DILI, august 22, 2023 (TATOLI) – Marimba a project that focuses on the dissemination of music and the implementation of employment for young artists in four Portuguese-speaking African Countries PALOP-TL [Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and East Timor], The project aims to promote knowledge and appreciation of the musical heritage of the participating countries, in the most varied aspects, in particular field recordings, digitization, promotion, and international distribution.
The statement was transmitted by Miguel Ângelo, General Coordinator of Soundsgood, a Portuguese production company, on the sidelines of a meeting with Timorese artists on the implementation activities of the Marimba Project in Timor-Leste that will be held in September.
“Marimba is an important activity because it involves a financial prize for the winning artists to support them in the development of their careers since one of the objectives of the Project is to promote artists to generate jobs”, Miguel Ângelo informed journalists, at the Center of Audiovisual Max Stahl in Timor-Leste (CAMSTL).
Miguel Ângelo also said that another activity of the project is to provide Timorese artists with training on music, career development, and digitalization of the musical, which according to the calendar will start next month at CAMSTL.
The official also stated that the overall budget for the project is three years in four countries with various activities and financed by the PROCULTURA Program of the European Union and the Camões-Institute for Cooperation and Language around 950 thousand euros and has 80 thousand euros from the Portuguese producer, Sounds good.
Miguel Ângelo explained that the funds are divided among the four countries to carry out their activities, focusing primarily on the area of music, as well as promoting knowledge and appreciation of the musical heritage of the participating countries, in the most varied areas, in particular in recordings of field, digitization, promotion and international distribution.
“For Timor-Leste, the stipulated budget focuses on field recordings, for the development of musical training and competition”, he revealed.
Marimba’s ambassador in Timor-Leste, Denilson Junior, highlights the importance of the project in the country, as he considers it to be a great opportunity for Timorese artists to digitize their work and be able to promote it on music platforms to generate income.
“In Timor, there are many artists who sing their songs and publish them on social media platforms, but they don’t know how to use a digital platform to get money, with the presence of the Marimba project it will help them to increase their knowledge to use a platform like Youtube and Spottily to make a profit”, he stressed.
Denilson Junior also considered that the project is very important, in addition to promoting the original music of Timor-Leste, it also promotes the Tetum language.
Senior artist Leo Moniz also asks young Timorese artists to take the opportunity to promote their talents through the Marimba project.
“The presence of the project in the country to encourage, as well as to support our local artists to take advantage of the opportunity to digitize their music and publish it on Youtube and Spotify as a source of income to guarantee the sustainability of their career”, he advised.
The vocalist of the band Vialma-X, in the 2000s, was concerned about the fact that, in Timor-Leste, sanctions have not yet been applied to people who copy other people’s work for profit. The singer considered that this is “one of the challenges that Timorese artists face”.
Marimba is supported by PROCULTURA, an action of the PALOP–TL and EU program, financed by the European Union, co-financed and managed by Camões I.P., which aims to promote employment and income-generating activities in the cultural sector of the PALOP and Timor-Leste.
Journalist: José Belarmino De Sá
Editor: Nelia B.
