BALTICA

BALTICA 2024

Lietuvių | English

International Folklore Festival BALTICA is one of the most significant of its kind in the Baltic States. Every year, since 1987, in accordance with interstate agreement, it has been held in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in turn. In 2024 the event will take place in Lithuania. The festival is included in the official list of events of CIOFF^©.

BALTICA gathers about 2000 participants of 10–12 guest folklore groups from different parts of the world and of Lithuania regions.

The aim of the festival is to promote cultural contacts and friendship with various nations, to preserve, to revive and to develop intangible cultural heritage, national and local traditions.

BALTICA incorporates a wide variety of cultural aspects: traditional songs, dances, instrumental music, customs, unique arts and crafts, handmade articles and traditional cuisine. For that purpose, the Lithuanian organizers build a small Festival Town with a stage for the performances of folk groups, areas for demonstration of traditional crafts and foods fair. Each country is assigned time slots to present their culture.

The festival consists of different types of events: gala and chamber concerts, creative workshops, parades, short performances, video presentations, etc. Festival activities take place both in cities (concert halls, open–air stages in parks, streets) and in countryside.

International Folklore Festival BALTICA will be held in Lithuania on 28 of June – 2 of July, 2024.

The activities are planned to take place in the capital city of Lithuania – Vilnius as well as in other cities and countryside.

 

In 2024 the theme of the festival in Lithuania will be Ritual, which features customs and rites related to the exceptional and everyday moments of human life, calendar holidays, agriculture, crafts, other work cycles, ways to strengthen physical and mental health, etc.

History of the festival "Baltica" 1987–2019, 2021.

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XXVI INTERNATIONAL FOLKLORE FESTIVAL “BALTICA” IN LITHUANIA

PROGRAMME

28.06 – 02.07.2024

Events in Vilnius

June 28, Friday

17.00   The lighting ceremony of the Festival‘s flame at the Hill of Gediminas' Grave

June 29, Saturday

12.00   Traditional Crafts Fair in Bernardine Garden and the Castles Territory

16.00   Performances in the Old Town of Vilnius, Gediminas Avenue

18.00   Gala Concert “Revelations” at the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall (Vilnius St.6)

June 30, Sunday

11.30   Traditional Sacred Songs Hour at the Bernardine Church (Maironis St. 10)

The Town of the Festival in Bernardine Garden:

14.00   Rituals, concerts, presentations of traditions, crafts and national cuisine

18.00   Concert and Dance Party

July 1, Monday

10.00   Creativity Lab at the Lithuanian National Culture Centre (Barboros Radvilaitės St. 8)

The Town of the Festival at the Bernardine Garden:

15.00   Rituals, concerts, presentations of traditions, crafts and national cuisine

18.00   Concert and Dance Party

21.00   Video-club “Baltica” at the Lithuanian National Culture Centre

July 2, Tuesday

12.00   Performances of the Festival’s guests in the Folklore Day programme “Rasi rasoj rasi” ("Find up in dew") of the Centennial Lithuanian Song Celebration “May the green Forest Grow“ in Bernardine Garden and the Castles Territory

18.30 Concert of the participants of the festival “Baltica” at the Cathedral Square

June 30, Sunday, July 1, Monday

Festival events in Kaišiadorys, Kaunas districts

Changes of the festival programme are possible

Programme Booklet

GENERAL CONDITIONS

1. Folklore programme requirements for groups

BALTICA 2024 is a festival presenting authentic forms of folklore (i.e., non-stylized, non-transformed), therefore, we would be grateful if the traditional practitioners of your traditional songs, dances, instrumental music, customs and traditional costumes come to the festival. Groups should present their program with a live folk music accompaniment if it is needed. Unfortunately, recorded music is not allowed as it eliminates authenticity. The duration of the performances - 5, 30, 60 min. A folklore group should be at least of 5 persons, but not over 20.

 

2. Traditional crafts

The most convenient demonstration would be of those crafts that need no complex equipment, for example, twig or straw-weaving, wood-carving, pottery, textile, etc. Articles can be brought or produced for sale.

We would like to invite up to 2 craftspeople representing the same region with their own materials and means of production, and dressed in their national costumes. It is desirable that they were able to decorate their working place at least minimally.

We kindly ask you to fill in the Application Form of craftspeople recommended, to prepare a few photos of each person with his / her articles.

 

3. Traditional cuisine

Conditions and appliances for preparing foods will be provided by organizers. We kindly ask you to send us the recipes of the foods proposed, which can be made using no complex equipment, as well as contact address of the consulting specialist who will take part in preparing and presenting foods for the further discussion on details.

 

4. BALTICA CINEMA-2024

The aim of the cinema is to provide the participating countries with the possibility of wider presentation of their intangible cultural heritage. Films recorded on DVD could include family traditions as well as those of work, calendar festivities, rituals, mode of life and other fields of traditional culture of your country.

