On August 5-7, the Lithuanian folk rock group “Atalyja” represented Lithuania at the world music festival in Hakodate, Japan.

About 30,000 spectators who are interested in world music, traditions, and culture visit this festival every year. Music groups from many countries take part in it.

This year, “Atalyja” is on the festive stage together with groups from Ecuador, Senegal, Ukraine, England and joint representatives of Japan and other countries.

In the performances, the group not only performed their own works on instruments, but also told about Lithuanian folk songs, culture, traditions, conventional Lithuanian music works.

According to Eirimas Velička, one of the founders of the group, this trip is important not only because of the opportunity to present Lithuania to Japanese listeners, but also to broaden your horizons and see yourself in the context of other countries in the world.

“Despite obvious cultural differences, we can also find pleasant similarities with Japanese culture – our kankles are similar to the Japanese instrument koto, and the old Shinto worldview is close to Lithuanian, where respect for nature is especially important.”

According to Ineta Meduneckytė-Tamošiūnienė, head of VšĮ “Etnoprojektai”, relations with the organizers of the Japanese World Music Festival were established back in 2019, when Lithuania was represented at this festival for the first time by the FOLK TRIO (Ineta Meduneckytė, Nerijus Bakula and Jan Maksimovič).

“I think the Japanese liked our openness, our originality. They discovered similarities and charm in our music and culture, so we value these connections and cultural exchanges very much and hope to continue our cooperation in the future. We are grateful to the Lithuanian Culture Council for the support provided”.

At the Hakodate World Music Festival, the group “Atalyja” held three performances on the stages of the great festival.