1 - 18 May 2009
  The former Bulgarian capital Veliko Tarnovo

Stara Planina Fest “Balkan Folk 2009” will be held within the scope of "Euro Folk 2009" Musical Feasts - The world is television, which is in different European cities and countries from 2 May till 20 October 2009.

Musical Feasts “Euro Folk 2009” comprise fifteen musical festivals and are held under the aegis of European Association of Folklore Festivals - EAFF.

Main event of the Musical Feasts “Euro Folk 2009” is Festival №1 in Europe of the traditional folk arts – Stara Planina Fest “Balkan Folk “. Every year in the Festival participate from 9 000 to 15000 musicians, singers and dancers.

Typical feature of Musical Feasts “Euro Folk 2009” is, that all performances are recorded with professional audio and television technics and the best of them are repeatedly broadcasted by 50 cable televisions in Bulgaria and by the cable and satelite national televisions "Eurocom Bulgaria" and "Heros TV", as well as by the World Wide Internet Television "Euro Folk" at www.eurofolk.com/tv .All this activities realize the main purpose of Musical Feasts “Euro Folk 2009” – The world is television to make popular through the media the traditional folk arts.

Preliminary Program

  1. Fest folklore program for folk art in the presence of a jury. Every day from 1st of May till 18th of May from 9 AM to 5 PM.
  2. Fest program for old drawing-room songs, classical, patriotic and touristic songs in the presence of a jury. Every day from 1st of May till 18th of May from 9 AM to 5 PM.
  3. Fest program with Orthodox church songs in the Cathedral church of Veliko Tarnovo from 1st of May till 12th of May from 2 PM to 5 PM.
  4. Evening concerts of the honoured from the jury groups every day from 7,30 PM.
  5. Panorama TV productions from 10 AM till 4.30 PM from 2nd of May till 18th of May.
  6. Official opening and closing of the Fest on 3th of May and 17th of May at 7 PM.
  7. Big national horo on 3th, 10th and 17th of May around the monument “Maika Bulgaria”.

The registration of the participants on their arrival in Veliko Tarnovo will be held at the Palace of Culture and Sport  “Vasil Levski”.

Regulations

  1. The art directors of groups and collectives define at their own what would be the program for participation. We recommend the duration to be not longer than 30 minutes.
  2. The groups and the individual performers have to be orientated towards typical for their villages and regions songs, melodies, customs, horos and dances, which has a great significance for the colour and archetype of the folk material.
  3. Of great favour would be the attentive bearing towards the costumes, requisites and instrumentarium of the groups, which has a determinative significance for the folk-style truth of the folklore traditions.
  4. The successful attempts for individual performance of songs and humorous scenes will be awarded. Their duration is not part of the general performance duration of the group. There is also awards for authors songs in traditional genres.
  5. In the Fest program can participate art collectives and individual performers from every genre – national choares, ensembles, orchestras and dance troupes, collectivites for old drawing, classicalq touristic, patriotic and church songs without any requirements for age or organisational belonging.
  6. The participation fee is 1 EURO for 1 minute on stage instead of the former price of 1 Euro per person.

The main criteria is the performance skills.

Every group may order the date and the hour when their performance will be broadcasted on the World Wide Television "Euro Folk" at www.eurofolk.com/tv.