Mario Lúcio, the WOMEX Lifetime Award winner musician from Cape Verde, was born in Tarrafal, in the island of Santiago, Cape Verde, in 1964. His musical talent got noticed when he was a child and by the time he was a 12-year-old, he was playing several instruments, writing poems and composing lyrics. At 14, Mario had become one of the greatest musicians of his generation and was part of a revolutionary band of young musicians called Abel Djassi, which introduced sophisticated arrangements in traditional music in northwestern Africa. Today, Mario Lúcio is a phenomenon in his country and beyond. As a singer, songwriter, arranger and producer, he is a point of reference because of the high quality of his compositions, arrangements and philosophy. He is also a lifetime researcher of traditional music, an activity that continuously supplies him a fresh air of modernity, originality and poetry. He is one of the greatest modern musician-composers of Africa and is loved and revered in countries like Brazil, France and Italy as well. A multi-instrumentalist, Mario is the founderleader of the band Simentera, and has performed concerts in Brazil, France, Italy, England, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, Slovenia, Greece, Spain, Senegal, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, United States and China.

Liona & Serena Strings offers a special interpretation of the Sephardic music and its own melodies to the Piyutim (spiritual and philosophical Hebrew texts), that have their origin in the Spanish land and are based on scales used in the ancient land once called Sefarad. It is a team of six musicians from different music disciplines (Classic, Jazz, Flamenco, North African, Middle Eastern) which connects and creates new, vibrant sounds without losing the sensitivity of treating fragile, antique music and texts with utmost care. The band moves from chamber music through Spanish tunes to eastern sounds, and all the way to Arabic rhythms but always remains faithful to the Jewish Sephardic feel. The band’s new album, Sefarad, is selling in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the United States through Galileo Music distributer. The Sephardic music, sung in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), has been passed down the generations orally, gathering along the way the inuences, rhythms, dialects and musical characteristics of the countries to which the Jews ed from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1496. Even later, after settling in Greece, Morocco, Algeria, Turkey and places beyond, the Sephardic songs have remained full of passion, joy, celebration, sorrow, love and life. The album has a traditional Jewish song and a Moro-Cristiano poem.

Babra breathes a fresh, new life into the musical heritage of South Slavs. The band was formed in 2014 in Budapest, at the eastern intersection of Western and Eastern Europe, a perennial melting pot of traditional and innovative urban cultures. The ve-member team is rooted in the music of South Slavs settled along the banks of the Danube and inspired by Balkan culture and a family air for the music of Southern Slavs. The team creates new music with unique sounds and styles while conserving the authenticity and spirit of South Slavic music. The band’s personality is determined by the unity of the tamburas and the harmony of the clarinet and the accordion. The mission is simple: to embody their rich musical heritage with youthful energy and add value to its unique interpretations. It has performed at Bela Bartok National Concert Hall in MÜPA Palace of Arts and played at Hungarian Showcase Day, which was part of WOMEX 2015 in Budapest.

Mawlawiyah was established in 1994 by singer Amer Eltony to safeguard Egypt’s Mevlevi heritage. The idea was to create an artistic, spiritual ambience inspired by Egyptian heritage and the provision of an audio-visual alternative to spiritual meditative monologues. The reason for the whirling ecstasy is the transformation of non-existence into existence. The audio-visual spectacle created by the Mawlawiyah has enchanted audiences across the world, including in India, Greece, Cyprus, France, Spain, Cuba and USA. Mawlawiyah performed at Sur Jahan (then Su Sutra) in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

Monsieur Doumani of Nicosia in Cyprus was formed in 2011 by Antonis Antoniou (tzouras), Angelos Ionas (guitar) and Demetris Yiasemides (trombone, flute). Influenced by Cypriot’s traditions at various levels, the band composes Cypriot songs inspired by contemporary society and its shaky condition. The team’s identity is determined by an adaptation of traditional Cypriot pieces but it has a style that is distinctly it’s own. Monsieur Doumani’s performances across Europe are loved and appreciated by diverse audiences and their music is presented by radio stations around the globe, including BBC, NPR, Radio France, Sveriges Radio, and PBS FM Melbourne. Monsieur Doumani has three albums. The first one, Grippy Grappa, released in May 2013, won the nomination for Best Newcomer in Songlines Music Awards 2014. The second album, Sikoses, released in March 2015, won nominations in Songlines Music Awards 2016 in two categories. Their third album, Angathin (meaning ‘thorn’), released in 2018, evoked great interest at the international level and received the prestigious German Records Critics Award in the World Music category and was given the Top of the World album title by Songlines.

Baul is a philosophy and Baul is a music. The philosophy gets passed from the ‘Guru’ to his disciples. Baul music is the soul of Bengal and is essentially the music of self-searching. It is about 500 years old. Lalan Fakir, who used to live at Kushtia in Bangladesh, may be called the father of Baul music. Living the life of an esoteric, denouncing the material world, Bauls urge people to rise above the narrow divides created by caste, creed and religion to nd love, peace and harmony. “Do not look for God anywhere, look for Him in the human body. Only then will you get Him, feel Him and be able to know your own self too.” Bhajan Das Bairagya, Gupi Khyapa & Chandan Sil of Bardhaman, Mallika Akar & Nemai Khyapa of Murshidabad and Sadhu Das Baul & Kangal Khyapa of Joydev Kenduli will be in Vocals, supported by Khokan Das & Ajoy Das in Dhol/ Khol/ Tabla, Mohan Tati in Flute and Mamata Bharui in Percussion.

Folks of Bengal is an initiative of banglanatak dot com MusiCal for promoting the folk traditions of Bengal through creating opportunities for traditional folk artists/musicians. The band led by Debalina Bhowmick will present different genres of folk music and take the audience on a journey through the traditional music stream of Bengal, celebrating the diversity and richness of Bengal’s folk culture. The other members on stage are Dipannita Acharya, Deepmoy Das, Pranes Som, Amanat Fakir in Vocals, supported by Arpan Thakur Chakraborty in Dotara, Tarun Chowdhury in Flute, Sajib Sarkar & Sandip Ganguly in Dhol/ Khol/ Tabla and Tanmoy Pan in Percussion.