By Peter Marten
Helsinki becomes more international than ever during the World Village Festival, when Kaisaniemi Park and Railway Square feature five stages full of music, meetings, commerce and cuisine.
The two-day World Village Festival contains something for everyone and something from everywhere – and, we should add, it's free! The participants come from all over the globe – even Finland – and are too numerous to list in one article, but here's a sample:
Experience Japanese drummer Ichitaro on the Mekong Stage on Railway Square, then move over to Kaisaniemi Park to catch Chilean reggae star Quique Neira on the Savannah Stage.
If you seek more intellectual vibrations, listen to discussions of "Islam and equality" or "Turning oppression into opportunity for women" on the Amazon Stage, then go for "Democracy and development in Nigeria" or the Poetry Slam event.
The festival also includes the Kids' Corner Stage, a sports area, a street art area, and a Market of Possibilities with stalls run by more than 100 nongovernmental, cultural, political and other organisations, from Amnesty International to the Finnish-Zimbabwe Association.
Needless to say, if you get hungry after concerts by musicians such as Danish-Faroese-Ecuadorian-Swiss band Valravn or Finnish Algerian, Parisian-born Manna, you can stop off at one of the 57 food vendors and enjoy cuisine from another continent.
