<< retour
A time for every festival
BILL BROWNSTEIN
The Gazette
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Herman Alves just can't back down from a challenge. Last year, Alves launched the first Rhythms of the World Festival, an event designed to salute the city's diversity by paying tribute to the music, art and food of our myriad cultural communities.
Fair enough. And although the inaugural edition was deemed by most to be a success, Alves was uneasy about his festival being mired in a June logjam, up against the Grand Prix, the Fringe, Magnifico, Main Madness, the international fireworks competition and the chamber music festival. Plus, he learned FrancoFolies would be unwinding in June as of 2006.
"Sure, it's nice to be known as the little festival that could, but the city can only absorb so many festivals in June, and we could have suffocated from all the festival competition," says the ever-affable Alves over a cup of java.
So this year the Rhythms of the World bash will merely fill the void, Sept. 7 to 11, between the feuding film fests - the Montreal World Film Festival and the New Montreal FilmFest - and will try to avoid getting caught in any ensuing crossfire. "We don't want war. We just want to co-exist, which is really the theme of our festival," he says.
This year's festival will feature 25 performers in 15 shows at seven downtown venues. Focus for the first four days will be, respectively, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas, while the fest will wrap Sept. 11 at Place du Canada with Cultural Harmony Day. A variety of prominent local artists and musicians, including jazz-fest vet Alex Bellegarde, Harold Faustin and Samina, have been conscripted. Numerous downtown restaurants will be offering special menus over the course of the event.
And how's this for a refreshing change? Rhythms of the World will get by on a $100,000 budget, subsidized by private sponsors, such as House of Jazz and Velan. The municipal and provincial governments have pledged to give small grants, but the festival has yet to receive any money from them. And as was the case last year, if there are any financial shortfalls, Alves will dig into his own pocket to cover them.
It's not like Alves, 47, really needs any more stress at this point in his life.
Apart from his day job as director of business development at Telus, he's also one of the guiding forces behind and the chairperson of the board of the Point St. Charles food bank Share the Warmth. And he has a wife and three children who require some attention, too. "I still manage to get in a few hours of sleep a night," he cracks.
But Alves has learned to delegate. Tania Tassone assumes the role of festival director this year. Yet like Alves and the 10 other helpers, Tassone, too, does this pro bono.
"What drew me to this festival is that Montrealers may live fairly harmoniously together, but we really don't know that much about each other's traditions, food and art forms," says Tassone, 24, who gave up a paying job as a communications co-ordinator in order to do this gig.
Tassone also points out that the big difference from last year's festival, apart from the dates, is the move from the southwest part of town to downtown.
"It seems if you're not downtown, you're considered just another neighbourhood party," she says. "Last year, the festival brought a concept to life. This year, we'll be nurturing that concept in the heart of the city."
Rhythms of the World Festival, Sept. 7 to 11. (514) 789-2050 or www.rhythms.tv
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005
