As JDub Records celebrates its fifth anniversary (including a free concert July 20 at Prospect Park's bandshell, Brooklyn, NY), we check the pulse of Jewish music in America with JDub founder Aaron Bisman.

1. What are the newest aspects of Jewish music to emerge in the last five years?

The embrace of modern American music as a valid component of Jewish expression has led to Klezmer punk, Eastern European infused hip hop, Sepharic indie rock, and Hasidic reggae. Jewish music is nothing if not the appropriation of diasporic host cultures mixed with the traditions Jews carried from their previous homelands. This progression was stifled over the last 40 years in America, but beginning in 2002, we began to see a new emergence of uniquely Jewish sounds in these genres that had never before gained much prominence.

2. What was the need that made you start JDub?

I was studying music business at NYU. A friend, Ben Hesse, was working on a musical project that brought Hasidic and original Jewish melodies into electronica and heavily sampled music environments. The project inspired us to look around to see what else like this might be out there and who was working with it. While we immediately found a few other artists (Socalled, for instance), we found no organization or structure. We hypothesized that young Jews, our friends, and peers, might be interested in Jewish music in popular genres if it was really good music and if it was performed in mainstream music venues. So we decided to create an organization that could help artists do that.

3. Why do you think Klezmer is getting less and less overage in the mainstream media?

The Klezmer revival began in the late 1970s with the Klezmorim and then in the late 80s with the Klezmatics. Even though it wasn’t until 2007 that the Klezmatics were recognized with a World Music Grammy, Klezmer has been working its way into American folk culture for over 20 years. American Judaism has leaned heavily towards explorations of Eastern European Jewish culture, but today we’re seeing an explosion of Israeli and Sephardic Jewish culture here as well. Jews, after all, are a tiny percentage of America’s population. We can’t expect one particularly Jewish genre to continue to secure media coverage if there is not innovation of market impact. An artist has to make their case for their uniqueness today, their place in larger music trends, etc. I think Klezmer or Klezmer fusion bands can definitely do this but if the media feels the story has been told too many times already, it makes it a harder sell.

4. What’s the next big thing that will happen in Jewish music?

Israeli and Sephardic music. More interaction with other world musics and mainstream American musicians.

5. Why is JDub a nonprofit? How common is this model for a label? What are the advantages and disadvantages of running as a nonprofit?

We started JDub because we wanted to develop proud, authentic Jewish culture. But culture can not be nurtured if profit is the final motive. We also wanted to find ways to build community around this culture. While it is vital that our artists be able to earn their living as musicians, as the label and producers behind their artistic endeavors, if we were looking first to our bottom line, we’d be looking for easy money in kitsch and novelty. We had no interest in this. An additional problem with a for profit model was looking at the size of the immediate market – young Jews in America – it’s an incredibly small niche, and not one that we believed could support a value driven arts company as a for profit. We do not believe our cultural and communal mission is financially viable on its own, which is why mainstream record companies and promoters were not already in this business before JDub existed. We feel JDub finds its place alongside other arts not-for-profits dedicated to producing value-driven content to strengthen and develop a particular demographic – such as Alvin Ailey Dance Company or Celebrate Brooklyn.

Kenyan band Yunasi offered to share a little bit about the music business in Kenya. We often talk about the music business in the US, North America as a whole, and Europe. So we decided to take them up on their offer to share some insights about business on the ground in Kenya.

1. Tell us about your band.

The band's name is YUNASI and our music falls under world music/afro-fusion genre. We call our music, SESUBE (SEga, iSUkuti, BEnga) which is a melting pot of traditional Kenyan rhythms from our local tribes (Luo, Kisii, Luhya, Swahili, with smatterings of English and French) and mixed with modern influences and arrangement resulting in afro-pop sensibilities. This is achieved also by playing modern and traditional instruments like Luo Nyatiti, lots of percussions, guitars, drum kit and African vocal harmonies. Yunasi is a 9-member, live-performing and recording band based in Nairobi, Kenya where all band members come from.

2. How do musicians in Kenya make a living?

In Kenya, most musicians rely mostly on live performances, be it concerts, playing at corporate gigs, or the few festivals around. Album sales are hardly anything to talk about because of rampant piracy, lack of the necessary legal and intellectual rights and  structures and poverty which makes possible buyers not able to afford albums despite loving the music.

