Rock/folk musician Gavin Mendonca performs in Sweden

FOLK/ROCK musician and musical pioneer, Gavin Mendonca, is once again blazing a trail across the world, taking Guyanese folk music and culture to new places - this time at Ethno Sweden.

Last Tuesday, Gavin performed Guyanese folk songs in Sweden for the first time at a concert in the centre of Rattvik, a small town where Ethno is being hosted.

Gavin is the first and only Guyanese to have ever participated in, and shared, Guyanese folk music at an Ethno event and this year, he was able to connect and share with other amazing young musicians from countries such as Sweden, Estonia, Palestine, Greece, Hungary, Chile, France, England, Kurdistan and Australia.

Last year, he would have attended Ethno USA as a participant - teaching 'Small Days' to his peers from 12 other countries. This year, he is at Ethno Sweden as a volunteer and part of the leadership team as the official Sound Engineer/Technical Assistant as he seeks to broaden his skills set.

“The Ethno Music Camp is JM International’s programme for folk, world and traditional music. Founded in 1990 in Sweden, it is aimed at young musicians (up to the age of 30) with a mission to revive and keep alive global cultural heritage,” Gavin told Buzz this week.

Present in over 40 countries and on all six continents, Ethno engages young people through a series of annual international music camps as well as workshops, concerts and tours, working together with schools, conservatories and other groups of youth to promote peace, tolerance and understanding.

At the core of the Ethno is its democratic, peer-to-peer learning approach whereby young people teach each other the music from their countries and other aspects of their culture.

Gavin was even able to meet with the Founder of Ethno World Magnus Bäckström and according to him, he was able to obtain brilliant advice and encouragement to one day start Ethno Guyana and Ethno Caribbean. This would remind him that once humans come together and work together, they can overcome any adversity.

As such, he hopes to, one