For the past 8 years Loule has held a World Music Festival......in the streets of the Old Town.....overnight the whole area is transformed into another world.....the streets are decorated....empty buildings become temporary restaurants......gardens become open air bars with small stages for music........the streets are filled with sellers of jewelry.ceramics.clothes.leather goods.artifacts of all kinds ....the place feels more like Marroco....2 huge stages erected with bands such as Bajo Fondo Tango Club....Buena Vista Social Club......The Legendary Tigerman....Balkan Beat Box....Tinariwen......the list goes on......some big names but also some surprises......this one of the exciting features of this Festival...........excitement and surprise......the organisers....Loulé Camera.......seem to have the "knack" of unearthing wonderful talent like Kimmo Pohjonen amazing accordion player.....dressed like a samurai warrior.he plays the most haunting of music......then we had Zita Swoon from Belgium.....Wow!.......throughout this blog I will feature music of some of my favourite artists........another feature of the Festival is food.....as I said empty buildings are turned into restaurants that look as though they have been there all the time.......the food on offer ranges from traditional Portuguese to Philiposs's kebabs....to home baked cakes with about a million calories....to paella........
Six years ago I made my first visit to the Festival.......I was " gobsmacked" at what I saw....heard and ate...music everywhere....you have to look at the programme and plan which band which stage....and go for it.....weaving your way through the narrow streets that are thronging with people all doing the same thing....there is a real " buzz" of anticipation in the air.....the sites...the sounds and the smells........kebabs from yet another hidden garden.....you think you are in Fez......it was this experience which fired me up ....I wanted to take part somehow........so later in the year when the dust had settled I went to see Bruno Inacio at the Camera office with a proposal........which was to organise an exhibition of paintings that would be shown during the festival......but with a difference....they would be displayed in the Streets......after a short meeting the idea was almost fact....within days I had the go ahead and so the first show took place.....we are now on number 5....
Each year we have used a different theme for the show.......but with some connection to the world...people....music...culture to try and reflect the philosophy of the event....
This year the theme is " Street Life"..which was inspired by The Crusaders song of that name.....each artist was given a life size cut out figure....and given the freedom to interpret the theme in any way........here is this years exhibition....listen to the Crusaders at.....
aderita silva in london
el menau in lisbon
alexandre sequeira Lima in new york
doctor francisco jose in mexico
brigitte von humboldt in venice
carlos vila in amsterdam
gustavo de jesus in rio
john lamonby in jamaica
mariana madeira and tatania in chennai
milita dore in leh india
raul morgado in manchester
paulo quaresma in cairo
pedro bolito alias "bug" in rome
paula tojal in moscow
teresa paulino in cuba
peter de jong in tokyo
charlie holt in marrakech
joao espada in paris
Festival Med exhibition 2010
Combi- nacoes an Intervention
Welcome to the fourth Festival exhibition, this year we have a surprise, not paintings on canvas but doors. You may have seen a painted cow, or a dophin or a bear on your travels around the world?
This year each artist has been given one half of a double door and the name of a country. None of the artists knew what another artist was doing. Very exciting!
The name of each country has been interpreted in a personal way.
The title of the exhibition is “ Combi-nacoes…..when the two doors are put together in the street…..we will have Combined Nations.
We have created a world street in the Festival, bringing together people of different nations as does the music and musicians.
We hope that you enjoy the project as much as the artists have enjoyed the challenge.
aderita silva and joao espada
alexandre sequeira and mariana madeira
betty martins and carlos vila
claudia brito and milita dore
andre mesquita and gustavo de jesus
joel mester and jessica dunne
teresa paulino and joao viegas
paula tojal and vitanga
raul morgado and peter de jong
charlie holt and brigitte von humboldt
