The International Roma Song Day is being held for the third time this year in fifteen venues across six countries on 8 August, and this year celebrates all kinds of styles from flamenco, Balkan brass bands, to gypsy jazz.
Mihály “Mazsi” Rostás, the event’s artistic director, told a press conference the day will celebrate the diversity of Gypsy music with legendary Roma and non-Roma artists, with 260 performers giving concerts in ten Hungarian cities and five foreign locations. The longer term aim is to bring the event to every EU member state, he added.
Mónika Lakatos, winner of the Kossuth and Womex Lifetime Achievement Awards, is the face of the event.
Concerts will be held in the courtyard of the Benczur House in Budapest, while other Hungarian venues include Százhalombatta, Szentendre, Veszprém and Pécs.
Roma Song Day will also be celebrated in Jerez de la Frontera in Spain, Sturovo (Párkány) in Slovakia, Târgu Mureș (Marosvásárhely) in Romania, Burgas in Bulgaria and the German capital, Berlin.
Read also:
- Horrific accident at Balaton Sound festival: woman fell from Ferris wheel – Read more HERE
- No Hungarians were injured in Slovakian festival accident