Jaffna Music Festival
The Jaffna Music Festival returns to Jaffna Municipal grounds in
March 2013.
This time around the festival will host an eclectic array of music –
including folk, contemporary and classical to name a few. This is a
sister event of the Galle Music Festival, which attracted an audience of
over 22,000 people over two days in 2012. The Jaffna festival promises
to be as exhilarating as the Galle festival bringing together an
exciting line up of musicians, dancers, performers and ritualists.
On March 1 and 2, the Jaffna Municipal Grounds will be bursting with
a combination of vibrant music, colour and culture. The festival itself
will be a celebration of the unique and fascinating history, heritage,
diversity and talent that Sri Lanka has to offer. Joining the exciting
line up of local artists will be a line-up of International performers.
The local and International artists will lead simultaneous
performances on Friday and Saturday from 9 am to 12 noon followed by a
main stage performance from 5 pm to 10.30 pm daily.
In order to further engage and educate festival-goers, the artists
will have interactive daytime performances which will give audiences a
chance to discuss and understand rich history and diversity behind the
particular performances and instruments. As at the past festivals, the
Jaffna Music Festival will serve as a much needed meeting place for
local and international artists and provide a forum where they can
share, exchange, fuse and interact with other artists.
Northern and Southern artists and audiences will have the opportunity
to experience and interact with artists from the north, east, south and
west and be introduced a diverse array of musical genres. The aim of the
Jaffna Music Festival is not only to showcase the diverse traditions and
musical genres from around the island. It is also geared to specifically
introduce these musical stylings to school children and young people in
order to further stimulate their awareness and interest in the
performing arts.
The festival also looks towards reviving Jaffna’s historical status
as a hub of arts and culture. In collaboration with Rikskonsertene
(Concerts Norway) and Aru Sri Art Theatre, Sewalanka Foundation presents
the Jaffna Music Festival 2013.
The Festival is funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy and the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID).
This time around the festival will be conducted in co-partnership
with the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau and its exclusive electronic media
partners Shakthi and Sirasa TV.
This event is a part of a larger nonprofit Music Cooperation Program
that is established with the objective to stimulate the musical
performing arts of Sri Lanka, by providing for exchange while preserving
the traditional Sri Lankan musical expressions.
There will be no entrance fee for this event.
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