The 9th

World Festival of Youth and Students The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union of Students after 1947. History The festival has been held regularly since 1947 as an eve ...

was held from 28 July to 5 August 1968 in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, capital city of the then

People's Republic of Bulgaria The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; bg, Народна Република България (НРБ), ''Narodna Republika Balgariya, NRB'') was the official name of Bulgaria, when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the ...

. The festival attracted 20,000 people from 138 countries. Initially, the event was planned to be held in Algeria in the summer of 1965, but due to the military coup in that country the date was postponed, and Bulgaria became the new venue for the festival. The festival took place at the height of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and due to the Sino-Soviet split, no Chinese delegates were invited to Bulgaria. However, a group of German Maoists attended. They disrupted the opening ceremony of the festival, shouting the name of Chairman Mao and waving his portrait. The

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

offered to play at the festival, but the band was turned down by the organising committee. The song "

Ogromnoe nebo «Ogromnoe nebo» (russian: «Огромное небо», ''Vast Sky'') - a song by Soviet and Russian singer and actress Edita Piekha dedicated to the feat of Yakovlev Yak-28's pilots Boris Kapustin and Yury Yanov, who died on April 6, 1966 whil ...

" ("Tremendous Sky"), performed by Edita Piekha, received several awards: a gold medal and first place in a political song contest, a gold medal for performance and poetry, as well as a silver medal for music.Огромное Небо
In Russian.

References

World Festival of Youth and Students 20th century in Sofia 1968 in Bulgaria 1968 festivals Festivals in Bulgaria 1968 in multi-sport events Sports festivals in Bulgaria {{festival-stub