X TARTU FOLK

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Tartu Folk is a folklore festival dedicated to creating bonds between different Tartu and European folklore groups and sharing local culture with one another and with the audience. The festival will host concerts, dance workshops and music workshops.

In 2025, Tartu Folk will be held for the 10th time. The festival’s headliners are traditionally from the Baltic and Nordic countries. Latvian folk songs and dances will be introduced by childhood friends from the Teikas Muzikanti (Latvia) ensemble. The repertoire of the Vilnius University folklore group Ratilio (Lithuania) is collected from compatriots they have met on their expeditions and from museum archives. The Nordic countries will be represented by the dancers and musicians from the Swedish Philochoros & V-Dala Spelmanslag (Sweden). Joining the headliners alongside European groups is Jumšan Gur (Tartu Udmurts), a Udmurt folklore ensemble based in Tartu. Tartu Folk has also introduced audiences to Estonia’s islands. We have had visits from the folk communities of Kihnu and Saaremaa. This year, there is an opportunity to get to know the dances and songs of the Pakri Islands, brought to the audience by Leesikad (Tallinn / Pakri Islands), an ensemble from the Tallinn French Lyceum. Traditional songs and instrumental tunes from South Estonia will be performed by the organisers, the Folklore Club Maatasa (South-Estonia).

The aim of the festival is to strengthen the local community, bringing together folk musicians, instrument clubs, and folk dance groups active in Tartu and Tartu County, with the goal of highlighting the bearers of local tradition and introducing to guests those working in the field of folklore in Tartu County. Although the organisers’ wish is to present unarranged folklore, it is always exciting to take a look at the present day as well. At the main concert, the folk dance ensembles Tantsutallad and Tarbatu will present contemporary choreographers’ ideas inspired by tradition, while smaller groups of musicians will perform on the festival café stage.

The main day of the festival takes place at the Vanemuine Concert Hall

The events of our anniversary festival are more extensive than usual and also include new concert venues. While Luunja has been the centre of the festival for 9 years, this year the main day of the festival will take place at the Vanemuine Concert Hall. However, the beloved Luunja Cultural and Leisure Centre will not be left out of the folk festivities. As tradition, a community folk celebration will be held in Luunja, but this year a new venue has been added in Tartu County – alongside Luunja, a parallel folk celebration will also take place at the Võnnu Cultural Centre, featuring both visiting groups of the festival as well as local cultural associations.

The festival program is divided into four days. The opening of the festival will take place late Thursday evening with folk songs on the banks of the Emajõgi River in Luunja. Friday begins with workshops in Tiigi Seltsimaja, and the evening brings the opportunity to take part in the folk celebrations in Luunja and Võnnu, while in Tartu, cultural societies and ensembles of different nationalities will gather. The main day of the festival – Saturday – is spent at the Vanemuine Concert Hall in preparation for the evening festivities, and sprinkled with smaller concerts and meetings on the various floors of the concert hall. The evening will culminate in a grand gala concert, followed by a dance club featuring dances and games from Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Pakri Island, and the Udmurt people. At the same time, in the concert hall café, visitors can enjoy the delightful performances of small folk music ensembles over a cup of tea.

The final concert takes place at the Estonian National Museum

The final concert of the festival will take the form of a web show and will highlight the Year of the Estonian Book, declared by the Ministry of Culture, by presenting chracters from Estonian fairy tales. The closing concert will be held at the bridge are of the Estonian National Museum. Constructed as a web show, the concert will be complemented by lively interludes featuring the headlining performers and the particularities of their home regions. The final concert of the Tartu Folk festival will be broadcast live on the festival’s YouTube channel. The concert will be hosted by Tuule Pihlap (Folklore Club Maatasa) and Kaarel Pogga (Vanemuine Theatre).

Tartu Folk is a community-oriented festival where anyone can participate, regardless of age or skill. We invite everyone to experience the festival’s wide variety of ensembles and enjoy its rich cultural heritage.

Photos of the festival in 2024. Photographer: Peeter Paaver

The first festival organised by Folklore Club Maatasa took place in 2016, intending to connect and bond with other communities of youth specializing in authentic folklore. Back then, the festival was named Tartu Youth Folklore Festival. In 2020, however, it was impossible to organise a live event due to COVID restrictions. Hence, an alternative solution was brought to life – an international competitive web show called Tartu Folk-Off, which garnered much attention. Once COVID restrictions were cancelled, the organisers combined the concepts of a web show and live festival into one, creating what we now know as Tartu Folk.

The Festival Tartu Folk will take place in November, a time of spirits, during which the connection between us and our ancestors’ songs, tunes, and dances is vital and valuable. This festival will bring light and warmth to our hearts during the darkest time of the year. The main keywords and symbols of the festival are: fire, youth, connection between generations, ancestral heritage.

“Veere, veere päeva” is a video produced by the Folklore Club Maatasa about the Estonian customs of St. Martin’s and St. Catherine’s Day. It is believed that mardisants (mardi beggards) and kadrisants (kadri beggars) – people dressed up as beggars, in dark and manly clothing for mardisants, and light and womanly clothing for kadrisants – may be the souls of ancestors.