MOVE: Intercultural Music Exchanges

Musicians and organizers on the move!

over 8 years ago

We just jumped into the new year and the projects coordinated by our members are already initiating! It is the case of the MOVE (Musicians and Organizers Volunteer Exchange), created by JM Norway in collaboration with the Norwegian Peace Corps and our partner organizations Projeto Guri (Brazil) and Music Crossroads Malawi and Music Crossroads Mozambique.

It involves the participation of young people between 18 and 25 in international exchanges between Norway, Brazil, Malawi and Mozambique. Participants give and receive instruction in music theory, ensemble, music history and other relevant topics, in addition to participating in the planning and conducting of festivals, workshops, concerts and other activities.

As a result, a group of ten young volunteers is now gathered in Oslo to attend a three-weeks course on the basis of social work, communication and cultural awareness: in addition to that, Henofrancy Achilles Almeida Aquino, 25, percussion teacher in Dracena, and Aydan Madureira Schmidt, 19, student of Santos Reference Group of the Guri Project will embark after the course to Trondheim to spend six months at the folk music school Trøndertun, which has 150 students and is one of the largest national institutions for the teaching of pop and rock in the country. They will be working as volunteers and participating in various musical, social and cultural activities such as workshops, festivals, competitions and trainings.

Moreover, two other participants from Brazil, Eduardo Henrique Scaramuzza, 22, percussion educator at Guri Project in Campinas, and Ananda Miranda de Roda, 21, guitar former student of Araçatuba Reference Group, will spend their six months exchange program at the Music Crossroads Academy in Lilongwe, Malawi, where the aim is to empower young African people through innovative and accessible music programs.

Complementing the exchange, on January 15th two musicians will arrive to Brazil from Mozambique. They will join there the two young Norwegians who are already in the country, exchanging experiences with students and educators from the Guri Project in São Paulo.

Want to join?

MOVE will open for new applicants in February 2016. For further information, contact JM Norway.

In the meantime you can check out this video made by last year's participants.