Musiques Métisses festival returns to Angoulême with 24 concerts

Description:

Tickets will go on sale shortly for one of Charente's flagship events, the Musiques Métisses world music festival.  The 34^th edition of the festival will include 24 separate concerts, including 9 'headline' events, for which there is an admission charge.

The final line-up has yet to be released, but Belgian singer Natacha Atlas (Arabic and North African music) or the French singer/guitarist Stéphane Sanseverino (gypsy rythm) are likely to head the bill, with African reggae act Alpha Blondie making a first appearance on the Sunday.

The free scene called 'Mandingue' will offer non-stop entertainment, with concerts, street artists, afro-beat and brazilian rock music, and on Saturday 31 May proceedings will be interrupted by 60 large mannequins to add to the carnival atmosphere.

The event attracted some 13,000 paying visitors in 2008, with between 50,000 to 60,000 enjoying the event overall.  The event has a budget of around a million euros, and the formula will remain unchanged for the 2009 edition.  The organisers are however looking to improve facilities for catering, and will seek to exploit the site of the old swimming pool at Bourgines, even though the site will not be fully complete until 2010.

Tickets for the paid concerts will go on sale at the end of February, with a normal event ticket costing around 35€, or a three day pass costing between 54€ and 76€.  When the full programme is available, it can be viewed on the dedicated website www.musiques-metisses.com.