Shetland-Music.com

Working in partnership with the Folk Music Association in Denmark (FMS), the Shetland Folk Festival Society is bringing together five established tutors and twenty young musicians from Shetland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland for a weeklong exchange of folk music, culture and heritage.

After an intensive week of teaching, learning and arranging in workshops and rehearsals, the project will culminate with the "Nordic Tone" performance as part of the Clickimin Concert on Saturday 2nd May.

Together with Helge Arildsø of FMS in Denmark, Davie Henderson from the Festival has been planning this project since November 2007. 150,000 Danish kroner was awarded by the Nordic Culture Fund to meet the travel expenses of the participants but a funding gap remained to meet the Shetland based costs.

The Shetland Folk Festival Society has since been awarded a grant up to £11,088 by the Shetland LEADER Local Action Group towards the costs of this exciting and innovative Trans-Nordic educational project.

Expressing his relief at the news of the LEADER funding, Davie Henderson explains how "basically, this funding enables our Society to host this ambitious project in Shetland this year. Not only does it allow our Festival to forge links and cooperation with established music institutions throughout the Nordic region, it helps us promote our islands' native and distinctive folk music traditions to other areas. It's exciting to be offering an opportunity for young Shetland musicians to take part and develop their skills in an active and vibrant educational music project that wouldn't be available to them otherwise."

The Festival is now looking for four talented and self-motivated young musicians, between the age of 16 and 25, who can teach Shetland folk music to the other participants and are interested in exchanging culture through this innovative way of teaching and learning. As timescales are tight, the deadline for applications is 3rd April.

Overseeing the teaching will be tutors Kevin Henderson from Shetland, Henrik Jansberg from Denmark, Ånon Egeland from the Dept. of Folk Culture at Telemark University College, Jonas Simonson from the World Music Dept. of Gothenburg University and Ilona Korhonen from Folk Music Dept. of Sibelius Academy.

The tutors and students will arrive in Shetland on Sunday 26th April, with most staying on until Tuesday 5th May to witness the remainder of the Festival.

For further information on the project and for details of the application process please visit the Nordic Tone section of the Festival's website www.shetlandfolkfestival.com/nordictone.php or contact Davie Henderson - - 01595 694547