Lent Festival

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Festival Lent

Kneza Koclja 9, SI-2000 Maribor

http://lent.slovenija.net

Phone386 (0) 2 229 4000

Organised byNarodni dom Maribor

Frequencyannual

Established in 1993, the international Lent Festival is among the largest open-air festivals in Europe and the most massive festival of its kind in Slovenia. Each year it presents around 300 diverse cultural performances and events on different stages, including various styles of popular music, opera, rock, ballet, jazz, classical music, street theatre, chanson, folklore and revivalist folk, theatre, busking music, events for children, dance performances and musicals, workshops for children and also sport events. The festival is a cacophony of sounds and quantity, easy going festivities and smoky barbecues, but also an occasion for quality performances at more hidden intimate venues.

Lent Festival regularly attracts around 500,000 spectators, dispersed during the 3-week-long event at over 23 venues, improvised stages and re-purposed old spaces along the banks of the Drava River. The Festival is a member of the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA) and the Association of Slovene Festivals (SloFA)

Programme

Among the internationally acclaimed musicians and domestic music groups which have performed at Lent are: Ray Charles, James Brown, B.B. King, Cesaria Evora, Afro-Cuban All Stars, Living Colour, Maceo Parker, the Alfredo Rodriguez Group (featuring Tata Guines), Brad Mehldau, Jesus Alemany, Sierra Maestra, Solomon Burke, Zlatko Kaučič Kombo, Bratko Bibič & The Madleys, Paquito D'Rivera, David Sanchez, and more.

The festival also includes the Maribor component of the Ana Desetnica International Street Theatre Festival and stand-up comedy performances by Slovene and Croatian comedians, a section entitled Jazzlent and the vivid Folkart International Folklore Festival, Maribor from which Lent Festival itself actually evolved.

During recent years the Jazzlent stage has gained more attentive and consistent programming with attractive international and domestic musicians. The Jazzlent line-up for 2010 featured such highlights as Yuri Honing Wired Paradise (NL) and Abdourahmane Diop and the Griot Music Company (SN).

Picked from the list of hundreds of musicians, music groups, and bands the 2010 festival includes Kaja Draksler Acropolis Quartet, Samo Šalamon Trio featuring Michel Godard, Ray Anderson's Pocket Brass Band, Steve Swallow, James Blood Ulmer Trio Odyssey, Gangbé Brass Band, Fred Wesley & The New JB's, Mahala Raï Banda, and Shibusa Shirazu Orchestra.

In 2010 a special exhibition entitled Re-start featuring photography by Borut Krajnc will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Slovene cult punk band Pankrti.

See also

• Lent Festival Stages
• Narodni dom Maribor

External links

• Lent Festival website (in English)
• International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA) website