saloum – http://www.laminetoure.com/groupsaloum.php
• Debo Band – http://deboband.com/
• Zili Misik – http://www.zilimisik.com/
• Ten Tumbao – http://www.tentumbao.com/
• Coraje – http://ernestoabreu.com/

Stay tuned for future JUMP! parties, and much more. Thank YOU for all of your support.

Greater Somerville

Thanks to all those who watched me, Joe, and KyAnn on Greater Somerville last night. I’ll be putting up a proper post soon with links and references to the people, places, websites, etc that I mentioned on air.

Thanks again!

Original Music

“Original Music” – a much better title than “World Music” for the wide variety of music from around the world imho at first blush.

I come to this term through the news that a pioneering scholar has passed - John Storm Roberts.

The NYTimes had a nice obituary/write-up (full text below) with this awesome quote:

“I don’t care how esoteric it is, but it’s got to be terrific,” he said. “Not this ‘you-can’t-hear-it-and-it’s-terribly-performed-but-it’s-really-very-interesting-because-it’s-the-only-winkle-gathering-song-to-come-out-of-southeastern-Sussex’ attitude.”

Awesome. I concur – bring out the terrific music now please! And if it’s original, so much the better.

John Storm Roberts, World-Music Scholar, Dies at 73
By MARGALIT FOX
Published: December 10, 2009

John Storm Roberts, an English-born writer, record producer and independent scholar whose work explored the rich, varied and often surprising ways in which the popular music of Africa and Latin America informed that of the United States, died on Nov. 29 in Kingston, N.Y. He was 73 and lived in Kingston.

The cause was complications of a blood clot, his wife, Anne Needham, said.

Long before the term was bandied about, Mr. Roberts was listening to, seeking out and reporting on what is now called world music. He wrote several seminal books on the subject for a general readership, most notably “Black Music of Two Worlds” (Praeger, 1972) and “The Latin Tinge: The Impact of Latin American Music on the United States” (Oxford University, 1979).

“Black Music of Two Worlds” examines the cross-pollination — in both directions — between Africa and the Americas, from the influence of African music on jazz, blues, salsa and samba to the popularity in Nigeria and Zaire of American artists like James Brown and Jimi Hendrix.

In writing the book, Mr. Roberts sought to connect a diffuse web of existing studies by ethnomusicologists. The studies typically appraised local musical traditions while ignoring the reach of Africa as a whole.

“It was like a landscape with a large number of artesian wells, and nothing linking them,” he told The New York Times in 1992. “And I conceived of ‘Black Music of Two Worlds’ being more like canals joining.”

“The Latin Tinge,” Mr. Roberts trained his ear on the influence of musical forms like tango, rumba, mambo and salsa on a wide range of American pop styles, among them ragtime, Tin Pan Alley, rhythm and blues, jazz, country and rock.

Reviewing the book in The New York Times Book Review, Robert Palmer called it a “painstaking, pioneering” work, adding: “ ‘The Latin Tinge’ is an important addition to the literature of American music.”

John Anthony Storm Roberts was born in London on Feb. 24, 1936. His father, an accountant who often traveled abroad on business, brought him records that were then scarcely available in England: jazz and blues from the United States, Brazilian music by way of Portugal and much else. By the time he was in his early teens, John was irretrievably mesmerized by the sounds that leapt from his turntable.

A polyglot who came to speak more than half a dozen languages, including Swahili, Mr. Roberts received a bachelor’s degree in modern languages from Oxford University. In the mid-1960s he spent several years in Kenya as a reporter and editor on The East African Standard, a regional newspaper. Returning to London, he was a radio producer with the BBC World Service.

Mr. Roberts moved to the United States in 1970, becoming an editor on the periodical Africa Report. He was later a freelance journalist, contributing articles on world music to The Village Voice and other publications.

In the early 1980s, Mr. Roberts and Ms. Needham started Original Music, a mail-order company that distributed world-music books and records. In those pre-Internet days, Americans outside big cities found these almost as hard to come by as young Mr. Roberts had in postwar England.

In business for nearly two decades, Original Music also released many well-received albums of its own. Among them are “The Sound of Kinshasa,” featuring Zairian guitar music; “Africa Dances,” an anthology of music from more than a dozen countries; and “Songs the Swahili Sing,” devoted to the music of Kenya, an aural kaleidoscope of African, Arab and Indian sounds.

Mr. Roberts’s first marriage, to Jane Lloyd, ended in divorce. Besides Ms. Needham, whom he married in 1981, he is survived by two children from his first marriage, Stephen and Alice Roberts; three stepchildren, Melissa, Elizabeth and Stephen Keiper; two grandchildren; and three step-grandchildren.

His other books include “Latin Jazz: The First of the Fusions, 1880s to Today” (Schirmer, 1999) and “A Land Full of People: Life in Kenya Today” (Praeger, 1968).

