Høgskulen på Vestlandet (HVL), which translates as ‘Western Norway University of Applied Science’ was an early adapter when it came to Europavox campus, the pan-European music collaboration and competition. The university is a fusion of a number of different educational institutions, located in Bergen, Stord, Førde, Sogndal and Haugesund, and hosted the 2024 finale of Europavox Campus on their island Stord campus.
For Øystein Røsseland Kvinge, a professor of music education at the institution, the timing was simply right. “My institution got involved in Europavox back in 2022,” he says. “At that time, several European universities were already having a dialogue concerning establishing an alliance for future collaboration. In that sense, the initiative from Europavox and the University of Clermont to create Europavox Campus gave us an early opportunity to start collaborating within the network that today has become the ARTEMIS alliance.”
After their merge, the initial focus of HVL culturally was on bringing the campuses together. With this now well progressed, the focus has turned to unique identities in each location. The Bergen campus has hosted three Europavox Campus regional finals, two of which have received coverage in the student newspaper, but it is the 2024 finale on the rugged island campus at Stord that offered the highlight to date.
“The idea was to challenge using the city of Bergen as a venue for the welcoming week by drawing on the unique qualities that a smaller community like Stord can offer,” Kvinge explains. “By visiting the giant ship yards that have served the oil industry for 50 years, followed by walking on the mountain in the Fitjar windmill park, we could offer perspectives on issues that young Europeans care about, such as the green transition.”
“Using the veteran ship, M/S Sunnhordland for accomodation, meals and jam sessions, we could also help our guests experience some of the history of our region, in terms of communication and transport. It was great to see how enthusiastic the students seemed to be about living and socialising onboard the ship! Also, the venue for the international final, called Arena, was perfect in terms of size and facilities.”
“One highlight during the week was the barbeque party we held in the old community house Samhald (Norwegian for togetherness). This took place the day before the international finale, and all bands were eager to play and check out their repertoire. To me it was such a blast to listen to French punk, German metal and Romanian black metal in this atmosphere of old, communal spirit.”
“Although the house has hosted hundreds of weddings, anniversaries and concerts over the years, I don’t think this kind of heavy music has ever been presented there. Also, to emphasize that Samhald is a community house, where local community members do their share of volunteer work to help make good things happen, I asked my parents, my brother and my nephew to help to organise the bar and prepare the venue, and they did!”
With participants of widely varied cultural backgrounds, the Campus events allow engagement with different styles, a learning experience for musicians in itself.
“Perhaps in particular now that the international scene has taken such dramatical turns, and at a time where former alliances seem to be challenged and tested. It is more important than ever that we seek together across borders to understand each other and to collaborate. Perhaps arts and music represent particularly good starting points for collaboration, as it opens up for creativity, co-creation and reflection, all at the same time?”
“Getting inspired by other musical sources has been a feature in music for a long time,” Kvinge says, “and a strong quality within music. I teach a course on hip-hop pedagogy, and we learn that one of the common techniques within hip-hop, sampling, can create curiosity towards other music in the process of making beats by seeking and listening to other cultural expressions in order to sample a segment, to blend in with the other material.”
“Copyright issues aside, the awareness of this production technique can stimulate curiousness among musicians and young learners for historical or culturally different musical expressions. ‘Digging the crate’ by seeking other ‘musics’ online or on vinyl in record stores may be considered an important skill, especially today that the border between existing, recorded music, and Ai created material seems to be more blurred day by day.”
“I noted that the finales serve more like a purpose for students to meet for a whole week. By organizing an international finale, people meet and spend time together doing meaningful, and fun things together. On the Wednesday, we organised half a day at our campus with workshops for all to participate in. Colleagues, students and friends taught shanty songs, movement and dance, a song workshop, a drum circle and international co-composing sessions. We also integrated the regional final and the international final into the curricula and term plans for two of our music courses.”
“I am very interested in keeping in touch with the other partner universities within the Europavox Campus project, and with the very professional staff of Europavox itself. I hope it will be possible to take this project into the future by grounding it within the new ARTEMIS alliance that now, in 2025, has become a reality, and which is in its early stages in deciding what activities across campuses to prioritize. I will speak warmly for EuropaVox Campus,” he concludes.
Similarly, the Europavox Campus finalists will hold fond memories of their time exploring music in a welcoming corner of Norway.
