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This is a list of some of the major festivals and events held in Kosovo's capital city Pristina, which are common occurrences throughout the year in the city.
Etno Fest is a cultural event held in Kukaj village during summertime. As the years passed the festival progressed into something bigger than the exposure of traditional food and folkloric music. Actors, dancers, musicians, cooks, painters and photographers show their respective skills during the event. One of the most visited areas in EtnoFest is the acting stage where local plays are performed. Within EtnoFest exists a smaller festival named AgroFest and where traditional Albanian food is served.
The founder of EtnoFest is the Albanian director Fadil Hysaj. The festival usually lasts for 5 to 7 days. [1] [2]
The Pristina Jazz Festival is a music festival where jazz artists from all over the world perform. It is held annually in October and November, in the ODA theatre. Pristina Jazz Festival has hosted artists such as:Uri Caine, Tom Kennedy, Reggie Washington, Giulio Martino, Willard Dyson, Bob Albanese, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Robin Verheyen, Aki Rissanen, Peppe La Pussata, Tim Story, Francesco D’Errico, and Yiotis Kiourtisoglou.. [3] [4]
ReMusica is a festival where a group of Albanians from Kosovo led by Rafet Rudi (the founder of the festival) promote contemporary music, through presentations of different stylistics tendencies of the 20th century up to the present day. ReMusica, so far, had a lot of guest artists from all over the world – from individual ones to collective ensembles such as: Aki Takahashi, Peter Sheppard Skaerved, Rafael Andia, Andreas Lewin Richter, Vande Gorne, and Ensemble Vivendi. This festival is held every year in May. [5] [6]
Beer and Wine Festival is one of the biggest touristic events that happens in the first days of the summer in the capital of Republic of Kosovo - Prishtina.
Rich artistic program, the given support to local producers of wine & beer products as part of social culture, and promotion of young artists who aim to enter the world music, is one of the characteristics that characterizes the festival.
The main focus of the festival is on bringing new innovations that enrich the cultural and social life, since year after year, welcomes a large numbers of visitors. [7]
If you are a coffee or a tea lover, then you definitely need to visit this festival.
Ranked as one of the best festivals in Kosovo, in the first days of the autumn season, the festival welcomes coffee and tea lovers with brands that dominates the local and foreign markets. The festival is followed with a rich artistic program and other cultural activities that makes an amazing atmosphere for a memorable festival!
COFFEE AND TEA FESTIVAL [8] has a promotional and cultural/educational character which is held in the "Zahir Pajaziti" Square known as one of the most frequented locations of the capital - Prishtina.
The Chopin Piano Fest is a festival held in April every year. It has become a traditional piano festival, where local and international pianists perform piano works by well known composers, classical and contemporary ones. The festival is organized by Prof. Lejla Haxhiu-Pula, the first pianist in Kosovo. [9]
Translated as "The International Festival of Young Musicians", this festival brings classical music to Pristina, with performances by hundreds of musicians in various venues during March and April. It was first held in 2006. This festival aims to present new and young musicians from different countries of the world, while highlighting new forms of musical expression. [10]
The VideoFest festival is a showcase of video clips, which different musicians and entertainers create. Artists from Kosovo and places nearby compete with one another for the main prize. VideoFest aims to promote and stimulate the creativity productions in the aforementioned territories. The jury does the selection of the best video-clips in different genres but also the best video-clip of the year. [11]
Gjon Mili is an international exhibition and competition that is held every two years in The National Gallery of Kosovo. This event is a memorial for one of the most famous Kosovan photographers in the last century, Gjon Mili. Some of the previous winners are: Genc Kadriu (2013), Driton Paçarada (2002), and Mumin Jashari (2004).
