Vilnius once again “came” to Gdansk

Today begins next edition of “Vilnius in Gdansk Festival”. The festival, which has already become a kind of tradition for two cities, will take four days. During it artists from different disciplines will present their achievements.
Artists are accompanied by a traditional Vilnius Art Fair, during which will be presented music, crafts and Lithuanian cuisine.

This year, for the first time in Gdansk, Vilnius represents the folk music band from Vilnius “StaraNova”. Despite the fact that the band is still very young (established this year in January), had already charmed guests at the finals of the “‘Kurier Wileński’ Girl – Polish Miss Lithuania 2012”, played at the “Młodzież dla młodzieży Festival” in Niemenczyn and had his first solo concert at the House of Polish Culture in Vilnius. Now 7 enthusiasts of Vilnius folklore for the first time will play outside of Lithuania.

– We will be in Gdansk for the first time and generally it will be first performance of “StarejNovej” in Poland. We are very pleased that we were invited to this great festival! – said in interview with “Kurier” Paweł Żemojtin who along with his sister Katarzyna founded the band “Doing again old songs”.
Hence the name of the band that performs Vilnius songs in style called world music, including different musical styles from all over the world: disco, salsa, pop, jazz, 70s and 80s and others.
– 6 months ago organizers of the Festival contacted me and offered a fantastic proposal to participate in the Gdansk Festival. It was unexpected, all of us were so excited! This festival is very important to us. We want to show to residents and guests of Gdansk a Vilnius folklore, but a little bit different than people expect… – said Paul Żemojtin.

At the Festival band “StarNova” will have two shows, on 7 and 8 September. Group hopes that after these performances will grow an unusual music group.
– I do not know if we will be accepted by the listeners. We’ll see soon. I hope that guests of the Festival will enjoy our folklore in modern arrangements and our own songs. We put in music our heart and soul, so I hope that the audience will appreciate it – said Paweł Żemojtin.
Besides Gdansk “StaraNova” will also play in Gdynia and Sopot.

This year musical part of the Festival is even more diverse than ever before. At the Festival will play Lithuanian jazz virtuosos “Maksimowicz Group”, representatives of progressive rock “Freaks on Floor”, performing polyphonic folk songs band “Trys Keturiose” or playing alternative music Markas Palubenka and pop-rock duo “The Ball and Chain”.
No doubt that the card of the Festival are Polish-Lithuanian musical projects. This year, is the project of Mikołaj Trzaska “Sound Identity” which deepen the secrets of mysticism and music which will be attended by: Wacław Zimpel, Michał Górczyński, Paweł Szamburski, Mikołaj Trzaska, Eugenijus Kanevićius, Mike Majkowski, Arkady Gotesman.
Also the final concert “Free Culture Gdańsk 2012” will be the result of a one-week workshop co-operation of the artists from the Poland and Lithuania.
In the visual arts section is focused on painting.
In the Center of Modern Art “Łaźnia” are presented works of Jonas Gasiūnasa. The artist is interested in the mechanisms of individual memory, historical changes which experienced the painter born in the Soviet era. In co-operation with the Academy of Fine Arts was prepared exhibition of Andrius Zakarauskasa, gradually tend to abstraction. This perfectly demonstrates that despite the fact of advertising the death of painting, range and possibilities of this kind of art.

Group “Cooltūristės” will present at CSW Łaźnia the annual effect of exploration focused on honored in 1982 of Golden Palm in Cannes, born in Gdansk, actress Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak.

The new thing on this year’s edition of the Festival is a residential program “VNO-GDN”. This year, under the motto “the more I see, the less I grasp”. “White noise” that is two artists Arnas Anskaitis and Miglė Narbutaitė will take up the theme of hype, present also in neighborhood relations.
Thanks to the “visits of Vilnius in Gdansk” managed to create a space for meetings and artistic dialogues of creators from Lithuanian and Poland. For some time, the festival initiates the formation of international art projects that seem to be the best tool to break the stereotypes and cultural divisions.
It is worth to mention that this year’s Festival for the first time will have two parts. On 6-9 September in Gdansk will be presented achievements of Lithuanian artists and shortly after that from 14 to 16 September in Vilnius their works will present artists from Gdansk.
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The honorary patrons of this year’s Festival are: Mayor of Gdansk Paweł Adamowicz, Marshal of Pomeranian Voivodenship Mieczysław Struk, Mayor of Vilnius Artūras Zuokas, Mayor of Vilnius Region Maria Rekść, Ambassador of Lithuania in Poland Loreta Zakarevičienė and Consul of Republic of Lithuania in Gdansk Joseph Poltrok.

Source: http://kurierwilenski.lt/2012/09/05/wilno-po-raz-kolejny-przyjechalo-do-gdanska/

Tłumaczenie Daria Bergmann w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Daria Bergmann within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.