3. What are some of the biggest challenges of being a musician in Kenya?

Funds and lack of music industry structures are the biggest challenge. This is because as a musician, you have to do everything by yourself - produce music, market, promote and distribute your music and organize your own shows largely without even corporate support in form of sponsorships or in kind. Also, local media gives heavy rotation to American and western sounding music at the expense of authentic music. Yunasi's music is hardly ever played in mainstream media so we have to rely on word-of-mouth or organizing our own shows to make a living here.

4. Are there nearby African countries that have a music industry model you hope that Kenya could follow?

Our neighboring countries like Uganda and Tanzania support their own musicians which makes them able to earn a decent living from music. Their radio stations give preference to their own music sung in their own languages, resulting in a huge fan base and distributors have a wide network. Corporates also support artists during album launches and organizing events. South Africa and Nigeria and generally West Africa are also models that work well in the continent.

5. For those who are unfamiliar with Kenyan music... what are the most popular styles? What is an emerging style you hope to see grow? What is a historic style you wish would come back in popularity?

Lately, local radio has started playing music by young Kenyan artists who have come up with Kenyan versions of hip-hop, crunk and pop which basically use western sounding beats but sung in slang here called Sheng, Swahili and English. Popular styles include Genge (Calif records and producer Clemmo), Kapuka (by Ogopa deejays) among others. An emerging style is Afro-influenced forms whereby the artists incorporate a lot of local stuff mainly using Swahili,which will be good for us in helping create a global identity for East African music. A historic style would probably be Kenyan genres like Benga which was big in the 70's and 80's when Kenyan music was at its height and even influenced Congolese music. Yunasi are incorporating a lot of Benga in their music which would make us stand out in the world stage.

6. How is the music industry in Europe and North America perceived in Kenya?

Kenyan musicians would very much love that our music industry would have the organisation, massive large market and success same as in the USA and Europe. The fact that the US industry, as we perceive it, is very well-structured and allows musicians to concentrate on creating their music while the wheels of the business side roll (that is, there are professional event organizers, record companies, distribution networks, dedicated performance venues, high-quality productions) .This is a source of inspiration and our dream in Yunasi is that we could be able to break into these markets as there is greater appreciation of artistic creation. Music lovers support musicians better by attending their concerts, buying original albums and merchandise and generally there is greater respect for intellectual rights leading to low piracy rates. We would love our music, which we believe has worldwide appeal, to crossover into these markets (wouldn't hurt to have financial rewards commensurate with the value we believe we have either!). The innovations that exist and love for global sounds from all over the world is something that we as musicians in Kenya would like to be emulated here.

7. What is the best thing you have done for your music career?

The best thing we have done for our career as Yunasi was our decision not to follow music trends in Kenya but to carve our own sound and niche which would make us unique in the local and world stage. We observed the success of mainly West African musicians on the world stage and saw that it is sticking to your roots and having modern arrangements whose output is sound that is new to audiences which makes a musician stand out from the serious competition around. After 10 years, despite being ignored and other numerous challenges, we have come up with a sound that is uniquely Yunasi both in terms of recorded music and live performances. We also decided to bring organization in the management of our affairs thereby allowing us to concentrate mainly on creativity and have a management team taking care of our business affairs. We however are very much involved in the day to day running of our music affairs.

8. What are some tools you wish existed that could help bands like yours?

A credible industry structure would be beneficial to us and all local musicians. We need good managers, promoters, producers, distribution networks, venues and corporate support. This would allow musicians do what they do best which is creating music and knowing that there is an efficient machinery that will take the music to the people and grant musicians a decent livelihood and make music attractive to encourage more musicians. Without the industry structure here we have   to look to Western countries for sponsorship or 'brand' deals.

9. How has the Internet changed your ability to operate as a band?

The internet has been a God-send to Yunasi. It allows us a window to the whole world and different demographics that despite geographical positioning can be exposed to our music conveniently. We have a website making our info available 24-hours a day, social networks like Myspace accounts allowing interaction with potential fans, YouTube allowing our videos to be available, music available for purchase directly for download from our website, on Itunes, Amazon and so forth. We are able to get useful contacts of world music professionals, media, festivals and organizations just at the click of a button that allows networking opportunities. We even can send our music to anyone in the world and use the available learning opportunities to make us better musicians. We were even invited to two festivals in Thailand festival thanks solely to our website and the availability of our video on the internet. People are also able to contact us easily after listening to our music from whatever sources. The internet offers us numerous opportunities to better ourselves as a band and further our careers.

10. Is there anything else you would like to share with the world music industry in North America and beyond?

We'll share what we do best --Yunasi music will blow you away! Just watch this space and be ready to be SESUBE'd soon!

Karibu Kenya.

