Running from September 19 to 22, the tour stops in Brescia, Turin, Pordenone and Rovereto.

Through a program centered on traditional music and dance, the National Ensemble aims to showcase the diversity and richness of Albanian folklore on Italian stages.

On September 19, the ensemble will perform in Brescia, launching this artistic journey in Italy. The following day, September 20, the Albanian artists will perform in Turin, while the tour continues to Pordenone on September 21.

The final performance will take place on September 22 in Rovereto.

For the Albanian community living and working in Italy, these performances offer an opportunity to reconnect with the culture and traditions of their homeland.

Albanian folk songs, dances and traditional costumes will take center stage in this cultural showcase, bringing the rich identity and diversity of Albanian tradition to Italian audiences. The tour highlights the vital role that Albanian institutions and artistic troupes play in promoting national heritage on the global stage.

Through such activities, traditional art serves as a bridge connecting Albania with Albanian communities in the diaspora.

For many Albanians living far from their homeland, the National Ensemble’s performances on Italian stages offer a chance to reconnect with memories, roots and the emotions associated with Albanian culture.

Spanning four cities and four artistic evenings, the tour will bring the sounds, rhythms, colors, and costumes of Albanian tradition to Italy, transforming the event into a celebration of Albanian culture and identity. /p.s./

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./

The concert by the Ensemble of Songs and Dances on the cobblestone alleys of Gjirokaster, an UNESCO World Heritage site, featured best Albanian folk and dance traditions.

A large number of visitors to the stone city joined the Ensemble’s performance by singing and dancing with the artists.

The National Ensemble of Songs and Dances performed a rich repertoire of songs and dances, part of the Albanian folklore and cultural heritage.

The concert took place as part of the “Folk on Tour” that will take the National Ensemble of Songs and Dances to the southern coastal town of Saranda and other cities across the country to entertain local and foreign holidaymakers.

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The Minister of Culture Elva Margariti shared pictures showing the event as part of the KultArt 2023 summer season organized by the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Municipality of Shkoder.

“Artists of the National Ensemble of Songs and Dances performed in the Summer Sounds concert at the central square of Velipoje, singing and dancing together with local and foreign visitors,” Culture Minister said.

After performance in Velipoje, the Ensemble will stage more concerts in other coastal towns and cities along the Adriatic to entertain local and foreign holidaymakers. The Ensemble is scheduled to perform in the city of Durres on Saturday evening.

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Heads of the ensemble and representatives of the Ministry of Culture paid a visit today to the Municipality of Gjakova where they met the mayor of this municipality Ardian Gjini. They appeared together at a press conference where they said that this cooperation with Albania is part of the common cultural calendar.

Mayor of Gjakova Ardian Gjini said that the National Song and Dance Ensemble will be in Gjakova on April 26, at 20.30 in the evening they will perform a concert in Gjakova

“I know that the public of Gjakova, but also the whole of Kosovo is looking forward to such a tour because for years and decades we have been inspired by the extraordinary artistic production of the Song and Dance Ensemble. Once again, it is a good feeling to have them in Kosovo and in this case in Gjakova”, he said.

The Artistic Director of the song and dance ensemble of Albania Sokol Marsi said that the tour will take place in some of the cities of Kosovo. According to him, on April 25 they will be in Prizren, on April 26 in Gjakova, on April 27 in Gjilan and later in Skopje.

Liburn Jupolli, advisor to the Minister of Culture Çeku, said that this historical tour is a further step towards inter-state cooperation.

The National Ensemble of Songs and Dances has been a national values for 65 years./KosovaPress/p.s./