XVIII.th international bagpipe festival, Aug 21 - 24, 2008

Welcome to the town of Strakonice renowned for its bagpiper legends especially for Bagpiper Švanda and his followers.

For the eighteenth time the internationl bagpipe festival will take place in a town which has been growing on the confluence of the river Otava and the Volyňka in a region rich in bagpiper traditions called “Prácheňsko“ for more than 700 years.

The first festival was held in 1967 on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the town foundation. At the beginning the festivals were held irregularly, but since the year 1992 they have been held every 2nd year on regular basis. Firstly, 5 – 10 foreign groups and almost the same number of Czech groups participated in the festivals. This year 16 foreign bagpiper ensembles, 19 Czech ensembles, 10 groups of children and 50 individuals have been invited to the festival.

There have been 30 programmes prepared for the audience. The program includes stage performances, favourite parades through the town, friendly meetings, singing and dancing in the restaurants and pubs.
Sculpture and fine art symposium in the Castle Courtyard, The Old-Czech Fair below the Jelenka Tower, performances of various ensembles and individual bagpipers in the open-air on the “Palackého“ square are as well an inherent part of the festival.

The following 19th International Bagpipe Festival will be held in late August in 2010.