About festival

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Ethniesy is an international festival of tradition and nature organized at the City Culture Centre in Bydgoszcz since 2013. What began as a one-day showcase of traditionalmusic has now become a four-day celebration of music from Poland and around the world. Here, you can hear music rooted in folk traditions, including those that blend with other musical genres (e.g., jazz, electronic music).

What is Ethniesy?

Ethniesy is, above all, a gathering. An opportunity to talk, have fun, listen to each other, and celebrate the arrival of spring. It's a space where artists from various musical circles meet, and the audience becomes part of the community.

At the festival, you'll find:

• Concerts by stars of traditional and world music

• Singing, instrument playing, and dancing workshops

• Exhibitions and literary meetings

• A space for being together, sharing experiences, and inspiration

A festival in the rhythm of nature.

Ethniesy takes place at a special moment of transition from winter to spring – we celebrate renewal and harmony with nature. We focus on sustainable development and respect for all forms of life.

Music that unites.

For us, meeting another person is a celebration. Each person brings their own story, experiences, and sensitivity. We focus on what unites us while accepting our differences. With tenderness and understanding, we create a space where everyone can be themselves.

Ethniesy is more than just a festival – it's a community built around traditional music, respect for cultural heritage, and openness to others. The festival's founder and director is Dominika Kiss-Orska, supported in her activities by coordinator Danuta Kryszak.

Each edition of Ethniesy is guided by a theme or idea. This year's theme is "TheVoice."

Our voice is something we take for granted. It flows fromour mouths, carried by our breath, passing through the larynx and vocal cords. We don't think of it as a gift. We open our mouths and it flows out effortlessly. With difficulty, when we're sick. Then our voice, just like us, is weaker, distorted. It gets stuck in our throats when we want to speak. It's not always illness that silences us, but our thoughts, beliefs, and experiences. They prevent certain things from being heard.

With a voice, you can offend someone, even destroy them. But you can also lift someone up, support them, save them. For tiny children, their mother is their voice. The voice they heard while still in the womb. Their mother has no physical form; there is only the sound. Only, and yet everything.

During the 13th edition of Ethniesy, we want to give ourselves a voice. To sing, to talk, to communicate about things both great and small. We give voice to animals, through their tender protectors. We give voice in different languages. We want to hear what you have to say. Every voice matters to someone, every voice is beautiful to someone. Every voice is loved by someone. Be loud, give us your voice.

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