Black Sea Int'l Folk Fest Ends with Gala Concert at Black Sea Arena

Advertorial, Translated

The Black Sea International Folk Festival, which united folklore from seven countries, ended with a grandiose gala concert held at the Black Sea Arena. The festival started on August 31 at the Summer Theater in Batumi, and continued in Ureki, with stunning performances from Georgian folk groups and performers from Ukraine, Armenia, Poland, Italy and Turkey. This year, the festival was hosted not only by Adjara, but the Guria region as well, its initiator and organizer being the State Center for Folklore, in partnership and with the support of the ‘Check in Georgia’ program, Black Sea Arena, the Ministry of Culture and the Ozurgeti Municipality.

As the festival organizers promised, the Black Sea International Folk Festival Gala Concert put on a display of the best performances, with a fiery, dynamic flamenco show by La Moneta & Flamenco, as special guests, at the closing concert of the festival, joined by the best folklore groups from Poland, Ukraine, Turkey, Italy, Armenia and Georgia presenting their unique folklore traditions through song and dance. This year, Georgia was represented by the ensembles Rustavi and Basiani.

The Black Sea International Folk Festival was this year officially supported by the Diplomatic Missions of Ukraine, Italy, Poland and Turkey in Georgia, and it is with their support that the festival hosted a larger number of folklore groups in 2017.

“We established the Black Sea International Folklore Festival last year, borne from a love of folklore,” said Giorgi Donadze, Executive Director of the Folklore State Center. “Georgia is a country of folklore and we had a desire to share the Georgian stage with folklore ensembles from different countries. The first festival was held last year, and gained a huge interest. 24 ensembles and around 400 participants is already a considerable result,” he said, adding that the organizers expect future festivals to go from strength to strength.

“The festival started wonderfully and it will continue so through the ages. We had more countries and more participants this year, more folklore and more diversity. I would like to thank all the countries and visitors who came to our country and made this celebration happen, together with Georgians.”

“This is a very important festival, in which the entire Guria region participates, together with folklore groups from all over the country,” said Merab Chanukvadze, the Governor of Guria. “It is very important that the festival is being held for the second year now, uniting seven countries, making it one of the major events for our region”.

“Folklore is a refined musical genre and it needs to be treated very carefully,” said Ana Kavlelishvili, the Black Sea Arena Director. “We have to preserve its tradition and values, although at every new event, you have to bring a new spirit to it to make it interesting and attractive for the new generations. It is a treasure to be transmitted from generation to generation; it’s the history of the country and the tradition of our country. Notwithstanding the fact that our concert hall is huge, folklore is a genre we will never say no to and that’s why the Black Sea Arena played host to and functioned as one of the organizers of the Black Sea International Folk Festival. I’m proud to have been involved in the event and for the whole year, together with the State Center for Folklore, we’re going to work to make it even better. This year, the viewers were astonished with the culminating gala concert; the wow-factor coming from seeing Spanish women and Georgian man dancing together on stage”.

Nino Gugunishvili