Deep Blue Production Ltd.
Music
&
Hearts
between North and South
50’ television documentary about the joy of playing together. The program will tell of meeting, music and getting changed of people two a totally different cultures.
Eero Koivistoinen, composer and jazz musician, has a broad knowledge on African music. He has i.e. been involved in establishing the large music library in Mozambique, Maputo, the University of Eduardo Mondlane. It was financed by the Finnish Foreign Ministry.
Intensive Course in Ilha de Mozambique
E
cation and build a lasting cooperation between the Southern participants.
ero Koivistoinen and the leader of the jazz department in Sibelius Academy, Jari Perkiömäki, are playing a part in coordinating the CIMO NorthSouth-South program between Northern music universities and four African universities. The ideas of the program are to develop a network of music edu-
The intention is to
make a documentary of an intensive course that starts in August of 2009 in Mozambique. There the musical North and South will meet at an course, where Nordic and African, 1
The environment in Mozambique is hot,
and perhaps Middle Eastern music teachers and students from the fields of folk and improvised music styles, will join together in a musical collaboration. The course will be held on the beautiful island of Ilha de Mozambique, a former Portuguese colonial base and UNESCO world heritage site in Mozambique.
and full of strange flavours and sounds. Ilha is a relatively peaceful place, partly because of the attempts to increase tourism there. Anyway, it is foreign to Nordic people, so students need to be prepared.
The documentary will tell of meeting and
It is important that the teachers and stu-
dents get together well right from the beginning. The teacher–student groups should form big “families”, where trust and the master–pupil tradition is established. In Africa, teachers are overall better respected than in Northern Europe.
getting changed of people who present two a totally different cultures. The program will be built around a few stories of the relationships between teachers and students.
The teachers and students do not know
each other, and their skills and cultural backgrounds are very different. To ease the starting of dialogue, Nordic participants will be given a “starting kit” with information about African music. The students will also be prepared for the African circumstances. Presumptions about life in Africa can be frightening; also Africans can have presumptions about Westerners.
In music teaching, togetherness is best
achieved through playing together in a sense of non-idiomatic improvisation, where everybody can participate using their own background and skills. The real challenge is in learning to relate to the language of a foreign musical culture without losing the feeling and trust of being your own musical personality. 2
The fantastic environment in Ilha colours
ited the participating African countries and know that there are differences in cultures, but doing music together is a powerful tool to bridge those differences.
and emphasizes these processes. In the film, the essential objective is to capture the meaning of the course to both Nordic and African partners. The final concerts and celebrations both in Ilha de Mozambique and also in Maputo will be emotionally strong and build for many future relationships. Both Finnish and Danish teachers, e.g. Eero Koivistoinen, Jari PerkiÜmäki and Astrid Elbek, have vis-
For the film, footage of local musical activities will also be shot to broaden the picture of the nature of the local musical culture for its audience.
Deep Blue Production Deep Blue Production Ltd. is a production company that has during the last four years made approximately forty television programs, most of them for the Finnish Broadcasting Company Ltd. (YLE). The majority of these programs were shot in China and West Africa. The formats are DVCAM and HD.
of this documentary suits well with Deep Blue Production because we already have experience from making five documents in Africa, we have worked with Eero Koivistoinen before, and our film director is a composer by his second profession. The negotiations and the discussions with the course teachers have been good and in fruitful mutual understanding.
