| 5th
International Famagusta Culture, Art and Tourism Festival took
place between the 27th June and 19th July 2000. For the last five
years, this festival, which so far has included the participation of sixty-two
different examples of cultural and artistic expression, has been taking place
during the summer months, in Famagusta. |
| This, we feel, is a major achievement, bringing together cultural activities, mainly from abroad, ranging from concerts, performances, exhibitions, discussion panels, talks, and fairs. In short, the Festival, which has become an
integral part of Famagusta's social calendar, has become a phenomenon which grows, develops and improves with every passing year. |
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In our first year, when we stated that our aim was to,
"organize an occasion which would become well-known throughout the
Mediterranean", people thought that what we were trying to do was idealistic and unrealistic. Despite this, in our fifth year we declared our more ambitious aim,
"to organize, in Famagusta, one of the best festivals in the Mediterranean as we believe that the time has come for the whole world to hear about our
Festival". This time , there was no doubt in anyone's mind that we would achieve our aim. |
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In the five years since its inception, an unbelievably varied and talented selection of artists have contributed to the Festival: The Latin music group;
Los Paraguayos, The famous jazz group, the Berlin Art Ensemble, Aqua Levi and the Roots Dimension, Muammer Ketencoğlu, the Twinkle Brothers, Bülent Ortaçgil, Yıldız İbrahimova, the Christian
Willison Band, Ferhan Şensoy, Özdemir Erdoğan, Timur Selçuk, Ensemble Baroque, Derviş Zaim, to name but a few.
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Again, at this year's Festival, we played host to some very big names. The Festival was opened by the world famous reggae group, ASWAD. In their wake came another internationally
recognized name, the Flamenco guitarist, Paco Pena, who performed, with dancing accompaniment, in front of a
mesmerized audience of three thousand. The jazz genius, İlhan Erşahin and Wax Poetic, Birol Yayla and Senol Filiz, a group who have created a fusion of traditional Turkish and Western music, and David Russell, the master of classic guitar, all took to the stage. Turkey's baroque group, Galata Oda Korosu, Asia Minor,
another group which combine the sounds and styles of Turkey and the West, and the twenty-one piece guitar orchestra, Collegium Cithara, who also performed at the Istanbul Festival, also took part. |
| One of Turkey's most accomplished actors, Genco Erkal, whose play, "Can" was awarded Turkey's Best Theatre Play of 1999, performed, to a spellbound audience for the second time. The Festival also hosted the fifty- person White Russian Ballet Group who performed the "Bolshoi Ballet" to the delight of art-lovers here. Another of Turkey's musical giants, Burhan Öçal, performed with the Istanbul Oriental Ensemble, and as a grand finale to the Festival, Leman Sam took the stage.
Despite the difficulties of organizing
such an event in Northern Cyprus, the Famagusta Municipality has endeavored to promote and help
organize the Festival. |
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Particularly in the first three years, it was the municipality that gave all of the support necessary for the Festival to take place. However, in the past two years the
organizers have gained the help of several other organizations. In the forth year, the
Eastern Mediterranean University provided invaluable help. The University also provided assistance in this, the fifth year, and were joined by the State Ministry working in conjunction with the Municipality, without whose help the Festival would never have been possible.
Famagusta Municipality is the first local
organization to have its own web site and on this site can be found information
about events taking place in the Famagusta area.
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