In the period July 22 - 24, the third edition of the Balkan Art Festival took place in Karnobat( Southeastern Bulgaria) and the aim was getting together through various events aimed at different generations and arts. More than 30 folk bands from Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia and Albania, and over 600 dancers, singers and artists from the Balkans, took part in the forum.

Local summer dishes prepared in front of the audience were also presented during the festival. The "Big Laddle” cooking contest, which was led by popular TV host Uti Bachvarov, attracted much attention. Five teams from Bulgaria and neighboring countries amazed the guests with their original recipes for “tarator.”

Workshops in juggling and acting took place for the youngest visitors. There were also workshops in pottery, knitting, and henna tattoos in the city park.

Karnobat also welcomed break dancers from Bulgaria and abroad for the traditional "Karnobattle. "Break dance battles were organized by Peter Kostovski, who is also the creator of a platform for development in the field of break dance in Bulgaria. Here are his impressions of the festival:

“The event contributes to a more interesting cultural life in the city and is great for people who preserve traditions and traditional forms of arts in Balkan countries, although breakdancing is not one of these traditional arts. We participated in the second day of the festival when break battles take place. We attract people from all over the country to participate and have fun. We also want to share knowledge with other participants. This year there was a lot more energy at the festival in comparison to previous editions. Guests and jury were experienced Bulgarian dancers. One of them is the only Bulgarian who has taken part in the finals of the Red Bull BC 1in Brazil - B-boy Slav. Another colleague of mine, who has years of experience in the UK - Juju Rock, was also part of the jury. These are people who represent Bulgaria on world stages and make us proud. This also attracted a sufficient number of participants from different Bulgarian cities - Pazardzhik, Vidin, and Blagoevgrad. The audience supported us, enjoying what they saw on stage.”

The concerts that are part of  “Karnobat Rock” took place after the dance battles. Modern trends in rock presented by young band from Yambol “Seconday” met more traditional rock & roll in the face of the "Monolith" band.

Part of the festival program during the third day of the forum was the tenth edition of The Official Bulgarian Beatbox Battle, during which the newbeatbox champion of Bulgaria was selected - KillaBee. He placed first also in 2014 in Sofia and represented Bulgaria at a world competition in Berlin in 2015. The jury included world beatbox stars Skiller, Pechenkata and RedOne.

Film art also had its place at the festival. A new film directed by Henri Kulev - "Puk," based on a work by Valeri Petrov was presented before its official premier.

The summer traveling cinema of the Bulgarian National Television also took place during the festival and three new Bulgarian films were shown to the visitors – these were "Barter" directed by Atanas Kiriakov, "Lesson", directed by Kristina Grozeva and Peter Valchanov and "Face Down," directed by Kamen Kalev.

English: Alexander Markov
Photos courtesy of the festival’s organizers