End of successful project

Talent 2009 with participants from Zambia, Tanzania and Norway. Photo: Heidi Hattestein.

For 22 years, young talent from the north and south have come together to make music under Førdefestivalen and later in the home countries of the travelers. But this year it is over. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided that they will no longer support this initiative. Other priorities have come into play in the cultural work with aid countries.

Strange

It is surprising that the ministry has cut this. In December 2015, an evaluation report of the project was submitted, which was laudatory in its description of the work. For example, they wrote:

"The project has grown and developed during the course of its existence and by 2015 reached more than 200 talents in 34 countries. It has connected people, networks and institutions worldwide, and has had a social, personal, cultural and artistic impact on those involved as well as other stakeholders linked to it."

In the summary it says:

"...the Talent project's active approach towards cultural rights and gender balance strengthens its societal relevance and efficiency and should therefore be encouraged and appreciated continuously."

In direct contradiction to this recommendation from its own evaluation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has therefore chosen to cut the authorization for this project.

Talent 2015 in the festival parade. The participants came from Iran, Armenia and Norway. Photo: Tamineh Monzavi

– How does this fit together, Director Hilde Bjørkum?

– For us, it is incomprehensible. There is talk that the ministry will not continue because some of the money goes to Norwegian performers, and the way the Ministry of Foreign Affairs thinks about this now, they will spend everything abroad. But in our view, this is an unwise assessment. International network cooperation is the alpha and omega in cultural work, especially for musicians and cultural actors in the south. We have many examples of this. In other areas, such as road construction or oil extraction, it is of course a collaboration between Norwegian and local actors. So why is it so difficult to understand that one should also use Norwegian professional expertise, and offer international network and exhibition arenas in Norway, also within the cultural field?

Ripple effects

In April this year, Hilde Bjørkum went to Colombia, where three of the performers from last year's talent project come from. Such return visits have been part of the program all along. It gives continuity to the work and makes it possible to get an impression of how the project has worked and what kind of ripple effects it has had.

– What was it like meeting new talent in Colombia?

Talent 2017 - warm welcome in connection with the return visit to Colombia in April 2018.

– It was fantastic! We got off the plane, pretty tired after the long flight, but in the arrivals hall they stood, together with a whole bunch of colleagues and friends, and gave us a whole little concert! It was very moving and was a good start to our stay. I was impressed by the work being done at the local music institute. They have an important task when it comes to building up civil society after the war. Several of the students have free places at this center, so that they can learn to play an instrument instead of drifting along the streets. This was clear proof that our talent project can help lay the foundation for development locally. The project therefore has far greater ripple effects than just for the performers who actually participate in it.

They had also organized several large concerts, which attracted up to 1,000 listeners, and the press coverage was good. Four radio stations and three TV channels broadcast several of the concerts or had features about the project. It was inspiring to see how important this was to the people there, says Hilde Bjørkum.

Turned pro

The starting point for the entire Talent Project sprang from a doodle between Hilde Bjørkum and Rikskonsertane's representative Anne Moberg in 1994. Until then, there had only been Norwegian participants in their own talent project that they had at the festival. But the following year, the recruitment base was expanded and performers from both Egypt and Zimbabwe came. It has continued like this ever since. Førdefestivalen and the National Concerts have collaborated on this.

Many of those who have had the opportunity to participate in the talent project have subsequently become professional musicians or artists For many of the athletes from countries in the south and east, the trip to Førde were their first opportunity to travel outside their own country, or even outside their village. For example, the completely unknown Seckou Keita came from Senegal to Førde in 1996. He is now world-famous for his playing of the kora instrument. He has guested Førdefestivalen again in 2016 - then as a star with his own programme.

Among the Norwegian participants, we can mention Gro Marie Svidal, who was in the very first group that in 1995 got to play together with musicians from Egypt and Zimbabwe. And later we have seen that the careers of Åsne Valland (talent in 1996), Andreas Skeie Ljones (talent 1997), Gjermund Larsen (talent 1999), Kim André Rysstad (talent 2006), Ingebjørg Bratland (talent 2008) and Erlend Apneseth (talent 2010) have taken a turn for the better, who have since both delivered commissioned work for the festival and has been nominated for the Spellemann Prize), to name a few of the 225 who have taken part in this unique cultural exchange – which has now ended.

Impressed

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' new profile on the support has also had consequences for other actors, says Anne Moberg, who, after the National Concerts were discontinued in 2016, is now employed by its successor: Kulturtanken.

