KekriFest – Urban national Culture and modern traditions

KekriFest was a new festival for contemporary folk dance and music in which recent currents in the Finnish national heritage was unfurled. During KekriFest the harvest and the past year was joyfully celebrate with dance, music and play. The festival focuses on the vivid traditions of dance and explores the elements that have brought tradition into modern times.

KekriFest was held in an urban environment, dancers and artists performed at the cultural center Logomo, in clubs and in the centre of Turku. During the three day festival Finnish artists from the frontline of contemporary folk dance and music visited Turku.

The Festival started on Friday night with a traditional couple dance at Logomo. During the vintage-dance you could swing to rhythms from the past 100 years of Finnish folk and ballroom dance and music. The pace was kept high thanks to Turku Folklore Association (Turun Kansantanssin Ystävät and Kiikurit ) music by the band Kaipuun kukkatarha. During the night there was also be a dance performance by dancer Jonna Aaltonen as “The grief collector”.

The highlight of the festival took place in Logomo on Saturday evening. The internationally recognized folk ensemble Rimpparemmi from Lapland performed the piece “Häkkipoika” (Matti Paloniemi), and the dance theatre Tsuumi gave an unforgettable show with the piece “Fragile-This side up” (Samuli Nordberg and Reetta-Kaisa Iles).

Saturday night continued with the KekriFest club at the legendary Kåren. The flagship of young Finnish folk music Haka with the harmonica orchestra Sväng and many other folk musicians made sure that the atmosphere stayed high. The night continued with a folk music disco and music by Dj Teppo-Johannes.

On Sunday the festival day started with a folksong church in Turku Cathedral. The last festival day continued at Kåren with the Folkjam, a new, Finnish version of the Zumba dance.

KekriFest was realized by the Regional Dance Center of Western Finland and the festival is a part of the official Capital of Culture program.