The multi-national intensive course in Mozambique is a very interesting and challenging subject for a television documentary. The course is an important sign of a well-working cooperation between two very different cultures, the north and the south. The producing
Director, Mr Ilkka Hannula Lumikintie 6 B 98, FI-00820 Helsinki mobile: +358 40 5035 556 ilkka.hannula@deepblueproduction.fi www.deepblueproduction.fi 3
Information of the project Course administration
The Intensive Course is initiated by: The Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, Denmark. The Project will be realized in cooperation with: The University of Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique. The following universities and higher education music academies have been invited to participate in the course: Norway Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo The GLOMUS network aims to develop collaborative projects to enhance: b intercultural communication b knowledge sharing b capacity building and organizational development b musical interaction for mutual inspiration and innovation
Sweden Malmö Academy of Music South Africa University of Cape Town South African College of Music Ghana University of Ghana, Accra University of Cape Coast
Funding of the project
Mozambique Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo
The project will be funded from different sources. Its main funders are the Danish Centre for Culture and Development (DCCD) and the Finnish North-South-South programme. DCCD supports cultural exchange with Denmark that aims to present the cultures of developing nations in Denmark while also strengthening the cultural sectors of developing nations. The North-South-South network Higher Education Network supports cooperation between higher education institutions in Finland and in developing countries. The aim of the programme is to establish longterm links between universities by supporting education projects in-
Mali Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers Multimédias, Bamako Palestine Edward Said Academy
GLOMUS-network This intensive course is part of the GLOMUS-network’s activities. GLOMUS is an international network for higher education in global music and related arts. It is founded by four Nordic higher education academies of music. 4
volving student and teacher exchanges, and to raise the quality of education by sharing skills and information. The programme also aims to make international cooperation open for a wider audience than can be achieved through research. Another aim is to promote coopera-
a music library which has been developed in collaboration with Finnish musicians. There are many different local music styles in Mozambique, for instance marrabenta, which is one of the music styles most popular today in Mozambique, while the best known traditional music style is timbila, but there are several others. Course Contents
The participants will form three groups, each having a room or locality to practice in – preferably within the island’s fortress. Each of these rooms is equipped with drums, amplifiers for guitar/keys and bass and a small PA, so the participants only will have to bring their own instruments/microphones in the plane. The participating schools will be asked to prepare some music that they want to use as a basis for improvising or further evolving together with the rest of the musicians. This can serve as a form for “musical presentation” of the different schools and maybe traditions, and on the other hand it can also be suitable for further elaborating and arranging for a larger group.
tion among the higher education institutions in developing nations, i.e. in the Southern hemisphere. The Musical and Cultural Context
Traditional music styles have tended to not be included in academic training in Africa. Most teachers of this music do not possess an academic degree like European classical music teachers.
A workshop or two with musicians from the area will add some music with a local touch. Local folklore groups could also come play/ dance/sing for the participants and teach some of their traditions.
In some other parts of Africa the situation for traditional music is improving. At University of Ghana and South Africa and at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, music plays a major role in university teaching, and there is high quality of music training in African music.
Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes
The ultimate objective of this program is to facilitate a unique environment for learning across cultures through collaboration and improvisation. Through this musical collaboration, progress will be made toward the holistic goal of attaining intercultural understanding between Nordic and African cultures.
In Mozambique, music teaching in schools tends to be based on Western classical music methods, and formal music education is not always connected to indigenous dancing, singing and drumming traditions. However, the situation is changing and the University of Eduardo Mondlane has some very skilled teachers and modern technology, as well as
The learning outcomes will be multi-faceted: deconstruction of stereotypes and pre-assumptions, understanding of the principles of 5
EK-Production Ltd.
European, African, jazz and other improvisational musical thinking, and not least, learning to respect one’s own musical culture as a part of global heritage.
Jazz Musician, Composer, Educator, Producer Mr Eero Koivistoinen tel: +358 9 629 106 mobile: +358 400 427 117 eero.koivistoinen@welho.com
Project administrators FINLAND Sibelius Academy
Apollonkatu 11 B 9 FI-00100 Helsinki
P.O.Box 86 FI-00251 Helsinki
DENMARK The Royal Academy of Music
Senior Advisor, International Academic Affairs Ms Tuovi Martinsen tel: +358 20 7539 489 mobile: +358 50 5261 968 fax: +358 20 7539 569 tuovi.martinsen@siba.fi
Skovgaardsgade 2C DK-8000 Aarhus C
International Relations Coordinator Mr Keld Hosbond tel: +45 87 133 809 +45 51 176 461 fax: +45 87 133 840 keho@musik-kons.dk address: Fredensgade 28B,1 8000 Aarhus C
street address: Töölönkatu 28 00250 Helsinki Head of Department of Jazz Music, Dean Mr Jari Perkiömäki tel: +358 20 753 9 551 mobile: +358 50 3843 454 jari.perkiomaki@siba.fi street address: P-talo, Kutomotie 9 00380 Helsinki
Vice Principal, Ass. Professor and Director of Study Ms Astrid Elbek tel: +45 87 133 803 fax: +45 87 133 840 AE@musik-kons.dk Pictures: Eero Koivistoinen and Jari Perkiömäki
6