After the three competition programs held on August 23, 24 and 25 in the towns of Sveti Vlas and Pomorie, the jury committee of the ninth edition of the World Championship of Folklore “World folk” 2019 determined part of the pretenders for winning the competition forum. 

The first four teams, awarded with a “Golden Orpheus” nomination, were announced. This gives them the right to participate in the final rankings for the first three places of the Championship.

So far, the chance to win the grand prize of the prestigious folklore competition have:

1.Ensemble for folk songs “Kitka sharena” to “Prosveta – 1935” Community center – Katuntsi village, Municipality of Sandanski, Blagoevgrad region – with artistic director Evtim Zaykov. The group won the sympathies of the jury and the applause of the audience with the following performances: “Oy, ti mome”, “Zazhenil se star ergen”, “Oy, Melnik”, “Slushay sine”, “Sanok li, Nado’”, “Ogreyala mesechinka”, “Vazpyav”.

2. Dance ensemble “Yablanska ogarlitsa” to “Nauka – 1901” Community center, Yablanitsa, Lovech region – with artistic director Stefan Stefanov, won the nomination with the dance “Sharena gayda” – music by Georgi Andreev, choreography by Ivaylo Ivanov.

3.Dance ensemble “Alagar Dalbardara” to Culture Foundation "Northern Rainbow" from Chiappara village, Churapchinskiy Ulus, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia – with artistic director Efremova Anfisa Egorovna.

4. Female folk group for authentic folklore to “Svetlina – 1909” Community center – Belchin village, Municipality of Smokov, Sofia region – with artistic director Menka Girova. The female folk group won the nomination with their  amazing performance of “Mix of authentic folklore”.

The group, that gathers the highest number of scores by criteria: level of complexity and technique of performance, vision, production, choice of repertoire and stage behavior, will receive the Grand Prix and the title “Absolute World Champion of Folklore 2019”, as well as a cash prize of 1 000 Euro, provided by the organizers.

Evaluations of the jury committee with chairman – Prof. Nikolay Kravtsov - Honored Artist of Russia, Professor, PhD in Art History, Dean of the St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts, registered in "Golden Book of Motherland” and the members: Maestro Georgi Yankov - music specialist and Mr. Valentin Halvadzhiev – choreographer, will be valid for ranking in the World ranking list of folklore.

Members of the arbitration commission are: Mrs. Tsatral Baatar – director of Art Lar  Culture and the Asian Championship of Folklore “ASIA FOLK – Ulaanbaatar” - Mongolia; Mrs. Mariana Nutsova – ethnologist and program director of Euro Folk Studio and Mr. Valko Lyubenov - director, choreographer, teacher, Doctor Honoris Causa in folk music and dance Ansted University UK, Deputy Chairman of Commission 6 to International Organization for Folklore Art  IOV World – UNESCO.

You can see photos from the events on the EAFF page on Facebook. Those who wish to watch live the other 4 concerts of the program, which will be held on 28, 29, 30 and 31 August, might do it on Internet Television “Eurofolk TV” and in the Facebook pages: EAFF - European Association of Folklore Festivals, Eurofolk TV and Eventstream.bg. You can learn from the program of the Championship who will be the participants and where will they perform on the specified dates.

The tight competition is yet to come!