Brave Festival – Against Cultural Exile is an annual Polish music festival launched in 2005 by Song of the Goat Theatre Association. It takes place in Wrocław, as well as in other cities in Lower Silesia. Since inception, artists from all over the world have been invited to present their musical/cultural traditions. The festival is intended as an opportunity for attendees to speak about where they come from, their values, their traditions and their spirituality. It aims to save and protect forgotten, abandoned and forlorn cultures. Brave Festival also has a project called Brave Kids, which aims is to introduce, integrate and start a collaboration of artistic groups of children from different continents. Grzegorz Bral is the director of Brave Festival.
In 2011 Brave Festival was included in the official list of The Cultural Programme of the Polish EU Presidency 2011 in the category “Cylic cultural events and festivals organized by local and non-governmental institutions.” The following groups help to support the festival: President of the City of Wrocław - Rafal Dutkiewicz, UNESCO, Marshal of the dolnośląskie voivodeship - Rafał Jurkowlaniec and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Idea of Brave Festival Since now there were ten editions of festival: The Magic of Voice (2005), Voices of Asia (2006), Drowned Songs (2007), The Ritual starts it Africa (2008), Prayers of the world (2009), Enchanters (2010), The Mask (2011), Women Initiating (2012), Lost Rhythm (2013), Sacred Body (2014), Griot (2015) and Outcasts (2016). Each edition presents concerts, theatre, performances, rituals, prayers and art of the people, tribes, groups or individuals from all over the world.
During the festival people, who don't agree on exile from their own traditions and sensitivity, share their culture. Brave Festival tries to support them by concerts, exhibitions, workshops (dance, musical and handicraft ones) and film program. All those events allow a public to see and experience what maybe couldn't be known in other way.
Festival places were among others: theatres in Wrocław (Teatr Polski, Wrocławski Teatr Współczesny, Teatr Pieśń Kozła), cinemas (Dolnośląskie Centrum Filmowe), galleries (Galeria BWA Design, ArtBrut) and other cultural places (The White Stork Synagogue, the Impart Art Center, Opera Wrocławska, Wytwórnia Filmów Fabulranych). There were also outdoor events.
Brave Festival hosted artists and groups from China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Russia, Australia, Egypt, Georgia, Bulgaria, India, Mali, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Chile, USA, Ukraine, Uganda, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Niger, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Poland, Corse, Rumania, Israel, Sardinia, Macedonia, Marocco, Grance and other countries.
Revenue from festival ticket sales are designated to support humanitarian activities in Tibet led by the international charity organization, ROKPA.
Festival main program
2018 The thirteenth edition of Brave Festival took place on 13–22 July 2018 and was organized under the slogan "Visible-Invisible", which revealed a number of unique, often difficult to reach to a wider audience, artistic phenomena. The eleven invited artists or creative groups share a decidedly social character and the fact that they all use art – primarily music and theatre – not as entertainment and decoration, but as a tool to influence social change and stagnant reality, and as a weapon against injustice and exclusion.
2017 The festival for 2017 was cancelled due to lack of funding.
2016 12th edition of the festival took place between 1st and 16 July 2016 and was organized under the title "Outcasts - Wykluczeni". It was a significant and symbolic edition, because in 2016 more than any in other year so far it dealt specifically with "exile". Organizers decided to discuss people who have always been different in their own communities or in foreign ones, for which they have been stigmatized. "Outcasts - Wykluczeni" was host to a number of events from across the world showing people whose everyday lives are, for a variety of reasons, very difficult and complicated. Brave Festival showed people who used art to change or even utilize their exclusion. Artists Country Description Bakri Ki Mashak India Gypsies from The States of Rajasthan Aeham Ahmad Syria Pianist and refugee from Syria Deafbeat Malaysia Deaf drummers from Malaysia 21 Theatre Poland Theatre of actors with Down syndrome Blind Ballet Company Fernanda Bianchini Brazil Ballet of blind dancers Candoco Dance Company United Kingdom Dance and theatrical group of artists with disabilities Nalaga'at Theater Israel Theatre of blind and deaf actors Musicians without Borders Palestine Musicians and social workers Ivan Perez i Korzo Producties Spain Contemporary dance Song of the Goat Theatre Poland Performance titled Songs of Lear Song of the Goat Theatre Poland Performance titled Crazy God Song of the Goat Theatre Poland Performance titled Portraits of The Cherry Orchard
2015
