Folklore Festivals Program 2013

Folklore Festivals Program 2013
by Makfolk and Talija Art Co. Team

We would like to announce that the International Festival Program for 2013 is ready. This year
as usual we have festivals in Chaniotis-Greece, Ohrid-Macedonia, Varna-Bulgaria, Lido di Jesolo- Italy and Callela-Spain. Also, starting from this year Makfolk Association and Talija Art Co. Team will organize festivals in Bansko-Bulgaria and Belgrade-Serbia

1. International Folk Dance Festival “DANCE AND SING” – Belgrade, Serbia
2. International Children Folk Festival “HANIOTI 2013” Hanioti, Greece 15-20 May 2013
3. International Veteran Festival “OHRID WAVES” – Ohrid, Macedonia 13-16 June 2013
4. International Folk Festival “MARE ADRIATICO” – Lido Di Jesolo, Italy 16-21 June 2013
5. International Folk Festival “ALEGRIA” – Callela, Spain 22-29 June 2013
6. International Children Festival “VARNA 2013” – Varna, Bulgaria 29 June-04 July 2013
7. International Children Festival “OHRID WAVES” – Ohrid, Macedonia 24-28 July 2013
8. International Children Festival “HANIOTI 2013” Hanioti, Greece 25-30 September 
9. International Folk Dance Festival “SOUNDS OF THE MOUNTAINS” – Bansko, Bulgaria

By clicking on each festival you will be directed to festival condition of the festival, if you want to download full Festival Program 2013 you can click HERE.


We will be very happy to see you on some of them and celebrate together world folk, dance and music.

All the best,

Makfolk and Talija Art Co. Team

FolkDance Story : International Veteran MakFolk Dance Festival "Ohrid Wave 2012" 14-17 June

This time Ohrid was the central place of this festival, fulfilled with great moments. As usual we had groups from all around the world participating all of them with different cultures and different stories which were presented by them. All the groups from Belgium, Lithuania, Estonia, Turkey, Serbia, Bulgaria, Poland, Montenegro and Croatia had their performances on the main stage in Ohrid leaving great impression on the big audience which was fascinated by the folklore dances.

Makfolk and Talija also organized a sightseeing of this ancient town for all the participants of the festival, bringing them closer to Macedonian history and culture. Suddenly the last day of the festival was here. Days full with joy, dancing and friendship make us forget how time easily passes.

One more time we had a great festival with great people making it more exciting with their presence. The Ohrid Wave Festival left us as quickly as it came – but the experiences, the wonderful memories and the friendships – those will be enough to carry with us and repeat this event with the same and new groups from all around the world.

Greetings from Macedonia and MakFolk Team. See you next year.

p.s Visit our facebook page and press "Like" button to be updated with photos and videos from festival.

Uefa Euro 2012 - Folkloric point of view

With Euro 2012 set to kick off, MakFolk wants to know who you think will win tournament which will be held in Poland and Ukraine. The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2012, will be the 14th European Championship for national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine between 8 June and 1 July 2012.

It is very symbolic that in the period of Euro 2012 there will be three festivals organized by Makfolk Association :
"Ohrid Waves: - Ohrid,Macedonia 14 - 17 June , 
"Mare Adriatico" - Lido di Jesolo,Italy 17 - 22 June
"Alegria"- Calella,Spain 23 - 30 June 
With most of the countries participating both to Euro 2012 and MakFolk Festivals, it will be nice experience to watch the tournament together in free time during the festivals.

Just like festivals organized by MakFolk Association , EURO 2012 is promoter and presenter of various and different cultures and colors of European nations. We would like to make parallel and show unique of jerseys design as thay had remained similar as a national identity.

The sixteen finalists who will participate in the final tournament are:

P O L A N D



U K R A I N E



C R O A T I A



C Z E C H  Rep.

