World music: From a globetrotter鈥檚 Queens apartment to your ears
Long before Leonardo Pavkovic founded a one-man record label, he dreamed of freedom. As a child, he gazed at the hills behind his remote village in Yugoslavia and asked his grandpa, 鈥淲hat is on the other side of the mountain?鈥�
His grandfather鈥檚 answer was simple: 鈥淭he world.鈥�
Talking from his home office in New York City more than 50 years later, Mr. Pavkovic recalls an epiphanic moment. 鈥淚 said to myself, 鈥業 need to see that world.鈥欌��
Why We Wrote This
Can the efforts of one person bring about more interest in global culture? With perseverance and an upbeat attitude, record label owner Leonardo Pavkovic is trying to get more of the world鈥檚 music heard.
That wanderlust is at the heart of MoonJune Records, which Mr. Pavkovic established in 2001. Its business model is as unorthodox as its global roster of experimental rock and jazz. In February, the label passed the milestone of releasing its 100th album. But fewer than a dozen of them have turned a profit. Mr. Pavkovic is OK with that. He believes the music enriches those who get to hear it. The impresario embodies the spirit of globalization by finding niche musical acts 鈥� to cite one example, the Serbian jazz fusion pianist Vasil Had啪imanov 鈥� and pollinating their music across the world.聽
鈥淢usic is important as the intellectual and spiritual and artistic expression of humankind,鈥� says Mr. Pavkovic, who speaks five languages, has traveled to 75 countries, and is fond of using the adjective 鈥渃osmopolitan.鈥� 鈥淚鈥檓 promoting my friends from distant territories, because I think they deserve to be heard. Everybody knows about Western artists, but who knows about Indonesian artists or Brazilian artists or people from India or Spain or Serbia or Macedonia?鈥�
鈥淭here is always a solution鈥�
Mr. Pavkovic subsidizes MoonJune鈥檚 losses with money he makes as a tour promoter for his acts. Since the spread of COVID-19, he has been making phone calls across the globe to cancel and reschedule show dates, hotel bookings, and airline flights. The shutdown derailed a tour by Stick Men, a trio whose music centers around an obscure 8- to 12-stringed musical instrument called the Chapman Stick. It鈥檚 a blow, given that Stick Men is one of the acts that helps float all the rest.聽
鈥淚 figured out in my life that there is always a solution,鈥� says the irrepressibly upbeat Mr. Pavkovic. It鈥檚 a quality that鈥檚 helped him deal with many mercurial musicians.聽
Mr. Pavkovic鈥檚 musical imagination took flight when he attended college in Belgrade, Serbia. An older friend introduced him to artists such as Magma, Frank Zappa, Keith Jarrett, King Crimson, and Van der Graaf Generator who blurred the boundaries between jazz, rock, classical, and folk. Their intrepid exploration resonated with him.
鈥淪omehow my positive, optimistic [outlook on] life 鈥� to know the world, to conquer the world, to know things, to find them 鈥� inspired me,鈥� he says.聽
A knack for improvising
Mr. Pavkovic鈥檚 attraction to the center of the music world and his ability to improvise under less than ideal circumstances led him to New York City. He arrived with $500 in his pocket. Three decades later, he runs MoonJune out of the apartment in Queens he shares with his wife.聽
The label emanates 鈥渁 sense of exploration and joyous adventure,鈥� says Prog magazine music journalist Sid Smith. 鈥淸Its] records possess energy and focus, a quality that鈥檚 present in what appears to be quite diverse and different releases but which gives them all a kind of continuity. 鈥�
Mr. Pavkovic has grown MoonJune鈥檚 mailing list to 22,000 people and handles everything from marketing to designing artwork. He relishes introducing his small but fervently devoted audience to new sounds. The label includes seven artists from Indonesia, for example.聽
For MoonJune, success is measured by a matter of degrees.聽Mr. Pavkovic is delighted if he can boost an act鈥檚 sales from 200 to 400 albums. More importantly, MoonJune鈥檚 marketing efforts include mailing as many as 400 promos to media outlets worldwide. It generates invaluable exposure. For example, Seattle-based guitarist Dennis Rea 鈥� the sort of musician who relishes collaborating with a Tuvan throat singer 鈥� has been invited to play festivals in Mexico and Russia as a result of Mr. Pavkovic鈥檚 promotion.聽
鈥淎lbums of minor artists can even generate 70 to 80 or even more reviews all around the world 鈥� online and in the printed press 鈥� and a lot of college and online airplay on various radio stations,鈥� says Mr. Pavkovic. 鈥淚f not for me, probably no one would ever know about them outside of their circles in their countries or even in their cities.鈥�
The label owner also takes time to correspond with individual fans. He enthusiastically explains how a British expatriate聽in Vietnam discovered MoonJune by purchasing an archival reissue by British psychedelic jazz-rock group聽Soft Machine. The listener became so enamored with the label鈥檚 sensibility that he鈥檚 since bought every single MoonJune release.聽For the label owner, that offers more satisfaction than turning a profit. His joy lies in discovering more of the world and its beauty.
鈥淚鈥檓 always looking for something,鈥� reflects Mr. Pavkovic, who sometimes convenes musicians on his label to record in a mansion named La Casa Murada in Catalonia, Spain, so that they can improvise and stretch musical boundaries. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 care about if this music will sell. We want to be free. Because that鈥檚 the point of the art.鈥�
