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| Al-Hajri and al-Hail outlining the programmes of Eastern Europe music and arts festival due to start tomorrow |
The Eastern Europe music and arts festival, the first of its kind to be hosted by a GCC country, will be launched tomorrow at the Qatar National Theatre.
The event is being organised by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage (MCAH).
“It is part of the arts and culture festivals that the ministry organises on a regular basis to enhance cultural events ,” pointed out Faleh al-Hajri, Director of cultural and arts administration at MCAH said at a press briefing.
He said that Qatar now occupied a distinguished spot on the world’s culture map, “so we embrace other world cultures and simultaneously introduce our national culture to others.”
He added that these artistic groups from Eastern Europe had not been introduced in Qatar before and HE the Minister of Culture had given special instructions to maintain a more interactive co-operation with other cultures introducing their arts to the Qatari audience.
“Cultural activities would go on to maintain better culture exchange with different world cultures. This is also the first time that a GCC country features such an arts festival of Eastern European countries,” said Khalefa al-Hail, Head of Public Relations and Communications at MCAH, adding that there has been a lack of interactive communication with these countries before, which can be blamed on both parties. Yet, in future more culture openness is urgently needed to implement the Qatar vision as a world leader in culture and arts.
Four groups from Ukraine, Albania, Poland and Macedonia will take part in the festival, with all performances starting at 7:30pm.
The Ukrainian group performs some folk songs and music tomorrow. The second performance will be given by the Albanian group on February 3. Its programme includes both national hits and international covers on pop, jazz, rock and roll and various other genres.
The Polish group will perform some pieces of world classical music such as Sergei Rahmaninov string quartet no 1, Chopin prelude op.21 no. 15 ‘Raindrop’, and Johannes Brahms Hungarian dance no.5.
The fourth and final performance will be given by the National Ensemble of Dances and Songs of Macedonia (Tanec) on February 7. Tanec is a symbol of the Macedonian traditional culture and art. In the course of its six decades of existence, Tanec has been considered as a museum in motion showcasing the unique Macedonian folk heritage with its distinguished identity. The group would feature traditional folk songs and dances using traditional instruments and wearing authentic original costumes.
Th week-long festival also includes a Chinese arts programme titled “The joy of spring festival”. China national opera house troupe will perform a classical Chinese theatre show on February 2 and a Western show on February 4. Both will be also featured at Qatar National Theatre starting at 7:30pm.
Al-Hajri stressed that all the events of the festival would be open for the public free of charge. He also indicated that a festival for local theatre would be eventually introduced as an annual event. Qatar is also hosting the first ever GCC film festival in the last week of February.
