This year the infamous Ethno Histria attracted around seventy crazy folk/ traditional musicians from around the globe! Ethno Histia mentors included Matija Solce (Slovenia), Maarja Nuut (Estonia), Fernando Stern (Chile), Stephan Steiner (Austria) and Stina Rosen (Sweden); for those unfamiliar with the concept, mentors at Ethno guide the musical meanderings rather than ‘teach’ in a traditional form of the word. The teaching is done primarily by the participants, who share their own musical knowledge in a mutual learning exchange with their Ethno peers.

The program was fresh with a lot of variety including theatre performances, street processions, shows around the region and of course an array of different workshops. Over the 8 days, participants got a taste of the traditional and contemporary folk music’s of Slovenia, Estonia, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, France, Argentina, Sweden, Chile, Hungary, Scotland, Slovakia, Czech, England and Germany… wow. There were vocal and percussion section through whole week - singers were fully occupied

Through out the camp participants had the chance to put there newly acquired repertoires into action with several outside concerts. The street procession followed by a bigger concert in Koper was very well received; the concert in Piran consisted of a medley of solos by participants, which was a perfect opportunity to demonstrate to other participants their own works and not only their folk music. Concerts in the surrounding villages were warmly accepted by the local people, with other short concerts held in the prison of Koper, shopping centres and even in a caves. Ethno organiser Matija Solce believes “It is good to bring participants to places in which these kinds of things rarely happen, places like pensioners houses, schools, factories, the jungle, jails, you know…”

In the week when the Union for the Mediterranean has been launched by the French presidency, the national section of Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI) in Cyprus reasserts the crucial role that culture, and especially music, can play in developing positive intercultural values, attitudes and behaviours amongst young people of all Mediterranean countries.

Together with five EU and Mediterranean partners, JM Cyprus is organizing Ethno Cyprus 2008 (11-19 July 2008), funded by the “Youth Euromed” program of the European Commission and the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture. Thereby, Ethno Cyprus is contributing to better mutual understanding between musical youth in the EuroMed sub-region, bringing together about 40 musicians from five countries. Such steps are not only innovative approaches to the peace building process but also serve to improve youth and cultural policy development in the region and thereby strengthen new initiatives such as the Union for the Mediterranean.

Nenad Bogdanovic, president of JM Cyprus, argues that infrastructure for youth music projects is currently under developed in the Mediterranean region: “We hope soon to establish better equipped facilities that will enable young musicians and young audiences to communicate through music on a more permanent and stable basis. The Euromed Youth Music Centre, here in Limassol, would not be only a meeting point, but also a live platform uniting Europe and the Middle East.”

Ethno Cyprus 2008 will finish with two concerts, 17 July in Nicosia and 18 July in Limassol. The concert in Limassol will be dedicated to the launch of the Union for the Mediterranean, establishing a milestone for further co-operation between the Mediterranean countries.