As the world tightens and the distance between us grows, we need spaces where we can be together and feel a sense of community. Music calls us there. It crosses borders without passports. It speaks languages ​​without words. Even when everything else falls silent, music continues. Under dark skies, through turmoil and uncertainty, people still find a song to hold on to. A song to share.  

Tonight, musicians from all over the world will bring their stories and traditions:
Tarabband is the life's work of Egyptian-Iraqi Nadin Al Khalidi after she came to Sweden as a refugee in 2001. Through lyrics with political and social themes, she expresses a heartfelt desire for peace and understanding across cultures.

The Jawa music ensemble is the guardian of venerable Sufi traditions that are in danger of dying out due to the war in Syria. Together with their whirling dervish, they play for inner peace and a future for a valuable cultural heritage. 

Daughters of Donbas ' project Songs of Stolen Children is a testimony to the cruel and ongoing tragedy in which over 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted from occupied territories in Eastern Ukraine and into Russia. They sing for a Ukrainian identity and for hope. 

Seckou Keita with Olav Torget and Åsne Valland Nordli shows us that the musical world does not respect national borders. Seckou and Åsne were participants in the festival's international talent project in 1996. Our own peace project where young musicians from all over the world met to create understanding across cultures and traditions.  

Vera Synne and Martin Steinum Brun captivated millions of viewers around the world when they sang at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo City Hall in November.  

The program director for the peace concert is Rima Iraki , well known from Dagsrevyen and Urix, and now relevant with the book Flukten frå Palestina. Together with the fine artists, she will make the peace concert an experience where we can perhaps feel what peace can be for each of us, but also for a community. When we listen together, we share something more than music. We share a hope.  

And maybe that's where it starts.