I really believe in what Ethno NZ is trying to do within the community. Watching the leadership team work together is inspiring and I learn so much from them as musicians and people. Spending time on the Marae is also a pretty spiritual experience for me and I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to be a part of it all. The performances are also the most life enriching music I've ever shared- there's such a profound sense of it being about the group and the audience, not about the individual and it's such a special experience for me. So much trust and love to all of the band 😊🙏 Thanks everyone!
ETHNO is something growing and shows us that the only borders on this planet are 'man'-made and music flows over, under and through these barriers to connect us all.
I have learnt so much and it has given me a lot of ideas on what to work on thoughout the year with community building and getting in touch with my own musical tradition.
It's easily the best music camp I've ever been to and I do not have to try hard to fit in at all. I just naturally found my place being myself. Thank you all for bringing me this experience. It filled me with strength and calmness and I now feel a lot more confident and comfortable to be myself in the bigger world as well.
Ethno changed my perspective on the world. It brought together two of my great loves - music, and making connections with people, and managed to make me feel things in an entirely different way. Jamming and ultimately performing with a group of people from different cultures and making their music, their traditions, mine was thrilling. For me it really brought home the wisdom of these ancient cultures - I wish I could go back! You could feel the genuine wairua of these people and the land and their culture - the chance that we had to share our deepest selves through our music was once in a lifetime... Although it wasn't really - there're Ethnos all over the world! I look forward to attending more Ethnos, meeting more people and creating and sharing music together.