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07/28/2008
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Staff photo by Andy Molloyfrom the Kennebec Journal
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BY MEGHAN V. MALLOY
Staff Writer
Milo Stanley is having a summer vacation some kids can only dream of.
The 13-year-old Richmond boy will accompany four other central Maine teens to Turkmenistan today to participate in the International Festival for Talented Children of the World, a music fest which gives youth around the world a chance to learn about other cultures and celebrate their own through the common bond of music.
"I'm really excited," said Milo, who has never been overseas until this trip. "I don't feel nervous at all."
Milo is part of a fiddling group called the Pineland Fiddlers, an offshoot of the Pineland Suzuki School. The teenage group going to the music festival includes four fiddlers and a guitar player. The quintet is the only group to represent the United States in Turkmenistan.
Milo has played the fiddle for seven years. He also plays the piano and guitar, and "a little bit of everything, really."
"I love to play music," he said. "It's fun, and it takes me places, and I get to meet people because of it."
Teacher Ellen Gawler said the Pineland Fiddlers will perform for a variety of people in Turkmenistan, ranging from the state government to orphanages and schools.
"To me, music is a way to bring people together, especially people from different countries," Gawler said. "Music, and dance also, are ways we can recognize the similarities we share. Our differences fall to the side."
The International Festival for Talented Children of the World had its inaugural celebration last summer, which was also in Turkmenistan. Participants play traditional music and wear traditional costume -- the Pineland Fiddlers will wear patchwork vests and play traditional Franco-American fiddle music native to Maine and Canada.
Twenty other countries will be represented at the festival, including Saudi Arabia, China, Germany and Russia.
"The kids are very excited," Gawler said of the quintet. "We've had only six weeks to put it all together and get ourselves in gear, but they have been practicing together and sound great."
Ellie Sloan-Barton, 13, who also plays fiddle with the Pineland Fiddlers, said she is most looking forward to meeting new people, particularly those of different cultural backgrounds.
"It's going to be really fun," Ellie said of the 11-day trip. "I'm looking forward to meeting all different kinds of people."
Ellie, who lives in Farmington, traveled to Europe several years ago.
She said she was not nervous about the upcoming trip itself, "but playing in front of all those people, yeah."
Ellie started playing the fiddle at the age of eight. Like Milo, she's proficient with other instruments, and she also likes to sing.
The Pineland Fiddlers have previously traveled to Quebec to perform and will travel to Ireland in June.
"We're always trying to expand our musical horizons," Gawler said. "I'm very much looking forward to sharing our music with other people from around the world."
Turkmenistan is a country bordering Iran, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and the Caspian Sea. It was a republic within the Soviet Union until 1991.
Meghan V. Malloy -- 623-3811 Ext. 431
mmalloy@centralmaine.com
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