Indian Ocean music scenes on agenda at IOMMA 2024

The Indian Ocean islands, and the continents around the ocean’s rim, Africa, India, and Australia, are the focus of IOMMA’s programme, and this year delegates from festivals in Mozambique, Tanzania, Zanzibar, India, Australia – and France of course – were in attendance. One of the major issues is how to grow the tiny island market not only of Reunion but also the even smaller markets of Mauritius, Madagascar, the Seychelles and the Comoros.

“We try to connect the people of the region to find solutions to help the artists and the music business,” IOMMA director Eric Juret Blanc-Blanc says. “We feel we have a political duty to the region. We don’t want to wait for handouts from politicians. We need to act, be the initiator in our industry and our lives.”

Music In Africa Foundation director Eddie Hatitye agrees: “They’re interested in shaping a vibrant music industry, not just in the Indian Ocean region but on the African continent, too.”

Conferences and one-on-one meetings were held at the Cité le Metier and were well-attended. A delegation of Australians was invited for the first time and presented an interesting glimpse into the workings of Melbourne Jazz Festival, Perth Music Festival and Woodford Folk Festival. Amanda Jackes from Woodford Folk was concerned that post-COVID, youthful audiences were breaking from routine and staying away from concerts and festivals. All agreed that ageing audiences is not sustainable, and that they had not reached pre-COVID attendance figures yet.

Showcasing talent is one way of introducing delegates to the music of the region. This year’s showcase line-up, selected by an international jury for the first time, was spread over two evenings at the excellent Le Kerveguen venue, and included Lovana (Madagascar), the outstanding Assa Matuse from Mozambique, and Wamoto Music, an interesting dance/DJ crew from Tanzania, among others.

An additional showcase selected by Sakifo was presented at the festival site where Stogie T (South Africa), Ayozaad (Mauritius) and Maya Kamaty (Reunion) gave impressive performances. No doubt several of these acts will be picked up by other festivals, where they might get booked by yet more festivals. This is how the business works, it seems. A drop that ripples, then ripples some more.

“Reunion is increasingly engaging with other Indian Ocean islands to build touring routes, and for us that’s very exciting,” says Andre Le Roux of Concerts SA, adding that he had positive interactions with the Reunion regional government, discussing the building of collaborative networks and partnerships. With live performances replacing recordings as the primary income for musicians, this is indeed good news.