YUNASI
www.yunasi.com

As technology continues to shrink the world and music becomes more and more accessible to the masses, what's the best way to find the new music that you love? It's a task that can seem overwhelming at times, and presents unique challenges for those in the global music industry. To help answer the question, we asked some industry pros what their strategies were for discovering the latest gems, and we present their responses here.

Erich Ludwig, Senior Director of Operations at MediaUnbound (www.mediaunbound.com), a company that provides recommendations services to other media companies finds the question particularly interesting since he is in the business of music discovery. He also works as a consultant for artists who are trying to get discovered, and speaks to the question from these two different angles. Here are his responses:

1. What are your top 5 sources for finding new music on the internet?

On a personal level, my answer is as follows:

a) email from friends/colleagues
b) IM's from friends/colleagues
c) last.fm
d) music blogs (primarily African music oriented)
e) Google news feeds (using appropriate key-words)

The best source of recommendations has traditionally come from friends. Especially for those of us in the "snobby about my music" category. Even though I work for a recommendations company, I don't use personally (or even in my consulting business) any of our companies' clients on a regular basis to discover music. That is likely due to change...I'll explain more once we go public...

Anyway, personally I find most discovery engines not able to capture my diverse interests, although I certainly play around with them for competitive analysis and for testing our own products. There are also some problems for recommendation services for international music, whihc is primarily what I listen to. These problems have to do with tagging and naming, as well as with actual usage data. These 2 things are large components of a recommendation system, and one can see the problem here easily on last.fm just by entering any artist whose name has accesnts or is easily misspelled (try Ramata Diakite for an example. Her last.fm page is http://www.last.fm/music/Ramata+Diakite/). I'm Ramata's manager, and have linnked up all the other permutations of her name on her page:

Ramatou Diakité
Ramata Diakité
Ramatou Diakite

There is no easy way to get around this, and it severely affects the discovery of international music. International labels & managers MUST be sticklers for tagging and labeling tracks and albums to take advantage of the recommendations systems being built into many new web sites.

2. Do you have any other sources for finding new music? If so, what are they?

My network is really very good at helping me find new music. Usually that involves someone in my network contacting me to ask about this project they are working on, and asking me various questions about that project - how to market, promote, distribute, book, license, sign to label, etc...Through this process I sometimes find music that I personally enjoy, and other times, find stuff that is great, but that I may not love. And of course WOMEX, SXSW and a couple other festivals are great places to load up on new music.

3. How do you  manage the overflow of music that comes across your inbox, desk, and ears? Please give specific tools, techniques, and philosophies.

I try and have music on all the time, and if stuff grabs me from my other tasks, I can tell it's worth listening to. Because this is a fairly passive approach, I may have to hear some stuff repeatedly for it to stick. I have a 20GB iPod, a little 2 GB mp3 player, a 2GB card in my phone, and my wife has  4 GB iPod. The mp3 players (including iPods) can all attach to the car/home stereo through mini-to-stereo or mini-to-mini plugs ($7 at Radio Shack). Between all of these devices at home/car/gym/plane, we can get through a bunch of music. When clients give me music to listen to, I put on the good headphones and listen for real.

(Erich also provided another link that might be useful...)

Here is what Todd Walker, booking agent from International Music Network, had to say:

1. What are your top 5 sources for finding new music on the internet?

a) Aurgasm.com
b) Said the gramophone
c) Idolator
d) iTunes
e) Radio Change
f) IMEEM

2. Do you have any other sources for finding new music? If so, what are they?

The insane amount of emails I get from friends, labels, etc--I am part of a very extensive network and have an addiction to new music.

3. How do you manage the overflow of music that comes across your inbox, desk, and ears? Please give specific tools, techniques, and philosophies.

My assistant has incredible ears for most that is sent to me. So, he listens to much of what I am sent--all depends on how I am approached.

And finally, here are responses from Eric Herman, Co-President at Modiba Productions:

1. What are your top 5 sources for finding new music on the internet?

I don't find new music on the internet, personally. I research music on the internet a lot, usually through MySpace, Youtube, or iTunes. I discover new music either by going to live performances/concerts/festival, hearing about it from friends and associates, or being contacted by artists or promoters, directly (which often happens online but I don't believe that constitutes "finding music on the internet").

2. Do you have any other sources for finding new music? If so, what are they?

Pandora is a cool resource for discovering new music, but to be honest I haven't been on the site very much.

3. How do you manage the overflow of music that comes across your inbox, desk, and ears? Please give specific tools, techniques, and philosophies.

