Lithuanians are ready to meet Hungarian folklore

Folk ensemble CSUTORA from Hungary will be visiting Šiauliai city (Lithuania) on 6–11 July, where will participate in VI International folklore contest-festival “The Flower of the Sun”. Also in the contest-festival will participate other ensembles from 11 other countries (Australia, Azerbaijan, Costa Rica, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sri Lanka and Turkey).

“We can’t wait to see the Hungarian performances because representatives from this country have participated in our contest-festival many times, and they always manage to fascinate the audience by their lively performances. As the experience from the previous years shows, the competitive program is really strong, so there is a huge competition among collectives. We want to wish the participants the best of luck and hope to see the best performances of the collective which will leave our audience highly impressed. Exactly ten years ago, a collective from Hungary won Grand Prix in the first contest-festival “The Flower of the Sun”, so who knows – maybe this year the grand prize will go to Hungary again” – says Zenonas Ripinskis, the president of the organizing committee of “The flower of the sun”.

Many collectives wished to participate in the contest-festival “The Flower of the Sun”, but only a quarter of the best ones were invited. The participants were carefully selected by the organizers of the festival, taking into account the achievements and professionalism of the ensembles.

The biggest festival in Northern Lithuania and perhaps the only folk contest-festival in Eastern Europe “The flower of the Sun” that is incorporated in the IOV – International Organization of Folk Art (supported by UNESCO) and Federation of International Dance Festivals (FIDAF) list of events.

The event has already become a traditional celebration of Šiauliai city and region, and now it is included in the priority list of the Cultural events. This year it is patronised by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania Šarūnas Birutis.

During the six-day festival over 20 concerts will be held and more than 600 participants from different countries will show their performances. The participants of the contest will compete in the following six categories – Traditional Folklore Dance groups, stylized Folklore Dance groups, instrumental music groups, traditional singing groups, solo performers and solo instrumentalists. The authoritative jury will select and award the best ones.

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