photo by Todd Zimmer
Imagine listening to musicians from around the world while sitting in a garden, a cave, a natural pool, or even a volcanic crater. Now imagine those unique venues are located in an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. In a magical place nearly centered between Portugal, Morocco and Newfoundland, Canada, the Azores’ mild climate and beautiful scenery make them ideal spots for a “boutique” music festival.
Terry Costa created the Cordas World Music Festival in 2016 as an annual music event celebrating stringed instruments and those who play them worldwide.
Costa, who was born in Canada, was raised on Pico Island in the Azores, Portugal, from ages two to fourteen. Involved in the arts from a young age, Costa has served as artistic director of AQT Vancouver and UNI Theatre and is the founder of the Gastown performance art gallery Spaces, the Looking Forward, Looking Back Festival, and the Vancouver Portuguese Heritage Month Festival.
“Arts were always part of my upbringing,” he says. “From going to music school starting at age four, singing in the church choir, and doing theatre with the nuns as a child. I used to record my own radio show on cassette when I was nine. I can say that the arts were always in me.” Costa went to college to study theatre and dance. While he started acting, he always had a hand in directing and producing. After a twenty-year career in North America, Costa moved back to the Azores, where his producing side took over. “I began creating the projects I most missed and that were not available on the islands, like a film festival, an arts festival, and a music festival.”
In 2002, Costa founded Mirateca Arts in Vancouver to produce artistic events. “When I decided to move to my family home on Pico Island in 2012, I founded MiratecaArts, a slight change in the name but with the same objectives to enhance individual, team, and organizational productivity in the art world.” Through MiratecaArts, Costa produces, promotes, and presents artists, shows, and events encompassing all artistic disciplines. It started with the Azores Fringe Festival as a showcase for all arts and artists and the accompanying online platform for middle-Atlantic artists to register. That was followed by the Montanha Pico Festival, founded to celebrate the mountain culture through art, and in 2016, the Cordas World Music Festival.
“Cordas World Music Festival was born of a need to create something that upholds traditional values and teachings while showing the islanders the world,” says Costa. “String musical instruments were always a part of the culture. I thought, why not develop that into an international festival where locals can not only see themselves but also participate while having musicians from around the world visiting with their unique string instruments and sharing their cultures? It has become a truly educational feast of sounds.”
The first Cordas World Music Festival was held in October 2016 and has been held yearly since.
“We are now planning the tenth edition to happen in 2025. We wish to create a ‘volcano’ of music and string instruments for all to enjoy. We have had artists from over twenty countries already participate in the festival. Mind you, we are a special, boutique, unique festival. During the week, we get about 2000 people to visit the programming.”
Venues include natural spots on the island, such as a garden, a cave, a volcanic crater, natural pools, and a dragon-tree sanctuary. “We also utilize the Center Square stage, the Museum auditorium, and the youngest contemporary auditorium of the region, in the town of Madalena, where the epicenter of the festival occurs.”
To put it into perspective, one of the signature events happens at the top of the highest mountain in Portugal. “It takes on average three hours scaling to get there, relax a bit, see a show, and then crawl back down to civilization,” explains Costa. “Of course, this is a very special event. It’s basically a time investment of a full day. We usually take fifty people on the journey, but last year, only twelve made it to the concert, as all the others gave up mountain climbing and came back down to safe terrain.”
The Cordas World Music Festival has already garnered various international awards, including Top 10 Best New Festival (Iberian Festival Awards 2017) and Global Top 10 Fest (Transglobal World Music Chart Festival Awards 2018). But the best award is always the audience who ventures to meet the unknown. “Year after year, we try to provide those moments by presenting artists and instruments not familiar to those who live on the islands.”
An add-on to the event is the newly formed Academia Cordas Academy, which was launched at the Folk Alliance International Conference in Kansas City. "That conference was a week to develop connections, make new discoveries, and experience inspirational moments,” says Costa. “It also gave us the opportunity to announce a new program for the Cordas, which fits into the objectives of the Folk world, the Academia Cordas Academy."
By creating this new program, MiratecaArts intends to welcome more artists during the Cordas World Music Festival. "Some artists visit the festival without being part of the lineup. With the Academy we want to encourage this to happen more and more, but by providing structures so visiting artists can gain more knowledge and experience working with local and international artists who regularly travel around the world." Therefore, Academia Cordas Academy will include a conference program, workshops, the opportunity for jam sessions, the creation of a unique show, and visits to emblematic places on the island with photo and video sessions, thus developing promotional materials for each participating artist.
Whether you speak Portuguese or not, this short documentary film offers a good idea of what the Cordas World Music Festival is all about.
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