By Heidi Trautmann

Again this year we, in the TRNC, have started in May with Music Festivals and separate concerts. Music has become a mayor attraction, and I remember with much pleasure some surprisingly excellent concerts and opera days, especially piano concerts to get acquainted with the talented youth.

Now, the row of village festivals have started with Lapta and its Tourism festival, followed by Güzelyurt and its Orange Festival, I have written about it last year, see in my website in the archive of Cultural events under July. It is always a week full of festivities, art exhibition, sports, concerts and dance.

More or less at the same time and with a similar programme is the festival in Iskele. I visisted Iskele just last week and saw the village centre taken over by hundreds of chairs and tables waiting for visitors, stands for food and souvenirs, a platform for performances, fun fair and competitions.  I also visited the new theatre building they have recently opened. What a surprise. Seats for 280 people. Beste Sakalli, a poet and friend, who is also a member of the cultural association in Iskele, took me around.

On the occasion of a visit to an art exhibition by Semen Emiroglulari I spoke to the cultural director of the Famagusta Municipality about a possible date for their festivals. Salamis amphitheatre is expected to open late this year  -  end of August/beginning of September – and on a smaller scale, one reason being the elections, the other a smaller fund available for cultural events.

Later in the year will be the theater festival, I am looking forward to that and not to forget the Olive Festival in Zeytinlik.

In the South there were very interesting festivals and those I personally visited were the Jazz Festival of two days at Aglantzia, right in the centre of the village, with four jazz groups, one being from Germany.

The other was a most exciting Dance Festival of nearly four weeks with performances in Limassol and Nicosia, and I visited the last one with a Portuguese outstanding dance group at the Pallas Theatre.  Modern dance with very surprising new ideas.

I wished I were a group of people so it would be easier for me to visit all the interesting events.