The Koprivstitsa National Folklore Fair starts on Friday, August 7. The beautiful and ancient town of Koprivstitsa already welcomed its first guests. Over 300,000 people are expected to join this year's edition of the folklore fair. Fans of Bulgarian folklore are to arrive from the USA, France, the Netherlands, Canada and other parts of the globe. Experts from many countries will also attend the event in the Voyvodinets locality. Singers, instrumentalists, dancers and narrators from all Bulgarian folklore districts - Dobrudja, Thrace, the Rhodopes, Strandja, Central North Bulgaria, etc, are to take part in the three-day festival. According to the organizers of the event, their number amounts to nearly 15,000. The 11th National Folklore Fair will be held under the auspices of UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova.

Let us remind that this year's edition of the biggest national folklore fair in Koprivstitsa is held 50 years after its official launching. Over 4,000 participants joined the first edition of the folklore event back in 1965. The official opening of the festival takes place at 11 am today. The participants are to compete on seven stages. The prizes awarded by the jury are viewed as a great honor. A team from the Bulgarian National Radio will traditionally record the best performances of the amateur groups. That is why, we often use in our programmes new songs and instrumentals recorded by the mobile studio of the Bulgarian National Radio.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov