The jubilee tenth Annual KHAMORO World Roma Festival will be held between
25th and 31st May 3008 under the patronage of Mirek Topolánek, Prime Minister of
the Czech Government, and Pavel Bém, Mayor of Prague. The tenth year of the
festival is a prominent anniversary and so we are glad to be able to present
fans with the Khamoro All Stars, a selection of the very best acts to have
appeared over the past ten years. We are also delighted to be able to extend the
festival by an extra day. The festival is being organised by the Slovo 21
unincorporated association.
The festival gets underway on Sunday 25th May in the Rock Café club with
concerts by Guločar and Le čhavendar, combining traditional Roma music with
elements of funk and Latino. On Monday you can look forward to the opening of an
exhibition entitled “Ztracený ráj” (Paradise lost) at Museum Kampa, which will
provide a platform to contemporary Roma artists from around the world. The Gypsy
Jazz series of concerts then get underway at the Reduta jazz club with a
performance by French virtuoso Yorgui Loeffler. The tremendous programme on
Tuesday 27th May allows you to choose from a viewing of pictures by German
artist Alfred Ullrich at Dům národnostních menšin (National Minorities House) or
the start of a film marathon at the Aero cinema accompanied by a live
performance from popular band Gitans. The Gypsy Jazz concerts continue in the
evening with a performance by the outstanding Angelo Debarre from France. The
programme begins on Wednesday with a viewing of black and white photographs by
currently the most prominent Czech expert on Roma issues Eva Davidová at the
Popocafépetl club, accompanied by a performance by Cinzi Renta, a band from
Český Krumlov. The film marathon continues in the Aero cinema at 6 p.m. and the
three-day series of Gypsy Jazz concerts comes to a close with a performance by
Dutch group Basily, which starts at 9 p.m.
The traditional parade of participants from Můstek to Staroměstské náměstí (Old
Town Square) gets the programme of events underway at midday on Thursday 29th
May. An exhibition of Roma national dress opens at Palace Aventin in the
afternoon in cooperation with the Museum of Roma Culture. Stars such as Esma
Redžepova from Macedonia and the captivating Puerto Flamenco from Spain will
take to the stage of the Roxy club from 7 p.m. for the first concert of
traditional music alongside a performance of music and drama by Ukrainian group
Romans and an appearance by the legendary Czech band Bengas in its original line
up. Flamenco dance workshops at the Zambra Studio also begin on Friday, taken by
Francesca Grima from Puerto Flamenco herself! The second concert at the Roxy
club sees performances by one of the best Balkan orchestras of all, Oluja from
Serbia, king of the clarinet Ferus from Macedonia, Russian legend Loyko and
Arbat from France. The closing gala concert will be staged on Saturday 31st May
at the Congress Centre, where all 8 groups from the previous two days will
appear. This four-hour concert will allow you to hear the very best of Roma and
Balkan music accompanied by special stage management and lights.
The international ethnomusicology conference entitled “Hudba a menšiny” (Music
and Minorities) will run throughout the festival in cooperation with Charles’
University and will be attended by 100 of the most prominent ethnomusicologists
from throughout the world.
Almost 100 artists from 8 countries will appear at the festival and experts from
at least 40 countries will attend the ethnomusicology conference. Fans and
journalists from around the world come to the festival every year.
The festival is being jointly organised by the City of Prague and will take
place with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the ČEZ
Foundation and Sgroup. The main media partner to the festival is Czech
Television. Other media partners are Czech Radio, Radio 1, Romea.cz, Romano
Hangos and Radio Rota.
