With a song in my heart ...

Helsinki Academy entrance

It's always so inspiring to walk through the doors of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. That overwhelming sense of history and sense of adventure.

My visit this time coincided with a symposium hosted by the Academy as part of the project MORE%20-%20Music,%20Orality,%20Roots,%20Europe - funded by the EU Culture Programme, and led by Cite de la Musique in Paris, with co-organising partners The Sage Gateshead, En Chordais in Thassaloniki and the World Music and Dance Centre in Rotterdam. Summer schools in Rotterdam and Gateshead, and symposia in Paris and Thessaloniki as well as Helsinki, will feed into EU research into trans-cultural music practices in educational methods. How does traditional and folk music fit as a tool of intercultural communication in a multi-cultural Europe?

Two days of speakers and lots of music courtesy of the ever-creative Finnish musicians and coinciding with Finland's world music festival Etnosoi certainly helped us to exchange ideas about what can and is being done. Among the speakers were Sarah Kekus from The Sage Gateshead who talked about their French language music project for children - 'La Chanson du Retour'; Veera Voima helped us to improvise with her Helsinki-based multinational folk choir; Soili Perkio reminded us of the fun and challenges of children's playground games, and we were all mindful of how hand-held technologies seem to be overtaking traditional games. 

Nick Hennessy

Nick Hennessy enthralled us with his storytelling (he presents the Finnish epic Kalevala to Finnish audiences in English, reviving their own cultural heritage); Vilma Timonen showed us just how far the kantele has come since Vainamoinen fashioned it from the jawbone of a giant fish, so legend has it. And charismatic violinist Mauno Jarvela (whom Late Junction listeners will know from the great Finnish band JPP) brought tears to our eyes with an example of his Nappari project: my first encounter with that was watching him inspire around 150 musicians, from toddlers upwards, to play music as if with one voice. The project has gone from the small Finnish town of Kaustinen already to South Africa.

The generosity of spirit of many of the Finnish musicians who were around was as evident as always. Accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen went to support a young protege of his in concert, and Timo Alakotila, one of Finland's most in-demand composers, arrangers and performers (with JPP, Karen Tweed and so many more) was there to hear the young students perform.

Mauno Jarvela

But those knotty issues: how do we use music in a multicultural Europe? What do we share? Can we share a vision for a musical Europe where each country is different in its traditions, in its infrastructure, its funding of the arts, its support of musical education. The debate is ongoing, and the next symposium will be in Greece.

I came away with a song in my heart and an envy of the way the Finnish educators value music and renewed admiration for the brilliance and humility of the musicians I heard and spoke to from Finland and beyond.

• Fiona's experiences in Helsinki will be reflected in her forthcoming Radio 3 Late Junction programmes, on 7, 8 and 9 December.