D E N M A R K 

E N G L A N D



F R A N C E



G E R M A N Y



G R E E C E



R E P. o f I R E L A N D



I T A L Y



H O L L A N D



P O R T U G A L



R U S S I A



S P A I N



S W E D E N




Spain and Germany enter the competition as the co-favourites, Netherlands appears to be strong contender, and France is being touted as the dark horse. 

And despite their recent troubles, England and Italy can't be discounted.

So which nation do you think is going to win it all?

Have your say by posting your comments below and voting in the poll at our facebook page.

p.s Feel free to share this post with your friends

Babushki to be part at some of the festivals organized by Makfolk Association for 2012

Everybody know for MATRYOSHKA, a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other.

But what did you know about Buranovskiye Babushki before Eurovision Song Contest 2012 ?!? 

Matryoshka dolls

According to Wikipedia , Buranovskiye Babushki is band consists of eight "grandmothers", but only six were allowed to appear on the Eurovision stage due to contest rules. They are from the village of Buranovo, Udmurtia, halfway between the Volga and the Urals in Russia. The band performs most of their songs in the Udmurt language.

Matryoshka dolls in real-life

The Grannies [Babushki stands for grannies in Russian] is consists of eight grandmothers, eldest member of the group is 76 years old, 77 in the autumn. According to the BBC, the Buranovskiye Babushki have had success in the past with Udmurtian-language covers of Western hits such as Yesterday by the Beatles, or the Eagles' Hotel California. In 2010, they came close to winning the Eurovision nomination with their song "Long, long birch bark and how to make a hat of it." But in 2012 they succeeded.

Their song, reportedly penned by the grannies themselves, is called "Party for Everybody."
It begins folkily enough, in their native language of Udmurtian, before breaking into a Eurodisco-style chorus with the lyrics, in English: "Come on and dance, / Come on and dance, / Come on and dance, / Come on and boom boom." It's weirdly hypnotic by the 12th time round. Oh, and at one point it features a sort of spoken rap freestyle.

They're no wannabe starlets, though. The group's aim is to raise enough money from their performances to build a new church in Buranovo.

But this is not the end of the story  for Babushki...they were "robbed" just before their performance.

German journalists had asked the grandmothers about their national costumes and asked them to show their stage shoes. The grandmas took the shoes out of the bag, but, before the Germans could look at them, the elderly women were asked to sit in the sit in the bus, forgetting about the shoes. The Germans, on the other hand, thought the grandmothers had given the shoes to them as a gift. Learning about the loss of the Russian grandmas’ stage shoes, however, the Germans returned them.
But the grandmas decided not to be rude to the Germans, since one of their husband had made reserve shoes for the grandmothers.

They are enjoyable and if you meet them in meantime...feel free to ask Babushki  to be part at some of the festivals organized by  Makfolk Association for 2012.  If they are booked for 2012...try for 2013 :)

Impressions after International Children’s Folk Festival “ Hanioti 2012 ”

Another great story… Another great festival organized by Makfolk Association is behind us. It was five beautiful days for us full with dancing, socializing, meeting new people and most important of all, having fun. In Hanioti we meet folk groups from all around the world like Ukraine, Venezuela, Russia, Moldova, Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey. They have their own performances almost every day dancing and presenting the folk culture of their countries.

You can visit Festival Fun Page to see more pictures. 

In these five days we have time to go on beach, take a swim and enjoy in the beautiful sea. Actually at this part of the year Greece is so beautiful with all the colorfulness of nature.

Aegean see view from Hanioti 

Final day of the festival was the most interesting; we have the final concert in Hanioti and it was great. All the groups have their final performance, but at the end we was surprised when all the audience, including Makfolk Team, came down on the stage and dance together on traditional Greek music ☺

Spontaneous finish of the festival :)

In the end of the day, all group leaders have dinner together, sharing impressions of the festival and receiving certificates for their participation on this festival. Finally we take some photos together, to remember this beautiful five days, share our contacts and scheduled a meeting next year.