We kindly ask you to inform us about the films offered, regarding the following: the author, the title (original and English), duration, DVD format (HD, AVI), language, short annotation.

If any problems in terms of the lease or the public presentation of the films occur, please inform us about it and provide us with the addresses of the responsible officials, so that we can help you solve this matter.

We kindly ask you to deliver the films two months in advance.

 

5. Expenses

The travelling expenses should be covered by the participating countries.

Expenses for meals, lodging and traveling during the festival will be covered by the organizers of  BALTICA-2024.

Participants are obliged to have their own health insurance policy. Organizers will not cover costs of health treatment and other results of misfortunes.

Participants

ESTONIA

Folklore Ensemble LEIGARID
Artistic Director Sille Kapper-Tiisler

Folklore ensemble LEIGARID, consisting of dancers, singers, and instrumentalists, was founded in Tallinn in 1969. Over the years, the ensemble has grown into a community of about 200 like-minded people who are looking for balance between recorded authentic folklore and its new functions. The ensemble regularly performs at the Estonian Open Air Museum in Tallinn, introducing tourists to traditional Estonian dances and music.

LEIGARID performs songs, games, dances, and instrumental music from all over Estonia. It has a wide repertoire ranging from the oldest Estonian folk songs (runosongs) to more recent ones, including game songs, and constructs its performances around songs and customs of seasonal holidays, work, feasts, and other rituals of different regions of Estonia. It is not uncommon for the audience to join in songs, dances, and games, too.

The ensemble wears traditional costumes of different regions of Estonia. Some of the pieces are handmade by the members themselves, following the local tradition and artefacts found in museum collections. The ensemble’s costumes, dances, and music reflect the variety of unique Estonian traditions.

LEIGARID has participated in Folkloriadas and international festivals in many countries across Europe, Asia, and South America, as well as the US.

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LATVIA

Folklore Ensemble LEIMAŅI
Artistic Director Inese Mičule

Founded in 2011, LEIMAŅI from Dobele unites people interested in the heritage of Zemgale. Their main goal is to promote and pass on the varied traditional culture, and especially music, of the region.

The ensemble members are constantly trying to develop their skills in Latvian singing, dancing, and other fields related to traditional culture.

On festive occasions, LEIMAŅI performers wear traditional handmade costumes, as some of the participants are traditional costume makers. The ensemble has 20 members, who organize and take part in seasonal holidays, different local and national folk events.

On the stages of BALTICA 2024, LEIMAŅI will dance, sing, play the fiddle, drum, accordion, traditional wind instruments, and Latvian zither kokle.

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GREECE

Folklore Ensemble KANELORIZA
Artistic Director Stefanos Sinis

KANELORIZA was founded at the Youth Centre of Saint Athanasios Orthodox Church in Chalandri, Athens, in 2008. Its current teacher and artistic director Stefanos Sinis has been working with the group since 2018. The ensemble aims to keep Greek traditions, dances, and songs alive, explores manifestations of this heritage, which continues to be a part of the contemporary Greek culture, and broadens its experience at traditional weddings and other community gatherings.

Kaneloriza (literally, a ‘cinnamon root’) is actually a classic Asia Minor song and dance (in 9/8 and 7/8 time), which tells a story about an unrequited love toward an attractive young woman.

The ensemble performs Gaitanaki, a group dance of men and women, which is an integral part of the Greek carnival. In the dance, one person holds a wooden pole with twelve colourful ribbons attached at the top, and twelve dancers, each holding one of the dangling ribbons, move round, twining ribbons until a colourful plait is made. The dance works as a metaphor of the circle of life, the twelve ribbons symbolizing the twelve months of the year.

KANELORIZA performs in different regions across the country. Last summer, the group took part in the Loznica Folk Festival in Serbia.

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SLOVAKIA

Sponsors

Organizer

Partners

Kaišiadorių rajono savivaldybė

Antano ir Jono Juškų  etninės kultūros  muziejus

Informational sponsors

Sponsors

CREATIVE AND MANAGEMENT TEAM

Jūratė Šemetaitė – creative director
Vida Šatkauskienė – deputy creative director
Arūnas Lunys – managing director
Loreta Sungailienė
Audronė Vakarinienė
Jonas Tumasonis-Adominis
Inga Kriščiūnienė
Saulenė Pečiulytė
Gražina Vaičiūnaitė
Asta Valiukevičienė
Roma Kraujalienė
Rytas Belevičius, Rūta Čigriejūtė – scenographers
Audronė Lasinskienė – layout designer
Audronė Ercmonaitė – designer of the logo
Paulius Jurkus – BALTICA 2024 website