The World Music Festival, Cordas, is celebrating its tenth edition in Madalena do Pico. Local musicians with violas and guitars take to the stage alongside international musicians who showcase their different cultures and string instruments, some of which have never been seen before on the island of Pico.

Last night, halfway through the festival, the sound of the Canarian timple rose to one of the largest stages in the Azores, the Madalena Auditorium. Beselch Rodríguez is one of the leading representatives of the new generation of Canarian timple players, interested in seeking a global sound rooted in tradition. A self-taught artist with a unique musical approach, he has successfully fused styles and new processes to bring his audience a sound rooted in tradition, yet renewed and contemporary. Accompanied by Carlos Martín, Beselch represented the Canary Islands at the Cordas Festival for the third time.

A debut was Mbye Ebrima, from Gambia, who, with his Corá (Kora), received the biggest applause seen at the festival to date. On Sunday afternoon, nearly two hundred people “felt the euphoria of the charisma and passion of this African who presented music from his homeland,” says Terry Costa, artistic director of MiratecArts and founder of Cordas. “We are at a special celebration and a turning point with our festival, small to the world but huge to the island. It’s been ten years of sharing and a journey through various cultures from the four corners of the world.”

The sarod, an Indo-Persian instrument, has also enchanted Corda’s audiences. Presented by Wyetta Bontempo, sitting on a blanket on the floor of the Madalena Library, “it brought peace to the space and a Zen moment,” admitted librarian Fernanda Medeiros. In contrast, one of the regulars, Fernando Machado, who attends daily, admitted to the artistic director that he had never seen an event like this: “the diversity presented at this festival is incredible.”

The Cordas Festival continues until October 11 and also includes international artists Maija Kauhanen from Finland, closing the program, Brazilians Luizga and Laya, Kukka and Rai Ridder from Germany, and Lu Yanan from China, as well as a wonderful Portuguese group that includes Frankie Chavez, Marta Pereira da Costa, Pedro Mestre, and Azoreans Ruben Bettencourt and Jonathan Afonso, among others. For the schedule, visit festivalcordas.com and follow on social media for daily updates.

We thank the Luso-American Education Foundation for its support of PBBI at Fresno State.