The 4th of July was a special day on which the great festival “Flower of the Sun” began to unfold. As the festive procession began, it was hard to take one’s eyes off the multi-coloured participants of the festival, who shared their smiles, good mood, great music, and dance rhythm. During the opening ceremony the performers greeted the audience, and the organizers, sponsors, partners, and friends of the festival “Flower of the Sun” were introduced.
Everyone’s hearts were touched by the handmade kanklės made by Albertas Martinaitis in memory of Zita Kelmickaitė, Lithuanian ethnomusicologist and long-time head of the jury of the “Flower of the Sun” competition. The kanklės were presented to Daiva Vyčinienė, a Lithuanian ethnomusicologist, professor and teacher at the Lithuanian Academy of Performing Arts, winner of the National Prize, performer of traditional Lithuanian songs, and Doctor of Science. The handing over of the kanklės to the professor will be done by Loreta Sungailienė.
On the main stage of the festival there were performances from ensembles and performers from SWEDEN (“Lunds Studenters Folkdanslag”), PANAMA (“Ritmos y Raíces Panameñas Ballet Folkclorico”), POLAND (“Grześ”), SPAIN (“El Redoble”), UKRAINE (“Halychyna”), CZECH REPUBLIC (“Slezan”), PORTUGAL (“Rancho típico da Amorosa”), HUNGARY (“Tiszavirág”) and LITHUANIA (Loreta Sungailiene, Damilė and Lukas Bagdonavičiai, “Aidija”, “Salduvė”, “Saulė”, “Jonis”).
The ethno-playing space invited the young and older audience of the festival to remember traditional Lithuanian folk games. An unexpected surprise occurred – a sweet ice cream promotion by the festival’s sponsor-partner “Norfa” made the hearts of the spectators happy as they enjoyed the opening concert of the “Flower of the Sun”.
For more information and the programme of the event please visit (https://saulesziedas.lt).
For more information and the programme of the event please visit (https://saulesziedas.lt).