In choosing what to release on the Original Music label, Mr. Roberts did not disdain modern, popular numbers: by his lights, a song simply had to be good. This distinguished him from musicological purists who, in ceaseless quest for the authentic, recorded only material seemingly untouched by modernity.

In an interview with The Los Angeles Times in 1987, Mr. Roberts illuminated his selection process.

“I don’t care how esoteric it is, but it’s got to be terrific,” he said. “Not this ‘you-can’t-hear-it-and-it’s-terribly-performed-but-it’s-really-very-interesting-because-it’s-the-only-winkle-gathering-song-to-come-out-of-southeastern-Sussex’ attitude.”

Lady Gaga – Brilliant

Which road leads to Lady Gaga?

 

Road A) Wierd Al Yankovic, Ali G/Borat/Bruno

Road B) Boy George, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna

Road C) All of the Above

Road D) None, She’s Totally Original!

I’m tempted to say mostly Choice A via Choice B, but of course, since it’s Lady Gaga, it’s with a twist. And of course, this is heavily based on my own biases and ideas. For Lady Gaga , despite all her amazingly amazing outfits, is really a blank canvas onto which we project our own ideas.

So those who want to see a brand new amazing pop star are seeing just that. Those who want to see an intelligent, sophisticated, and sneaky critique of pop music and pop stars are seeing just that. Those who want to see a musician being a fashionista are seeing just that.

And this is the true genius of Lady Gaga.

But her videos and outfits are also truly genius. If you haven’t seen any of them please watch them. After seeing them, you’ll really wonder “WTF did I just watch?” and then you’ll go back and watch them again. And again. Just as Justin Timberlake brought sexy back, Lady Gaga is bringing the Music Video back.

Exhibit A – Bad Romance

Exhibit B: Her MTV VMA 2009 Fashion Choices (Slideshow)

Exhibit C: Lady Gaga performing Paparazzi @ said MTV awards ceremony

And just in case I wasn’t clear earlier – I think she is totally taking the piss out of all of us – ala “old-school” Sasha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G/Borat/Bruno). It’s pretty amazing to watch her work over a whole scene. Kind of like watching those old Ali G episodes from “before he was discovered”. Just wonderful comedy, genius timing, and certainly a sense that it is possible to lose oneself in the world of the character. For just as Lady Gaga won’t appear “out of character” anymore, and the lines begin to blur (is she Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, or Lady Gaga?), it becomes both more difficult to take her seriously and also to doubt her.

I just hope she’s able to keep it going for a while – certainly she has injected a certain energy into pop which is positive, disruptive, and sorely needed.

You can listen to her music for free (just register, it’s easy) by going to Lala. And for more videos, check these out. . . (cause I know you’re not satisfied yet)

Ramata Diakite – Remembrances

The news has been spreading around the globe, and several news articles have come out over the past few days. Compiled here courtesy of my news feed:
Ousmane Sanou, le mari de Ramata Diakité : «Elle est décédée des …
Bamako Hebdo (maliweb.net) – Bamako,Mali
C’est en avril dernier que Ramata Diakité s’est remariée avec ce Burkinabé, inspecteur des impôts de formation. Qui après une vie politique agitée a été …
<http://www.maliweb.net/category.php?NID=52722&intr=>

Ramata Diakité décédée , le vendredi 30 novembre, à Ouagadougou …
Bamako Hebdo (maliweb.net) – Bamako,Mali
Originaire du Wassoulou, née en 1972, Ramata Diakité communément appelée Ra est décédée le vendredi 30 octobre au Burkina Faso, plus précisément à …
<http://www.maliweb.net/category.php?NID=52721&intr=>

Ramata Diakité, une diva au paradis
Mondomix – Paris,France
Originaire, comme Oumou Sangaré et Nahawa Doumbia, de la région malienne du Wassoulou, Ramata Diakité a succombé à une longue maladie le lundi 30 octobre au …
<http://mondomix.com/musiques-du-monde/fr/1234517.htm>

ECHOSTAR / Ramata Diakité : Un talent pur disparaît à la fleur de …
Journal Le Républicain (maliweb.net) – Bamako,Mali
C’est en ces termes que Ramata Diakité, disparue de la scène musicale malienne depuis sa sombre prestation à la rentrée culturelle de 2006 à Mopti, …
<http://www.maliweb.net/category.php?NID=52643&intr=>

Disparition de Ramata Diakité : EN PLEINE GLOIRE
L’Essor – Bamako,Mali
Ramata Diakité s’en est allée dans la nuit du vendredi 30 octobre. C’était à Ouagadougou, où elle venait de rejoindre son époux Ousmane Sanou, …
<http://www.essor.gov.ml/jour/cgi-bin/view_article.pl?id=23902>

