An international gathering of music, song, dance and friendship in Cork city.
President Patrick Hillery addressed those gathered for the launch of the 25th Cork International Choral And Folk Dance Festival at City Hall. He recalled that the festival was established at a time in the 1950s when Irish people needed to show to the world what they could do to achieve cultural distinction.
Composer, conductor and academic Professor Aloys Fleischmann is the festival director who last week was honoured as a Freeman of Cork.
The jubilee year of the festival has attracted thousands visitors to the city of Cork. Seventy five adult choirs, 35 school choirs and many folk dance teams are performing during the five day festival. The festival has a particularly strong representation from eastern European countries such as Russia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. These groups are accommodated free of charge in the homes of people in Cork. There will be open air performances in Cork city and its surrounds throughout the festival.
The competitive results will be announced on Sunday.
A major gathering in international friendship, music, song and dance.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 5 May 1978. The reporter is Tom MacSweeney.