If music makes it to my desk I will listen to it. If it arrives in my inbox as an e-blast I probably won't unless I've already heard from a colleague or friend that it's something in which I might be interested. I find myself judging groups on their MySpace and Youtube activity--are they getting many plays/profile views? Do they appear to be organized with touring, branding, promoting, etc? These issues will seriously affect my personal perception of a group's ability to thrive in the American marketplace.

1. Identify and Express -- in simple/accessible but compelling words -- the essence of what you are doing; musically, artistically, culturally; if possible, work with an outside person who has experience doing this, so that you can get a fresh perspective and someone with a wide scope who can help you put things in a context that is useful/inspiring for a more general audience.

2. Set up systems each step of the way; Think: "how can I take the work I am doing now and document it and make tools now, so that the next time I do this it is that much easier and I have a running log of what worked and what didn't"?

3. Identify your "ideal customer" and Brainstorm ways to reach that specific population; don’t try to be all things to all people; otherwise your music will sound like a lot of other lowest common-denominator music which downplays the strength of music that explicitly crosses cultures; once you do it for one target market do it for another; keep in mind that the "ideal customer" for physical recordings, digital recordings, and live concerts may be different and require different channels for reaching them.

4. Each project (a live set or an album or a "digital bucket" as I heard one client call it recently) should have something (not many things) that ties it together; this could be a tradition or hybrid being explored... or a narrative, real or imagined... or a historic time period, etc.; this makes it easier for people to bite, chew, and digest; if each project is all over the map, it is harder to build bridges across cultures; within that limitation, of course, there can (in most cases, should) be diversity (in tempo, meter, timbre, lyrical content, instrumentation/arrangement, etc.); think of your project as one of many projects you will do in your career, so you do not need to cram it all onto your next album or next set; in the case of touring, repeat concerts might be more likely if you have something different to offer in year two.

5. Understand why you do what you do and integrate that into every decision you make; your methods can (and should) reflect your vision/mission as a musician/artist/performer/human.

Bonus Tip (more of a musical tip): don't use cheesy synthesizers (unless you are trying to make a joke or a point); if you are not sure what a cheesy synthesizer is, ask the most cutting edge musicians you know; in some cultural contexts synthesizers are the only affordable/accessible way to re-create certain historic sounds (big horn sections, for example); but I find -- at least with most of the media that tends to cover global music in the USA -- cheesy synthesizers (or dated electronic beats) are a tip-off that someone has not thought about how their sound is going to translate to the audience here, who may read it as "dated".

-- Dmitri Vietze, rock paper scissors, inc. :: music of global significance :: publicity for the world :: www.rockpaperscissors.biz

The following is a synopsis of an interview done on WNYC by John Schaefer with the Washington Post's Sarah Kaufman as well as Iranian musician Raam of the band Hypernova...

The foreign arts world is buzzing as plans to enact a new United States visa policy for artists is beginning to pick up speed-- having already passed the House of Representatives (just recently, on April 1st), only two more steps remain (being voted on by the Senate, and then signed into law by the President). Originally proposed by  Howard Berman and 10 other bipartisan leaders, the A.R.T.S. act (short for Arts Require Timely Service) aims to broaden the definition of an artist (in an effort to allow more artists entrance into the U.S.), as well as garner a quicker response and potentially lowering the costs for applying for the visa itself. If an artist has not yet gotten a response on whether their visa has been green-lighted after 30 days, they are then moved into the fast-lane where they will assuredly receive a response within 15 more days whether they will be accepted or denied their trip to the U.S. Not only that, but should an artist’s paperwork be disregarded for that 30 day period, the $1000 fee would be waived in totality: encouraging a quicker response for an artist in need.

Generally, for an artist to gain access to a visa, they would need to pay a $1000 premium processing fee (as well as the costs of a hotel, food, etc., when an interview is established)--and, should an artist waive that fee, they shall not gain access to the U.S. for their tour, performance, what-have-you. What the A.R.T.S. act will change is not only the speed in which a response to their visa request will be given, but, it will also potentially reduce costs by a substantial amount.

A $1000 fee, just as it would be for you or me, is pretty out of the question. However, it could be made to feel even worse depending on where you're from, as this fee is in U.S. currency, and our money has a much higher value than a large number of foreign communities. These fees are often partially, or wholly, paid by the organization seeking to bring a given artist into the country, and, as such, they need more money, which leads to more fund-raisers! In 2001, 75% of non-profit organizations were willing to bring a foreign artist in, but, since that time (and the September 11th terrorist attacks) the number has dropped down to 60%.

