Viljandi will be full of music lovers this weekend

Text Susanna Poikela
Photo Taavi Bergmann / Viljandi Folk

Viljandi Folk, one of Europe’s best-known and largest folk music festival in the Baltic States, starts today. The four-day event (July 25-28) offers a unique blend of traditional and contemporary folk music and a great dose of community atmosphere. 

Now in its 31st year, the festival attracts music lovers from all over the world to Viljandi in South Estonia. During the festival, the whole city comes alive as the streets fill with music, market stalls, and happy people. 

This year’s festival is called “Patterns and Traces”. The concerts will feature personal sound patterns of world music, reflecting the cultural uniqueness of different peoples. Stages can be found all over the city within a short walking distance of each other. 

More than 60 artists will perform during the festival, including Estonia’s Curly Strings, Puuluup, Svjata Vatra and Zetod, as well as Italy’s Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, Chile’s Tomás del Real, Ghana’s Florence Adooni and the USA’s Midnight Ride. 

“The programme of the XXXI Viljandi Folk Music Festival will be colourful, very diverse and will bring great joy to both seasoned fans and those who will be discovering the festival for the first time. Estonia’s own heavyweights will be on hand and there will be many shocking surprises in store, as well as plenty of musical discovery from cultures around the globe,” commented festival director Ando Kiviberg. 

To learn more about this and similar topics
Contemporary Folk Music Culture Estonia Events in Estonia South Estonia Events Traditional Folk Music Viljandi Viljandi Folk Music Festival