11th edition of the festival titled "Griot" took place between 10th and 17 July 2015. In the cultures of West Africa, griots are guardians of tradition, bards, poets, singers, storytellers and musicians, who for ages have had a great significance for the culture mainly from the area of today's Gambia, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Liberia and Mauretania. Their stories are tightly connected with sounds and rhythm. For centuries, the function of a griot has been reserved exclusively for men born in one of a few clans, where this honourable role was passed on from generation to generation, from a father to a son. The undeniable role, which they play in creating the African culture, especially today, in the times of sudden civilisation changes, when keeping and protection of own heritage are becoming more and more difficult – makes griots ideally align with the mission of Brave Festival. Among invited artists there were: Kassé Mady Diabaté (Mali), Abou Diarra (Mali), Zanzibar Taarab/Kidumbak Ensemble (Zanzibar) czy Coumbane Ely Mint Warakane (Mauritania). Artists Country Description Balla Kouyaté Mali Master of balaphon from Mali Sona Jobarteh Gambia First female kora virtuoso Abou Diarra Mali N'goni virtuoso Ndima Congo Polyphonic sings of pygmies AKA from Congo Zanzibar Taarab/Kidumbak Ensemble Tanzania Guardians of the Zanzibari traditions of taarab and kidumbak Coumbane Ely Mint Warakane Mauritania Mauritanian griot Kassé Mady Diabaté Mali Descendant of one of the most renowned griot families Vieux Farka Touré Mali Desert blues of Mali Song of the Goat Theatre Poland Performance titled Songs of Lear Griot (film) United States Directed by Volker Goetze
2014
10th edition of Brave Festival titled "Sacred Body" took place in 4–17 July 2014. The festival's program focused on the theatre, dance and ritual – all of them come from artistic traditions in which the body, the leitmotif, is shown either in a literal or in a symbolic way. Among others were Rama Vaidyanathan – mistress of classical Indian dance Bharata Natjam, Melanie Lomoff – French dancer with ballet education and Koffi Kôkô – voodoo priest and a representative of contemporary African dance. This year's Brave Festival main program was also accompanied by Film Program divided into three theme sections: Brave People Doc, Brave Contexts and Brave Focus, devoted to India. The Festival's opening film was ‘The Light of Asia’ by Franz Osten from 1925 featuring live music – an original score composed and performed by the Divana Ensemble from Rajasthan. Artists Country Description Balega Indonesia Music of the body in the randai tradition of Western Sumatra Koffi Kôkô Benin Choreographies of African voodoo Melanie Lomoff France Modern dance inspired by human figures from triptychs by Francis Bacon Mudijettu India Ritual theatre from the temples of Kerala Rama Vaidyanathan India Indian dance of body and soul Bharata Natjam Rupinder India Ritual songs of India Sarpam Thullal India Ritual devoted to the Serpent Gods from Kerala Teatr 21 Poland Performance The Love Boat Song of the Goat Theatre Poland Performance titled Songs of Lear
2013
Brave Festival – Against Cultural Exile, 9th edition titled "Lost Rhythm" took place between 7th and 12 July 2013 in Wrocław. The program of the 9th edition of Brave Festival, as each year, consisted of performances, concerts, film screenings, exhibitions, workshops and open forum meetings. During six days many extraordinary artists from all over the world presented a number of authentic and little known rituals, ceremonies, sacred songs and other artistic traditions from Asia, Africa, South Africa and Europe. Among others invited were representatives of various distant cultures (dancers, singers and actors) whose artistic activity circles around rhythm and its meaning. The audience then had a chance to take part in the "One" – performance of Korean group “Cheong-bae” which presented the Yeon-hee style: a combination of ritual, shamanistic music, dance and acrobatics. Among others was Addal, group of women from the Berber people performing the addal dance, a unique form of ahouach and Rotal Drummers of Burundi. This year's Brave Festival main program was accompanied also by a series of meetings under a banner of Brave Meetings . During this year's Brave Festival, the audience had the opportunity to get to know members of the guest performers in Wrocław. In addition to the above, 19 film images were screened as part of Brave Festival film program and each of them referred to this-year theme – the rhythm – in more or less obvious way. Also, the fourth edition of Brave Kids took place 25.06-13.07.2013 in Wrocław, Puszczykowo, Warsaw, Łódź and Krosnice. It gathered 114 kids and leaders from following countries: India, Uganda, Zimbabwe, China, Georgia, Israel, Czech Republic, Laos, Iran, Kyrgyzstan and Poland. Artists Country Description Addal Morocco Moroccan dance of women of the Ameln Valley Bachu Khan Pakistan Moroccan dance of women of the Ameln Valley Cheong-Bae South Korea Korean rituals and ceremonies with a dance Gim Cheonbukchum Houria Aïchi & L’Hijâz’Car Algeria Korean rituals and ceremonies with a dance Gim Cheonbukchum Mohini Devi India Snake dance of the Kalbelias of Rajasthan Ngqoko Group South Africa Women's choir of the Xhosa people from South Africa Rupinder India Music of the proud sons of the Indian Punjab Sona Jobareth Gambia Music of royal kora in feminine interpretation Song of the Goat Theatre Poland Performance titled Songs of Lear The Drummers of Burundi Burundi Royal percussionists
2012
Between 2 and 7 July 2012 the 8th edition of Brave Festival – festival against cultural exile – one of the most unusual initiatives in Europe, held again in Wrocław (Poland). 2012 year's edition was entitled "Women Initiating". The program included projects presented by women from around the world. Brave Festival is a unique event, as apart from revealing to the audience the secrets of vanishing cultures, it also provides help to others. 100% of the proceeds from ticket sales are donated each year to ROKPA International, an organization that supports children in Nepal, Tibet and African countries. 2012 year's edition saw among others the prenuptial tradition of unyago, presented by Bi Kidude – a one hundred-years’ old drummer from Zanzibar; the voices of the elderly ladies from the Meninas de Sinhá group from Brazil, showed how one can face the adversities of life with the help of singing and playing music; while the descendants of the Tuareg people, whom the members of Tartit group from Mali are drawn from, proved that the blues derives from Africa.