Shell National Folkloric Festival was an annual

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...

held in Australia. Sponsored by the

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

-Sydney Opera House Foundation with a grant of $50,000, the first Festival was held at the Concert Hall during the opening celebrations of the Sydney Opera House in 1973. The festivals were held in Sydney but were later also held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, Adelaide, Darwin and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. In 1975 one thousand performers, representing 30 ethnic groups living in Australia, performed

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...

and dance at the Opera House, and by 1982 this had grown to 1400 performers representing 48 different ethnic groups. One of its first producer-directors was Victor Carell (Victor Thomas Cioccarelli), who with his wife

Beth Dean Beth may refer to: Letter and number * Bet (letter), or beth, the second letter of the Semitic abjads (writing systems) *Hebrew word for "house", often used in the name of synagogues and schools (e.g. Beth Israel) Name *Beth (given name) lists ...

(a notable Australian ballerina and choreographer) auditioned ethnic groups in Sydney,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. Canberra, and

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wa ...

for the festival. From 1979 to 1994, Guillermo Keys-Arenas was the major artistic producer-director of the annual event.

Performing Groups

Between 1973 and 1994 performers representing ethnic groups from Australia, Austria, Armenia, Bulgaria, Burma, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, and Ukraine, performed at the Festival. Groups which performed at the Festival included: * Ensemble Gavrilo Princip - Serbian National Defence Council with choreographer Milivoje Stojanovic * Boyan Ukrainian Choir, with Basil Matyash as conductor * Daina Sydney Lithuanian Choir, with Zita Belkutė and Bronius Kiveris as conductors * Dorothy Kerr's Highland Dancers * Grandinele Lithuanian National Dancing Group, with Ginta Viliunas as a featured dancer *

Hnat Khotkevych Ukrainian Bandurist Ensemble The Hnat Khotkevych Ukrainian Bandurist Ensemble is a vocal and instrumental Ukrainian folkloric performing ensemble in Sydney, Australia. It was founded in June 1964 by bandurist Hryhory Bazhul and since May 1971 was directed by Peter Deria ...

, with

Hryhory Bazhul Hryhory Ivanovych Bazhul ( uk, Григорій Іванович Бажул transcribed as Georg Baschul) Note: Name was transcribed via German on Australian Government documents. (January 22, 1906 — October 17, 1989) was a Ukrainian bandurist ...

and later Peter Deriashnyj as artistic directors * Jautrais Pāris, Latvian folk dance group from Sydney (and Canberra) * Jadran Hajduk - Choreographer Milivoje Stojanovic * Koleda Croatian Folkloric Ensemble * KUD Makedonija Yagoona - Choreographer Milivoje Stojanovic * Oplenac Folklore Dancing Group (Yugoslavia), with Vera Djuric as director * Syrenka Polish Ensemble, with Josef Walczak as artistic director * Punjabi Bhangra Group of NSW (India), with Sardool Singh as director * Folkloric dancing School - Sydney Choreographer Milivoje Stojanovic * Sprigulitis Latvian group * Swiss Yodlers of Sydney * Ukrainian National Ballet, with Natalia Tyrawsky as artistic director * Virmalised Folk Dancing Group (Estonia), with Annelie Sildnik as director * The Mary Nassibian Dancers representing Greece and Egypt * Arabesque dance troupe (Middle Eastern dance) * Yugal Folkloric dancers (Yugoslavia) - Choreographer Milivoje Stojanovic

Notes and references

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news , title=Cast of 1000 in festival , work=

Parramatta Advertiser The ''Parramatta Advertiser'' is a weekly regional newspaper that serves the communities of Parramatta, Auburn and Holroyd local government areas and covers local news, sport, council decisions, and community events. This newspaper is publishe ...

, date=11 June 1975 , pages=55 {{cite news , url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=d4ZWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3OYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5515%2C2584721 , title=Shell National Folkloric Festival (advertisement) , work=

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

, date=10 June 1976 , accessdate=23 January 2015 , pages=12 {{cite news , url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Vf5jAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BOcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3299%2C9391771 , title=10th Shell National Folkloric Festival 1982 (advertisement) , work=

, date=26 May 1982 , accessdate=23 January 2015 , pages=14 {{cite news , url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jvMjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=M-gDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1742%2C1833315 , title=Shell National Folkloric Festival (advertisement) , work=

, date=4 June 1986 , accessdate=23 January 2015 , pages=23 {{cite news , url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jvMjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=M-gDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5652%2C1823816 , title=Theatre Directory: Shell National Folkloric Festival , work=

, date=4 June 1986 , accessdate=23 January 2015 , pages=22 {{cite news , url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/obituaries/dances-voice-for-diversity/2006/03/26/1143330924557.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1 , title=Dance's voice for diversity , work=

, date=27 March 2006 , accessdate=23 January 2015 , author=Hawthorn, Harry {{cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tJUQAQAAMAAJ , title=Folkloric in Australia , publisher=Pacific Publications , author=Dean, Beth , year=1974 , location=Sydney , isbn=0-85807-017-0

External links

Shell Folkloric : programs and related material collected by the National Library of Australia
Folk festivals in Australia Festivals established in 1973