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News • Berlin • Germany • 2013-02-24

Grand Finale of ITB Berlin The Delphic Festival: exotic sounds, colours and rhythms – international stars perform live at the Palais am Funkturm

The Delphic Festival: exotic sounds, colours and rhythms – international stars perform live at the Palais am Funkturm

Berlin, 22 February 2013 – At the end of the world’s leading travel trade show visitors, exhibitors and guests will be taking part in a joint celebration once again. The International Delphic Council is organising the Delphic Festival for the fourth time.

At the Palais am Funkturm the Delphic Festival will be presenting artistic highlights from around the world and providing the crowning finale to ITB Berlin 2013: Malaysia in all its magnificent colors, Indonesia with the sounds of the angklung, a traditional bamboo instrument and a recognized UNESCO World Cultural Heritage, Azerbaijan with graceful and acrobatic dance performances, South Africa with the well-known African poet Zolani Mkiva, Nelson Mandela, and Greece with a duo called Aënaos.

The Annika-Bosch Quintet from Weimar and Die Töchter Düsseldorfs will be playing jazz, swing and ballads and the internationally famous Thüringer Folklore Tanzensemble Rudolstadt with its 165-member dance ensemble will be giving impressive stage performances.

TV presenter Mary Amiri will be hosting the programme of events in typically charming manner: Zolani Mkiva moderated the opening of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the Azerbaijan State Dance Ensemble made quite an impression at the European Song Contest in Baku in 2012. The dancers from Thuringia have already played to enthusiastic audiences in more than 20 countries on four continents around the world.

The grand finale of ITB Berlin will be taking place at the Palais am Funkturm on 10 March 2013 from 3.30 to 5 p.m. Admission to this event is included in a ticket to ITB. More details can be found at www.itb-berlin.de/publikum (in German only).

The Delphic Festival - the atmospheric finale to ITB Berlin since 2010

Countries from all over the world showcase their most beautiful regions at ITB Berlin and naturally their cultures form an integral part. Taking as their slogan “Experiencing art and culture with all the senses“, musicians, singers and dancers will be performing contemporary and traditional works – a spectacular finale!

The festival has been the crowning finale of the travel trade show since 2010. The global cultural organization International Delphic Council (IDC) is responsible for the program and for organizing the cultural highlights. This year it is cooperating with the Berlin-based agency Compactteam for the first time.

The idea for this unique show originated in Jeju, South Korea, which is where the third Delphic Games were held in September 2009 – a global stage and meeting place for art and culture. The performances of outstanding artists from 54 countries inspired representatives of ITB Berlin and the IDC Berlin to organise the Delphic Festival.

The Delphic Games – a global stage

The history of the Delphic Games goes back to the Panhellenic Games in ancient Greece, which consisted not only of the now famous Olympic Games, but the Delphic Games as well. While Olympia stood for sporting events, Delphi stood for the arts. Every four years artists and spectators gathered from all parts of Greece to celebrate art and culture for six to eight days.

The IDC has revived this traditional event, which was initially banned and subsequently forgotten for 1600 years. The Delphic Games and Delphic Youth Games have now been taking place regularly every four years in different places around the world since 1997. In the same way that a flame is the symbol of the Olympic Games, water is the symbol of the Delphic Games. It is drawn from the Castalian Spring at Delphi before they begin, as it was in ancient times.

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