I hope for the best. I came back yesterday from Zurich, where I was with Vigüela at the Mediterranean Music Festival (thanks to Alkis Zopoglou I can share a piece with dance of jota, here) and while this email is sent I am travelling to Manresa, the city that hosts the Fira Mediterrània.

In this edition I recover the interviews with directors of festivals, with an interview with Ando Kiviberg, from the Viljandi Folk Music Festival. Like many other festivals, this year will be the one in which they get back to normal, but in cases like this one, past complications have brought new ideas that have come to enrich the experience even more.

I hope this content is of interest to you.

Unfortunately I will not be in Kansas City tomorrow. I’m probably not the only one… But this year’s edition, which has been postponed for several months to increase security regarding the pandemic situation, starts tomorrow and has a hybrid format.

The registration for the online activities is still open here. And the virtual access is pay-what-you’re-able. Rates start at $50 for non-members.

Of the online activities I would like to highlight two: Folklorist Summit Summary session, scheduled for Saturday May 21 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM CEST and, of course, the virtual showcase of Vigüela 2:00 AM – 2:30 AM CEST on Friday, May 20.

Previously, on Friday, the summit will be held for three and a half hours, with the theme “Tradition as Profession” and it is described like this: “Within the academic discipline of folklore, there has been a tendency to define a folk artist as specifically not a professional. Furthermore, institutions that adjudicate the traditional arts frequently employ a credentialing model that fails to recognize artists as experts in their traditions and to involve them in decision-making. Questions about authenticity, equity, value, and payment continue to be points for discussion in the field of folk and traditional arts. We are in an important moment to think about these questions both within the discipline of folklore and within the FAI community.” I will attend the session of Saturday as I think these are key questions in our nowadays.

This is a view of the fortess of Viljandi, by Ivar Leidus in Wikipedia. One of the stages of the festival is in front of the wall.

MM: What are the most complicated or difficult issues to deal with in your festival (specifically in your festival)?

AK: We do not have any insurmountable difficulties 🙂 During the Covid pandemic, it was quite difficult to organize air travel for foreign artists, because the air traffic was severely disrupted. However, we still managed to do it 😊

MM: Currently, what are the main challenges for such cultural proposals like yours (in general, not speaking of your festival only)?

AK: Always, the global crises are our biggest challenges—be it economic, health, or military crises. We haven’t yet really escaped the Covid pandemic, but now Russia has invaded Ukraine, and all of this is having a very serious impact on the whole world. All in all, music and fine arts can offer people comfort in difficult circumstances. Artistic expression and creative emotional exchange set us apart from animals. The language of music is the language of love, and it is universal—understood by everyone).

MM: How has the pandemic affected your festival? For your press release, I feel it produced some reflection and it brought some changes, am I right?

AK: Surely, the pandemic has affected our festival. I have already described some points in my previous answers. First and foremost, we were particularly affected by the gathering restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the pandemic. For example, in 2020, we were forced to postpone our festival, because the usual number of visitors to our festival over four days is about 30 000 people. Instead, we organized a traditional music concert gala for our biggest fans for two days in a row in Viljandi—8 artists on one stage, and two days in a row. Certainly, it wasn’t the size of a festival at all, but we were able to offer comfort to our most loyal fans. Due to travel restrictions, we could not invite official foreign performers at that time. However, a few young foreign musicians who performed with young Estonians in Viljandi at that time participated in our ETHNO camp.

We were able to organize the festival in 2021 but on a reduced scale. In Estonia, it was not allowed to organize events for more than 5 000 people a day. Then, we decided to create our music party only for those who had bought our festival pass from the pre-sale. The festival was smaller than usual, but the fans welcomed the change. That’s why we dare to continue with the same format this year.

MM: What are you expecting from this year’s edition, after the two years of restrictions?

AK: I’m sure that this year the party will be excellent—one that our fans look forward to and one that’ll bring a lot of creative joy to both the musicians as well as the organizers. The geographical scale of the performers is worldwide—artists from Brazil, Mali, Jamaica, Cuba to South Korea, the best young artists from Estonia, the Nordic countries, the British Isles, and other parts of Europe will be here. Our ETHNO camp (a training camp for young folk musicians) celebrates its 25th anniversary, and many international audiences will be coming. I’m truly excited.

MM: Your festival is called the Folk Music Festival. Could you define what folk music is? Or, in other words, how’d you define the scope of your program?

AK: We define folk music as traditional music. It means a musical tradition that is individual and specific to a particular nation or tribe. The broader vision of our activities is to support the preservation of the musical traditions of the nations of the world, so that the culture of mankind preserves its richness and the musical cultural nuances of different nations.

Therefore, once again, the aim of our festival is to introduce the musical heritage of the nations of the world in a modern way and to support the vitality of the Estonian traditional musician tradition.

When choosing the performers for our festival, we always consider two goals first. The artist should know their musical tradition. Most certainly, it is very important that the performer is sincere, genuine, and masterful in their creation.

MM: Could you please summarize the reason(s) to go to your festival, in one sentence? 

AK: We offer to the good and kind people the opportunity to fall in love with exciting and beautiful music in the most romantic place in the world, dance to the soul and refresh yourself with great food and drinks. Viljandi was created for creation.

Credits:

• Pictures of Ando Kiviberg, by Kris Süld.
• Poster of the festival, by Liisa Kruusmägi and I took if from the Facebook site of the festival
• This article has been possible also thanks to the support of Liisi Ree.

Forward to a friend right from here

• Registration for Global Toronto, open. NEW. “Global Toronto 2022 (GT22) will be held online from June 20-22, with pre-conference activities being held in Toronto in person from June 7-10, including a diverse selection of international and cross-country delegates.” The registration is open, here.

• Mobility grants to book Spanish artists, by Acción Cultural Española. The dates and conditions for this grants have been dramatically enhanced. The official information is here.

• Andrea Parodi Prize competition. The subscription (for free) for the 15th edition of the contest is open until May 31st, here.