GRIEŽYNĖ - 2012

September 5 - 9, 2012

  DOMO EMIGRANTES – Italy

The group is born in Lodi, a small city near Milan, in 2009 from the meeting of three young people with a common passion for the folk music of South Italy and for the musical  traditions  of  all  the  world.  They  decided  promote  popular  traditions, enriching them with ethnic elements and original arrangements.
The repertoire includes folk songs from Sicilia, Puglia, Campania, Calabria and folk dances like tarantella, pizzica, tammurriata. The Domo Emigrantes have performed several concerts and taken part in various cultural  happenings.Thanks  to  the  emotional  impact  of  their  music,  which involves  the  audience  and  charms  the  folk  music  lovers,  Domo  Emigrantes performances always gain great success.

  OPPLETT – Norway

„Opplett” is a folk music group from the city of Bergen in Norway. The group members are Maria Skjeldrum Toppe, Silja Solvang and Ingeborg Hollekim Bringslid.  They  all  play  the  Hardanger  fiddle,  known  as  the  national instrument  of  Norway. The  music  they play  is  based  on  traditional  tunes, often with their own arrangements.

    

  LILY NEILL – USA

Lily Neill has performed around the world in cities as diverse as Dublin, Helsinki, Kazan, London, Moscow, New York City, Paris, Saint Petersburg, Vilnius and Washington, D.C. She has had the honour of performing for the former U.S. President Bill Clinton and for Ireland’s President Mary McAleese. Lily’s repertoire is a combination of original compositions and music from folk traditions and her appearances, from performances in concert halls and arts centres to shows at clubs and festivals, have allowed her to bring the harp to new audiences. In addition to her solo work, Lily has performed and recorded with rock, pop and folk groups including the Irish super group “The Chieftains” alongside the legendary Derek Bell.
Critics have praised Lily’s superb technique as well as her musical versatility and the uniqueness of her musical style. Celtic Beat has written of Lily, “If ever a harper made a harp dance it is Lily Neill” and Irish Music Magazine called her work “...part of the new Harp revolution extolling aspects of harp music never previously heard”. Lily’s original compositions reflect her travels around the world. Her knowledge of the music of Ireland, the Nordic countries and beyond has helped to shape her universal sound.
 Lily has released two solo CDs, “Without Words” and “The Habit of a Foreign Sky” to strong acclaim. In a review of “The Habit of a Foreign Sky”, the Irish American News calls Lily one of the top harpers today and Irish Music Magazine writes, “The Habit of a Foreign Sky lives and breathes with a musical and artistic freedom which is boundless in its possibility and contagious in its energy and passion”.

  DUO PAGANUM – Hungary

Balázs Istvánfi –  bagpipe
András Németh – hurdy-gurdy

Duo  was  founded  two  years  ago.  The  audience  could  hear  the  real  authentic  traditional  folk  music, arrangements of pieces of historical music and Balázs Istvánfi's compositions at their concerts.
Balázs Istvánfi was born is Budapest. He has got his first degree as an engineer of architecture. He has been playing folk music since he was a child, and he has played bagpipe-music for 20 years. In the last three years his studying at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music - Folk Music Department. He has played on several CD-s in the last years, and he has recorded three solo albums. He is also one of the very  few  artists  who  can  make bagpipes. In  the  exhibition of  the  instruments, his  bagpipes  have  been winners several times.
András  Németh  was  born  in  Budapest.  He  was  introduces  to  the  hurdy-hurdy  as  a  child,  but  after  the highschool  he  started  to  learn  biology  at  the  university.  Now  he  learns  at  the  hungarian  Liszt  Ferenc Academy of Music, and he will have the first master degree of music in the world as a hurdy-gurdy player. He is one of the most skilled musicians and a great innovator of the hungarian hurdy-gurdy playing. In 2007 he was given the state honour:  Young Master of Folk Arts.

  ABRA – Latvia

Craftsmen of Latvian traditional folk instruments Eduards Klints and his sun Audars explore archaic heritage and restore the forgotten old folk instruments: stump drums, bagpipes, goat horns, single-drone bagpipes, musical bows, fiddles and other. In order to revive the sound of the mentioned instruments Eduards Klints founded a folk group “Abra”in 2005.
The repertoire of the group includes instrumental music of Latgala region and some compositions of their own. The group gives successful performances in Latvia and worldwide. The group participated in  Griežynė - 2008.

  LIUTASH – Belarus

The group was founded in 2010 by Ekaterina Radivilova who aimed at reviving the interest in the old Belarusian music  tradition  and  propagating  various folk instruments:  bagpipe, horns, zither  and  gudok  (an  old  string instrument). “Liutash“ is the name of a village in Belarus.
Ekaterina Radivilova graduated from M. Glinka Minsk State School of Music and Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts. At the moment she teaches at Valozhyn Children Art School. Previously she played in the band “Stary Olsa“. She has played the bagpipe, horns and zither since 2002.
Ivan Shablinskij is a self-taught musician, who has learnt to play the   bagpipe on his own.
In the festival the musicians are going to play the music of Minsk region.

  SALAKO MUZIKANTAI - Lithuania

The folk band was founded in 2000 and short after  it  was  appreciated  not  only  in  Zarasai region  but  also  throughout  Lithuania.  The band  is  active  in  concert  activities.  It  takes
over and demonstrates the instrumental music traditions of  Zarasai region in many national and international culture events. In 2008 the band  “Salako muzikantai” was given the highest award of amateur art  “The Golden Fowl” for the nurturance and active spread of instrumental folk music traditions.