FOLKEST 2019 – 41th edition
Over 50 events distributed between June, July and August for a summer Folkest that celebrates its 41 years of music (but not only). The festival will take place across 22 municipalities in Friuli Venezia Giulia including Sauris, Duino, Tramonti di Sopra, Pulfero, Romans d’Isonzo, Travesio, with some significant events in Gorizia, Spilimbergo, Udine, and in the neighboring Koper and, new to this year, Auronzo di Cadore. Folkest enjoys the important patronage of UNESCO, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Italian Republic, of the Mibact – Ministry of Fine Arts and Culture of the Italian Republic, of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, of the Presidency of the Friuli Venezia Region Giulia, of the Friuli Foundation, of the ARLeF, of the Municipality of Spilimbergo, of the Municipality of Udine and of the Municipality of Koper.
The artists who will animate the numerous stages of Folkest – an event that since its foundation has focused its attention on the music of different ethnic groups and cultures – from 20 June to 22 July, come from all over the world: Scotland, Serbia, Slovenia, Ireland, Hungary, Colombia, Austria, Czech Republic, Argentina, Poland, Belarus, Croatia, Bosnia, England, Canada and Italy.
Among the guests of this edition, programmed by the artistic director Andrea Del Favero, the duo Shel Shapiro – Maurizio Vandelli in the ‘Love and Peace Tour‘ (Udine, 9 July), the timeless PFM formation (Koper, 20 July) engaged in ‘TVB-The very best tour” (free admission), and the Canadian singer-songwriter Loreena McKennitt, international folk music star who will perform on July 22nd in the square of the Udine Castle.
Bringing culture where there is people, it was since the beginning the founding idea of Folkest, a multicolored festival born thanks to the contribution of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and the fundamental support of the Friuli Foundation, which is supported by the municipalities and the local organizations of the various places touched and whose artistic choices for years have made this event known all over Europe, confirming it as the ideal stage to reveal new talents to the eye of the European public.
Folkest and young people
For some years now and in particular in this edition, Folkest has been aimed at young people, being, among all the other things, formed mainly by young people: in the organizational team of the festival, apart from some historical figures, the team probably has the lowest average age among the various regional festivals, despite a high professional level fielded. Furthermore, Folkest promotes young Italian artists also through the Folkest Award – Alberto Cesa and the circulation of new artists, as well as contributing to their European level professional training, through collaboration with Soma Festival (Ireland), Colors of Ostrava and Ostrava Crossroads (Czech Republic), Budapest Ritmo (Hungary), Katowice festival (Poland) and many others.
The Alberto Cesa Award
The Alberto Cesa Award is designed to enhance all that music which, beyond being classified as folk, folk-rock, ethnic, ethno-jazz, world, new acoustic, minimalist, guitarist, songwriters, storytellers, street artists (with prevailing musical activity) able to give voice to one or more cultural roots of any part of the world.
The presentation evening of the four finalist groups from Campania, Piedmont and Emilia Romagna will be held on 5 July in Spilimbergo, in Piazza Duomo. From this year each group will compete with a piece of the Friulian tradition. The selections will continue in the following two days on the stage of Torre Orientale, to then end on the final evening of Monday 8 July on the stage of Piazza Duomo, where the award ceremony will take place.
Itaca Cooperative
Furthermore, the festival reveals a particular attention to social issues through the collaboration with the Itaca Cooperative, the largest regional organization in terms of the number of employees and presence in the area. Every year the boys who are part of the musical laboratory curated by the cooperative itself with the project “Capitano tutte a noi” (musical group born in Pordenone in 2013 and currently made up of six members), propose two concerts that this year will be held on Friday 28 June at Fiumicello Villa Vicentina and on Tuesday 2 July at Madrisio di Fagagna.
Folkest in Cadore
Among the innovations of 2019 there is that Folkest arrives in Cadore, with three appointments in Auronzo. On July 3, Hoodman Blind (Scotland) will play, a young trio that draws inspiration from Finnish and Swedish music, alternating with songs from the Irish tradition (date also scheduled for July 4 in Colle di Pinzano al Tagliamento); August 10th will be the turn of an evening dedicated to the music of the communities of the Ladin and Friulian areas with the Na Fuoia, La sedon salvadie, Grop Tradizional Furlan and Carantan; on August 25th Alberto Grollo and the Five Strings Quintet with “Dolomites’ Symphony“, a long suite born from suggestions of classical matrix, but that lead to other musical styles in an imaginary journey through woods, peaks, ledges, shelters, villages, a tribute to the splendor of the mountains on the occasion, among other things, of the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the nomination of the Dolomites to UNESCO heritage.
