News
Festival Made Thousands of Delightful People Dance
26.08.2010
Festival Head Ando Kiviberg considered the Festival a success and convinced everyone that it is not just another summer event. "The Festival was born from a sincere wish to find broader ground for promoting traditional music.
That goal we already reached several years ago and today we can surely say that it was not a mere fad. We have been blessed with lots of friends at home as well as abroad who have our greatest respect. We are grateful to everybody who could come to Viljandi and contributed to the birth of the Festival-miracle once again," Kiviberg said. He was glad that Festival guests quickly got used to the dance floor in the moat in front of Jaani Church. "As it was constantly covered with dancers and musicians, I believe, we have reason to set it down there next years as well. Dance flew forth from people just the way we hoped last autumn while deciding on the theme."
Saturday was the day with the biggest festival audience just as it has been in the previous years - over 10,000 people enjoyed concerts and workshops. The most popular performer turned out to be Russian group Otava yo who attracted about 4,000 people to their concert at Kaevumägi.
Approximately the same number of festival guests enjoyed the open-air concerts by Svjata Vatra and Pantokraator. The Internet transmissions at www.folk.ee enabled festival participation via 2285 computers. In addition to Estonia there were 27 countries represented, the highest number of viewers in Germany, Sweden and Finland. Transmission in Estonia also reached the homes of thousands of Elion DigiTV clients.
The next Festival takes place from July 28 to 31, 2011 and the new theme will be disclosed at the start of autumn.