TIRANA, May 28/ATA/ The 17th edition of the Aulona Inter Folk Festival, held from May 23-26, ended successfully in the city of Vlora.
On the final night, the Organizing Committee honored the Georgian Ensemble “Colkhida” with the cup of the seventeenth edition of the festival. The cup was handed over by Mayor of Vlora Ermal Dredha.
For four days in a row, Vlora was conquered by the songs, dance rhythms and various colors of folk costumes of the folklore groups that came to this festival from different countries of Europe.
For the seventeenth year in a row, the Aulona Festival has become a beautiful tradition for the coastal city of Vlora.
This year, ensembles from Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Georgia, Ukraine, Kosovo, North Macedonia took part in this great folk activity. While Albania was represented by ensembles “Dropulli” and “Eagle’s Wing” as well as the polyphonic group “Labëria treasures” from Albania.
Director of the “Aulona” Cultural Center and the General Director of the Festival Sejmen Gjokoli told ATA that, “During the festival days, 330 festival-goers crowded Vlora and its surroundings with songs, dances and colorful costumes, conveying the spiritual tradition of European peoples and at the same time becoming a bridge of cooperation and integration between each other’s cultures.”
According to him, in the opening days of the tourist season, this festival marks another extraordinary activity as part of the cultural agenda of Vlora municipality.
In context of the festival, there were also visits to places rich in cultural and natural heritage such as Zvërnec Monastery or the beaches of Radhima.
In addition to free performances in the streets and squares of the city, the festival also gave performances in the historical center of the city in the reconstructed square in front of the municipality, but also in the premises of the “Orbital Forest” near the National Museum of Independence in Skela.
On the first day of the festival, Mayor Ermal Dredha received the representatives of the participating groups at the premises of Vlora Municipality.
“The fact that there are so many of you and from such a wide geography of Europe shows the power of art and culture in connecting and strengthening friendship between countries, as well as the power of spiritual heritage in integrating the cultures of peoples”, said Dredha.
Aulona Inter Folk Festival is the largest international festival in the field of folklore where only for the effect of this activity, in the seventeen editions together, Vlora has been visited by 133 folklore ensembles with over 4700 participants from 38 countries of the Balkans, Europe and Asia.
The festival was supported by the municipality of Vlora, the Ministry of Economy, Culture and Innovation as well as other donors. /k.s/j.p/p.s./
