World Experience Festival has brought along with its fourth edition a change of concept and a total re-branding of the already established The Embassies Festival event, being the last year in which this project will have the fore mentioned entitling.
The edition that just came to an end expressed how one can meet 70 cultures in 7 days in Bucharest and how the world’s diversity can be celebrated through music, under the thematic umbrella of the Sounds of the World.
The official report of World Experience Festival 2018 can be downloaded here WE Festival 2018 Project Report
The most important multicultural event in the country ended with a record of the cultural participation of over 70 embassies, cultural institutes, international organizations, ethnic communities and national minorities, of over 100 artists from all over the world and an estimated audience of 50,000 people. The project was organized under the aegis of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 and the Patronage of the National Commission for UNESCO.
A “world soundtrack” has been outlined focusing on capitalizing the intangible cultural heritage, inviting visitors to discover a number of countries and civilizations, through authentic music and dance performances, interactive installations and exhibitions, conferences, cinematography, gastronomy, multicultural and multi-ethnic creative workshops and traditions. The platform festival has celebrated the richness of world cultural heritage in a single city, has sent messages of respect, tolerance and openness to the rest of the world, being especially an occasion for intercultural cooperation. The 4th edition of the festival, under The Sounds of the World theme, brought to the stage musicians and World Music artists to demonstrate ways to merge music from several parts of the world. The festival brought to the main stage more than 80 artists who presented the music and cultural specifics of countries such as Italy, Sudan, Indonesia, Colombia, Cuba, Peru, Japan, Turkey, Vietnam, India, Iran, Cyprus, Argentina, Armenia, China, Ireland, Brazil, Greece, Romania and many others, along with a very diverse multicultural program of musical exhibitions and workshops, film screenings, exotic cultural ceremonies and international gastronomy.
- The Sounds of the World Musical Exhibition, 30 participating countries. Arcub – Gabroveni: 3-9 September
Throughout the festival, an exhibition of traditional musical instruments from several corners of the world, sorted out on geographical areas was open for visit for the first time in Romania. The exhibition featured dozens of iconic traditional musical instruments with various origins and mysterious and educational stories from the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Insular and Peninsular Asia and the Far East, gathered in Bucharest to create a portal to a sonorous and spiritual world of over 30 civilizations. Traditional instruments were of global musical heritage, with their cultural description and the spirituality that tens of generations have valorised over time in artistic expression. The exhibition was visited at Arcub by more than 5,000 people, as well as by foreign correspondents and Romanian journalists.
- Opening Gala of the event, September 3rd, ARCUB, Great Hall
We wanted to inaugurate and mark the festival through an exceptional diplomatic event, by bringing together representatives of all accredited foreign diplomatic missions in Bucharest, institutional partners, journalists and representatives of the cultural and business environment. The Gala’s official partners were: Alexandrion Group, BCR and LIDL.
- WORLD Cinema: 25 films from 20 countries, ARCUB – Gabroveni
Documentary films, dramas, comedies and musicals awarded at international festivals have been viewed within the festival, and during the two days of the festival which had a musical theme, respectively September 7 and 9, the audience had the opportunity to discover pieces of stories about the evolution of certain musical genres and dance traditions, including flamenco, bossa – nova, salsa, Irish dances, faraway and endangered sounds of Anatolia. Each film presented strong identity aspects about the origin country’s music and culture. Total estimated audience was 500 people.
- Multicultural Workshops
Also at Arcub, the audience had the opportunity to participate in free workshops of Irish dance and culture master classes, or at spectacular ceremonies such as Japanese tea serving or kimono dressing art, as well as an interactive ethnic-musicology workshop and sonority in the Carpathian – Balkan landscape. These workshops were attended by 100 people.
- World Musical Talks Conference and Concerts
ARCUB-Gabroveni, Studio Hall and Atelier Hall, Great Hall
The main conference of the festival, entitled “Connecting the world through music”, was dedicated to musical diplomacy, bringing to discussion the role that music can have as a social cohesion force, which can promote political, cultural and social goals and can be even a catalyst of peace. The participants were involved in a dialogue on the importance of music for encouraging friendly relationships between the world’s states, with multidisciplinary experts, Rainer Kern, UNESCO Director of City of Music Mannheim and Germany’s Enjoy Jazz Festival, S. Jabu Ntsokolo Ishmael Mbalula, South African Ambassador to Romania, Mehdi Aminian, artist and founder of Roots Revival in Iran, Nikolas Vryoni, Mediterranean musician expert and founder of the musical group from Cyprus, Antama, and Tedi Migdalovici, Ambassador of Cannes Lions Romania , founder of the Love & Lobby Private Diplomacy Platform, moderator has been the National Commission for UNESCO expert, Iris Constantin.
