Contacts
The Festival
FMM Sines - Festival Músicas do Mundo is a music festival held every July in the municipality of Sines on the Alentejo coast in Portugal. Organised by the Sines City Council, it is a cultural public service festival. Adopting “Music with a spirit of adventure” as a motto, the festival is presented in historic and urban scenarios of great beauty and authenticity, close to a coastline with protected landscape.
Creation
The festival was created in 1999 with the aim of promoting Sines Castle – associated with the biography of the explorer Vasco da Gama –, in the form of an event which illustrated the diversity of the musical genres in the world. Today, the festival stretches beyond the physical boundaries of the castle and discovery is its philosophy.
Concept
The programme of FMM embraces and transcends the scope of world music. It is open to folk, jazz, alternative music, fusion and urban music. More than just a world music or traditional roots music festival, FMM Sines strives to discover the music of the real world as it is made and experienced in our times: music marked by associations between performers from different geographic and cultural origins, arising from the movements of ideas and people which define contemporary society.
Venues (+info)
The festival is held in the old towns of two locations in the municipality of Sines: the city of Sines (the stages located at the Castle, Avenida Vasco da Gama, Sines Arts Centre and Largo Poeta Bocage) and the village of Porto Covo (Largo Marquês de Pombal).
Background
The festival was attended by around 1,400,000 spectators from 1999 to 2022 (22 editions). 688 concerts were held involving over 3600 musicians from more than 100 countries and regions.
Some of the artists that already performed at FMM Sines: Taraf de Haidouks, Black Uhuru feat. Sly & Robbie, Hedningarna, Kronos Quartet, The Skatalites, Tom Zé, Femi Kuti, Seun Kuti, Hermeto Pascoal, Marc Ribot, Master Musicians of Jajouka, Trilok Gurtu, Toumani Diabaté, Mahmoud Ahmed, Gogol Bordello, Rokia Traoré, Asha Bhosle, Debashish Bhattacharya, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Tinariwen, Ebo Taylor, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Mari Boine, Oumou Sangaré, Béla Fleck, Hugh Masekela, Mulatu Astatke, Angélique Kidjo, Salif Keita, Danyèl Waro, Billy Bragg, Richard Bona, Kroke, Huun-Huur-Tu, Bulimundo, Susheela Raman, Chico César, Omar Souleyman, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Inner Circle, Ana Tijoux and Omara Portuondo.
Acknowledgements
The festival has been awarded the following prizes and acknowledgements:
- EFFE Award 2017
- Iberian Festival Awards 2020 - Best cultural programme (Portugal & Spain)
- Iberian Festival Awards 2019 - Best touristic promotion (Portugal & Spain)
- Iberian Festival Awards 2019 - Best cultural programme (Portugal)
- Iberian Festival Awards 2019 - Best major festival (Portugal)
- Iberian Festival Awards 2018 – Best cultural programme (Portugal & Spain)
- Iberian Festival Awards 2017 – Best cultural programme (Portugal & Spain)
- Iberian Festival Awards 2017 – Best major festival (Portugal)
- Iberian Festival Awards 2017 – Best touristic promotion (Portugal)
- Iberian Festival Awards 2016 – Best lineup (Portugal & Spain)
- Iberian Festival Awards 2016 – Best major festival (Portugal)
- Iberian Festival Awards 2016 – Best cultural programme (Portugal)
- Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe - EFFE Label 2017-2018
- Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe - EFFE Label 2015-2016
- Prémio Turismo do Alentejo 2012 – Best event
- Prémio Turismo do Alentejo 2011 – Best event
- Prémio Mais Alentejo 2016 - Mais Sensação
- Songlines +25 of the Best International Festivals – 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015
- Prémio Município do Ano 2018 - Cat. 'Alentejo' - Universidade do Minho - Project: "FMM Sines - Festival Músicas do Mundo - 20 anos"