From 17-19 August 2018, the Old Town in Lublin will fill up with traditional music, dance and handicrafts for the 12th time. Carefully selected crafts of artisans from Central-East Europe will delight all visitors who will not only be able to see the products of the artisans but also learn to make traditional patterns and items of everyday use. The Jagiellonian Fair begins soon in Lublin – it is a three-day long celebration of folk tradition and culture in Poland.
During the Fair, we rediscover folk and traditional culture, in a completely unobvious environment – the city. The festival transfers village world to the city and shows its continuity in a completely new dimension. In our events, we want to show authentic people – artisans, singers, people from the village. It is our history, we are its inheritors and it’s worthwhile to know it. That’s why we invert the proportions, turning the visitors into an active participant and not just an observer – says Bartłomiej Drozd, the programme coordinator of the Jagiellonian Fair in Lublin.
Tradition and modernity, the village and the city during the Jagiellonian Fair fuse and create a completely new kind of quality. We will be able to understand this idea at re:tradition concert (17 August, 19:30, Lublin Castle Courtyard) during which, like every year, renowned Polish singers and musicians will meet with masters of traditional music We are going to hear Paulina Przybysz perform the repertoire from Kajoki microregion (Radom area) together with the singer from Gałki Rusinowskie, Maria Pęzik accompanied by the ladies from the ensemble “Gołcunecki” and Pańczak brothers band featuring Adam Tarnowski. Songs from Biskupizna (Greater Poland) will be performed by the singer Anna Chuda who will appear on the stage together with Barbara Wrońska. Tunes from Rzeszów will be performed by Natalia Kukulska and Helena Szpytma from Markowa, while Wojtek Mazolewski will explore the world of Lasowiacy ethnic group with the help of Jurek Wrona’s band. The most unique aspect of the project is that the artists learn from and inspire each other in the master-student relationship. Their music stops being just one defined music genre. Instead, it transcends cultures and worlds. It gains a completely new dimension and the final result can be enjoyed at the Jagiellonian Fair. Music at this year’s Jagiellonian Fair also features Mongolian music in combination with French-Bulgarian influences performed by Violons Barbares, unique Cypriot melodies by Monsieur Doumani, traditional music from Norway performed by Raabygg as well as Berber music, dance and wedding rites presented by the Moroccan Cherifa band.
Authentic, roots music is largely unknown to many people, and media examples are often confused for the real thing. Workshops of Culture in Lublin, the organizers of the Jagiellonian Fair once more offer village music in its pure form. That’s why, the Jagiellonian Fair will be filled with music – oberekes, mazurkas podróżniaki or polkas- both played spontaneously out in the streets and performed at evening concerts and dance parties. Throughout the Fair, traditional sounds will be provided by the Jagiellonian Fair Orchestra and many folk bands, including kapela Zdzisława Marczuka from Zakalinki, Gołoborze who play music from the Prosno river basin, Kapela Dudziarska “Manugi” from Bukówiec Górny, Mażurki, Diabubu, Trio Wowakin or US Orchestra. Additionally, during one of the dance parties ( 18 August) for the occasion of the centenary of Poland regaining independence celebrated in Lublin under the motto “Lublin 1918-2018. Inspired by Freedom”, our artists will present a repertoire from the war and interwar period.
The festival’s programme also includes presentations and workshops focused on traditional art, crafts, dance or singing. Such knowledge cannot be shared by anyone else but real masters in their fields. Lublin will welcome artists, artisans and creators from Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, Hungary and Slovakia, and, for the first time, Bulgaria, Sweden and Morocco. The organizers invite solely those people who represent regional arts and techniques. The Jagiellonian Fair is different from other similar events in that you cannot buy a stall. Therefore, in Lublin we will see hundreds of the best folk artists presenting unique crafts. This will be accompanied by presentations and workshops which will allow the visitors to enter the world of forgotten techniques and, by taking part in workshops, they will be able to appreciate the finesse, precision and meticulousness of the work of the artisans.
This year’s main theme is lacemaking. Therefore, at the Handicrafts Fair, we will see a full range of patterns and techniques. Themed exhibitions will present the works of several renowned lacemakers from Koniaków. Lace is also the theme of the Summer School of Lacemaking and many individual workshops at the stalls of the artists.
The extraordinary Jagiellonian Fair Playground invites whole families for an intergenerational journey across traditional games. We will spend time having fun away from technology. It is also an opportunity to get to know one another, hold an ordinary conversation (which is becoming more and more difficult or rarer these days) through traditional games- once known, nowadays largely forgotten. Parents will become guides and show children what they used to play and perhaps they will even forget themselves and become children again on seeing familiar games. Returning to archaic and simplest forms of spending time together, we will return to what is sometimes forgotten: a live, real meeting with another person.
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The Jagiellonian Fair is a time and place where we can encounter still living tradition. The festival is dedicated to traditional culture which is represented on many levels – from traditional crafts through music, dance and play, ludicness connected with learning and education. This is three-day long meeting with tradition is rich both in authentic roots forms and references to them – while emphasizing authenticity, it does not forget about the potential of modernity. The artists invited to Lublin are not only village artists, but also young people, consciously receiving and drawing from the treasure trove of traditional culture.
Full programme and more details are available at: www.en.jarmarkjagiellonski.pl
All events are FREE.
The festival is organized by Workshops of Culture in Lublin and the City of Lublin
The project is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.