- The Conference entitled “Endangered Music in Romania and the Balkans”
Masterclass of Ethnic-musicology: a meeting of lovers of authentic musical culture which had an interactive workshop on endangered sonority in the Carpathian-Balkan space and about the elements which can lead to the preservation of the musical heritage to which they belong equally the „doina”, „hora” and country ballads, as well as „taraf” (a specific music band) songs and songs from the outskirts of the cities, about how to reinterpret and even save traditional music by integrating new technological environments.
Speakers:
- PhD Ovidiu Papană, University of Timişoara, musicologist researcher and collector,
- Saşa-Liviu Stoianovici, artist and founder of Balkan Taksim
All these activities that took place at ARCUB were complemented by World Music live performances of well-known artistic groups such as Antama Group, from Cyprus, Kolintang Kawanua Jakarta, from Indonesia and Roots Revival, from Iran and Syria.
- World Bazaar, music and dance performances, cultural workshops and international gastronomy
Titan Park, September 7-9, the World Globe Entrance
During September 7-9 period, Titan Park turned into a small world of multicultural experiences, with over 35 exhibitor’s cultural stands and 20 restaurants and food trucks that delighted the spectators with the tastiest specific dishes from Latin America, Asia, but also from countries in Europe. Numerous multicultural workshops were held, including Argentinian Tango Masterclass, Latino Dances, Kundalini Yoga, Pranayana, Indian Music Workshop and African Drum Masterclass (offered by Ikhaya Drum), Ottoman Rhythm Workshop, Cuban Percussion, Workshop Indonesian gamelan, but also ghazal and kompang music in Malaysia, Ebru painting, origami and painting of Chinese opera masks, henna painting, ancient language courses, decoration of ornamental lanterns, Iranian embroidery workshop, culinary demonstrations from Malaysia.
Exceptional musical moments on stage at Titan Park by artists from all over the world, such as the Ahalina Folklore Group – from over 6,000 km. away directly from the heart of Sudan, they encouraged spectators to appreciate the rhythms of the musical melange between the Arab and the African areas , in a premiere show for Romania. Terrasonora – one of the most famous Italian music groups has delighted the audience with the beauty of Mediterranean folk music in an original novel-folk reinterpretation on rhythms of „tammurriata” and „tarantella”. Sister Iwung Foundation, coming from Indonesia, invited the audience on an exotic journey through the musical richness of the Java islands, Sumatra and Bali. Balkan Taksim sang piece gathered from folklore of the Balkans and the Carpathians, Moldavian dances, Aromanian songs combined with field records, forgotten songs from Albania and Serbia, sounds collected from Anatolia, all merging into a fusion of folklore, electronic music and rock. On the World Experience Festival, many performances have resonated, from Latin America, in the heart of the Amazon, as well as from the Middle East and the Far East, as well as national minorities such as the Elena Union, the Ruthenians Union, the Jewish Community, the Armenian Union, the Aromanian League, the League of Albania and the Croatian Union, to the delight of authentic music lovers.
The festival team:
Andreea Dănescu – Director and Founder of World Experience Festival // The Embassies Festival
Dorian Obreajan – Communication Director
Alina Ciulei – Production & Organizing Director
Vadim Ciocazan – Art & Graphic Designer
Aniela Ariton – Graphic Designer
Andrei Angelescu – Filming Crew
Valentin Micu – Photographer
World Experience Festival is founded and organized by Escu Association
Institutional and financing partners: the project was organized under the patronage of the National Commission of Romania for UNESCO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration, the City Hall of District 3, the Department for Interethnic Relations, with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute, InfoCons – Consumer Protection Organization.
Sponsors: Coca-Cola HBC Romania, LIDL, BCR, Alexandrion Group
Endorsers: ARCUB, Asociația pentru Educație, Dezvoltare și Implicarea Tineretului, Rent-a-tent, Corul Național de Cameră Madrigal și Cantus Mundi, 123 Promoționale, Inside Film
Event recommended by DigiFM
Media partners: Agerpres, Forbes Romania, Iqads & Smark, Festivalier, National Geographic Romania, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Femeia, Telekom Electronic Beats, Modernism, The Romania Journal, OZB, FEEDER.ro, Metropotam, Bucharest City App, Zile și Nopți, Romania Insider and others.
Media Monitoring Partner: Media Trust.
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