4- Migrating Folk Musics and Future Traditions: The "Ethno Movement", Grass-root international music exchanges creating contemporary cross-cultural traditions – Elise Gayraud, Independent Scholar

In the age of digital communications, traditional musicians do not lack opportunities to encounter diverse musical influences. But while myriad studies have investigated changes brought by the internet, less attention has been given to recent initiatives outside the digital sphere, such as Ethno-World supported by Jeunesses Musicales International. Challenging participants' perceptions of their own music as well as that of other cultures, Ethnos are gatherings of young folk musicians from around the globe, who mutually teach their music for a week, then perform as a world music ensemble. Encountering, sharing and understanding foreign traditions are fundamental to Ethno’s ethos. Since 1990, it has drawn together several hundred young musicians, in countries as varied as Sweden, Croatia, Jordan, Uganda, Australia and India. Many participants became professional folk musicians and integrate features of the musics learnt at Ethno in interpretations of their own traditional music and compositions, a long-lasting legacy of their participation. Thus, as well as connecting folk scenes worldwide, Ethno greatly influences repertoires, interpretations, perceptions, and encourages musical hybridisation. Furthermore, the organisation served as inspiration and defining standards for a number of comparable grass-root intercultural exchanges and festivals, such as Rila-Music-Exchange in Bulgaria, Folklang in Germany, Chiletno in Chile, and the Folk Marathon in various places, seen as part of the Ethno movement. This ethnographic study, based on extensive participant-observation and interviews, explores impacts of the initiatives on folk musicians, the broader traditional music scenes and their reception worldwide.