 

Greece, Turkey, Venezuela, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova,Bulgaria...Great !!!

We are sending greetings and appreciations to all the participants, people and municipality of Hanioti and Talija Art Co. for great festival it was. Hope to meet you again at festival in Hanioti which will be held in September 25 – 30, 2012. For more info about the festival in September you can get more information at our web site www.makfolk.com.mk

See ya,
Makfolk Association Team.

One week till start of the VII International Folk Dance Festival "Hanioti 2012" 15 - 20 May, Greece

Only one week till start of the VII INTERNATIONAL FOLK DANCE FESTIVAL "HANIOTI"-GREECE 15 - 20 MAY 2012.

It is our honor and pleasure to announce that this festival will be biggest and most attended then previous festivals in Hanioti in past 6 years.

Already 543 participants from India, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Serbia, Greece, Russia, Turkey, Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine confirmed their participation.

Makfolk Association, Talija Art Co. and Municipality of Pallini are already prepared for great fiesta and various of worlds folk dances, music and cultures.

You will be updated about the festival at our Facebook fun page where you can comment, share and be part of the festival. Do not forget to pres Like   ;)

See you there,
Makfolk Association Team

Teaching Folk Dance in Japan High School

According to news coming from Japan by Japan Times new classes were set in motion by the government of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, dancing become a compulsory subject for junior high school students this month.  
Dancing will not only allow students to exercise more fully by using their entire bodies, it will also encourage communication among those dancing in groups — when they will supposedly learn how to express themselves and teach classmates how to bust a move.
Schools have been given three options:  folk dance, creative dance and "dance with modern rhythm," which includes hip-hop.

But for gym teachers, most of whom never learned how to teach dance, let alone dance themselves, the change is a major headache. Why ?
At firstly Junior high schools must devote 105 hours of class time to physical education each year.
Do gym teachers know how to teach dancing?
Not really. Many of them, especially the men, appear to be struggling because this role has usually been the domain of women. The men usually teach martial arts.

"We want teachers and students to learn how fun dancing can be," said Kenichi Yoshida, a spokesman for the association.As examples, the ministry suggests dances performed at the famous "Gujo Odori" summer festival in Gifu Prefecture, dating from the 18th century, and the Bon festival dances that accompany "Tanko Bushi," a song about coal mining in Mitsui, Fukuoka Prefecture. The Czech Republic's Doudlebska Polka and America's Oklahoma Mixer also come highly recommended.

Makfolk Association is optimistic about this. We have seen already Japanese singing and dancing Macedonian dance and music so...with Japanese devotion and hard work everything is possible.

We are cursorily waiting for first videos of Japanese dancing Polka  :)

Discovering folk dance roots with Makfolk

Folk dancing is a chance to meet new people and socialize. It offers insight into other cultures. And it’s good exercise, as folk dances range from walking pace to extremely vigorous moves.

Folk dance literally means dance of the people. The dances come with stories about cultures and lifestyles from around the globe. Some steps mimic work, as when dancers move their arms as if harvesting a crop. Another example: When dancers tread the floor lightly, they represent the belief that people don’t own the land they live on.

Click here  to get List of ethnic, regional, and folk dances by origin. 

                                           

Makfolk Association in its noble cultural mission, to keep and develop national cultures will organize several  festivals of folk dance and music. Makfolk Association has a great pleasure to announce festivals for 2012:

1. International Folk dance festival “HANIOTI 2011” (May) –Hanioti, Greece 15-20 May 
2. International Veteran FolkDance Festival “Ohrid Waves”–Ohrid, Macedonia 14-17 June 
3. International Folk Festival “Mare Adriatiko” –Lido Di Jesolo, Italy 17-22 June 
4. International Folk Dance Festival “ALEGRIA” –Callela, Spain 23-30 June 
5. International Folk dance festival “VARNA 2011” –Varna, Bulgaria 30 June-05 July 
6. International Folk –Dance Festival “Ohrid Waves” –Ohrid, Macedonia 26-30 July 
7. International Folk dance festival “HANIOTI 2011” (September) –Hanioti, Greece 25-30 September 

Feel free to contact us email : makfolk @gmail.com for more info about the festivals.

