In the organization of the “Era” Association from Uzice, in western Serbia, the 4th international children’s folklore festival Licidersko Srce will be held from August 20 to 25. Besides Uzice, the festival will be hosted simultaneously in a few more towns in Serbia, as well as in Visegrad, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, it was announced at the press conference. Our reporter Jelena Gligoric was there.
Four years in existence, four times more participants – those are the statistics of the international children’s folklore festival. The event that aims to merge culture, tourism, tradition and spreading friendship among the youth of the world has gathered 800 participants this year, i.e. 21 folklore ensembles. According to Gordana Paunovic, from the organization board, they will have guests coming from Spain, Hungary, Turkey, Greece, Poland, Belarus, Canada and the Republic of Srpska. The festival will have the support of famous film director emir Kusturica, who is also an ambassador of UNCEF. “Under his auspices the humanitarian action of selling the licidersko srce biscuits, and the profits will be delivered to the Institute for Protection of female children and youth in Visegrad”, says Paunovic.
For the first time this year the festival is being held simultaneously in Uzice, Zlatibor, Mokra Gora, Nova Varos, Kosjeric and Bajina Basta, while the international character is reinforced by the fact that one of the host towns, Visegrad in Bosnia-Herzegovina, is renowned as the town of Yugoslav Nobel Prize winner Ivo Andric. Also planned is the signing of the charter of brotherhood between the Serbian municipality of Cajetina and Czech municipality of Zakopane.
Besides music and dancing, this festival features a very rich accompanying program, says one of the organizers Ivana Cvetkovic. According to her, three exhibitions will be opened. “One of the exhibitions will display the folk costumes of participating countries, in which all nine countries will show their traditional ways of clothing, with comments from the experts”. Another exhibition features the photographs from previous festivals, and the third displays the works of naïve painters from Kovacica.
During the festival, folklore workshops will be set up for participants and visitors, as well as visits to Zlakusa – the village on the Zlatibor Mountain renowned for the old way of making pottery. The visitors will even go through the crash course in pottery. For 800 participants in the festival, the tours of western Serbia will be arranged, in order for them to learn about the tourist beauties of this part of the country, and wishing that they return to their homes with best possible impressions and new friendships.