EFN Newsletter March 2026 #40
- EFN editor
- 9 minutes ago
- 7 min read
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WELCOME AND SUMMARY
Welcome to the new edition of this communication and outreach initiative of the EFN. Feel free to forward it to your friends and colleagues. Receiving this newsletter is open to anyone for free, here. Read to the end to find out how to submit content for future editions.
This is what you'll find below:
🔹News from EFN:
▫️2026 EFN Conference: dates and location announced
▫️EFN in Babel Music XP, how was it?
🔸News from the members:
▫️Launching of the Labyrinth music workshops in Vienna
🔹Our next featured member is Finisterre
🔸Our next featured artist is the Czech band Hradišťan
✍️ Do you want to participate? At the end of the newsletter you will find how you can contribute to future editions, whether you are an EFN member or not. And of course EFN is always looking for new members and at the end of this newsletter there is a note about how and why to join, with links to the membership pages of the website and the application form.
Thanks for your attention, have a fruitful reading and, please, share this with any person who could be interested!
News from EFN
🔸2026 EFN Conference: dates and location announced
Almeria (Spain), 13 & 14 november 2026
The conference will be hosted by EFN Member Fundación Indaliana para la Música y las Artes (Clasijazz), whose venue offers facilities for plenary sessions, breakout groups, catering and performances.The programme will include expert speakers, panels, working groups, discussions and traditional music performances. Participants will also experience the cultural environment of Clasijazz and the city of Almeria, known for its historic centre, the Alcazaba fortress and its links to cinema, as well as a growing cultural scene. Clasijazz, founded in 1998, is a multidisciplinary cultural centre combining performance, education and community work, with strong involvement in European and international projects.
EFN recommends arrival on Thursday 12 November and departure on Sunday 15. Almeria airport offers direct and connecting flights, with Granada and Malaga as alternatives. Train connections are available from Madrid and Barcelona.
Further details on program, registration, hotels and travel will be announced soon via EFN channels.
Picture: Almería—the capital of the province of Almería, Spain. Credit: Gernot Keller, www.gernot-keller.com - Own work
🔸EFN in Babel Music XP, how was it?
This year, for the first time, EFN was present at Babel Music XP with a stand.
Here you can see it, in a lively moment with our board member Ann Helen Erichsen, some members and colleagues. These members of the EFN shared the Stand 25:
In addition, we had the opportunity to meet with other EFN members, such as Fira Mediterrània de Manresa, Music4You, FolkOrg, and Tempi.
And we participated in two panels:
▫️Steven Vanderaspoilden talked in "What are the political stakes for traditional music at the international level?". In the picture above, Rebecca Roger Cruz, Erol Josue, Aliette De Laleu (moderator), our Steven and Louis Jacques.
▫️Araceli Tzigane and Nod Knowles, in "Gaining visibility for heritage-based music". Picture below, with the third participant: Sébastien Laussel, director of Zone Franche.
The panels were recorded, and once they are publicly available, we will share the recordings on our channels. Stay tuned.
News from the members
🔹Launching of the Labyrinth music workshops in Vienna
By Mehdi Aminian, from Roots Revival
We are launching the Labyrinth music workshops in Vienna, in the Hietzing district, at the Bildungszentrum—a venue with green gardens and excellent facilities for music workshops, including a concert hall. Participants will spend a week learning and sharing music with teachers and fellow students, with accommodation available at the center or nearby.Our goal is to create an accessible and affordable meeting point for musicians. The musical focus reflects traditions connected to our work and relevant to Austria and Germany, including Central Asian, Afghan, Indian, Eastern, and Central European music.
Please contact us for further information or registration by visiting:https://www.labyrinthvienna.com/
Featured Member: Finisterre (Italy)
On the previous edition of this newsletter (available here) we shared the sad news of the passing of Erasmo Treglia, leader of Finisterre. We are reviewing Featured Members in order of registration, and it just so happens that Finisterre comes up now. We hope to continue having them with us, now with Erasmo’s successors leading the brand.
Finisterre joined the EFN as an individual (Erasmo) in November 2019. When he joined, he presented himself like this:
"Ethnomusicologist, Musician and Music manager Head of FINISTERRE Record Label & Management specializing in the production of world music artists and groups of folk revival; Director of the International Folk Festival "LA ZAMPOGNA", which takes place in Maranola (Latina) and coordinator of several other folk and world music festival in Italy; Coordinator of the network "Re.Fo.La. Federation of the folk festivals and events"; Member of FWMF. Forum of Worldwide Music Festivals; Italian member of the European Network WMRA, World Music in Rural Areas; Consultant for Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome."
Discover what is Finisterre doing now, on their website.
