Taraf de Haïdouks at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival press conference in summer 2017. Tove Djupsjöbacka on the left. Photo by Sauli Heikkilä.
It's back in a month - the happiest days of summer! I think the slogan of the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival has been a success (thank you, whoever came up with it). For many, Kaustinen in the second week of July is a happy oasis. Everywhere you look, there's the music and dance you love - or maybe you're falling in love with, who knows!
Folk music and folk dance are less often at the centre of our modern society, with festivals dedicated to them being a refreshing exception. We need places where you can get excited about new things half-heartedly. Maybe you came with your kids to watch a family show, but got excited about sawdust? Maybe you came to Kaustinen to listen to Jari Sillanpää, but ended up dancing the night trill with hundreds of other enthusiasts? Or maybe you were persuaded by your parents to go to a concert by a Romanian band called Taraf de Haïdouks and found yourself almost 15 years later interviewing them as the festival's public relations manager! That's what happened to me (and it was exciting, by the way)!
Kaustinen Folk Music Festival is a meeting place, and it is open to new enthusiasts. This openness is demonstrated by the growing number of people playing every year. There are ensembles that perform only once a year: at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival - and every summer new ensembles are formed at the festival, not to mention buskers. Many bands are trying out their wings for the first time in Kaustinen, as was the case a couple of years ago with the Kalevauva.fi duo, whose stories sung directly from the mouths of the people have become quite a phenomenon.
Last year was the 50th Kaustinen Folk Music Festival and it was celebrated in style. This year Kaustinen Municipality celebrates its 150th anniversary - congratulations! The support of the municipality is of course extremely important for the folk music festival and the folk tradition is certainly an important brand for the municipality - many people have visited Kaustinen for the first time because of the folk music festival (it is worthwhile to visit Kaustinen outside the festival period, instead of the benches in the Keskipohjanmaa arena you can use the ski slopes). One of this year's festival themes is nature, which means that festival-goers will also be taken outside the Festival Park - Pööskallio, suspension bridges and magical forests await new friends.
Welcome to Kaustinen 9.-15.7.!
This summer, the main content of the blog is edited by Merja Lahti. Festival people-series, which introduces more or less familiar people you have met and will meet in Kaustinen over the years.
Tove Djupsjöbacka
Information Manager
P.S. Did you understand the title? It is the dialect of the Swedish-speaking neighbouring village of Teerijärvi. Köyst = Kaustinen.