Friday, July 7th 2017
ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT XHAFERI AT THE 56TH BALKAN FESTIVAL OF FOLK SONGS AND DANCES
Ladies and gentleman,
Distinguished deputies,
Distinguished minister,
Distinguished Major of the municipality of Ohrid,
Excellencies,
Distinguished festival participants,
Dear friends, admirers of folk songs and dance,
Tonight, here with you, we are gathered to open this wonderful manifestation, the 56th Balkan festival of folk songs and dance. This magnificent celebration of the folklore, which is the oldest of this kind in the region, successfully represents and affirms the cultural heritage and achievement of the countries and peoples from where the participants during these 56 years are coming.
Sounds impressive but, the fact is that at this festival, until now, participated over fifty thousand singers, dancers and instrumentalists from the countries of all the continents like Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, France, Holland, Germany, even ensembles from Australia, USA, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Nigeria and others which have intertwined their enchanting song and dance with the magic of this beautiful, antic city of Ohrid, naturally, also with the tireless engagement of the employees in the Cultural Centre "Grigor Prlicev", which are the organizational structure of this event.
Distinguished friends,
Today, music, folklore and dances are a universal civilisation category, respectively, part of the world cultural heritage. However, at the same time, they represent the significant elements which define, keep and develop the national identity. Values which our ancestors' centuries ago knew how and succeeded to preserve develop and transfer to the younger generations as a part of our national and cultural identity.
Dear guests,
Through the folk songs and folklore, nations in our region have expressed joy, sorrow, hidden feelings, respectively opened their soul. Well, can one stay indifferent in front of the famous dance "Teskoto?", whose music and dance are embedded in the identity of the Macedonian nation? Can one resist the coquette dance of the young boy and the young girl in the renowned "Shota?" Or the famous sirtaki? Don't we all feel the passion it is danced with? Characteristic for our Balkan region and our Balkan people is that the folklore and the music of others, the different ones have always been clearly, honestly and unequivocally respected and we do reaffirm that tonight too, through this folkloric manifestation of ours, together with all fifty thousand participants who left their mark during this 56 years of holding the Balkan festival of folk songs and dance.
And now, I wish all the participants pleasant stay in our Ohrid, a stay fulfilled with beautiful moments with songs and dance strung as a necklace of pearls, with hope and belief that when they go back to their countries, they will take back a piece of the inexhaustible spiritual wealth of Ohrid and of the Republic of Macedonia.
With these noble thoughts, distinguished friends, allow me to declare the 56th Balkan festival of folk songs and dance, opened.
Thank you.