Muslim Mulliqi is an exhibition which displays visual arts such as painting, drawings, videos, etc. A contest is opened yearly by The National Gallery of Kosovo giving any artist the chance to participate. The winner is chosen by a committee. [12]
This event is a program initiated by Wendy W. Luers, founder and director of Foundation For a Civil Society in the United States. It is an exhibition that provides space for young creators to showcase their art. The project is built with help from The American Embassy in Kosovo. The most hardworking youngster is given the opportunity to travel to the US in order to represent Kosovo for a month. After the trip the winner is also encouraged to have a personal exhibition in order to share the newly gained experience. This contest is held every year in The National Gallery of Kosovo.
Two events of car racing are held during the year. The first one is highway car-racing and it is held in June, the other has a Tōge racing theme i.e The cars race in mountains and hills. Participants need to be well trained and the vehicles under great conditions. The event is organized by FASK (Federate of Auto Sports in Kosovo). [13]
Pristina’s Half Marathon is an event that is organized from Ministry for Culture and Sport. The main reason of this half marathon is to promote the values of peace, coexistence and excellence in sports, and this is the reason that the motto of this Marathon is “Run for Peace and Tolerance". In this half marathon participate people from different countries, like: Kosovo, Kenya, Morocco, Hungary, Ukraine, Sweden, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Moldova. All participants will be awarded with certificates, ranking and finishing time, but the best finishers in senior, veteran and disabled category for men and women will be awarded from a total of 12.000 euros. [14]
Music of Kosovo is music that originates from Kosovo, a country in the Balkans. Kosovo's population is mainly Kosovo Albanians, also known as Kosovars, and there are various minority ethnic groups as well. Kosovan music is closely related to that of neighbouring Albania, as well as to that of countries in the former Yugoslavia.
Burim Myftiu is an Albanian American contemporary photographer.
The Batllava Lake is a lake in northeastern Kosovo. The bathing lake is a main tourist destination in summer.
Pristina, Prishtina or Priština is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and district.
The International Festival of Young Musicians – DAM Festival Pristina is one of the most prominent cultural events taking place in the capital city of Kosovo, Pristina. Founded in 2006, DAM Festival is an annual music festival which gathers young and talented national and international musicians from all over the world. This festival works on enriching the Kosovar cultural scene with the collision of the traditional and the contemporary. DAM Fest was founded by back then art student, now well known TV producer, musician, journalist and manager of Kosovo's Philharmonic Orchestra, Dardan Selimaj.
Lorenc Antoni was an Albanian composer, conductor, and ethnomusicologist.
Rona Nishliu is a Kosovo-Albanian singer and songwriter. She came to international prominence after representing Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan, where she placed fifth and achieved the best placement for Albania to date.
The Prishtina International Film Festival, also known as the Pristina Film Festival and PriFilmFest, is a film festival held annually in Pristina, Kosovo, that screens prominent international cinema productions in the Balkan region and beyond, and draws attention to the Kosovar film industry. It was created after the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence. The first festival was held in 2009, and featured actress Vanessa Redgrave as the host. In 2015, the festival was cancelled due to a cut in funding by the Ministry of Culture of Kosovo. The 7th edition of the festival, which was scheduled to take place from 24 April to 1 May, was thus instead held in Tirana, Albania on 24 and 25 April and renamed to "PriFest in Exile".
Classical music in Kosovo refers to the art music cultivated in Kosovo. The roots of classical music in Kosovo are found in the 1940s and include the time period from the times when Kosovo was part of Yugoslavia to this day. It can be said that there is a tradition of classical music in Kosovo, however, compared to other Balkan countries and especially European countries this tradition is younger. Classical music in Kosovo reaches back about 70 years. Even though in a short period of time, this music has evolved, passing through generations of composers and artists. In his book Albanian: Zhvillimi i stileve në veprat e kompozitorëve shqiptarë të Kosovës, Engjëll Berisha comments:
"The diversity of styles in Albanian music [of Kosovo], its national patterns with sound idea-aesthetic foundations are a characteristic of the European musical reality, so many many works are of interest abroad, too, because during this relatively short period Albanian classical music in Kosovo has compensated for the delay in its development."
