KrakowInformer.com

« back

23.06.2009News: Kravitz sung in Midsummer Eve rain

Problems with the sound, delays and mud – this year’s Wianki event in Krakow was spoiled by the rain, but gathered 100,000 people.

Lenny Kravitz headlined the Wianki Festival 2009
According to the police statistics there were 100,000 people listening to Lenny Kravitz singing on the Wisła river bank opposite Wawel last Saturday. His performance was the main attraction of the Wianki festival(‘Garlands’), an annual event in Krakow named after a pagan, Slavic celebration of Midsummer’s Eve, when maids would throw garlands on the river to be caught by a future husband.

The Wianki festival has changed considerably in modern times, for the past 15 years organisers have hosted a big, open, air concert and firework show. This year the weather created serious problems with the sound system, leading to a number of interuptions in the show. Among Polish bands there were Wilki, Vavamuffin and Patrycja Markowska, and at 10 pm the long awaited star – Lenny Kravitz appeared on stage.

"Thanks for coming, I wish you were closer" said Lenny and commented on the distance between the stage and the audience. "This is a piece of shit" 

The Wianki fireworks display is an amazing spectacle!
A great performance was ended by a traditional fireworks show, yet the event still left Krakowians unsatisfied. The organizers, Krakow’s Festival Bureau promised that the sound would be impeccable, however obviously there is still a lot to improve: the presenters kept on talking about Slavic traditions, people threw garlands on the river, but that was not enough to clearly refer to Midsummer's Eve. The concerts were spoiled by the echoing sound, the portable screen signal was delayed, and what’s more there was too few portable toilets installed – only ten per 100,000 (!), which caused local bushes and trees to become intoxicated with urine.

The very concept of Wianki is also being seriously debated among the city officials. The question is whether to keep it a pseudo Slavic, traditional festival with unique celebrations, or to hear for mass concerts starred by the celebs of contemporary music. Krakow’s Festival Bureau insists that in the past 15 years Wianki has become a mass event and changing it into traditional one would cause social protests. "Tradition is OK, but the music star is the most important, because we can’t beat other cities with some river show" they say. Krakow’s Chamber of Tourism however opposes making Krakow resemble other European metropolises, and wants instead to focus on the cities uniqueness that would attract foreign tourists. 

A reasonable voice was one of one of city council members, Wojciech Kozdronkiewicz: "Wianki is a festival of the young, and they want that sort of product" he said. Similar voices could be heard among internet forum users: - Wianki should have the form that is expected by the people – wrote antonina55 on forum.gazeta.pl

Krakow's Wianki Festival on the banks of the Wisla River

Bookmark with:

© 2010 KrakowInformer.com