Palestine International Festival for Dance and Music

Developing interest of society in arts and culture and promoting Palestinian-International cultural links.

Palestine International Festival for Music and Dance is a creative cultural and arts communication with the outside world and contributes towards breaking the cultural siege which has been imposed on Palestine and Palestinian people for decades. The Festival also has a cultural and artistic component and provides the Palestinian public with entertainment they crave for. The PAC was founded in 1993 to organize the first international festival in Palestine and the largest annual arts and culture events, contributing to the revival and restructuring of the artistic and cultural landscape in Palestine.

The festival has had success through the years in developing Palestinian society’s appreciation for arts and culture and promoting cultural interaction locally and internationally with the intent to create a better cultural environment. This new context provided by the festival has encouraged and inspired creative production by Palestinian artists. Also it provided an opportunity for the Palestinian public to interact with the world’s arts and culture.

The festival has hosted international music and dance groups from countries, such as Spain, Italy, Greece, Chile, Egypt, France, Morocco, Tunis, Algiers and Turkey, including Turkish Anatolian Nar Group, Pavoci Group, Celapion Group from Chile, Tunisian singers Lutfi Bushnaq and Saber Riba’I, singer Ahlam and singer Shab Fadeel and Moroccan Jal Jallaluh Group. Not forgetting the many local music and dance groups which were also provided with opportunities to be showcased as well.

The festival has attracted large numbers from various villages and cities in the West Bank and also from within the Green Line, thus strengthening interaction and ties between the Palestinians from the different regions. After a five year absence, the festival was reinstated in 2005 and the organizers divided the activities of the festival amongst the various districts: Ramallah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jenin, Hebron, Tulkarem, Salfeet, and Nablus. This was to break the siege imposed by the occupation and to overcome the difficult conditions of movement and access because of the Apartheid Wall and the military checkpoints.
 

Festival Poster