Intercultural children's music project Beyond Cultures
For one year, 30 children with a migration background in Zurich have been working on a program that is now being presented to the public in the Rämibühl auditorium: Music from Spain, Turkey, Burkina Faso, Switzerland and the Balkans. The project aims to promote cultural exchange.
The idea for the project came from Swiss child psychiatrist Heinz Stefan Hertzka and wind musician Sandro Friedrich. At the Gypsy Festival, Christian Fotsch came into contact with children from the Children Beyond choir. Together with Tina Turner, Regula Curti from Erlenbach and Dechen Shak-Dagsay from Saturday, they had recorded a CD with sung prayers and mantras from various religions.
The 30 children and young people have been practising once a week in five groups. On Saturday, July 1, they will show what they have learned together with their leaders in Zurich. Each group has dedicated itself to music and, in some cases, dance from a particular culture: Spanish, Swiss, Alevi, African and Balkan. They met up several times to make music and dance together - even crossing cultural boundaries.
"Many immigrant children fall between a rock and a hard place culturally," explains project manager Christian Fotsch, "they don't have access to the culture of their home country, but they don't really have access to that of Switzerland either." The project aims to give the 7 to 16-year-olds this access, have an integrative effect and at the same time promote exchange. "In the Spanish group, for example, it's not just Spanish children who make music," says Fotsch. However, certain instruments are predetermined: In the Spanish group, the flamenco guitar must be present, in the Swiss group the accordion.
The costs for "Beyond Cultures" are borne by Beat and Regula Curti's Beyond Fondation in Erlenbach, and the children can attend the classes free of charge. The five groups are currently rehearsing in Zurich, Olten, Geneva, Bern and Windisch.
More info: www.beyondcultures.ch
