XXI International Folklore Festival “POKROVO VARPAI” World Premiere: Leon SOMOV, “ECHO OF THE PAST”

The International Folklore Festival Pokrovo Varpai is one of the oldest cultural events of Lithuania’s ethnic communities, held since 2006. Its name is associated with the Orthodox Feast of Pokrov, symbolizing spiritual protection, continuity of tradition, and communal unity. Over two decades, the festival has become an important cultural platform presenting not only the folklore of Lithuania’s ethnic communities, but also guests from more than 30 countries—from Georgia, Armenia, and Ukraine to India, Mexico, and Japan.

The festival brings together concerts, conferences, traditional singing workshops, educational events, and World Music projects.

Part I Leon SOMOV – “ECHO OF THE PAST” (World Premiere)

This year’s festival opens with a concert featuring the ambitious project ECHO OF THE PAST, created for ethnic vocalists, instrumental performers, percussion, and electronics. Its author, Leon Somov, is one of Lithuania’s most prominent creators of innovative experimental electronic music. In the concert, he presents a live electronic program in which the voices of ethnic minority traditions become sonic hypotheses about identity, memory, and presence. Through contemporary sound synthesis, live vocal recordings, field sounds, and modular synthesizer signal processing, ancient melodies gain a new resonance. It is not reconstruction but rebirth—a listening experience beyond the boundaries of time. What remains of a song when time is erased?

Part II THE LIVING TRADITION

In the second part of the concert, listeners are invited on an inspiring journey through living traditions. The finest folklore ensembles from Armenia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Spain, Norway, Georgia, Serbia, and Ukraine will perform. They present unique, authentic examples of traditional music preserved to this day, revealing the worldview, rhythms, and layers of melodic memory of different nations. It is a living dialogue with the past, allowing audiences to feel how tradition breathes today and how the voices of diverse cultures merge into a single, inspiring musical whole.

The festival’s opening concert is not only an exceptional musical event but also a meaningful cultural dialogue between nations, styles, and eras. It is dedicated to those who seek an unusual sound, deep emotion, and cultural significance.