The processing fee is one of the red-flags for artists, and, just as there are quite a few red-flags for an artist, there are red-flags viewed by those looking over any given application. When an artist is looking to tour, the CIS is especially troubled when an individual is single with no familial ties to go back to their homeland when a given stint in the U.S. is finalized. Another thing that must be proven is credentials. If a musician has plans to tour the U.S., or even to make one individual stop, they must demonstrate at least 12 months of success in their native country: tour records, hit-singles, awards, etc. If such a record of success cannot be found, a visa will be denied on the grounds that one is not a "legitimate" artist.

The U.S. isn't so much anti-immigrant as we may come off, we just need to have some sort of boundary line for security, just as every other nation does-- we cannot simply open our doors to all and say "come on in!" as that has the potential to create overpopulation among other things. So, that's what these visas are there for, to establish some sort of required background check before allowing just anyone beyond the borderline. Once an artist is actually in the States, the time that their visa remains acceptable can be extended if they can demonstrate that they have been continually touring, working on their craft, or by continuously working on their artist credentials. If there is an easily viewable record of work from a foreign artist in the U.S., their stay will allowably be elongated.

DubMC is the brainchild of Dmitri Vietze and is sponsored by rock paper scissors, inc., global music publicity firm

Good news from Washington for foreign musicians who want to perform in the US. HR-1312 was passed by the House on Tuesday...the Senate still needs to do the same before it goes to President Bush. HR-1312 is called the ARTS Act, ARTS an acronym for Arts Require Timely Service. Even before 9-11 -- but especially since 9-11 -- timeliness has been at the center of the problems for many artists overseas who are applying for visas to come here. The World's Marco Werman has more.

DubMC periodically poses questions to key players in the global music scene to check the pulse of both the recorded music and live music markets. Up first is Tom Pryor, editor of National Geographic's world music website.

What are some of the patterns and trends that have emerged in the global music recorded music scene in the past year?

1. Obviously there's a bit less recorded music than compared to say, just two years ago - no surprise given the overall state of the retail music biz.

2. I saw a lot more specialty packaging last year. Labels like Crammed were bundling more DVDs with CDs, while labels like Stern's were cranking out beautifully-curated anthology collections like the Tabu Ley Rochereau and Mbilia Bel collections. I assume this was a response to the steep decline in physical retail sales vs. online (MP3 sales). Creating fetish objects is a smart way to grab the attention of completists and collectors, but I wonder how cost-effective it has been overall.

3. Even though I see plenty of labels cutting promo costs with slipcases, etc, very few have taken the plunge into fully-digital promo kits - even though this is standard in other segments of the music market. I'm not complaining - I still like physical CDs and they usually get first play while I'm previewing new music - but it is surprising.

What about trends and patterns in the global music live performance scene in the past year?

1. One thing that surprises me is that large bands are continuing to tour regularly - despite rising gas prices, increased airfares, ongoing visa nightmares, etc. If Darwinian economics truly ruled the industry, I'd expect to see less big bands like 17 Hippies touring and more "laptop" artists and DJs.

2. I live in New York and it seems like we've got more new spaces devoted to world music than we've had in a long time. With the opening of Drom and Rose in the last two years plus the ongoing international programming of places like S.O.B.s, Barbes, Joe's Pub, Zebulon – not to mention all the venues that program occasional world acts (like Highline Ballroom) - it seems that there are a lot more small-to-midsize rooms showcasing this kind of music in New York now.

3. Homegrown American world music "fusion" acts really came into their own last year. Everybody knows the list by heart by now - Slavic Soul Party!, Balkan Beat Box, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Beirut, Chicha Libre, Cuban Cowboys, etc, etc. I think that having a national touring circuit, however small, certainly helped incubate these acts and break them out of their local scenes. Obviously the internet and social networking sites played a big role in this, but don't discount the importance of live shows. MySpace only lets your fans know when and where you're playing, but you still have to play the gig to really connect (or at least get a fuzzy, poorly shot video to put up on your page the day after the show).

4. Big pop festivals like Bonnaroo and Coachella are increasingly programming non-traditional acts like Manu Chao, MIA and Gogol Bordello. While that doesn't necessarily indicate a trend towards booking traditional or core world music acts - don't expect to see Javan Gasparyan at Rocklahoma anytime soon - it does indicate that people's ears are stretching beyond the usual genre and regional borders.

DubMC is the brainchild of Dmitri Vietze and is sponsored by rock paper scissors, inc., global music publicity firm.

Max Milendorf is the USA manager for "Russian rock Dadaists" Auktyon, who are currently on tour in the USA. While these underground bohemian rock icons strive to reach non-Russian audiences when they play here--in search of the excitement of playing for newcomers and seeing what emerges--Milendorf has his finger on the pulse of Russian émigré  communities in the USA. Here he is the subject of our latest installment of Bridging Gaps between communities in the field of global music performance.   

1. With what ethnic group or cultural population are you most familiar?

Russian-Americans.

2. What North American cities/regions have the greatest population of this group?

New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco; most major cities have a Russian community.

3. How would you describe the musical interests and musical "market" for live performance within these communities?

Most of the younger generation has assimilated, so their tastes do not differ from an average American. The older generation prefers artists from Russia that they were familiar when they lived there. This mostly includes pop singers. A lot of interest is generated by dramatic theater.

Occasionally stand-up comics of the older generation come through and bring in huge crowds.

4. Are there particular venues that especially cater to this group?

In New York there are venues exclusively for Russian acts and artists, given that they have the entire region (Brighton Beach) "fenced off" for that community. In other cities it's mostly larger concert halls, rather than clubs.

5. What about record stores?

There are exclusive Russian record stores in bigger cities like New York and Boston. These events are not advertised in regular record stores.

6. What are some of the major misconceptions that music professionals might have about this group that can make it a challenge for them to build bonds within this community? Any common faux pas?

The most common misconception is the language barrier. There is no language barrier with the majority of this immigrant population, and even if it exists on some levels, it is imperceptible and certainly not a barrier to promotion. The reverse is also true towards the American audiences.

There is a perverse sense that everything has to be in English for Americans, otherwise they would not be interested. The majority of the world music market is intelligent enough to appreciate the art in its native form.

7. What particular sensitivities should professionals in the field be aware of as it relates to this group?

One thing worth mentioning might be a strong affiliation with Jewish heritage and pro-Jewish American lobby.

8. Can you give some examples of success stories of people from outside of this cultural group collaborating in the music and arts field with people within this community?

It's hard to define what "success" would mean in this context, but such stories do exist. Boris Grebenschikov with Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart back in the late 80's. Brain Eno with "Zvuki Mu."

And who can forget Medeski and Ribot with Auktyon! :)

9. In what areas do you hope the world music community improves in serving and collaborating with this community?

I wish buyers were more open to the idea of having "unknown" acts on their stages. Take a chance!

DubMC.com is the brainchild of Dmitri Vietze and is sponsored by rock paper scissors, inc., global music publicity firm.

Always on the lookout for what can help expand the presence of global music in North America, DubMC interviewed Robert Singerman who has a personal mission to break down language barriers between global musicians and their potential audiences who speak different languages. Singerman, who works for  French Music Export Office and the European Music Office US, believes that breaking down language barriers -- whether in audio, video, or live performance -- can give this music an advantage in reaching new audiences. Find out why in this exclusive Q & A:

1. How important is understanding lyrics and language in the appreciation of global music forms in English-speaking territories?

It is obvious that one can well appreciate non-English global music forms. However, my strong belief, supported anecdotally and by one notable market research study conducted in France, by Text-Up, is that many English and even many more non-English speaking people would more greatly appreciate being able to understand the lyrics (and all that implies: stories, history, culture, emotions, poetic beauty, politics, inspiration, spirituality, jokes and ridiculous banality, etc....), even in their own language(s). The fact that lyrics are in the top ten search functions on the internet demonstrates this interpretation. "How important" is a question that only time will tell if we are successful in our mission, but my estimate is that translations by new means could eventually double sales figures (and for some artists multiply by 100-10,000 or more) of non-English speaking music in English speaking territories and English speaking music to non-English speaking people. How important would that be? How important is the understanding of lyrics, "the book", and the story in Opera?

2. Paint a picture for us of what music/language translation would look and feel like to the end user in an ideal world?

It would feel great, we can finally understand all of what we have consciously or unconsciously given up on; we can break our own internal barriers of indolence, fear, language, social network consciousness—solely focus on "the music" and hear, listen, understand, enjoy, empathize, act, play, dance and celebrate the knowledge of what someone from another culture is communicating. There may be some painful lessons of difference, of antipathy, of hatred, ethnocentrism, confusion, of what we might consider stupidity, bad taste, or even "evil" as they say in politics and the NY Times today, about a Norwegian "extreme" metal band. However, there will be plenty of "light bulbs" going off in English speaking minds, "a-ha's" when we finally realize outside of our own experience and language comprehension what others are singing to us (and perhaps why.) We can appreciate or overcome perceived differences with our country's political "friends and enemies,” we can learn from ancient and new cultural movements, we can grow through the understanding, through the chaos and profundity of new ideas, through the change of the status quo and I hope that we therefore can and will make better choices in our musical (and other) life. It's the same picture but only much grander and more conscious of what music looks and feels like to us now.

