During the World Music Days festival, which was held from 2nd to the 10th of May in Estonia, composers and performers did not get flowers. Instead, the organisers of the festival decided to plant a new forest. The topic of the annual contemporary music festival this year was „Through the forest of songs“. Instead of giving the traditional flower bouquets to the performers, 200 new trees were planted in an Estonian state forest, to honour the theme of the festival and everyone who participated in ISCM World Music Days 2019.
“Value is reduced to material consumption. In order to change this, it is important to do something, even a small thing that brings us back, and connects us to life in all its manifestations. Planting trees is one way to take part and to care for our land, putting our hands in the soil”, composer Helena Tulve said about the initiative.
One of artistic directors of the festival – Märt-Matis Lill – mentioned, that the festival was truly special and unprecedented – both in terms of its international reach and in terms of the big variety of styles and great interest of the Estonian and the international public. “The most important thing about all this is that the festival charted a number of new developments in contemporary music and created important milestones, such as combining theater and concert formats, mixing jazz, literature and contemporary music, as well as bringing the audience to unique sound installations. This year the festival also touched on the topic of environmental awareness”, added Lill.
In May 2-10, 2019 Estonia hosted hundreds of music professionals to present the freshest and most exciting new music by the best Estonian as well as Latvian, Finnish and Swedish performers. The festival included compositions from nearly 50 countries, hosted events at nearly 30 venues in Tartu, Tallinn and the area around the capitol.
World Music Days is initiated by the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM). ISCM is the most important international network of members from around fifty countries, devoted to promoting and presenting contemporary classical music. ISCM is an immense network in the field of contemporary music. Each year, ISCM World Music Days festival is hosted in different cities around the globe. Last year’s festival was held in Beijing, Vancouver and Tongyeong. In 2020 the festival will take place in New Zealand.
A photo gallery from planting the trees and other photos from the festival are accessible via Flickr.