"We build bridges from nation to nation, from man to man" by Makfolk Association Team.

VIII International Folk Dance Festival “Ohrid Waves” 26 - 30 July

Dear Folk Friends,

Makfolk & Talija Team would like to invite you to join the folk groups from Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Moldova, N.Cyprus, Hungary...and be part of our festival.  

APPLICATION PROCESS FOR VIII INTERNATIONAL FOLK DANCE FESTIVAL "OHRID WAVES"- Ohrid, Macedonia 26 - 30 JULY 2012 IS CLOSING....

Gala Concert at Ohrid Square near St.Cyril and Metodius sculpture 

HURRY UP AND APPLY!!! DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION IS 05 APRIL 2012

Let's get together and spent great time dancing and singing at the festival in anciently old city Ohrid called Balkan Jerusalem with beautiful Ohrid Lake. Hope you will like this video from Ohrid:

You can see pictures from last year festival "Ohrid Waves 2011" at Makfolk Facebook page.
Download Application Form and send back to makfolk@gmail.com to start the procedure.

Waiting for your applications......:-)

For more information you can visit our web site www.makfolk.com

Makfolk Team at Ohrid Lake sightseeing  

VII INTERNATIONAL FOLK DANCE FESTIVAL "HANIOTI"- GREECE 15 - 20 MAY 2012

Dear friends,


APPLICATION PROCESS FOR VII INTERNATIONAL FOLK DANCE FESTIVAL "HANIOTI"- GREECE 15 - 20 MAY 2012 IS CLOSING....

But fortunately for all our FOLK FRIENDS around the world, Makfolk & Talija Team would like to accept two more groups to join the folk groups from Nepal, Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Moldova, Poland and be part of our festival. Therefore we are sending you this INVITATION at the last moment.

HURRY UP AND APPLY!!! DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION IS 25 MARCH 2012



Let's get together and spent great time dancing and singing in the magical part of Halkidiki, with lovely sandy beaches.

Waiting for your applications......:-)


For more information you can visit our web site www.makfolk.com ,

You can see pictures from last year festival "HANIOTI 2011" at Makfolk Facebook page.

Videos from last year festival "HANIOTI 2011" at Makfolk YouTube Channel.

Makfolk Folklore Festivals 2012

Dear Folkore Friends ,

The Festival Program for 2012 is ready and we like to share it with all of you.In this respect, we would like to invite you to participate on the festivals that will be organized in 2012 and give us an opportunity to meet you and your group and enjoy in your performances.If you need more information or you have additional questions please feel free to contact us any time.

We will send you the application from when you will inform us on which festival you would like to participate.

MAKFOLK association team has a great pleasure to announce festivals for 2012:

1. International children’s folk dance festival “HANIOTI 2011” –Hanioti, Greece 15-20 May 
2. International veteran’s folk dance Festival “Ohrid Waves”–Ohrid,Macedonia 14-17 June 
3. International folk festival “Mare Adriatiko” –Lido Di Jesolo, Italy 17-22 June 
4. International folk dance festival “Alegria” –Callela, Spain 23-30 June 
5. International folk dance festival “Varna 2012” –Varna, Bulgaria 30 June-05 July 
6. International children’s folk festival “Ohrid Waves” –Ohrid, Macedonia 26-30 July 
7. International folk dance festival “Hanioti 2012” – Hanioti, Greece 25-30  September

Also you can visit our webpage www.makfolk.com.mk ,YouTube Channel youtube.com/MakFolkAssociation or FaceBook page facebook.com/Makfolk for more information about festivals organized by Makfolk Association.

We are looking forward to hear from you soon and share folklore world wide together,
MakFolk Association Team.