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Henning Bolte: ROUND-UP REPORT: Tallinn Music Week 2016 (Estonia)

Tallinn Music Week 2016 (Estonia) 
(Tallinn, March 28 – April 3, 2016. Report and all photos by Henning Bolte)

 

Tallinn Music Week (TMW) is an international multidisciplinary cross-genre festival in its eighth year. It presented almost 250 acts from 30 countries spread across 34 genres at 70 indoor but also outdoor venues in the Estonian capital. Estonia supplied half of the acts (123) itself, Finland (26), Denmark and Russia each (15), Poland (9), and the UK (6). Fairly well represented was the Near East (Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Morocco). Notable absentees were Africa (south of Maghreb) and the Far East, which might change in coming years. The biggest portion were acts in Electronics (103) followed by Alternative (65), Experimental (49), Rock and Pop (both 43), Hip Hop (35), Psychedelic (28) and Jazz (27). The event TMW received 620 international delegates and 130 international journalists and drew almost 35,000 concert visitors.

Serious role of arts, music, creativity

Its multidisciplinary character was not only a claim but manifested itself in an abundance of events and activities in the field of food/cuisine, of arts and design, through a cinema programme entitled Social Sounds, in a series of public talks and finally two parallel conferences, the regular International Music Industry Conference and an newly added second conference line entitled Creativity For Change Forum. Enormous efforts had been made to get such a mega-event organized. It was done brilliantly, always giving the impression that the organizers and people responsible were very aware of what they were doing and what it was all for. As a delegate and visitor it could clearly be sensed that it was based on a solid fundament and was really meant especially the emphasis on the crucial role of the arts and music in gaining and strengthen a clear identity and awake mind and consciousness in order to face and solve societal problems.

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