MTSU’s International Affairs and the Murfreesboro community hosted the ‘Boro International Festival on Saturday outside the Student Union, highlighting diversity, art, music, food and cross-cultural understanding. 

The event featured vendors, crafts and performances, from martial arts and Indonesian fashion, to indie-rock and traditional Chinese stringed instruments.

The festival highlighted the importance of community, said Mike Novak, host of the event and former director of the discontinued Confucius Institute at MTSU. 

“The point of being here in our eighth annual Boro’ International Festival, what it means to people, is to bring all the particular cultures here in Murfreesboro together and really represent community,” Novak said. 

Most guests came from the Murfreesboro community, but some MTSU students attended. 

MTSU Alumnus Lee Holman, a former special education major, toured almost every booth to experience each culture.

“I really like international stuff,” Holman said, “And it’s just cool to watch other cultures represented and appreciated in such a public way.” 

The festival began with a procession of international flags accompanied by the 1985 hit “We Are the World.” Organizers then recognized the Native American tribes driven from Tennessee lands, and welcomed a performance by the steel drum band Steel de Boro. 

Board-breaking fun with King Tiger Taekwondo, indie-rock band Middle Season, a South Indonesian fashion show, a performance by MTSU’s Center for Chinese Music and Culture, CCMC, and Egyptian belly dancing followed the opening. 

Middle Season guitarist and frontman Joey Ramon, from Venezuela, and drummer Diego – a Tennessee local whose parents are from Guatemala – were excited to showcase their creativity and PG-13 Spanish lyrics. 

MTSU showcased its own talent as well with Mei Han, the director of the Center for Chinese Music and Culture (CCMC) and world-class zheng player, who partnered with a visiting scholar and pipa artist from China to perform traditional Chinese music. 

They played a Cantonese step-up-step piece, a distinctive folk music of the Guangdong province and a token of good luck and well-wishes, Han said.

“We use this song as a good wish for the festival, for everyone here, to have a pleasant day and be healthy and wealthy,” Han said.

Novak seconded Han and encouraged students to learn more about Chinese culture and music by visiting the CCMC in the Miller Education Center, where they have a museum and regularly host cultural activities and musical performances. 

MTSU’s College of Liberal Arts and the Department of Political and Global Affairs attended the festival, seeking to connect students and the international community with the resources they offer, including theatre, music and world languages.

To contact the news editor, email [email protected].