The Federal Folk Music Festival of Bellinzona will open Thursday September 21 at 18, with the first musical performances, followed by a special concert in Piazza del Sole where, among others, Marco Zappa, Vox Blenii and the special guests of the evening, Vad Vuc, will perform.

On Friday 22 September the entertainment will begin at 16.00, with shows and musical activities between Bellinzona Station, Piazza Governo, Piazza del Sole and Castelgrande and on various additional stages. During the day there will be performances with and without a jury organized by the Swiss Popular Music Association (ASMP). At 19.00 the ceremony is scheduled with official speeches by the representatives of the Confederation, Canton and City, followed by concerts with special guests in Piazza del Sole until 02.00.

Saturday 23 September the traditional Bellinzona market is planned, enriched by the presence of popular music, which during the day includes a second series of performances with and without experts in the various locations of the historic center as well as events and musical performances on the various stages of the festival which will close with the dancing party in piazza del Sole at 02:00.

Sunday 24th September the exhibitions with and without experts organized by the ASMP will continue from 09.00 to 13.00, while from 11.00 to 21.00 concerts and musical performances will be offered on the various stages of the party. At the center of this day, at 14.00, the main event of Sunday, namely the Corteo della Musica Popolare along Viale Stazione, broadcast live on television by the SSR, which will also be present with numerous other live broadcasts on various national television and radio channels during the four days of the Festival.

The closing event will be organized in Piazza del Sole from 19:00 to midnight.

PerBacchus! at the Federal Folk Music Festival

The traditional Bellinzona grape harvest festival will this year be the "guest" of the Federal Festival of Popular Music. By Bacchus! it's not just harvest and wines, but an exclusive invitation that will lead tourists and residents through the streets of our characteristic historic center in the shadow of the ancient castles, offering them a convivial environment and the opportunity to listen to good music while savoring the excellent Ticino wines , a way to establish a relationship with the territory suitable for everyone, even for young people and families.

Throughout the event, unique for its characteristics in Ticino, the 3 wine bars of the PerBacco association will be open! with the possibility of trying 75 wine labels from the region, in addition to the 4 refreshment points where it is instead possible to delve into the local gastronomic world.

Other scheduled events such as grape pressing, distillation and the cooper at work welcome the visitor making him a participant in the traditions of grape processing up to its transformation into wine or spirits.

The Ticino people on stage

The big surprise of the 2023 edition of the Federal Popular Music Festival is the massive participation of groups from Italian-speaking Switzerland. In September, over 60 groups will bring their particular declination of Ticino and Italian Graubünden musical sentiment to this national stage, out of a total of 240 groups participating in the event from all over Switzerland. A positive feedback that is anything but obvious compared to a world of popular music that here differs from the reality of the North of the Alps: in Ticino popular music especially means singing, oral tradition, bandelle and evenings in company. We will have formations that will therefore mainly offer songs, but also groups that, starting from the songs, have developed sounds that are also typical of our valleys and lakes. Another confirmed southern Alpine tradition is that of the bandella, a popular variation of wind groups that are always very present in the area, which in Ticino alone involves more than two thousand musicians. Remaining among the relatively numerous local groups, we cannot forget the accordion orchestras and mandolin groups, lovers of a tradition as rooted as that of the philharmonics.

Among the main names of the Swiss groups announced we have for example the Rusch Büeblä (SZ), the Bündner Ländlermix (GR), the quartet Schwyzerörgeli UrWurzu (BE), the Alpinis of the Lucerne School of Music (LU), the Bauernmusik Altdorf (UR ), the Setteretal-Buebe (AI), the Edelweiss band (OW), the Oberbaselbieter Ländlerkapelle (BL), the Ländlerfrinda Aletsch (VS), the alphorn player Lisa Stoll (SH) with Ohalätz (SO), the duo of accordionists Frickbuebe (SG), Willis Wyberkapelle (SG), La-Fa-MiTille (VD) or Carlo Brunner with Pepe Lienhard (AG). The list of ensembles that will perform is naturally much longer and will be published soon.

Popular music embraces the entire Alpine range, from Occitania to Koper: therefore we will also have some guests from Italy who will give us emotions and ancestral sounds as a further demonstration of how much this common denominator which is music, binds all the Alpine people.

Promotion and presence at events

In view of the event, the organization committee, in collaboration with the Bellinzonese and Alto Ticino Regional Tourist Organization, is active both in terms of promotion, but also in the sale of the support pin through stands, in some cases accompanied by a musical group, which will be present in addition to the city market on Saturdays, also during some popular music events in the rest of Switzerland and at some important branches of the Sponsor Gold Coop. The support pin can be purchased at the tourist InfoPoints of the Bellinzona and Valli region, at the multifunctional counters of the city and online at the following link: http://bitly.ws/IB89. Please note that entry to the event is free.

Furthermore, starting from the beginning of July, the City of Bellinzona will begin to turn yellow, thanks to the collaboration with the refreshment points and businesses of the historic centre.

Tickets for the VIP area available for purchase online!

From today, tickets are also on sale online to enjoy popular music in the exclusive VIP area. Tickets can be purchased for every single evening:

The social networks of the Federal Festival of Popular Music

Website: www.bellinzona2023.ch

Facebook and Instagram: @bellinzona2023 #bellinzona2023

Youtube:  https://youtu.be/voFkx7_gFPw

Email: media@bellinzona2023.ch