Festival Músicas do Mundo

Festival Músicas do Mundo
Genre	World music
Dates	July
Frequency	annual
Location(s)	Sines, Portugal
Years active	23 years
Inaugurated	1999 (1999)
Founders	Carlos Seixas, Manuel Coelho
Organised by	Sines Municipal Council
Website	fmmsines.pt

Festival Músicas do Mundo (FMM, English: World Music Festival), also known as FMM Sines is a yearly music festival in Portugal that takes place every July in Sines, in the Alentejo region of Portugal, since 1999. It is organised by the city council,^[1] and is regarded as the biggest "world music" event organized in Portugal, dedicated mainly to folk and traditional music, while also encompassing many other genres.

Philosophy[]

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FMM was created in 1999 with the intent of giving a new and fresh use to the town's castle. The monument was the birthplace of Vasco da Gama, and the festival, showing the diversity of musical expressions in the world, follows and remembers the intercultural revolution brought about by the navigator's travels. Today, the festival goes beyond its original physical boundaries and way beyond any kind of historical justification. The philosophy is to bring people together through the emotion of discovering new music from other cultures.

Genres[]

The festival is focused on the circuit of world music, which implies a necessarily eclectic programming, with genres including jazz, folk, blues, tango, reggae, classical music, fusion, fado, morna, klezmer, avant-garde, afrobeat, Tuvan throat singing, electronic dance music, and rock music.

Stages[]

The festival takes place in Sines’ historical centre (the Castle, Sines' Arts Centre and the beach) and the village of Porto Covo, 13km south of Sines. All the venues are outdoors, except for the Arts Centre. The Castle holds a maximum of 6,500 people, Porto Covo 8,000 and the Beach Stage 15,000.

History[]

Since 1999, the total audience of FMM amounts to 240,000 people. Artists featured throughout the years include Shemekia Copeland, Omar Sosa, Taraf de Haïdouks, Black Uhuru feat. Sly & Robbie, Hedningarna, Cui Jian, Céu, Tinariwen, Sa Dingding, Kronos Quartet, The Skatalites, , Lee "Scratch" Perry, Tom Zé, Femi Kuti, Hermeto Pascoal, Marc Ribot, KTU, Master Musicians of Jajouka, Konono Nº1, Staff Benda Bilili, Señor Coconut, Trilok Gurtu, Toumani Diabaté, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Mahmoud Ahmed, Salif Keita, Gogol Bordello, Seun Kuti, Nortec Collective and Alamaailman Vasarat.^[2]

Reception and reviews[]

FMM has received abundant praise from the press and the artists alike. In 2000, Jacques Dénis, from French daily Libération, wrote: "In Sines, it's mainly world music in the move". In 2001, L’Humanité's Patrick Koan said: "An impeccable programme for the quality of its concerts and its balance". In 2005, FMM was considered "one of the best festivals in Europe" on Finnish accordion player Kimmo Pohjonen's website. The Bad Plus American jazz trio wrote in their blog: "The festival seems to be one of the most serious parties around" (2006). The same year Iraqi singer Farida said that FMM was "one of the five best festivals" she had ever taken part. In 2007, Malian singer Oumou Sangaré called it "the festival of joy".

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sines.

• Official website