ANDste was “a very surprising event, because it’s the first since 2019”, he begins by highlighting the person in charge, before recalling that last year’s edition, which was planned to take place in Budapest, capital of Hungary, was made in digital format, due to the covid-19 pandemic.

“What is very amazing is that we reached 2,600 professionals in person, slightly above the last edition [presencial]. We didn’t think it would happen, but what is very satisfying is to see that the community is still alive, it still wants to see concerts.”

Alexander Walter stresses that, “fortunately, Portugal is well managed in terms of covid-19” and, therefore, it was possible to hold the event.

In addition to the “core of the Womex”, which is the relationships between music industry professionals, “at night there are ‘windows’ for the public”, which were sold out, with about three results of tickets sold for three nights.

The numbers were restricted by the covid-19 pandemic, but it comes to the end with the feeling of “mission accomplished”, albeit with reticence.

“It was the first professional event of this size since the pandemic, but it’s still here, let’s not forget it. We hope to have similarly strong years to come, but that’s what we have to see, and then a mission will be accomplished, when we continue the business as usual links “, materialized.

On the last day of the event, a poorly kept secret was made official – Womex returns to Portugal next year, this time in Lisbon.

“It’s an exception. Womex has been around for 25 years and we’ve never come to Portugal, it’s very strange. Now it’s happened and we do something that we never communicated: going to a country twice, in two different cities, in consecutive years. It’s very exciting. . They are two very different sides of Portugal,” he said.

Another exception was the Palco Lusofónica, dedicated to Portuguese-speaking artists and their “relatives”, such as Galician artists.

In all, inside and outside the Lusofónica Stage, 13 Portuguese projects took part in the event.

“It will definitely have a focus on Portugal again [em 2022]. We’re still working on it. Portugal, Portuguese music and its professionals have been part of the Womex community for many years, but this year was exceptional. Almost 200 delegates from Portugal, I believe they will return next year. In programming, we will do something in the direction of Lusophony again, “he advanced.

The event ends with an awards ceremony, at which one artist celebrated with the ultimate award, the Womex Artist Award, is Kurdish singer Aynur Dogan.

For five days, Porto held an international fair, with over 200 stands, with representatives from over 100 countries, and 60 artists.

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