The Kantele folk music festival has come to an end in Karelia

The XI International Festival of Folk Music “Kantele” ended with a gala concert of young performers playing national instruments in Karelia. The festival lasted 10 months for the first time. About 400 artists and composers - professionals and amateurs - from Finland, Belarus, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Leningrad regions, Nenets Autonomous District, Buryatia, Komi Republic, Udmurtia, Mari El, Perm Territory, Arkhangelsk, Krasnoyarsk, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Kostroma and Karelia took part in it.

The XI International Festival of Folk Music “Kantele” was launched in January 2018. Within the framework of the festival, in January-June, the competition for the best new work for kantele and the International ethno-swap of young performers on traditional instruments of the countries of the Barents region “Kantele-CAMP” took place.

The final events - a competition for young performers of national instruments and a gala concert - took place in Petrozavodsk on October 25-27. On October 25, at the concert in the National Theater, the participants of the folk music forum, who came from different parts of Russia and neighboring countries, were introduced to the traditions and culture of Karelia by the children's folklore ensemble “Vesläžed” and the National Song and Dance Ensemble of Karelia “Kantele”. Musicians Alexander Leonov and Olga Gaidamak performed folk melodies in modern processing on the unique instrument of their own invention and creation Lodkastrun. The biggest amateur orchestra of folk instruments in Russia, in which all 150 people play the kantele, caused a storm of applause.