Practically, it could be various means and solutions, like exist already in various places around the world. It could include subtitles in original and local languages, meta tag data served digitally in real time as we listen/watch on all our digital devices (mobile phones, computers, car stereos, home stereos, TV's...), with lyrics streamed or available in whatever language you request, on videos and internet and TV, with subtitles again by request. Liner notes, books, online communities, social network sites contribute to the worldwide fan base, and these fans share the words of their most inspiring songwriters and memorable songs. It could also look like Voxonic, with the "original voices" replacing translators dubs, so we can hear whichever artist we love, be it Edith Piaf, Serge Gainsbourg, Manu Chao or Bob Marley, Elvis Presley in our own language, translated either by publishers, expert translators, other artists in collaboration, even duets or mashes, or by a group of dedicated multi-lingual fans. There will also be live solutions, like (or maybe unlike) those used in theater and Opera now, with LED or video projections, or "living" translations (don't know what that means, but just saw it advertised by a French artist playing Joe's Pub soon). Also, we will begin to be more educated/ripe for learning languages, understanding cultures, with a sense of traveling that's not only by ship, air, car, train, walking or astral means. With closed captioning in the U.S. now required on television, it's not a long path to subtitles in translations.

3. What are the projects/solutions/services/companies that are attempting to tackle the language barrier in global music? Name, description of service/approach, website?

The following are only the ones I have discovered in the past months, so by no means should this be taken as a complete answer, as I know there are many companies in the world with various solutions that might even be working now in countries like China, India, Eastern Europe and Russia. Information from readers about other means and efforts are greatly appreciated and will be followed up!

Voxonic: Working with artists and labels (started own label) with patented processes to replace a translated dub with the original artist’s voice. First commercial release was Ky-Mani Marley, where on the #1, #2 Reggae album (in these BB chart positions since release 6 weeks ago), one powerful song, “The March”, is on the album in English and Spanish (Ky-Mani doesn't speak Spanish). Both versions are available on iTunes, and an El Mundo article--mostly on Voxonic and Ky-Mani Marley-- plus lots of discussions inspired this blog invitation. Ky-Mani's songs, at least one, will be available in other languages (Voxed), and the second artist they signed, Prodigy (of Mobb Deep), also totally believes in the concept and opportunity of rapping to others in his voice, but their own language. There are very advanced conversations with Voxonic and many potential partners of Voxing other major superstars and worldwide icons in the coming weeks and months. Once any significant success is generated with this technique (hits), it could become ubiquitous or de rigueur and lots of fun, in terms of artistic and lingual collaborations.

Yabla: Yabla is mostly an incredible language learning tool, available by subscription (with some free, low amount of content), on sites and in schools which utilize compelling video with double subtitles (original language and English, for now), with some beta for ESL in English and many other languages. Yabla is now used in many schools, including the NYC Alliance Francaise and has a very active subscription base for Spanish language learning here. The ways of integrating aural, visual, musical, kinetic (on computer keyboards) and seeing the lips moving in TV and video clips make the pneumonic devices function like a 3D chess game and accelerate the learning process. When you see music video clips on Yabla, previously unknown and uninteresting songs come to life, with the additional lyrical understanding, provocation, and depth clearly evident.

Gracenote: Gracenote is by far the most important company in meta-data, owning an archive of some 75 million songs in all genres, even classical music, with agreements, applications and immediate digital servicing all over the world (mobile, car, ISP, portals, digital stores (iTunes...), Pro-tools, etc. and they have launched a "legal lyrics" program, initially with Yahoo. They have licensed the rights to post some 450,000 original song lyrics, which are available for free now on Yahoo and on some other partner sites (almost all in English). Gracenote is in the position to do the most to accelerate the model of lyric translations, transforming original lyrics to translations and we have been in serious conversations about doing just this for well over a year, during which time they launched the legal lyrics program. They introduced me to another company, eMotion Studios, below:

eMotion Studios: A full service interactive communications agency for whom communication (across languages, bridging cultures) is a serious (and still playful) mission. Believing in collaboration, they have built and are launching a multi-lingual system that, in my opinion, will evolutionize cross-language communication. Quite amazing and mobile, it will be presented for launch on a new Adobe mobile platform in February and includes in beta, among other applications, lyrical transcriptions and translations along with videos.

