Large crowds turn out for Prague's International Folklore Festival
Prague's first International Folklore Festival is being held this week. Thousands of people have been attending the event in the last few days and they have been treated to an extensive concert programme and various other items of interest.
Dagmar Matonohova works for the Folk Association of the Czech Republic, which has organized the festival. She says the event is intended to celebrate and promote the ancient customs of various cultures:
"The main thing is to present folklore - Czech folklore, Slovakian folklore and international folklore. We have invited about 13 international ensembles from abroad. Around 22 ensembles have come from the Czech Republic. It's not just about presenting folklore from the Prague area, but from the whole country as well, including Moravia and Silesia."
The festival's programme includes three daily concerts presenting the musical traditions and folklore of numerous countries such as Indonesia, Argentina and Slovenia to name but a few. But, as Ms Matonohova explains, musical traditions are not the only thing the festival seeks to celebrate:
"It isn't just about music. It's connected with dancing too. There are handicrafts as well. So you can also buy traditional hand-produced products from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which are made from wood, glass, etc."
A traditional market fair has been specially constructed for the festival to allow people to purchase these handicrafts.
So far, both the fair and the concerts have attracted large numbers of people. Ms Matonohova says the popularity of Prague's inaugural folklore festival bodes well for the future. She is hopeful that the event could become an annual occurrence and establish itself as a regular feature of Prague life.
"We are so surprised at how many people, including foreigners, have come to see this event. We hope that this means it is already a success. We shall see how it goes. The festival is finishing on Saturday so I hope that everyone enjoys it here. This is the first one so we will be trying to watch the reactions of the public and the audiences. We hope to make it better and better year-by-year. Hopefully, next year there will be even more people and everything will be better and better."
The festival runs until 4 September. Anyone wanting to find out more about the event can visit the Folk Association of the Czech Republic's website at www.fos.cz.
