Johanna Paulsson: At the international music festival is the spells that trendar

once upon A time it was the music of Arnold Schoenberg, Benjamin Britten and Béla Bartók – and the Stone ”Musikfrågan Counterpoint” Broman – who tinkled on the ISCM's annual flaggskeppsfestival World music days. But in the moment, one never knows who will be the future classics. The Estonian composer Arvo pärt's " spiritual minimalism enjoys, of course, already a cult following. But in general, there are scattered showers both in and outside of Tallinn's historic buildings that make up this year's concert venues.

When the ISCM – the International society for contemporary music was founded in the suites after the first world war, it was a right utopian ambition. Countries that tried to destroy each other on the battlefield would unite in the artistic progress name across borders. A bit like a united nations of contemporary classical music, already then perceived as a marginalised genre. Today is the festival of strengthening the narrower of the music scene in the host local context, and at the same time invite the world.

to get away from the feeling of the contemporary art music exists in its own homogeneous filter bubble, far from the rest of the world that it purports to try to achieve. Would you draw parallels to litteraturscenen it is, in principle, poesidebatten we are talking about here. The who in Sweden flared up in the beginning of the year with discussions around whether samtidspoesin has solidified or not. Something similar on the music festival's fossilisering claimed for other Hanns Eisler already in the thirties.

Speaking of literature, based Catharina Palmérs Swedish contribution ”Strings in the air above” on two poems by James Joyce and his thoughts on nature, as well as the story goes in just cycles. With svirrande voices in himlahöjd claimed to subparagraph nicely in Saturday's first choir concert in the Cathedral. The programme went under the title ”Futile ways”, after a work by Gabriel Dharmoo from Canada, and if you want to make a trend, one can observe that it is inside with spells. Dharmoo imagines millennial vokaltekniker from fictional cultures, strikingly portrayed with a wealth of verbal, klangliga and physical expression.

the 300 pages thick the programme you will find both a crackling smartphonesymfoni as Stefan Prins's ”Generation kill – offspring #1”, inspired by the tv spelsgenerationens warfare in Iraq in 2003. But the modern sound might as well be attracted out of traditional instruments. As an Ensemble Una Cordas combination of the harpsichord, the harp, and the Estonian kannel. Or a grand piano for two, where one pianist plays on the keys and the other on the strings, sometimes disturbing, sometimes spur each other into Simon eastwood's ”Interference”.

What makes Peeter Vähis choral works ”Siberian trinity mantra of” spectacular is in turn the driving shamantrumman. Wim Henderickx ”Blossomings. Three prayers for a better world” links the trumpet in a similar way together the votes in the three texts from the three religions as the strong finish at a concert in the church of nicholas. The internationalist music project lives on in prayers for a better world – even if the composer in to meet the needs of globalization call themselves flemish rather than belgian.