What happens when pop and rock formats are used as tools for youth empowerment in contexts where other musical traditions, languages and ways of making culture have been pushed aside, suppressed or made invisible? These formats can open doors, create confidence and offer access, but they can also risk reproducing the same hierarchies that have historically marginalised local forms of expression.

The panel will explore how organisers navigate this tension in practice: how to create music spaces that are relevant and empowering, how to support young people in ways that strengthen identity, self-determination and music communities on their own terms.

The three organisers represent different contexts: Dolvot, a songwriting camp for young professional Sámi musicians; Rock the Rez, a rock camp for girls and non-binary children on reservations in South Dakota and Minnesota; and LOUD Girls Rock Camp Mozambique, which works mainly with girls in schools in the Maputo area.

Speakers:
Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen / Dolvot
Artist, activist and author, founder of Dolvot, a songwriting camp for young professional Sámi musicians.

Slater Matson / Rock the Rez
Director of Rock the Rez and board member of the Girls Rock Camp Alliance. Rock the Rez is a rock camp for girls and non-binary children on reservations in South Dakota and Minnesota.

Tapiwa Langa / LOUD Girls Rock Camp Mozambique
Musicologist and Director of Music Crossroads Mocambique, co founder of LOUD Girls Rock Camp Mozambique, providing music and leadership training for girls in schools in the Maputo area