Intercultural Choral Festival: Celebrating Musical Diversity

Together in Song, an intercultural choral festival brought together choirs of six different cultural backgrounds, which showcased their shared love of music and the diversity of choirs in Winnipeg. Singers from around the city were also treated to participate in singing the finale, the mass choir song, You Raise Me Up.

The Manitoba Great Wall Performing Arts and Manitoba Choral Association co-hosted the choral concert featuring local Manitoba school and community choirs. The event provided a unique opportunity for choirs to collaborate and build community with each other and the audience through the performance of their music and a mass choir piece.

Performers include:

Zoongi Ogichidaa Anishinaabe Ikwezensag Nagamoog (Strong Anishinaabe Warrior Girls' Choir), Dominion Sanctuary Parish Nigerian Choir, La Chorale des Intrépides, Manitoba Chinese Choir, Musica Singers Filipino Choir and Oberih Ukrainian Choir.

Mr. Dante Aviso, school trustee for Winnipeg School Division and creative director of Musica, and Bruce Waldie of La Chorale des Intrepides explain interculturalism in music plays a crucial role in fostering understanding, appreciation, and collaboration across diverse cultural boundaries.

Here's why it's important:

1. Cultural Exchange: Music is a universal language that transcends borders and communicates emotions and ideas. Intercultural music exchanges allow for the sharing of musical traditions, instruments, rhythms, and melodies among different cultures, enriching the global musical landscape.
2. Celebration of Diversity: Intercultural music celebrates the diversity of human expression and cultural heritage. By incorporating elements from various cultural traditions, music becomes a platform for honouring and preserving cultural identities, fostering pride, and combating cultural homogenization.
3. Bridge Builder: Music is a powerful tool for building bridges between people of different cultural backgrounds. It can facilitate dialogue, understanding, and empathy, helping to bridge divides and promote cross-cultural communication and collaboration.
4. Innovation and Creativity: Intercultural music encourages innovation and creativity by blending different musical styles, techniques, and influences. This fusion of diverse elements often leads to new genres, styles, and sounds that push the boundaries of artistic expression.
5. Global Awareness: Through intercultural music, audiences gain insight into the cultural contexts, histories, and values of communities around the world. This exposure fosters global awareness, appreciation for cultural diversity, and a sense of interconnectedness among people from different parts of the globe.
6. Social Cohesion: Music has the power to bring people together and promote social cohesion. Intercultural music events, concerts, and festivals provide opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds to come together, celebrate their shared humanity, and build connections through a shared love of music.
7. Education and Learning: Intercultural music education exposes students to a wide range of musical traditions and practices, fostering open-mindedness, cultural sensitivity, and respect for diversity. It encourages students to explore and appreciate the richness of world music and develop a deeper understanding of their own cultural identity in relation to others.

Overall, interculturalism in music contributes to a more inclusive, interconnected, and harmonious global society by fostering cross-cultural understanding, creativity, and collaboration through the universal language of music.