Week-Long Music Camp Ethno India Hosts Finale This Week

You can just tell there’s excitement in the air when you hear German flautist-vocalist Gregor Schulenburg talk about the 11-day music gathering Ethno India. Musicians from over 14 countries have been working together at the Jim Corbett National Park and in New Delhi ahead of a finale concert on March 18th in the capital. The camp’s artistic leader, Schulenburg says, “What you can hear in the background is from Chile.”

What started out in Sweden in 1990 by non-profit group Jeunesses Musicales International arrived in India to host the folk and world music camp every two years, starting off in the Himalayan village of Bir. The resultant album born out of the camp was engineered by Barry Goldberg, whose previous credits include rock legends such as The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac. “There’s different levels in playing, so our task is to include everybody so that they feel good,” says Schulenburg, who is joined by fellow mentors Anna Gustavsson, a nyckelharpa artist from Sweden, contrabass player Pieter Lenaerts from Belgium, multi-instrumentalist Glenn Louvet from France (multi-instrumentalist) and Indian percussionist Suchet Malhotra.

The finale concert, held at the grand Lotus Temple auditorium with two shows at 4 pm and 6:30 pm, will feature about 15 to 20 compositions born out of the music camp. Schulenburg says, “It’s a very singing Ethno this time. There are very calm, exciting and groovy pieces. There’s also many flutes this time.”

Ethno India returns next in 2020, with planning starting in August. With about 15 months of prep going into selecting, inviting and hosting artists, applications for the next edition are slated to open six months prior to the workshop.

Ethno India Finale Concert takes place at Lotus Temple Auditorium, New Delhi on March 18th, 2018. Entry: Free. Event details here.