Featured Artist: Hradišťan
By Araceli Tzigane
Picture: Hradišťan performing in a church in Adamov u Brna , 2015. Credit: Von Lasy - Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46015591
Hradišťan is a historic group from Czech Republic that is still active today. They have a very complete and updated website. There, we read, for example, that Hradišťan was founded in 1950 in Uherské Hradiště (the name of the group is derived from the demonym of Hradišťan) as a music and dance ensemble, led initially by key figures such as Jaroslav Václav Staněk, who transformed folk performance into a more structured and artistic form. The group gained early recognition and awards, but declined in the early 1970s. After Staněk’s death, leadership passed to violinist and composer Jiří Pavlica, who revitalized the ensemble and still directs it today. Over time, Hradišťan has nurtured several generations of musicians, dancers and notable solo singers. Their discography includes more than 30 albums released since 1972.
The figure of Jiří Pavlica has been essential to Hradišťan over the last five decades. He is the artistic director, and he also sings beautifully and plays the violin. I selected some parts from his bio on the website of Palacký University in Olomouc and translated them automatically from Czech: Jiří Pavlica is a renowned musician, composer, violinist, singer and musicologist. He received the title of doctor honoris causa for his extraordinary merits and creative contribution to the field of Czech and especially Moravian music. Pavlica is a long-time leader of the Hradišťan ensemble, a pioneer of world music and an expert on Moravian folklore. His original work combines elements of various musical genres with a deeper message and often contains spiritual or philosophical motifs.
Pavlica studied violin at the Brno Conservatory, cultural theory at the Faculty of Arts of Palacký University, and composition at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts. His work initially drew on Moravian folklore, which he explored in historical and regional contexts. Gradually, his work expanded into multi-genre overlaps and experiments, which led to the creation of original musical crossovers. His connection to the poetry of Jan Skácel and his contribution to the field of sacred music are notable. This idea is connected with the first piece we have here below.
I think Modlitba za vodu is the first song I heard by Hradišťan. It was included in the album O slunovratu, of 1999. It’s interesting that only now, while writing this text, I’ve asked myself what it is about. At the time, I liked it very much. The timbres of some instruments were quite new to me, and the language sounded very exotic. I still really like the way Jiří Pavlica phrases—he sounds natural. Today I know that the song is a “Prayer for Water”—that is the literal title. In the song, water is treated not as an object, but as a vital condition of existence. The lyrics are a poem by Jan Skácel (1922–1989), one of the most important Czech poets of the 20th century. Indeed, all the album O slunovratu is based on the texts of Jan Skácel and folk poetry. Jiří Pavlica set the music to the poems.
The lyrics in the original language and their translation into English are available here. I selected a live recording but there are several other performances of this song on Youtube. This one with the Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinů and the Žerotín Academic Choir is really beautiful too.
After twenty years of Hradišťany's existence, they recorded musical samples from the surroundings of Uherské Hradiště. On the website they explain about this album that "The heritage of folk musicians has been developed into a contemporary form by musicians and singers, and they have recorded songs and melodies that are closest to their hearts. The record radiates the freshness of expression and joy of playing, so typical of the improvisational play of Hradišťany." You can listen to the full album, here.
For the second piece I have chose this instrumental one, from that first album. “Straňanské” is a piece based on Moravian tradition, linked to the locality of Strání (in the southeastern Moravia region). “Straňanské” is the demonym of that locality.
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HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS NEWSLETTER
Are you already a member? Then, remember that you can submit contents for this monthly newsletter. Email your content to efneditors@gmail.com, for these sections:
· News from EFN Members. Brief announcements – of around 100 words and a link.
· Featured artist. - A profile with around 200 words, an embedded video and one link. Members are invited to submit profiles, considering solo and ensemble living or not living artists who have achieved lifelong artistic and technical quality or historical significance in the field of folk art from or developed in or settled in Europe. If you have any artists in mind that you'd like to feature, please ask in advance, just to be sure there is no other member already doing it.
And whether you are a member or not, you can participate in this section:
· Special sections. For instance, an interview with someone from an institution that is not a member or a thematic article by a guest writer or anything that can appear and be considered as interesting. This section can also host guest writers that are not members.
If you'd like to share any content, contact us in advance to schedule it by emailing efneditors@gmail.com
Of course, self promotional articles lacking interest won't be accepted. In case of doubt, the EFN board will be consulted and will decide.
BECOMING A MEMBER?
EFN membership is growing rapidly – why not join the network of traditional arts organisers and artists that stretches across Europe from the Irish Sea to the Baltic, the Mediterranean to the Black Sea? Find out more about membership and download an application form from www.europeanfolknetwork.com/membership.
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