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mARKO pOLO (uk) mARKO pOLO (uk) was founded in 1983, the brainchild of Mark Ringwood (mARKO) and Paul Emmott (pOLO). With a background in arts marketing and international touring both partners were well placed to assess the European market. In 1986 pOLO went into the lucrative business of selling photocopiers and mARKO ploughed on, initially with folk artists including Gordon Giltrap, The Albion Band, and Hilary James & Simon Mayor, and then shifting base to embrace the developing world of world music, and blues. In 1993 the Arts Council of England helped mARKO to attend the Folk Alliance Convention in Tucson and fired by the obvious need for the UK music industry (outside of Pop and Classical music) to talk to each other, he founded 'Non-Pop' along with David Flower (now manager of the Buena Vista Social Club) and former Cooking Vinyl supremo and now Big Chill director Pete Lawrence. Today you'll find that Non-Pop has matured through 'Musicalliance' to become 'Modal UK' with an annual convention in Sheffield attracting upwards of 600 people from the business outside of the mainstream.. Meanwhile mARKO pOLO (uk) ploughed on discovering a rich vein of talent in Canada, and broadening the artist roster to cover literally every corner of the globe. The main criteria is that an artist must be marketable not just to mARKO pOLO (uk) but more importantly to the venue, festival, or promoter who is booking them. We're based in the Cathedral City of Chichester - a conscious choice brought about by a desire for a better quality of life as opposed to quantity ! Added to which we're an ecologically-minded bunch (mARKO, Sue, Will, and Ed) so we can cycle to work with reasonable safety via the Sustrans-restored Centurion Way. Agency and Management of Artists is not all that we do. We're heavily involved in the production and programming of the UK's biggest Blues Festival - Blues on the Farm (June 26-29 2003), and programme 'Roots Around the World' which is a series of world music concerts in West Sussex and which has just received a substantial Lottery grant for 2003. www.rootsaroundtheworldinfo mARKO also presents a monthly world music programme at 8pm on the first Sunday of each month on Spirit FM. If anyone needs any help or advice, we're more than happy to help - so don't be afraid to ask ! From a social aspect there's also a heavy commitment to the Hayling-Paris-Hayling Cycle Ride (www.hayling-cycle-ride.org.uk), which mARKO's done six times and in 2002 cycled from Bilbao back to the office, a distance of 1000 miles - details on the appropriate www.lostinfrance.org.uk web-site, and the Sustrans organisation. 2003's big ride is from the Mediterranean Coast near Montpellier back to the UK going up a little hill called Mont Ventoux along the way. 01243 789786 or
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