Last Monterey World Music Festival

10/08/2004 08:13PM

One year ago, Stellamara and Axiom of Choice closed the 7th Monterey World Music Festival with a program entitled “The Mystic Dance.” Both bands had appeared at previous Festivals – in 1998 and 1997 respectively. In the interim, they had magnified and polished their considerable artistries. They made a fitting encore and, unknown to artists and audience, an apt farewell to a Festival doomed to be the last. Not long afterwards the Festival was terminated. Soon, I departed from a job I had held for fourteen years.

As paranoia around the California budget crisis combined with post 9/11 xenophobia, the message and meaning of the Monterey World Music Festival, was suppressed. Nevertheless, during the seven annual festivals, nearly 100 artists and groups performed for diverse audiences whose souls were perhaps more attuned to global expressions.

From the beginning, the Festival’s message was unabashedly universal: cultural awareness and understanding through the experience of music. With exceptional artistry defining the Festival’s offerings, performers and audiences achieved near ecstatic states.

The 2001 Festival fell on the weekend after 9/11. Although many bands cancelled, there were heroic appearances by Madagascar’s Tarika and the Mongolian singer Urna, both made arduous journeys to reach Monterey. Celebrated last minute stand-ins Hamza El Din, G.S. Sachdev, Irina Mikhailova and Kitka gave heartfelt performances in the chill. As the patriotic air filled with American flags, the World Music Festival stage, veiled in prayer flags, seemed like an altar in another world.

After 9/11, the Festival’s imperative became a search for “Global Consonances” and “Hope for the World,” themes of the last two Festivals. Four Festival websites (2000-2003) can be viewed and are archived at http://www.montereyartists.com/worldmusic.

Presently, I am living in Austin, Texas, my wife’s hometown. A poet and writer as well as a presenter and arts administrator, I am working on a book about festivals, among other projects. Moreover, I am seeking new opportunities, especially involving world music, anywhere.

David Cloutier
Founder and Director, Monterey World Music Festival (1997-2003)

[Photos: 1 - Axiom of Choice, 2 - Tarika].

World Music Central
http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/2004100810303932