The Førde International Folk Music Festival is an annual event held in

Sunnfjord Municipality Sunnfjord is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Førde. Other villages in the municipality include Naustdal, Sande, ...

in the Norwegian county of

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

. Under the patronage of

Crown Princess Mette-Marit Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway (born Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, , on 19 August 1973) is a member of the Norwegian royal family. She is married to Crown Prince Haakon, the heir apparent to the Norwegian throne. A Norwegian commoner ...

, it covers

traditional folk 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 been ...

and

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

Background

Established in 1990, Scandinavia's largest traditional music festival is held in Førde in the first half of July each year, presenting musicians and dancers from around the world. A wide variety of artists from some 120 countries have participated over the past 25 years. Fordehuset, the central venue, offers four concert halls, the largest accommodating an audience of up to 2,500. Smaller events take place around the town in hotels and cultural institutions. In addition to its concerts, the event includes workshop, exhibitions and dancing. The festival has been held under royal patronage since 2006, first under

Queen Sonja Sonja (born Sonja Haraldsen; 4 July 1937) is Queen of Norway as the wife of King Harald V. Sonja and the then Crown Prince Harald had dated for nine years prior to their marriage in 1968. They had kept their relationship a secret due to the ...

and from 2011 under Crown Princess Mette-Marit. In January 2016, the princess confirmed she would continue to act as the event's patron from 2016 to 2020. In 2016, the festival will be held from 6 to 10 July.

References

External links

Førde Festival website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forde International Folk Music Festival Folk festivals in Norway Music festivals established in 1990 Sunnfjord