This year's theme on Førdefestivalen is: On the run!
In the past, now and probably in the future we will see people fleeing, due to war, distress, ethnic or religious oppression, poverty, lack of freedom of expression or other reasons. Today, refugees come to Europe from, among others, Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea – and they bring their culture with them. Others are refugees in their own countries, for example in Colombia, which is the country in the world with the most internal refugees after Syria (source: UNHCR). Others travel to neighboring countries, and still others travel from other continents to Europe. In their luggage, many bring with them sad and dramatic stories of difficult lives and difficult destinies. But they also bring with them their knowledge and their abilities, their culture and traditions – and their music.
Current affairs - and with a historical perspective
-The theme On the Run! is global and highly topical in every way, says festival director Hilde Bjørkum. - But through this theme we will also look at music and culture on the move in a longer historical perspective. For example, over 800,000 Norwegians emigrated to North America in the 19th century, mainly for economic reasons. Furthermore, economic conditions and ethnic oppression have for hundreds of years forced Roma people to flee and emigrate; many Kurds have had to flee due to persecution and oppression, and the Jews, with their history of flight spanning over a thousand years, took their culture with them from the Middle East via North Africa, Spain and on to many countries in Europe, where it often merged with the local musical traditions of the countries they came to.
Star singer Mor Karbasi brings her Spanish-Jewish Ladino tradition.
Cultural wealth
- Through this year's theme, we will focus on the cultural richness and diversity of countries we otherwise tend to think of and hear about in connection with war, conflict, poverty and distress, says director Hilde Bjørkum, who will show the beauty of the culture and music from these countries, and remind us all that migration has always influenced and developed the society and culture around us.
Collaboration with Church Cultural Workshop
Syria is, from a cultural and religious point of view, the most complex country in the Middle East, and bears some of the oldest traditions within Christianity. At the same time, there are many shades of Islam and Judaism in the country. Syria has lived with this great religious diversity for many centuries; the major conflicts have only come in recent times. This is reflected in the musical traditions linked to the different religious movements.
Førdefestivalen is collaborating with Kirkelig Kulturverksted (KKV) to bring out this diversity through this year's large church concert, which will be one of the festival's new concert productions this year. The music will also be released on a record that will be released at the festival. The producer for the project and the concert is the director of KKV, Erik Hillestad.
- I am very happy about the collaboration with KKV and Erik Hillestad, says Hilde Bjørkum. KKV has worked for years to bring out many great artists that we would otherwise not have known about, and promotes interpersonal understanding across cultures and religions, which is very much in line with the festival's core values.
Multicultural project about lullabies
Another of the festival's new productions this year is about lullabies. The song is a common denominator for cultures all over the world. No matter where we come from, we sing for our children. The festival has launched a project in which a selection of immigrant women in Sunnfjord are invited to share their lullabies with us. Norwegian folk singers will also be featured in this concert, which will take place on Sunday during the festival. The artistic director of the project is singer Kari Malmanger, and the project is being carried out in collaboration with Sogn og Fjordane County Council.
Mahala Rai Banda from Romania.
Artists from Syria, Eritrea, Israel/Spain, Romania, Turkey and Hungary
This year's theme artists, which the audience will hear at the big opening concert, På flukt!, on Thursday, July 7th in Førdehuset (the festival "sneaks" on Wednesday, while the official opening concert is Thursday), is the Syrian group Broukar, which was formed in 2007 in Damascus, but where the musicians today live as refugees in various countries in Europe. Through this ensemble, the audience will also experience the very special whirling dervish dance. Singer Faytinga comes from Eritrea, while star vocalist Mor Karbasi brings her Sephardic-Jewish musical tradition from Spain. This tradition goes back to the time before many thousands of Spanish Jews were forced to flee in the 14th century. She sings in the Jewish language Ladino, which she has helped to save from being completely forgotten with her career. The Roma people are represented by the group Romengo from Hungary and Mahala Rai Banda from Romania. These two groups will challenge each other in the park at Festplassen in Førde Friday night during the festival, at what the director hopes will be a legendary gypsy party. There will also be exciting dance rhythms when the group Nishtiman takes the stage with their energetic Kurdish music.
Below you can read more about the artists who have been released in connection with the theme. The full program and artists will be released on April 7th.