Dec 2011: WOBEON is born, with the launch of a basic blog site and event calendar listing global-music events happening around us.
2011
About Wobeon
We absolutely love ALL MUSIC.
We began as a simple blog-calendar in late 2011 that only wanted to chronicle world-music events and news in and around Austin. We then embarked on this whirlwind journey of music curation and presentation that culminated in the creation of our flagship WobeonFest, the Austin World Music and (most recently) Jazz Fusion Festival.
After hosting over 70 artists in the course of 5 great festivals, several showcases and special concerts, we are now focusing our collective energies on our first love, which is to discover, enjoy, share, and digitally promote great music and the community of musicians that create such beautiful music for our collective enjoyment.
Our History
Springtime showcase celebrating the presence of great tourng talent like Sauti Sol (Kenya), Canteca de Macao (Spain) and Zona Tango (Argentina) visiting Austin to attend the SXSW (South By Southwest) festival that week.
2012
April 2013: The first Austin World Music Festival is launched, presenting 12 great global-music artists on the main stage over a full weekend at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) in downtown Austin. The festival was headlined by Angelique Kidjo on Sat April 6 and by Collie Buddz on Sun April 7. Other featured artists include: Fatoumata Diawara, Red Baraat, La Santa Cecilia, Mohammed Alidu, Dubtonic Kru, Atash, Hardproof Afrobeat and other great local and touring artists. The United Way for Greater Austin and several other organizations collaborated to make this a momentous weekend for music and for the Austin community.
2013
September 2013: The Austin Peace Concert emerged in response to the great energy generated by the first WobeonFest, we teamed up with our friends at Amala Foundation to stage a packed mini-festival at Vuka in Austin, featuring some of the best regional World Music talent in the Texas area, and also included visiting artists from overseas.
2013
The Austin World Music Festival moves to the Fall season and to the new, spacious Ironwood Hall and featured some great touring artists (Taj Weekes, Hoba Hoba Spirit, Farah Siraj, Dende and Vivalda Dula, to name a few), as well as local Austin luminaries like Bramaya and Maracatu Texas. Partnering organizations included Amala FOundation, Playing For Change Foundation and others.
2014
WobeonFest 2015 expands to three days of music and dialog, with the addition of the Austin Jazz Fusion Festival and the first Texas World Cultures Conference. The Music festival featured drum legend Billy Cobham and guitar great Scott Henderson, each with a star-studded lineup of music giants. The Austin World Music Festival program was treated to a unique headlining act in the form of Malian guitar/blues great Vieux Farka Toure. Also featured was multi-instrumentalist Kinobe. As in previous years, all three days featured extended live sets by some of Austin's great talent.
2015
Wobeon embarks on a series of specially-curated, passionately-presented series of showcases at local Austin venues. Each showcase comprised of multiple artists, both Austin local artists and touring acts. Some of the better-known touring artists include: Tal National, Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars, Karsh Kale, Ester Rada and others. More on Wobeon's Showcases
Ongoing
