National Folk Art Festival in Koprivshtitsa Officially Opens on Saturday

Desislava Toncheva

National Festival of Folk Art in Koprivshtitsa, August 8, 2025 (BTA Photo/Milena Stoykova)

Sofia,

09.08.2025 09:17

(BTA)

The 13th edition of the National Festival of Folk Art in Koprivshtitsa opened on Saturday with an official ceremony.

This year's edition of the festival is under the auspices of former president Rossen Plevneliev. The opening ceremony was attended by Koprivshtitsa Mayor Maria Toromanova, Culture Minister Marian Bachov, Regional Governor of Sofia, Silvia Arnautova, and Deputy Minister of Culture Ashot Kazaryan.

The main media partners of the event are the Bulgarian News Agency, Bulgarian National Television, and Bulgarian National Radio.

The festival has been held every five years since 1965 during the first full week of August. The main organizers of the forum are the Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Koprivshtitsa, the Sofia Regional Administration, and the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with the Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IEFSEM-BAS).

After the official opening of the festival, eight groups and performers from all over the country took part in the programme. Singer Nelina Orashova performed at the ceremony, and Valya Balkanska was a special guest. The Ivan Terziev Youth Koledari Group from Yambol presented a typical Yambol koledari buenek, while the women's group from the village of Satovcha, Blagoevgrad region, performed Visoko multipart singing, which is included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage . Nikolay Todorov from Sofia performed a traditional song, the Lazarus group from the Napredak-Yuper community centre performed a Nestinarstvo fire-dancing rite, and the Bistritsa Babi from the village of Bistritsa, Sofia region, sang a harvest song.

The opening programme also included an authentic wedding custom from the village of Zdravets, Varna region, as well as the dance ensemble Surbenitsa from the village of Sofronievo, Vratsa region. After the grand opening on the main stage, the programme continued with groups from the Sofia region.

Stara Zagora and Burgas performed on the second stage, while at the same time the third stage welcomed representatives from five regions: Montana, Pleven, Vidin, Vratsa, and Shumen. The fourth stage featured performances by representatives from Dobrich and Silistra.

The fifth stage featured groups from Pazardzhik and Blagoevgrad, while the sixth stage hosted groups from Varna, Razgrad, and Ruse.

The National Festival of Folk Art in Koprivshtitsa began on Friday and continued until Sunday, August 10.

/DT/