In the 20th century the coming together of musicians from different geographical areas and therefore with different musical backgrounds and sensibilities became an increasingly common feature at concerts and also in compositional practice. From the exotic and primitive forms of the early 20th-century we have now reached a situation  of full-blown musical “bilingualism” and deep crossovers involving the study of theory
and practice and the widespread circulation of music and musicians.
Promoted jointly by the Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies and the Teatro Fondamenta Nuove, this round table is aimed at stimulating thinking specifically on African music.

Arguably the continent that has most influenced 20th-century popular music (thanks mainly to the so-called music of the “African Diaspora”), Africa continues to be a great workshop of ideas and repertories which often, however, remain outside the globalised media  (including the web and its powerful commercial services, such as the ITune store).
One of the guests at the Venetian meeting is Brian Shimkovitz, in art “Awesome Tapes From Africa”. On his trips to various African countries he has collected a huge number of music cassettes produced and sold locally. Through a web site, run with the approval of the musicians, and his DJ sessions, Awesome Tapes from Africa is promoting music from Africathat otherwise would never be heard outside the continent (www.awesometapes.com).
Sven Kacirek has a different approach. One of the most innovative contemporary German composers, he can be seen in a tradition of sophisticated crossovers between European and “exotic” music. This is a new form of exoticism consisting of direct encounters with village music, field recordings, and in this case also direct relations with the musicians (http://svenkacirek.de/).

Following on from the round table, Awesome Tapes from Africa and Sven Kacirek will be in concert at 9 pm on 15 March at the Teatro Fondamenta Nuove.