Q&A: Bavo Vanden Broeck
Name: Bavo Vanden Broeck
Company: Dranouter Festival
Based in: Belgium
What was your purpose for participating at Folk Spot 2023?
The (re)discovery of Danish and Nordic Folk bands, connecting with known en new contacts
What trends and tendencies do you see in folk music right now?
There is a lot of high quality instrumental music but a lack of accessible vocal music. Instrumental music is harder to present, and doesn’t reach that much audience apart from the die hard traditionalists. A younger audience is open to discover new genres, it would be helpful to have some more singing. Folk songs were the pop songs of another time, if we want to make the songs (and so the genre) more popular, we should use the potential that is in the song heritage and bring it to present times.
What is your impression of the Danish folk scene versus folk music in Belgium? (Differences and similarities)
The above is really a similarity. I feel there is good quality in education, but a lot of focus on instruments and techniques. Folk will always be a niche genre but there is a potential to widen it. Also we feel the need to expand international so to create a bigger market for the musicians to make it possible to make a living out of music.
Did you make some new contacts relevant for your future work?
Yes inside and outside the Folk Spot project. It was a really nice gathering with lots of relaxed network opportunities.
Which were the best musical experiences during Folk Spot Denmark and Tønder Festival?
Danish Fiddle Quartet (they had the best understanding of what a showcase needs to be, it was short, decent introductions, not too much talking, variety in songs/tunes, some interaction, … and good quality. Optur, I also really enjoyed as they made it clear that they really enjoyed themselves, the energy was spread with the audience.
The combination with Tønder made it more interesting for me as I could also see several bands of interest in a perfect festival setting. The Mary Wallopers and Kila stand out for me.