Leaping ahead
Finally. The Cyprus Music Information Centre has taken a step forward towards supporting Cypriot musicians.
In association with the Rialto Theatre in Limassol, the Centre is also taking the established festival trend a step further.
The Cyprus Jazz & World Music Showcase festival is scheduled to take place at the end of September. Here, a selection of nine bands and 40 musicians will present authentic and original compositions in a single programme which will be recorded in the aim to create a modern archive which will eventually become an additional promotional tool for Cypriot creators abroad.
And not only. Invited guests will include festival organisers, foreign journalists and others as the project tempts ‘authoritative figures’ to invite Cypriot composers to important international events while establishing a fruitful process for the exchange of experiences and practices of artists on an international level.
The same practice was initiated by the Platform of Contemporary Dance which had a prominent impact on contemporary Cypriot productions; local dancers and contemporary dance events are now on the international map.
The initiatives of the Cyprus Music Information Centre don’t stop here either. A couple of months ago they published a book/ catalogue listing musicians, spaces that can host music events as well as all the local festivals. The information in this publication can only grow, and is doing so on the centre’s website.
It was upon meeting the mastermind behind the centre that we agreed that aside from creating a platform in which local musicians and creators could be ‘presented’ to the international market, musicians also had to come together in order to make a further impact.
Perhaps aligning them in a showcase such as this one will do just this. No musician will be competing, and everyone will be revealing a part of themselves. And as for us, we will get a taste of what’s being created locally, without being enthralled solely by the more, let’s say, commercialised acts, but by truly authentic pieces.
