Charming ISFiT opening

Storsalen was packed with guests from 100 different nations, all in festive moods, dressed in everything from bunad (traditional Norwegian costume) to quilted jackets when the International Student Festival in Trondheim (ISFiT) had its official opening ceremony this afternoon.

Arve Tellefsen was first on stage with two Norwegian works, “A Mother’s Prayer” by Ole Bull and “Cadenza” by Arne Nordheim. The virtuous violinist’s playing fitted well with Sverre Simonsen’s pictures of Norwegian nature that were shown on widescreens.

The theme for this year’s festival is team building, and it characterized president Trygve Thorson’s welcome speech. He talked about Trondheim being first on uniting voices from East and West after the fall of the Berlin wall twenty years ago.

– Today, there is negative prejudice that needs to be defeated, and knowledge and understanding that shall be built, he said.

Thorson emphasized the importance of the festival as a meeting place where the students’ voice is heard on neutral ground.

– Dialogue can build a future where people can live in peace, said Thorson, and encouraged the participants to use their time during the festival on this.

Pirum and TKS entertained

When the festival was declared open, the male choir Pirum entered the stage in their own famous ways. They limited themselves to only one song, apparently due to Thorson’s need to speak. The song about Russian Sonia received big applause from the audience and it was arranged in true Pirum spirit.

They were followed by the all female student choir of Trondheim, TKS, who sung a toned down, yet as beautiful, version of the folk tune “Lokkeslåtten” with Marit Gjeset as their conductor.

The main attraction was naturally the former Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, who charmed the entire audience with his short, but sparkling, speech. Dressed in religious attire he started with a simple “Hello”, and said it was wonderful to be back in Trondheim. The archbishop protested against the missing introduction, and told he had been mistaken for Nelson Mandela, which achieved great laughter from an attentive audience.

The guest of honor wished to focus on other things than himself, and started a long round of applause where both the ISFiT management and the Student Peace Prize winner Rabab were appreciated. The biggest round of applause he gave to the students in the audience.

– Today’s youth have an astonishing commitment to end wars and the World’s suffering, said Tutu, and encouraged people to hold on to the dream of defeating poverty.

– As Tomorrow’s leaders, you must reach for the stars and never give up.

Nobel’s Peace Prize is not hard to achieve according to Tutu, who revealed that the ingredients needed were an easy name, a big nose and a pair of sexy legs. After a couple of minutes it was over, and he got a standing ovation for his performance.

The hour-long séance ended with “Circus Activities” where circus performer Julie Grønnesby Heir swung herself acrobatically up and down in red ropes together with Axel Immler and Helene Dahl to the elegant tones of Yann Tiersen.