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Gavin is the first and only Guyanese to participate in and share Guyanese folk music at an Ethno event.
Musician and Director of Rupununi Music & Arts Festival, Gavin Mendonca, is once again blazing a trail across the world, taking Guyanese folk music and culture to new places – this time at Ethno Sweden.
Gavin performed Guyanese folk songs in Sweden for the first time at a concert in the centre of Rattvik, a small town where Ethno is being hosted. He was able to connect and share with other amazing young musicians from Sweden, Estonia, Palestine, Greece, Hungary, Chile, France, England, Kurdistan and Australia.
Last year, he attended Ethno USA as a participant – teaching ‘Small Days’ to his peers from 12 other countries. This year, he is at Ethno Sweden as a volunteer and part of the leadership team as the official Sound Engineer/Technical Assistant as he seeks to broaden his skills set.
“The Ethno Music Camp is JM International’s programme for folk, world and traditional music. Founded in 1990 in Sweden, it is aimed at young musicians (up to the age of 30) with a mission to revive and keep alive global cultural heritage,” Gavin told Buzz this week.
At the core of the Ethno is its democratic, peer-to-peer learning approach.
Present in over 40 countries and on all six continents, Ethno engages young people through a series of annual international music camps as well as workshops, concerts and tours, working together with schools, conservatories and other groups of youth to promote peace, tolerance and understanding.
At the core of the Ethno is its democratic, peer-to-peer learning approach whereby young people teach each other the music from their countries and other aspects of their culture.
Gavin was even able to meet with the founder of Ethno World and according to him, he was able to obtain brilliant advice and encouragement to start Ethno Guyana and Ethno Caribbean. In the future. As such, he hopes to incorporate Ethno Guyana into the Rupununi Music and Arts Festival.