Folkest in Koper
Folkest as usual, moves for three evenings to Koper – thanks to the AIAS Koper, the CAN and the Municipality of Koper – starting from the MEF concert (Istria/Slovenia), on July 16th at Palazzo Gravisi-Buttorai, the headquarters of the Italian Community. The Irdorath (Belarus) group will follow on July 19th in Piazza Carpaccio, a group that offers music without boundaries of genres, with various influences, where the idea of fantasy was the starting point developed instrumentally by two bagpipes. The duo then expanded to the current formation which sees: violin, drums, string instruments, hurdy-gurdy, keyboards, flutes and didgeridoos. Finally, on July 20th, the long-awaited PFM (Italy), free admission.
Opening the Folkest program on June 20th in Arzene – they will also play on June 21 in San Giovanni d’Antro (Pulfero) and on June 22 in Redona (Tramonti di Sopra) – will be Baile, a young Scottish band from the area of Glasgow who focused its musical project on the sound of Scottish border pipes and flutes in a continuous dialogue with guitar and bodhran. After impressing the audience with their 2017 performance at the Celtic Connections Festival Club, their first EP was released on Claytara Records and some tours in Scotland, Holland, Italy and Switzerland.
Scheduled for June 21 in Duino Aurisina (Trieste), in the courtyard of the United World College of the Adriatic, the Serbian Italian formation Ajde Zora, a musical caravan to explore the Balkans, through frantic dances and poignant ballads of gypsy populations with six musicians and the Serbian singer Milica Polignano. With her comes the idea of extending the traditional Balkan repertoire alongside fluctuating and melancholy pieces of the Romany tradition of Eastern Europe and rearranging traditional music.
On Saturday 22 June in Toppo di Travesio and on June 23 in Sauris will be the turn of Noreia Fusion, a Slovenian group that after a period dedicated to Irish and Breton music, has created a unique formidable mix between Celtic music and the traditions of their land of origin.
At Romans d’Isonzo on June 25, the well-known musicians of the Maxmaber Orkestar from Trieste, will arrive with their proposal of a journey through the popular tradition of Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean: klezmer, old Italian and Yugoslav songs, waltzes and mazurkas, Romany music , Bosnian sevdalinke, dances from Serbia and Macedonia intertwine in a cheerful and melancholic sound at the same time together with original pieces, sung in the dialect of Trieste. The group will then move to Fiume Veneto on June 28.
On June 26, in Vergnacco (Reana) it will be the turn of the Random Quartet, an original and versatile string quartet ranging from pop songs, folk songs to rock and metal music, while on Thursday 27 in Cassacco, on June 29 in Flaibano and on June 30 in Aquileia will be the turn of the Irish Two Time Polka sextet, an explosive mixture of cajun, bluegrass, rock’n’roll, where Ray Barron’s maddled mandolin stands out, who has repeatedly climbed the Irish radio charts and won the Best Musical Act. Also on June 27, in Papariano (Fiumicello Villa Vicentina) after Capitano tutte a noi (concert of the Itaca Cooperative held also in Madrisio di Fagagna on July 2nd), there will be an opportunity to listen to the Hungarians Drakula Twins duo composed by János Hasur, the eclectic violinist, who was for years in Moni Ovadia’s Teather Orchestar, and Mihály Huszár, also in Vizöntő, who ended up playing bass and double bass on a European tour with Angelo Branduardi.
On 28 June in Cercivento, on 29 June in Artegna and on 30 June in San Giorgio della Richinvelda, arrive the Sonas, a formation from Northern Ireland, made up of some of the most interesting young Ulster talents, winners of various competitions and an All Ireland Young Championship. Furthermore, on 28 June in Tricesimo, the Italian Colombians Mestison who will propose characteristic songs of the Colombian Caribbean coast, rearranged in a modern key and with reggae and funky influences, using the Spanish and indigenous language of San Basilio de Palenque.
The month of July will open on Monday 1st with the concert in Gorizia of the Donauwellenreiter, an Austrian group whose music is contaminated by jazz and modern elements and echoes of Danubian music and cultures; stands out the voice and the violin of Maria Crafonara – together with Thomas Castañeda at the piano, Jörg Mikula at the drums and Lukas Lauermann at the cello – which range from Mozart’s music to the traditional Ladin songs of their land. The first three albums have brought them to the attention of a specialized audience throughout Europe, up to the success of the recent album tribute to the great Gianmaria Testa, a cult artist in German countries.
