ETHNO: GLOBAL MUSIC GATHERINGS
Ethno is JM International’s program for folk, world, and traditional music (JMI, www.jmi.net ). Founded in 1990 in its very first edition in Sweden, it is aimed at young musicians aged 16 to 30, with a mission to revive and keep alive global cultural heritage.
Present in over 20 countries, Ethno engages young people through a series of annual international music camps as well as workshops and concerts, working together with schools, conservatories, communities, and other groups of youth to promote peace, tolerance, and intercultural understanding.
At the core of Ethno is a democratic peer-to-peer learning approach whereby young people teach each other the music from their countries and cultures. It is a non-formal pedagogy that has been refined over the past 30 years, embracing the principles of intercultural dialogue and understanding. Ethno provides a unique opportunity for young people from across the globe to come together and democratically engage through music in a manner that is characterized by respect, generosity, and openness.
Through their extensive work around the world, JMI has seen that Arabic music is not well-represented on the global scene. In order to reduce the familiarity gap with Arabic music, they are seeking to create new Ethnos throughout the Middle East. As a result of their efforts, the Delia Arts Foundation, an associate member of JMI, is establishing Ethno Palestine 2022. By musically bridging Occident and Orient, the workshop will promote Arabic culture through music while creating an opportunity for local and international musicians to exchange tunes and knowledge while building long-lasting friendships. As a practical output of this, community workshops will take place and a concert will be organized for locals at the end of the camp to showcase the cultural diversity of the group.
Working side by side with the Delia Arts Foundation is Swedish partner Bilda and their Palestinian counterpart the Swedish Christian Study Center. The program is being funded by a generous grant from Creative Force – Svenska Institutet. These organizations will promote the goals and outputs of the camp to the local and international audience and will work on building a strong connection with the Ethno World network. Through the network young Palestinian musicians will have the opportunity to participate in other Ethno camps around the world so they can share their heritage more broadly while also experiencing other cultures.
Ethno Palestine is scheduled to take place in the West Bank from July 10-17, 2022. The event is of great importance locally and regionally. Palestinian musicians have long been reporting that they have been cut off from the rest of the world due to political unrest and geographic location. This project will open up the local culture to international musicians as well as international audiences and aims to promote Palestinian heritage, raise awareness of the abundance of regional talent, and to create more opportunities for Palestinian musicians locally and internationally.
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