A Samoan musician is on her way to Portugal to participate in the 2022 Worldwide Music Expo (WOMEX) and will represent both Samoa and American Samoa.

Local musician Pulotu Siteine Peta Siulepa told the Samoa Observer that she is now on her way to Lisbon in Portugal to attend one of the world’s largest music conferences.

"I am going on Saturday 15th to the WOMEX 2022 held in Portugal as the Director of the Samoana Jazz and Arts Festival for the two Samoas," she told this newspaper.

WOMEX is considered the most international and culturally diverse music meeting in the world and the biggest conference of the global music scene, featuring a trade fair, talks, films and showcase concerts. It will be held in Lisbon, Portugal from 19–23 October 2022.

According to the WOMEX website, over 2,600 professionals (including 260 performing artists) come together every October from 90 countries, making WOMEX the leading networking platform for the world music industry. Its musical spectrum is unparalleled in the international showcase performance market, ranging from the most traditional to the new global local underground, embracing folk, roots, jazz, local and diaspora cultures as much as urban and electronic sounds from all over the globe.

WOMEX and the many delegates in its community aims to support and strengthen the role of culture around the globe and to spread its values through the nurturing and promotion of creativity and art. The local and global world music community is able to – and needs to – contribute to cross-cultural understanding in a welcoming, tolerant, diverse and productive manner.

The event remains devoted to facilitating and promoting the global music industry and providing a platform to connect, inspire and share experiences, enabling new partnerships across transcontinental markets and an open economic and international cultural dialogue.