On 2 July in Fagagna and on 3 July in Auronzo di Cadore, as already announced, the Hoodman Blind will play, while on 3 July in Dignano and on 4 July in Prato Carnico, the Lewis McLaughlin Trio; he is a young folksinger and multi-instrumentalist from Leith (Edinburgh), who grew up in direct contact with Scottish musical traditions, influenced by John Martyn, Bon Iver, Tom Waits and Dylan. Live his guitars mix with the accordions and violin of Ewen White and Alastair Hambrey in an exciting mix of traditional songs alternated with new songs and compositions.
Folkest is not only music but also books, cinema and in-depth meetings called “Words and Music” which will be held in Spilimbergo starting from 6 July and centered on the themes of: the rights of artists with the lawyer Emanuela Teodora Russo (Nuovo Imaie); in-depth studies on the role of entertainment agents and European networks involved in the music distribution with Daniel Spizzo and Sabina Schebrack; but also on the cultural history of Italian song, with Maurizio Bettelli Jacopo Tomatis, to whom goes the new Folkest Words and Music 2019 Literary Award; Cultural Heritage Project at the Elettra Laboratory – Synchrotron light and ancient violins, meeting with Franco Zanini and Daniela Picoi; one meeting on Fabrizio De André told by friends and colleagues, with Enzo Gentile and Giulio Casale; and on the instruments and orchestras of popular music in Friuli with Andrea Del Favero and Angelo Floramo. We will continue with a focus on Rebels and obstinate – The sounds of ’68, with Felice Liperi and Maurizio Bettelli. Among the meetings also A meter from the stage. Autobiography of a promoter with Vincenzo Spera (Assomusica) and Nicola Angeli (Folk Bulletin) and the screening of the movie RADICI, the wonderful journey of Lomax and Carpitella, by Luigi Monardo Faccini, from an idea by Marina Piperno, produced by the Istituto Luce Cinecittà, with the precious collaboration of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia and the Central Institute for Demo-ethno-anthropology, distributed by the Istituto LUCE Cinecittà.
Among the events in Spilimbergo, on 6 July in Piazza Duomo after the Bluegrass Stuff concert, it will be the turn of the musical project Tomat Band, born from an idea by Davide De Lucia, Flavio Paludetti, Andrea Del Favero and Cristian Cecchetto as a tribute to the figure of the English singer and musician Sir Elton John.
Collaborations in Spilimbergo and collaborations with TV
In addition to the consolidated relationship with the Spilimbergo municipal administration, Folkest has for some years found a significant partner to carry out new joint projects, in the Gottardo Tomat Association, with which it will propose for the third year, an original production dedicated to a great international artist. With Spilimbergomusica, an association engaged in the field of youth aggregation, instead, this year begins a quality collaboration that will see the members of the association alongside Folkest in managing cultural meetings and welcoming the artists present at the festival.
Also this year, and thanks to its director Luca Giuliani, the collaboration with the CRAF, the most important regional reality in the field of photography, has also begun, as evidenced by the musical presence of Folkest at the CRAF awards days on June 29th in Spilimbergo, where numerous photographers will be present who will be able to resume musical events from different perspectives.
The CRAF “is pleased to announce the collaboration with Folkest – declared Luca Giuliani of CRAF – at the opening of the 33rd edition of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Photography Festival. We have chosen to open our review to the musical contaminations of a historical festival at least as much as our Center. We are synergistically joining forces to give the city of Spilimbergo new cultural and tourist opportunities“.
On June 29 at 7.30 pm in Corso Roma – Torre Orientale the CRAF and Folkest will together promote for the first time two hours of musical entertainment with LUNE TROUBLANTE: «The appointment is titled Swing ‘n Dream and is inspired by the theme of the“ Mapa de suenos latinoamericanos” which the CRAF hosts at Palazzo Tadea from 29 June to 18 August – he underlines – it is the photographic project of Martìn Weber, an Argentine artist, to whom we will deliver the prestigious International Award of Photography“. Music and photography together with the mosaic represent the flagships of the city of Spilimbergo on which the administration shows particular attention:
“This first collaboration between CRAF and Folkest is particularly important – comments the CRAF president and mayor of Spilimbergo Enrico Sarcinelli – it means enhancing our cultural heritage through the sharing of different knowledge and experiences”.
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