This month, Concert Norway sent three Norwegian bands to China to keep about 50 school concerts in the cities of Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Gumbo Jazz band will play in Guangzhou, and folk musician Anlaug Børsheim together with Sigbjørn Apeland and Stein Urheim hold concerts in Beijing. Together with Helen Bøksle trio, they all perform school concerts in Shanghai, both in schools and in Europe Square on EXPO 2010. Besides concerts for school children, the artists also hold workshops for students at conservatoires, universities, and they will be playing public concerts.
The children thought it was a great experience to stand up on the big stage at the European Square and sing in front of several hundred spectators, parents, and a stream of people passing by. "It was very fun! The musicians were so friendly and professional. I'm impressed with how skilled they were", says one of the girls in the choir. Many of the girls thought the Norwegian song, ‘So ro Lillemann’ was the most beautiful melody: “It is so soft and beautiful, and it's nice to know that there is a lullaby that parents sing to their children - because it goes right to the heart", said one of the girls.
The artists were very satisfied with the children accompanying them. “This was very talented, young musicians, accustomed to read music. They could do it all, there was little to pick on. When we removed the note stands, we did it in order to remove barriers. We taught them a song by ear and not the notes, and got them to move. It worked! At the concert they rocked like crazy!” said David Gald from Gumbo.
Xue Ming Hua, a teacher at the Pudong Area Youth Activity Center in Shanghai, thought it was a great experience for the kids. “They find that the music's language is boundless. There are no barriers, musicians and students understand each other without knowing each other's language”, she said.
In 2007, Concert Norway and China Shanghai International Arts Festival agreed on a collaboration project, where concerts for school children are a central part. The school concert concept is that all primary school children will have two visits by professional musicians at their schools each year.
Children's Concert Shanghai
Children's Concert in Beijing
Helene Bøksle to China