ETHNO Estonia - an international music camp
Welcome to the XXX ETHNO Estonia camp on 14th–26th July 2026!ETHNO is an international music camp for participants aged 18–30 years, where traditional music from different countries is learned by ear in workshops led by the participants themselves. Learning and arranging the tunes is led by artistic mentors. Ethno Estonia is one of the biggest and oldest ethnos in the world. Usually, we have five artistic mentors and around 50 participants of which half are locals. So double the amount of joy is guaranteed!
Our camp takes place in a beautiful manor in a small village called Kõpu. It lasts for 14 days of which the last 4 we spend at Viljandi Folk Music Festival where we give up to two concerts and get to enjoy many more. Note that ETHNO will give the last concert on the second day of the festival which means that the 25th and 26th July are meant for just festival-vibing and therefore, your stay is not required after the 25th. Nevertheless, we warmly recommend you to stay until the end of the festival and take as much as you can from it – it is one of the biggest and oldest folk music festivals in Europe and our ETHNO-bubble will last until the very end of it!
During the camp, you can enjoy collective workshops, dance and bonfire nights, free stage concerts, road trips, special guests, creative tasks, etc. Whether you sing or play melody, harmony, or percussion instruments – you are welcome!
NB! Participants will be selected according to the availability of places in different instrument groups and the level of playing skills. If you’ve been to ETHNO Estonia three times in a row, then others with less experience might be given priority this time. However, you are very welcome to apply!
Additional information: eestietno@gmail.com
Welcome to the XXX ETHNO Estonia camp!
Starting from January 5th, musicians can apply for the ETHNO Estonia pre-festival camp held before the Viljandi Folk Music Festival. The XXX ETHNO Estonia will take place in the beautiful Kõpu manor and continue at the Viljandi Folk Music Festival from July 14th to July 26th, 2026. The two-week camp is for musicians aged 18-30, with up to 50 participants expected to attend. Among this year's instructors, who will teach traditional music by ear, are musicians from various countries.
Registration closes on the 1st of April.
Essentials
We will stay at Kõpu manor from Tuesday until Thursday of the second week (14th to 23rd July), where we'll be learning tunes, rehearsing, dancing, jamming, roadtripping, etc.
We will have three meals a day, and we’ll sleep on the floors of classrooms with our own mattresses and sleeping bags (7–15 people per room). Washing facilities are in the school’s sports hall.
On Thursday morning, 23rd July, we’ll move to Viljandi to kick off the Viljandi Folk Music Festival. Our basecamp for the duration of the festival duration will be in the hall of Viljandi Kesklinna School (Jakobsoni 42, Viljandi). We can stay there until the 27th of July, until lunchtime (the hall must be vacated by 12 o’clock). NB! A reminder that the catering during the festival is only partially included (one meal on the 23rd and 24th only)!
Costs and registration
The costs include:
- transport for the duration of the camp
- food for the duration of the camp from 14th to 23rd July (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two light meals) Please note that meals during the Viljandi Folk Music Festival are not included (only one meal is provided on the 23rd and 24th).
- accommodation for the duration of the camp and Viljandi Folk Music Festival (23rd to 26th July)
- performer’s card of the festival that gives free access to all the concerts
- VAT (24%)
To apply, fill in the registration form.
The confirmation of acceptance to the ETHNO camp will be sent in 2 weeks after the registration closes, or by the 1st of May, at the latest.
After receiving the confirmation, please transfer a non-refundable prepayment of €50 to the bank account of MTÜ Eesti Pärimusmuusika Keskus (NGO Estonian Traditional Music Center) EE691010220008039018. Prepayment guarantees a place at the camp!
The remaining €290 should be transferred to the Estonian Traditional Music Center account by the 1st of July 2026, at the latest. In the payment details, please mark “Ethno Estonia 2026” and your name.
Registration closes on the 1st of April but participants are also accepted after that, if places remain available.
Organizers
Margit Kuhi (Chief of Ethno Estonia)
Margit Kuhi has graduated from the Viljandi Culture Academy with a degree in traditional music and has dedicated herself to teaching and inspiring a new generation of traditional musicians. Since 2009, she has been leading the ETHNO Estonia camp, and since 2018, the Youth ETHNO (formerly Children's ETHNO). Under her leadership, a comprehensive Estonian ETHNO ecosystem has been created, which includes Winter ETHNO, ETHNO Rendezvous, and the ETHNO Instructor Course. Her initial awe at the responsibility of this role has been replaced with confidence and continued excitement, as each camp is unique and special.
Margit's greatest joy is meeting talented young musicians every year, who, by inspiring each other and creating together, experience the joy of the ETHNO world. She always gives her best to ensure that every camp is an unforgettable and truly exciting experience for all participants!
Kärt Tambet (artistic director)
Kärt is a true ETHNO-soul whose biggest passion is learning about musical traditions of different people and places, and creating her own sonic expression through these exposures. For that reason she also earned a degree in Global Music from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. In addition to that, Kärt is an occasional host of radio shows, plays DJ sets at parties, gives workshops and teaches at various music camps and different community settings.
At ETHNO, she is responsible for making sure that all the artistic work and everyday activities are running as smoothly as possible.
Hanna-Reet Ruul (Head of Communication)
Hanna-Reet is a musician from the forests of Võrumaa. In 2020 she started studying traditional singing at Viljandi Culture Academy which gave her a chance to go study at the Irish World Academy as an exchange student, joining the World Music programme.
Besides studying, she's been in groups like ÖÖT, Poogendajad, and Iiri-Eesti lauluvägi, organized local sessions, and taught traditional music and dances to kids.
Hanna-Reet joined the ETHNO world in 2020 with ETHNO Estonia and after that, she's grabbed every chance to join an ETHNO - as a participant, volunteer, mentor, or organizer!
In (and before and after) Ethno, she’s responsible for communication and social media and making sure that everything is running smoothly on the spot too.
Léon Allik (listener, observer, starter of games and events)
Living in: Tallinn
Main philosophy: Improvisation
Main instrument: Guitar
Function in ETHNO Estonia: Listener, observer and starter of games and events
I keep an eye out, that everyone would have an opportunity to feel free, creative, and joyful. ETHNO camp is a place for me where:
- I can travel on the colourful landscape of music from the wide world;
- (re)discover again and again how beautiful and awesome people are;
- play, run, laugh;
- lay in the grass while the sun shines, and listen as the songs of birds melt together with the distant sound of instruments.
Margit Kuhi, Chief of Ethno Estonia
margit.kuhi@folk.ee
+372 5568 7474
ETHNO On The Road
During the journey, concert workshops are held in schools in the mornings, and concerts are given in the evenings for all interested parties. The finale of the tour is a performance at the Folk Music Harvest Party in Viljandi.
THe History of ETHNO Estonia
Two students of folk music at the time, Krista Sildoja and Tuulikki Bartosik, were sent by the Viljandi Folk Music Festival to the ETHNO camp in Falun, Sweden, in early July 1997. Inspired by this camp experience and at the request of the festival, the first traditional music learning camp for young musicians, called the Young Moosekants' Instrumental Days, took place in Viljandi from July 20th to 24th of the same year. They also performed together at the 1997 Viljandi Folk Music Festival. Since 2000, the camp has been named ETHNO Estonia.
