Ethnogala2019Winner

This band is in a class of its own: an ensemble of four harmonicas that creates its own material, drawing on Finnish folk music, Balkan rhythms and tango. Founded in 2003, Sväng put their inimitable stamp on everything they perform, demonstrating that Chopin and Sibelius too had a folk music streak in them!

"Spells, cattle calls, mocking sermons and herdsmen’s tunes from early 20th-century Finland are used inventively and attractively in the band’s arrangements and compositions"

"The duo’s fresh debut album is sung exclusively in their native Sámi language, and the yoik flows in the heart of the music."

Tuuletar are a vocal ensemble of four women who have skyrocketed to international fame in recent years. Although their music is firmly anchored in the soil of folk music, they seek to avoid being boxed or categorised, preferring instead to interpret tradition liberally.

“If you look far enough back in any culture, music is born out of many different aspects and influences, including the physical environment that you live in. This is the key for me, finding your own points of connection with your culture, whatever that might be,” says widely travelled multi-instrumentalist Nathan Riki Thomson.

Artists choosing an art form outside the mainstream will find themselves frequently answering the question: Why? Kaari and Roni Martin have created many notable works of contemporary art using the language of flamenco.