The first-ever free Roma Cultural Festival is being held in Glasgow city centre later this month.
Organised by Ando Glaso, the two-day festival will showcase the colourful cultural heritage of Scotland's Roma communities, from the Scottish GRT community to Romanian, Polish, Slovak, Czech, and Hungarian Roma communities.
Taking place at the CCA on Sauchiehall Street on August 27 & 28, it will offer visitors the chance to immerse themselves in a programme of live concerts, talks, exhibitions and workshops from Scotland-based Roma artists.
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Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and in partnership with the National Library of Scotland, in 2021-22 Ando Glaso embarked on a year-long journey to explore the cultural heritage of the various Roma communities around Scotland. The finale to this project is a two-day-long cultural festival, to showcase a wide range of Roma heritage.
The festival will host the World premiere of a major new work commissioned by Ando Glaso as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories and funded by Museums Galleries Scotland. Tales of a Travelling Scotland will explore the cultural heritage of Scotland’s vibrant Traveller community in the same ways their history has been preserved and passed on for centuries; through music, songs and storytelling. The piece will be performed by legendary storyteller Jess Smith accompanied by Kevin Whyte, Ian MacGregor, and Ciaran Ryan.
Other highlights across the two days include concerts by the award-winning Daniel Martinez Flamenco group, Glasgow-based band ZOR (formed of young Roma performers in their teens and twenties), Ando Glaso Collective, Romacaleo and Romane Cierhenia representing the Romanian, Polish, Slovak, Czech and Hungarian Roma communities.
Janos Lang, Creative Director of Ando Glaso, said: "This unique festival is the first of its kind in Scotland, showcasing the colourful and often invisible Roma cultural heritage. We aimed to put together a program that will showcase performers, experts, artists both from the Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Czech, Hungarian, Spanish, and the Scottish GRT communities.
"We hope the festival will strengthen the bond between our fragmented communities as well as provide an opportunity for the wider public to connect with Roma people and culture currently present in Scotland.”
Tickets to all events are free. To book and to see the whole programme please visit www.andoglaso.org
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