the essential
This new year will mark the return of the Europa Festival this summer, with a new country highlighted artistically, culturally and gastronomically: Portugal.
The Europa Festival association held its general meeting to take stock of the year that has just ended and prepare for its return to the Revel scene in 2025. Important moment of this annual meeting: choosing the European country which will be highlighted. It is in Portugal that the Europa Festival has decided to invite the public, on Friday August 8 and Saturday August 9, to a location which will remain to be determined in the heart of the bastide; the association wishing to leave the traditional parking lot of the Claude-Nougaro room for a change of setting.
“Given that we are in total budgetary uncertainty, we are playing the card of caution by only retaining two days of the festival instead of the usual three days because we do not really know what financial aid we can count on from the from local authorities”, specified the president of the association Yves Febvay.
The program will maintain the same basis which has proven itself in previous years, namely: a concert in the early evening and a second until late at night with of course meals served on site with specialties from the chosen country. Artistic exhibitions, shows for young audiences and various activities will round out this program. “We won’t be able to miss a concert of Fado, this Portuguese musical genre classified as a UNESCO intangible world heritage site,” explains Marielle Garonzi who heads the association’s programming commission. “But Portugal also has other musical styles that we will offer to discover.” Currently, several Portuguese artists have been contacted. The association is still looking for a group to close one of the two festive evenings in a dancing atmosphere.
A lottery on Sunday February 9
The Europa Festival is organized every two years and has already highlighted: Spain, Italy, Greece, France through its overseas territories, Germany and Ireland. The eighth edition of 2022 was a compilation from various countries to mark its 12 years of existence. While it should have returned last year, the Festival went on hiatus but did not remain inactive since it
actively participated in the events linked to the passing of the Olympic Flame in May. It also joined forces with Rebel d’Oc to organize the Occitan festival in August, marking ten years of existence of the association promoting the Occitan language. The opportunity also to pay tribute to the president of Rebel d’Oc, Daniel Malacam, also head chef of the Europa Festival, who died in January 2024.
Now, to finance the organization of this ninth edition in Portugal, the Europa Festival will organize its big lottery, on Sunday February 9, at 2 p.m., at the Claude-Nougaro room.
