The Festival parade and the inaugural concert

During the very first editions of the FESTIVAL OF THE CHILDREN OF MOUNTAINS, when the now legendary big top tent stood in the Stara Sandecja Common, the Festival parade would proceed from the tent to the Old Market Square. Today, it feels a little bit like we are going back to our roots, as the parade proceeded from St Margaret Basilica through the Old Market Square to the Stara Sandecja Common. Here, on the site of the former big top tent, where in the past the first concerts were held in front of a meagre audience, this year the ensembles will be on show during the forenoon presentations.

The ensembles passed through Nowy Sącz calmly, without dancing, but with singing and music and, most importantly, in the company of the Nowy Sącz inhabitants.

Patryk Rutkowski invites subsequent ensemble delegations to the stage in the obvious order of the following Festival days. Because there are things that change, and there are things that will never change.

Although it has been five years since the director of the FESTIVAL OF THE CHILDREN OF MOUNTAINS changed, the custom whereby the function comes with authorization to open the Festival has not changed. And so Andrzej Zarych reminds us that this is the 32nd time that ensembles have come to share what they have in their hearts, what they have taken over from their fathers and grandfathers. The foreign ensembles spend the week with the Polish ensembles in comrade couples; after a few days, despite communication problems, they find it difficult to part ways. They learn that a neighbour can be loved just because they are. Nowy Sącz has thus become a unique place in the world.

The following are invited to come onto the stage: Barbara Bartuś, MP; Bożena Borkowska, a deputy mayor of Nowy Sącz; Michał Nowak, a member of the Management Board of the Nowy Sącz County; Rev. Dr Stanisław Kowalik; Piotr Gąsienica, the organising director of the FESTIVAL OF THE CHILDREN OF MOUNTAINS; Liliana Olech, a deputy director of SOKÓŁ MCC. Among the things that do not change reckoned are the keys to Nowy Sącz, handed over by the respectable persons invited onto the stage. Thus honoured are the ensemble representatives, who receive the keys, having been asked to step forward and to the centre of the stage. Now is the moment for photojournalists. 

The music of the keys: striking your key against your comrade’s key. The keys do not really open the door to the Town Hall, but the door to friendship, and friendship opens the door to peace...
One more word from Barbara Bartuś, MP, who is delighted that the Festival began with a Holy Mass, where we could see that faith can unite us. Special congratulations go out from the member of parliament to Rev. Kazimierz Króżel from Tanzania for preparing the ensemble, which sang so wonderfully during the Eucharist.

The concert part of the evening begins with the BIAŁCANIE ensemble from Białka Tatrzańska. This is how the tradition cultivated for several years now is materialised: an ensemble from the International Festival of the Highland Folklore comes to the Festival of the Children of Mountains as a guest, and MALI MYSTKOWIANIE, as the representative of the Nowy Sącz Festival, will be performing as a guest in Zakopane this year. However, that is not all as regards the links to the famous Tatra event. In fact, as of this year, Hanka Rybka, who is the artistic director of the International Festival of the Highland Folklore, will be acting as the stage hostess at the Amphitheatre and in the Stara Sandecja Common in Nowy Sącz. And so this is how the Podhale-Lach friendship is thriving... And the ensemble from Białka is led by Janina Paluch, an excellent folk artist and singer.

 There are things that don't change. One of these is a performance by an adult ensemble representing the Festival hosts. MYSTKOWIANIE get down to dancing to show the children, who are about to take over the stage, that the Lach costume can be worn for life, that adults can also dance kowol, cięta polka, and sing to Lach tunes. The eldest leave the stage, where the young come dancing - they are no longer children, not yet adults, although perhaps they are of age.

The performance of the artists from the village of Mystków is being watched by Benedykt Poręba, the ensemble founder, who is present in the auditorium, and by his wife Hanna - from Heaven. They are both certainly moved. Both proud.

Some more ditties from the oldest group of MYSTKOWIANIE, and the hosts proper can already be announced: MALI MYSTKOWIANIE dance and sing, while the musicians from the Tanzanian ensemble are settling down on the right side of the stage. And that’s the way it will continue for the rest of the evening. The subsequent ensembles will be presenting a short, five-minute programmes, while on the other side, the comrade musical band, or the one from the next national day, will be preparing themselves... All smoothly, following the invariable Festival order. 

You could say that the concert is a bit like product placement, because it encourages you to see these children at least one more time, during the concert they give on their national day. Or even one more time? In the Stara Sandecja Common, at 11 am. Or even one more time? On one of the stages in the region? And perhaps many more times - by visiting the SOKÓŁ MCC website and watching the archive recordings. It is worth doing it as often as possible. It is worth doing it as much as possible.