Le monde des artistes en deuil : Ramata Diakité décédée le week …
Journal L’Indépendant (maliweb.net) – Mali
La chanteuse malienne, Ramata Diakité n’est plus ! Elle est décédée dans la nuit du vendredi 30 au samedi 31 octobre à Ouagadougou à l’âge de 35 ans à la …
<http://www.maliweb.net/category.php?NID=52501&intr=>

=== Blogs ===

Malian Star Ramata Diakite Dies at 35
radio magico article – Malian Star Ramata Diakite Dies at 35.
<http://www.radiomagico.com/radio-magico-news/13-radio-magico-world-music/313-malian-star-ramata-diakite-dies-at-35.html>
Radio Magico
<http://www.radiomagico.com/component/content/frontpage.html>

Malian Star Ramata Diakite Dies at 35 – World Music Central
Ramata Diakite, regarded as one of the most talented singers from the Wassulu region of Mali, died October 30 in Burkina Faso. She was 35. “During the past year, she had been battling a chronic illness, and although she appeared to be …
<http://worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/Malian_Star_Ramata_Diakite_Dies_at_35>
World Music Central
<http://worldmusiccentral.org/

>

 

CIAAFRIQUE: R I P Ramata Diakité
By Ciaa
She just got married about 5 weeks ago , my heart goes out to her whole family and for the country for that matter because she was a great artist . You can listen to some of her songs on tube . Ramata Diakite REST IN EPEACE
. …
<http://ciaafrique.blogspot.com/2009/11/r-i-p-ramata-diakite.html>
CIAAFRIQUE
<http://ciaafrique.blogspot.com/>

Ramata Diakite Has Passed to the Ancestors

I received the crushing news on Saturday morning that Ramata Diakite had passed on Friday night (October 30, 2009) at the age of 35. I’ll be updating this post as I get further information – my thoughts are kind of scattered, and I’m trying to sort out the best way to get news out and give proper remembrance for this wonderful human.

I first met Ramata in the apartment of good friend Mamadou Sidibe (n’goni player) in Brooklyn. Of course I knew who she was from living in Mali, and hearing her music on the radio. At that point, I was working with Madou and some other Malian artists to book shows, distribute music, and other management activity. But no one quite on the level of an artist like Ramata. Despite knowing this, she asked me a few weeks after meeting me to manage her. I declined, worrying I couldn’t do her career justice.

We kept in touch over the years directly and through Madou. I arranged for her to be part of the “1 Giant Leap” follow-up film “What About Me”. She has a beautiful contribution which has appeared on the “What About Me” TV series in the UK.

One of the creators of 1GL just sent me this, his journal entry from when he met Ramata:

4/12/04 … “Eric[h] gave me Ramata’s Cd and I listened to it in the lift up to my room. It sounded great, very powerful. When she arrived I played her track 29 and she just burst into it straight away and it sounded great. I burnt her a CD and said we’d be at her place in the morning. Off she popped and we did indeed turn up the following day. She lived south of the Niger in a really weird but quite affluent area. Its basically a building site with half of the houses finished and lived in. Her house was lovely, a small courtyard where we recorded the vocal and once again the splendid 70′s styling that is still huge in Mali. The tea here has set me loose from my energy holes and now the coffee is really doing the business. It’ll have to stop you know! Ramata rocked and I had a great vibe with her husband who was totally knocked out when I gave him a set of radio headphones to wear. I noticed between takes that he had his turned to 10 (the way I do) which is VERY loud. We did a second take on the roof which was great with a view across loads of other houses. By the end of the take all the roofs had people watching and about 20 people had gathered outside in the street below and they all burst into applause, it was great….”

The track that came from that recording session is here:

For more about this project, go here and click on “Mali” in the left bar. You’ll see some photos of Ramata from that shoot.

After a while, and a switch in her US label, she again asked me to manage her, and this time I agreed, and became her co-manager with Organic Music as the other management partner.

Over the past couple of years, we worked with her on conceptualizing and recording a more traditional album, which is yet to be released. We had hoped to have her in the US for a tour in 2010. . .

During the past year, she had been battling a chronic illness, and although she appeared to be getting better, she passed in Burkina Faso on Friday, October 30th. She had recently traveled to Burkina. Her body was brought back to Mali and buried there under the direction of the Malian Prime Minister.

Dear friend Markus James has posted a moving remembrance of Ramata over at Afropop Worldwide.

Ramata’s website

Ramata’s MySpace

Ramata on Last.fm

Some of her accomplishments:

* 2006 Tamani d’Or – Best Female Artist of the Year (Meilleure artiste féminine de l’année) – Malian equivalent to the Grammy

* Tamani d’or – Best Video (2005)

* BUMDA Best Artist in Mali (2008) le Bureau Malien des droits d’auteur (Malian Copyright Office)

* Sales of over 100,000 units of album «I Danse»

Some news coverage of her passing:

*Maliweb (in french)

*Maliweb (rough english google translation)