FOLKEST 40th edition
Come from all over the world the artists who, like every summer without interruption for forty years, will animate the numerous stages of Folkest, this year from next June 21 to July 9: in addition to Udine, Spilimbergo and Gorizia many other places involved, for a total of 26 Municipalities of Friuli Venezia Giulia.
A festival that is necessarily the result of collaborations, at all levels, enjoys the High Patronage of UNESCO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MIBACT, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, and of the Friuli Foundation, which in the artistic and organizational path of Folkest believed and continues to believe. With the ARLeF – Agjenzie Regjonâl pe Lenghe Furlane instead, the collaboration comes from a funding of a three-year project that ensures the presence of the Friulian language in the promotion of the Festival events.
These bodies and institutions contribute to support the initiative together with the Municipality of Spilimbergo, Udine and Capodistria, the CAN of Capodistria, the AIAS Capodistria, the NuovoImaie and all the locals administrations involved by Folkest 2018.
The media partners are also significant, which see the RAI headquarters of FVG, TV Capodistria, the Giornale della Musica, Folk Bulletin and the Andrea Parodi Foundation, homologue and twin of Folkest of Sardinia.
Without forget a nice friend of Folkest as Leo Goldsmith of Spilimbergo, who every year presents a splendid handmade jewel to the winner of the career Folkest Award.
They will perform very different artists this year on the stages of Folkest, who wants to celebrate the milestone of his first forty years with a multicolored caravan moving from villa to villa, from castle to castle, from a rustic village to another, visiting places of the memory of our people and enhancing all the music that, beyond being technically folk, world, jazz or songwriting, pure or contaminated, knows how to give voice to the cultural roots of any part of the world.
Crossing the boundaries between music and genres, making us tell ancient legends and common stories, sagas of heroes and stories of simple people who belong to everyone and are part of the cultural pride of the peoples, but often the same stories, although declined in different languages and tell us about this our Old Continent in a succession of songs from Magna Grecia to Scotland , from Belarus to Ireland, from Sicily to Sweden.
A world of knowledge, a long ride through some of the most beautiful places in our Region, where there won’t be miss sounds and melodies of Celtic inspired, a section that never misses at the festival, as well as the border music, from the manouche to the Balkan, at klezmer, at blues.
With a window on folk-metal, with one of the most titled Eastern European groups in the industry, the Belarusians Irdorath.
Without forget the Balkan blues princess, the Bosnian Amira Medunjanin with her Croatian guitarist Ante Gelo, or the Marches of La Macina, who will celebrate their fiftieth birthday in Folkest, the Istrians Vruja and the Piedmont with the band La Mesquia and the Friulian Serena Finatti, who will present their new album produced by FolkestDischi
The special production of 2018, in collaboration with the Gottardo Tomat Association, which includes a group of teachers and students under the direction of “Maestro” Davide De Lucia, will be dedicated to a reinterpretation of Sting’s music .
Back, then, one of the highlights of the kermesse, Suonare@Folkest for the first time this year will bring the final to Spilimbergo: in addition to the concert performances of qualified groups on Monday 9 July with the final, fully taken from the cameras of the programs of the Rai Office of Friuli Venezia Giulia, with the presence on stage, as conductor, of the famous author and journalist of Rai Radio1 Gianmaurizio Foderaro. Special guest of the evening the Sardinian artist Daniela Pes, winner of the Andrea Parodi Award of Cagliari in 2017.
From this year the space of the Torre Orientale at Spilimbergo it will completely change, which will open at 6pm, giving space to some prestigious editorial presentations.
Expect at Folkest, Adriana Schepis, with her biography “Patti Smith – I want, now“, which traces the life of the famous author and singer made up of constant resurrections, plot twists, acts of rebellion and unpredictable turns.
Also on Saturday 7 July, Enzo Gentile and Roberto Crema will present “Hendrix’68 – The Italian Experience” that the authors dedicate to the first and only time in which Jimi Hendrix and his Experiences toured Italy in May 1968: unpublished photos, testimonies of lucky viewers, original articles and magazines, tickets and other memorabilia make up a kaleidoscope of memories on the fiftieth anniversary of that memorable event.
Among the most anticipated guests also Claudio Trotta with his “No pasta no show“. Trotta is one of the best known and respected producers and independent promoters of live shows in the world since the late seventies organized more than fifteen thousand events in Italy and around the world, working with artists such as Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC, Kiss, Sting, David Bowie, Metallica, Frank Zappa, Elio and le Storie Tese, Renato Zero, Ligabue, Negramaro and many others …
Not to be missed Folkest in Capodistria, the backbone of every edition of the festival for twenty-five years, which this year will propose three events: the Arsenal Project, a special production dedicated to the music of the Venetian Mediterranean, the legendary Bosnian formation Mostar Sevdah Reunion and the old lion Shel Shapiro.
Last but not least in terms of the calendar, of course, the capital of Friuli, Udine, which will welcome in the now well-known and appreciated setting of the Castle. The main event of Folkest and one of the highlights of the summer not only Friulian: one of the four Italian concerts of the tour that will see the farewell to the scenes of Joan Baez.
See you at Folkest!