Theme of the festival

OFF THE GROUND!

Let’s get off the ground, dear friends! Let's awaken our senses, release the joy of dance, and let our voices ring out! Celebrations are for the joy, as it has always been at the end of July in Viljandi. In many cultures, playing for dancing is one of the most important functions of traditional music. Dance is also one of the most common ways of socialising and finding a partner, as well as the cornerstone of traditional fertility magic rituals. It’s going to be a party full of lively dancing!

The exclamation "Off The Ground!" also carries another meaning at the 2025 Viljandi Folk Music Festival. The harsh turmoil of recent years has brought the attention to the peoples forced to flee their homes, peoples lifted from their lands. In their new homelands, these close-knit communities often develop their own unique and distinctive musical traditions. The summer of 2025 will bring many authentic and fascinating examples of such communities to Viljandi, to share their compelling stories.
 
XXXII Viljandi Folk Music Festival encourages finding new strength and energy through music. We invite you to see and hear the representatives of peoples who, by fate, have had to find foreign soils for their roots. All of this is done for the sake of joy, because that is the true purpose of our folk music festival. Always.

See you at the XXXI Viljandi Folk Music Festival in Viljandi on 24–27 July, 2025!

Ando Kiviberg,
head of the festival