Viljandi Folk Music Festival draws 15,500 visitors, highlights youth engagement

The 33rd Viljandi Folk Music Festival wrapped up over the weekend, having turned the Estonian town into a major hub for traditional music in Northern Europe for four days. This year, 15,500 people attended the event, with particularly strong interest from younger audiences.

Festival director Ando Kivibergs said that involving young people has been a long-term goal, and this year’s results showed that the festival successfully attracted a broad youth audience. He stressed that for traditions to survive, they need to be meaningful and engaging for younger generations. The next festival is scheduled for 22–25 July 2027.

The programme included more than 70 concerts featuring 55 artists from countries including Mexico, Cabo Verde, Tanzania, Hungary, the Shetland Islands, Sweden, Norway and China. Performances took place on four open-air stages and in two indoor venues. The theme of this year’s festival, "Everyone Has Their Own Instrument," focused on the diversity of traditional instruments and encouraged visitors to try them out. For the first time, the festival hosted an Instrument Village (Pilliküla), offering workshops on instruments such as the kannel, Estonian bagpipes, jew's harp, talharpa, violin, accordion and garmoshka.

Alongside the main programme, attendees could enjoy around 90 free concerts on the Green Stage and in Friends' Yard, as well as more than 100 workshops across Viljandi. As always, spontaneous jam sessions added to the festival atmosphere.

This year also marked the 30th anniversary of the Estonian ETNO camp, an international folk music camp that has inspired many contemporary Estonian folk musicians and become an important platform for the genre. The festival was run with the help of nearly 70 team leaders, 190 partner organisations and 260 volunteers.

Founded in 1994, the Viljandi Folk Music Festival is considered one of the most influential folk music events in Northern Europe. Its mission is to support Estonia’s live music traditions and introduce audiences to the musical heritage of other nations. Over the years, almost a thousand artists have performed at the festival, including Latvian acts such as Tautumeitas, Julgī Stalte, Raxtu Raxti, Saucējas and ZeMe. The event is co-financed by the European Union.