Førdefestivalen 2025 - Music & Language

Førdefestivalen is Scandinavia's largest festival for acoustic folk and world music, and in 2019 received the EFFE AWARD 2019-2021, when the European Festival Association named it one of the five best festivals in Europe regardless of genre.Førdefestivalen presents around 250 artists from all over the world on 30 stages through 90 different acts/program items, and has about 20,000 visitors each year.

The festival is covered by national and international press, and has been ranked as one of Europe's best festivals by The Guardian and National Geographic. The first festival was held in 1990.

Førdefestivalen 2025 | Music & Language

Music & Language is the theme for the 35th anniversary of the Førde Festival, taking place July 2–6. "This feels like a highly relevant theme at a time when the world is more unsettled than it has been for a long time, and where language and rhetoric contribute to polarization," says Festival Director Sølvi Lien. Both language and folk music say something about where we belong, serving as a cultural label that creates identity. It is exactly 85 years since the invasion of Norway, and culture is now part of the Norwegian Parliament’s white paper on national emergency preparedness. Societies rich in art and culture give us the ability to see multiple perspectives and to create a shared identity that promotes unity and helps prevent war. At the Førde Festival, audiences can listen to music they have never heard before and songs in languages they don't understand. Yet, the music speaks to them, telling stories from all over the world. "This has been the case during all of the 35 years we've organised the festival, and we know that many people come because they experience this unifying power of folk music," says the Festival Director.

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The festival - in general:

The festival offers a varied program with concerts, courses, exhibitions, children's activities and tours. Kulturhuset Førdehuset is the main arena for the many concerts, but the festival also collaborates with other cultural institutions, hotels and churches on events during the festival. The beautiful nature of Vestland forms a unique setting for the festival.The festival presents traditional music from all over the world. We want to allow the audience to experience some of the amazing diversity of musical cultures and traditions that exist on our planet by engaging the best performers from the world's many musical cultures and expressions. The Førde festival is known for a program selection that appeals to an open and curious audience, and does not always take the broad path when it comes to choosing musicians. Norwegian folk music is a large and natural part of the festival program, and the festival places special emphasis on promoting young musicians and new productions.