Text-Up (no website yet) This is a company that offers a software solution for labels and artists of double, or up to 8, language translations on CDs, (actually CDRs), which has been well researched and will launch in 2008 with the participation of French major labels and will also be used by Voxonic Music Group artist Prodigy in early February. There is also a digital solution for Text-Up, but on the demo CDs both exact (word for word) and adaptations are shown, in conjunction with the music, with a background of images from the artist. The software presents extremely well and their research shows that not only would new audiences perceive this as added value, but they would also (in big numbers) be willing to buy favorite CDs they already own, again!, with this addition. Their agreements can be structured as a fabrication cost, payable only at origination, or they could negotiate a lower fee plus royalty.

There are other companies preparing CDs with booklets with translations, contextual information, and even teacher lessons, like Sublingual Music, or the series done by the French Ministry of Education, Generation Francaise 1-6, and I'm certain others internationally (I'm sure I've seen some with specific Putumayo releases, mostly for children).

4. In what areas have you seen the most progress?

The Gracenote legal lyrics program and lyricfind.com agreement with publishers to make available PDF files are a good start for original lyrics, but the most innovative progress in releasing translations so far in the US (besides books/liner notes translations), was on the Ky-Mani Marley Voxonic album release of “The March” in Spanish, but that is just a small beginning step and not yet proven in the Spanish market. The real progress has come in the education process in the music industry with many artists, professionals, label executives, managers, new media companies and other potential allies (including superstar artists and icons), actually understanding the concept and the need/opportunity for translations going forward. There will be some major breakthroughs in 2008.

5. Which areas of music/language translation still have a long way to go, or have the most opportunity for growth/improvement?

All areas have a huge room for improvement; it's basically at .000001%, with the exception of opera and the very few liner note translations.

6. Why did you get involved in lyric translation projects?

I've worked with some extremely successful "world music" artists for over 25 years and represented many international pop or rock artists, including touring many American artists in France, throughout Europe and much further afield, but generally, like all my professional colleagues, ignored language differences, though I was always personally frustrated by this and actually "passed" on many vital international (non-English speaking) superstars.  When I took the position of starting the European Union supported European Music Office pilot program in the US and directing the French Music Export Office North America in Jan. 2004, it was extremely obvious to me that the biggest challenge of international music was language. As we worked to build, repair and honor bridges in all business areas with North Americans, increase label relations, licensing and distribution, improve booking, festival and touring issues, synch placement, digital representation, media awareness, rebuild and expand our database and relationships, create and contribute to newsletters, business groups, artistic, business and production collaborations, French and European music export relations, local North American Embassy and other ex-pat networks, attend conferences, distribute promotional tools, etc, amid many thousands of aid requests and other "normal" import, export development business, the language issue has remained the foremost challenge. Only in the last six months have I been able to focus on this effort, though we did assist Yabla over the course of these years as we could (So French Y So Chic and Generation Francais), since that was the first company, besides Gracenote, that I saw with one real, although still small, solution.

I also had the personal luck of growing up in a family which listened to (and sometimes sang badly) international music, along with blues, jazz, folk, "protest" music and some classical music and grew up reading the backs of albums.

7. How can musicians, labels, venues, managers, and other music industry professionals get involved?

Understand the importance and opportunity first, then if you have ideas, additional information to impart (even criticisms), or business propositions, contact me, or contact the relevant companies, directly. Translate your artist or label songs, or have your multi-lingual friends, publishers and labels translate and publish/exhibit your lyrics. I was heartened to read today in this blog the Kimmel Center

programmer who said they would put up lyrics (and I hope translations) on their site, let's hope the stage in 2008. Programmers, promoters, managers, artists and agents, please help all your artists and your audience find/create effective solutions for the stage, through your contacts, lighting and stage designers, either video, LED or some other means, even programs with translations will help. Think about the next Womex being able to finally understand international artists' lyrics—that would be a sea change. 

Remember the thrill of learning your first song lyrics, reading your first books and knowing, singing, or thinking your most precious lyrics (however childlike or embarrassing they may be). Remember the first time you tried to and maybe succeeded in communicating with someone with whom you did not have a common "language". Remember the times you were moved by some incredible artist singing in a language you did not understand and think of what it might have meant if you did actually go further with translations. Imagine (as Lennon sings), what will be different if the big "we" communicate consciously through songs across languages. This is no panacea, just one way of having musicians, songwriters and music fans lead the way towards comprehension and communication, which has to be one purpose of music.

DubMC.com is the brainchild of Dmitri Vietze and is sponsored by rock paper scissors, inc., global music publicity firm.