__NOTOC__ The Viljandi Folk Music Festival is a

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

with a central focus on European

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 ...

. It is traditionally held during the last weekend of July, when the otherwise quiet city of

Viljandi Viljandi (, german: Fellin, sv, Fellin) is a town and municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,407 in 2019. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major Estonian cities, Pärnu and Tartu ...

is completely transformed as the small city center is suddenly flooded with people. The main attraction of the festival is the friendly atmosphere. Over 25,000 people attend the concerts every year, but many more just come to take part in the festivities. As such, it is the largest annual music festival in Estonia, and one of the largest folk music festivals in Europe.http://fests.eu/de/festival/viljandi-folk-music Festivals 2012, Viljandi Folk Music Festival 2012

Highlights of past festivals

* IX Viljandi Folk Music Festival July 26–29, 2001.
Headlined by

Yat-Kha Yat-Kha is a band from Tuva, led by vocalist/guitarist Albert Kuvezin. Their music is a mixture of Tuvan traditional music and rock, featuring Kuvezin's distinctive ''kargyraa'' throat singing style, the '' kanzat kargyraa''. Biography Yat-Kha wa ...

(Tuva), Väsen (Sweden),

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

(Belgium), Gerry O'Connor &

Desi Wilkinson DESI may refer to * Desorption electrospray ionization * Drug Efficacy Study Implementation * Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument See also * Desi (disambiguation) Desi or Deshi is a self-referential term used by South Asian people. Desi may als ...

(Ireland). * X Viljandi Folk Music Festival July 25–28, 2002.
Headlined by Talitha MacKenzie (Scotland),

Gjallarhorn In Norse mythology, Gjallarhorn (Old Norse: ; "hollering horn"Orchard (1997:57). or "the loud sounding horn"Simek (2007:110).) is a horn associated with the god Heimdallr and the wise being Mímir. The sound of Heimdallr's horn will herald th ...

(Finland), Atalyja (Lithuania), Fanfara de la Chetris (Romania). * XI Viljandi Folk Music Festival July 24–27, 2003.
Headlined by Haydamaky (Ukraine),

Värttinä Värttinä (, meaning " spindle") is a Finnish folk music band that started as a project by Sari and Mari Kaasinen in 1983 in the village of Rääkkylä, in Karelia, the southeastern region of Finland. Many transformations have taken place in t ...

(Finland), Galldubh (Ireland), Romano Drom (Hungary), Alberto Gutierrez et Maquinolandela (Cuba). * XII Viljandi Folk Music Festival July 22–25, 2004.
Headlined by Esma Redzepova (Macedonia), Esta (Israel),

JPP J.P.P. is a group of Finnish folk musicians from Kaustinen. The group still uses the Kaustinen traditional settings with fiddles, harmonium and double bass, although their arrangements are more advanced than those of earlier generations of tra ...

(Finland),

Mary Youngblood Mary Youngblood (Aleut/Seminole) is a Native American musician, and performer of the Native American flute. Life and career Mary Youngblood was born in Kirkland, Washington, and adopted as a child by Dr. Bob and Leah Edwards, both educators. She ...

(USA), Dorsa (Northern Ireland), and BuB (Belgium). * XIII Viljandi Folk Music Festival July 28–31, 2005.
Headlined by Brolum (Scotland), Henrik Jansberg Quartet (Denmark), Fiddlesong (Canada), Osimira (Belarus). * XIV Viljandi Folk Music Festival July 20–23, 2006.
Headlined by Altan (Ireland), Filska (Shetland islands), Evgenij Genev & Balkan Folk Acoustic (Bulgaria), Csik Band (Hungary), Tummel (Sweden)

References

External links

Official website of the Estonian Traditional Music CenterXVII Viljandi Folk Music Festival 2009Viljandi folk music festival 2007
Viljandi Tourist attractions in Viljandi County Music festivals established in 1993 Folk festivals in Estonia Summer events in Estonia Estonian folk music {{music-festival-stub