The Cinematography in Kosovo in the Albanian language began its activities after the foundation of Kosovafilm, which produced short films, documentaries, cartoons and later feature films. Since 2008, the central authority for cinematography in Kosovo has been Kosova’s Cinematography Center (KCC) though numerous independent film companies are active in Kosovo. Before Kosovafilm, there were no fully Kosovan films.
The Bazaar of Prishtina, Kosovo, was the core merchandising center of the Old Prishtina since the 15th century, when it was built. It played a significant role in the physical, economic, and social development of Pristina. The Old Bazaar was destroyed during the 1950s and 1960s, following the modernization slogan of "Destroy the old, build the new". In its place, buildings of Kosovo Assembly, Municipality of Prishtina, PTT, and Brotherhood and Unity socialist square were built. Nowadays, instead of PTT building resides the Government of Kosovo building. Only few historical buildings, such as the Bazaar Mosque and ruins of the Bazaar Hammam have remained from the Bazaar complex. Since then, Prishtina has lost part of its identity, and its cultural heritage has been scattered.
Events and festivals in Gjakova are highly valued if not great in number. The historical city of Gjakova, Kosovo, especially the Old Bazaar (Çarshia), is the hub of many outdoor and indoor festivals, cultural events and street parades, and is a main attraction for tourists. Many events only take place once, while others are organised regularly on an annual basis by festival societies. Some of the events are organised by the city and others by private companies.
Muslim Mulliqi was an impressionist and expressionist painter of Kosovo. Born into a family of artists in town, Mulliqi attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade under Zoran Petrović, where he also continued with the postgraduate studies. Mulliqi exposed in galleries of Kosovo, ex-Yugoslavia, Italy and Albania. Mulliqi was the initiator of the foundation and vice-president of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo. He taught painting in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Prishtina. Kosovo Art Gallery exhibition holds his name. While his creations are everlasting, academic Mulliqi was and will remain one of the most prominent figures of the Albanian art. He died in 1998 in Prishtina.
As the capital city of Kosovo, Pristina is the heart of the cultural and artistic development of all Albanians that live in Kosovo. The department of cultural affairs is just one of the segments that arranges the cultural events, which make Pristina one of the cities with the most emphasized cultural and artistic traditions.
Music composition and composers in Pristina refers to music composition and composers who have left their mark in Pristina. The importance of Kosovan Folklore on the different genres, their development and their popularity. As referring to genres as a categorization would not cover all compositions and composers in a fair way, a highlight of every composers work and different genres is provided because of the different genres a composers work has included throughout the years.
The National Gallery of Kosovo, formerly known as the Kosova National Art Gallery, is an art gallery situated at The University of Pristina Campus that focuses on 20th-century art.
Fairs in Pristina started since the medieval period, at the time when it was famous for its annual trade fairs and its goat hide and goat hair articles. Pristina always had a development in trading due to its position in the Balkan trade routes. Despite that fact, Pristina, or Kosovo in general, is not known for occurrence of fairs. With the development of culture and especially after the last war in 1999, Pristina has had progress on holding these kinds of events.
Tourism in Pristina attracted 36,186 foreign visitors in 2012, which represents 74.2% of all visitors that visited Kosovo during that year. Foreign visitors mostly come from countries like Albania, Turkey, Germany, United States, Slovenia and North Macedonia, but also from other countries. Some of the most visited places in Pristina are Lake Batllava and Gadime Marble Cave, which are also among the most visited places in Kosovo.
Visar Mulliqi is an impressionist and expressionist painter of Kosovo.
The 2030 Mediterranean Games, officially known as the XXI Mediterranean Games, and commonly known as Prishtina 2030, is a forthcoming international multi-sport event that is scheduled to be held from 24 July to 4 August 2030 in Pristina, Kosovo.