Welcome to Mondo Mundo, the new booking agency for innovative, international talent !
Mondo Mundo was founded in September 2006, by 2 music industry veterans with diverse experience in the music industry - Phil Ballman and Mel Puljic.
Mondo Mundo represents first-class talent, from all corners of the world, booking our fantastic artists primarily for the North American market.
Phil Ballman is a musician who has broad experience on the business side of music in addition to his work as a performer. In his 15 year career, he has served as radio programmer, artist manager, booking agent, retail buyer, tour manager, publicist, talent buyer, and more in both the United States and Europe. As performer he is best known for his work with Antibalas, the Brooklyn-based Afrobeat orchestra that he served as first manager / drummer with from 1999-2003. His drumset work is documented on Antibalas' first 3 studio recordings. Phil has also recorded with Oneida, and has performance credits with Cyro Baptista among others. Phil's musical travels have brought him to Rio de Janeiro, where he played in the Sambodromo with two samba schools during Carnaval 2005; Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where he participated in Vodou ceremonies as drummer, and Phil was also a founding member of the first Balinese gamelan orchestra in the southeastern United States, Gamelan Hanuman Agung. Ballman's years of touring in over two dozen countries has prepared him to open the Mondo Mundo Agency along with partner Mel Puljic.
Mel Puljic is an artist and label management executive with a career on 2 continents. Puljic started his career at the dawn of the new, democratic South Africa in 1994, upon graduating from law school. He established and lead a successful label group and distribution company in Johannesburg (releasing and distributing international and domestic repertoire), before taking up new challenges in the US in 1998. After enduring 4 years of working for others, Puljic established a world music sales, marketing and business development company which is very active and represents the North American interests of leading labels in this market segment.
We are based in New York, with an additional satellite office in Chicago.