- After 2013, when Børge Brende joined the ministry, the focus changed. This also applies, for example, to the travel support scheme for Music Norway. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs refers to other travel support schemes where there should still be opportunities to receive support for cross-cultural projects, but I have not been able to find them, she says.

– What is the most important thing about Førdefestivalen his talent project?

– The evaluation report points to several important results. I myself have been impressed to see how great the ripple effects of the project have been in the individual countries we have collaborated with. We saw it recently in Colombia, how the participants had developed both musically and linguistically. They had also become more confident in themselves and dared to influence the result more. They also invited several of their fellow students to take part in rehearsals and at the concert. The international collaboration gives them the strength to believe in themselves, that folk music is something that young people in other countries are interested in, says Anne Moberg.

Talent 2013 - 'Ethnodans' is photographer Heidi Hattestein's title for this photo. This year the participants came from the Philippines, Indonesia and Norway.

The future

– Is all hope lost for the talent project, Hilde Bjørkum?

– We are several Norwegian cultural actors who are now joining forces to enter into direct dialogue with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain that the Talent Project and other collaborative projects are too important for them to cut them. For the Talent Project, we are also talking about an allocation of 700,000 kroner. That is not a staggering sum in an aid context. We believe that they are throwing good projects overboard, and we hope the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will change its mind – cultural actors in Norway can help fulfill Norway's goal of developing the cultural field in the south, but then we must realize that north-south cooperation is important, says the director.

This is what some participants in the talent project say:

Sanskriti Shresta, Nepal:

"How it changed me in different ways as a musician does directly benefit the Nepalese music scene. The Talent project connected me to different musicians, like Steinar (Ofsdal, editor's note) with whose help I started studying here at NMH. During my studies and all those years, I always present Nepal where ever I go and perform. […] little funny thing to say, but I have realized that I have also been an inspiration to some of the upcoming young musicians in Nepal.”
 

Salvador Hernandez, Peru:

"Everybody knows everybody in my village. Imagine that someone from our village was asked to represent Venezuela! Everybody – even the mayor gave us his blessings. Our representation in Førde was a big honor for them. They were so proud that we, from the small village of Nirgua, got to travel abroad to represent Venezuela and not someone from the capital.”
 

Mathews Mfune, director of Music Crossroads, Malawi:

The Talent project is very important in that it has helped shape young artists but also given them a platform. We are looking forward to more of these programmes. We have many young artists out there who need the platform to build their skills. The Talent 2016 team from Malawi has learned a lot and we hope they will pass the skills to fellow artists.”
 

Otieno Wakake, Kenya:

"The vast information exchanged has actually formed the basis on which my current career runs. The process of making me understand possibilities of developing fusions between my music with others, helping me understand production skills and applying the making use of the same in making my music. […] All in all I can confidently say that the interactions left a mark that will live on.”
 

Åse Valland Nordli

- It was sad to hear that the Talent Project has not received funding to continue. It was a nice project, not least thanks to the two leaders Tone Hulbækmo and Hans Fredrik Jacobsen the year I was involved.

– What did the project mean for your own musical career?

– Meeting people from other cultures and forming bands internationally meant a lot at that time. I was very young. After meeting these young musicians from India, Cuba and Senegal, I became more aware of how the ornamentation in the different vocal traditions is different. Learning about this has been important for me in my development as a singer and improvisational musician.

– What do you do for a living now?

– I have been living as a folk musician and improvisational singer for all the years since, after a short break with humanitarian work in Romania.
 

Gro Marie Svidal

– I must say right away that it is terribly sad that the Talent Project is not continuing. It has been a project that has had many different aspects to it – beyond the purely musical. I learned an enormous amount from meeting young performers from other cultures. For the first time, I experienced meeting someone who was so completely different from me, and yet with whom I had a lot in common.

– What do you remember best?

– The sound of the instruments and their voices, the warmth that everyone put into the work. We forged an incredibly strong bond in a short time. I remember that on the last night of the festival we sat together and cried because it was over.

– Do you still have contact with any of the others who were there?

– Yes, occasionally. But I don't talk anymore about Chiwoniso Maraire, who is now dead. She was at the beginning of her career when we were together in Førde , and then she became a big star in Zimbabwe.

– What do you do for a living now?

– I have just finished a tour with the first act Sunniva no i Den kulturellert skolesekken, where I have composed the music, played and produced. Then I am directing a performance during the Landskappleiken in Trysil in June: Å vera i livet og under Førdefestivalen I have the production of the show Klangen by Astrup. And then I try to find time for some solo playing every now and then…