Ethno Sweden (July 2-10) turns 20 years old this year. It all started during the famous Falun Folk music Festival in 1990, and now, 20 years later, a couple of thousands of young folk musicians from all continents (except Australia) has experienced the Ethno atmosphere in Sweden.

Ethno Sweden celebrates the anniversary by making the camp a day longer and invites all old participants and leaders to a big party at the Folk music House in Rattvik, Dalarna on July 9, right after the final concert. As usual there are also concerts during the famous Bingsjo fiddle festival, excursions and dancing. This year, Swedish television will make a documentary film about Ethno Sweden, to be broadcasted after summer.

Countries coming in 2009: India, Jordan, Venezuela (first time!), Tunisia, Zambia, Turkey, France, Croatia, Belgium, Estonia and Great Britain.  Number of participants: 96.

See Ethno Sweden 2008 Documentary HERE

Ethno Histria takes place between June 29 and July 6 in Gracisce, Slovenia. There will be around 60 participants, there is a waiting list but quite few participants from the East this time. There will be small and big workshops, dance workshops and workshops in a church, in the forest and in the sea (!).

The schedule is tight with five performances in seven days. One big concert in Koper (with  TV recording) and one in Kranj for the JMI Annual General Assembly.  Ethno Histria will also be filmed this year. And seven participants will be chosen for the Ethno in Transit tour that right after the camp goes to Estonia, Austria and the Balkan countries.

Ethno Uganda will have its first ever session in Kampala September 6-13. The preparations for the first edition of Ethno Uganda are going well.  Nina and Mattias Pérez from Ethno Sweden will work as artistic leaders together with Wouter Vandenabeele from Belgium. Many young musicians have showed interest in Ethno Uganda and organizer Joel Sebunjo is expecting participants from Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Democratic republic of Congo, South Africa, Uganda, Venezuela, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Denmark and Ethiopia.

Flanders Ethno in Belgium is organized July 20-27 and it is their 10th year anniversary. The Belgians are expecting people arriving from China, Estonia, England, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Uganda, Jordan, Sweden and Belgium. The artistic leaders are Allan Skrobe from Sweden and Maarten Decombel, Remy Decker and Vincent Noiret from Belgium.  The anniversary concert will be in Tervuren on Friday. Saturday 27 July there is a concert at Colora Festival in Leuven and Sunday 26 July at Gentse Feesten.  

Ethno Croatia takes place between July 11 and 18. The first part takes place in beautiful town Groznjan, including two concerts and workshops, and the last two days the whole Ethno will move to Pula for a jam session and then to Ethnombient festival in Salona. 20 people will come to Ethno Croatia, groups from Sweden, Zambia and Croatia plus participants from Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Spain and South Africa. Leaders: Dario Marušić and Lidija Dokuzović.

Ethno, a program of Jeunesses Musicales International, uses peer-to-peer education, inviting young folk musicians to teach each other, by ear, the traditional folk songs from their cultures and to learn those of other participants. Through a combination of workshops, jam sessions, seminars, and performances, musicians have the opportunity to learn a variety of musical styles from around the world. The end result is a fabulous tapestry of sound and movement, where musicians and other artists (dancers, puppeteers, etc) exchange and explore new rhythms and sounds, taking their skills to a whole new level.

www.ethno-world.org