On September 24-26, 2004, the International Festival of Ukrainian Folklore "Berehynia" will be held in Lutsk for the fourth time.
Seventeen open-air venues will operate during these days from the monument to T.H. Shevchenko to the Art Gallery on Lesia Ukrainka Street. Representatives of districts of the Volyn region will recreate a potter's homestead, a forge, a forester's hut, an old tavern, a mill, a distillery, a fisherman's yard... The festival program includes two large gala concerts: one dedicated to the folklore of Volyn, the other to that of Ukraine and abroad, as well as a large exhibition of decorative and applied art and works by folk masters, which will be held in the exhibition hall of the Volyn organization of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine.
About a thousand participants have been invited to take part in the festival, among them: soloists, vocal folklore groups, folklore-ethnographic ensembles, folk musicians and instrumental ensembles without restriction on the means of music-making (including wedding musicians), who have in their repertoire Ukrainian folk songs of any genre and form that have been preserved in the everyday life of the area represented by the group.
In addition to folklore groups from Volyn, the participation of representatives of Ukrainian communities from various countries and continents is expected, in particular: the folklore groups "Zoria" (Bucharest, Romania), "Horpyna" (Olsztyn, Poland), "Ivanchanka" (the village of Ivancha, Orhei district, Republic of Moldova), "Kalyna" (Visaginas, Lithuania), "Zhurba" (Tallinn, Estonia). Also performing before the people of Lutsk will be the folk song ensembles "Dnipro" from Riga (Latvia), "Kozacha Udal" from Krasnodar Krai (Russia), the ensemble of Ukrainian folk song and music "Khotyslaviany" from the village of Khotyslav, Malaryta district, Brest region (Belarus), the Ukrainian folk song choir from Pavlodar (Kazakhstan) and the ensemble "Ukrainians of Israel" (Haifa).
An integral part of the festival is a series of concerts in the districts of the Volyn region, in particular in Horokhiv, Kovel, Manevychi districts and the city of Volodymyr-Volynskyi.
As a gift to the participants of "Berehynia," an hour-long program of song treasures of Volyn and Volyn Polissia performed by folklore groups has been recorded on compact discs, and the Volyn amateur film studio has edited a 30-minute video film based on materials from previous "Berehynia" festivals.