Music, dance and storytelling
Songs, dances, theatre, epic poetry and oral history.
Music, dance and storytelling traditions are the performances that a community passes down by ear, eye and heart: the epic poem recited by a griot, the dance in a circle at a wedding, the shadow play of Java, the ballad of a village, the lullaby of a grandmother. They carry history, law and humour in forms that people can remember. Many are linked to festivals and rites, and many are on UNESCO's lists of intangible heritage. Here they are gathered by country, with notes on who performs them and when.
Songs and dances of the people
Folk music and dance are community property: they are learnt by joining in, not by lessons, and they change a little with every generation. Circle dances, line dances and couple dances accompany harvests and weddings, and instruments such as the drum, the fiddle, the pipe and the lute are made locally. In many places, there are separate songs for work, for love, for mourning and for children, and each has its own time and place.
Stories and theatre
Oral storytelling holds a society's memory: epics, myths, fables, proverbs and riddles told by elders. Some become formal theatre, such as kabuki and noh in Japan, wayang in Indonesia, the mumming plays of Britain or the Ramlila of India, which retells the Ramayana in a month of evenings. These forms often depend on one master teaching one student, and communities and governments now support them to keep them alive.
About this page
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Music, dance and storytelling (kind of tradition). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
🇲🇰 Galičnik, North MacedoniaGaličnik Wedding FestivalГаличка свадба
An annual village wedding festival celebrated every July in North MacedoniaFestival
🇪🇸 Barcelona, Spain and 2 moreDiada de Sant Jordi
A Catalan feast day of literature and love, marked by giving books and red rosesFestival
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreMummers' play
A comic folk drama of staged combat, death, and revival by an eccentric doctorPerformance
🇨🇭 Vevey, SwitzerlandFête des Vignerons
A once-in-a-generation wine festival and arena spectacle in Vevey, SwitzerlandFestival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇪🇸 Valencia, SpainCremà
The ceremonial burning of large artistic street monuments across the Valencian communityFestival
🇬🇷 Patras, GreecePatras CarnivalPatrino karnavali
A winter carnival of parades, street games and satirical floats in western GreeceFestival
🇭🇺 Budapest, Hungary and 3 moreTáncház
A Hungarian folk dance gathering where anyone can learn the steps and dance to live musicPerformance
🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreTuvan throat singing
A style of singing from Tuva where one voice sounds a drone and a melody at oncePerformance
🇬🇧 United KingdomTwmpath
The Welsh word for a village dancing green, now used for a social dance eveningPerformance
🇮🇸 Vestmannaeyjar, IcelandÞjóðhátíð
An annual outdoor island festival of concerts, bonfires and hillside singing in IcelandFestival
🇧🇬 Kazanlak, BulgariaRose FestivalФестивал на розата
An annual harvest celebration of damask roses across the Rose Valley of BulgariaFestival
🇫🇮 Helsinki, FinlandKalevala DayKalevalan päivä
A Finnish national flag day celebrating the country's epic poetry and living artsCeremony
🇪🇸 Spain and 5 moreMoors and ChristiansMoros y Cristianos
Theatrical parades and mock battles staging historic clashes across Spain and beyondFestival
🇪🇸 Valencia, SpainMascletà
A daytime sound and rhythm pyrotechnic display typical of the Valencian CommunityFestival
🇪🇸 Seville, SpainFlamenco
The song, guitar and dance of Andalusia, kept by gitano and other Spanish families.Performance
🇷🇸 Guča, SerbiaGuča Trumpet FestivalФестивал трубача у Гучи
A weekend brass band competition and folk festival in western SerbiaFestival
🇱🇻 Riga, Latvia and 4 moreLatvian Song and Dance FestivalVispārējie latviešu Dziesmu un Deju svētki
A grand gathering of choirs, dancers and folk artists held every five years in LatviaPerformance
🇲🇰 Ohrid, North MacedoniaOhrid Summer FestivalОхридско лето
A summer season of concerts and theatre in Ohrid, running from mid-July to late AugustFestival
🇧🇪 Aalst, BelgiumAalst CarnivalAalst Carnaval
A three-day street carnival of satire, costumed parades and folk rituals in AalstFestival
🇪🇸 Seville, SpainSeville FairFeria de Abril de Sevilla
A week-long spring festival in Seville of carriage parades, marquee tents and dancingFestival · Dinner
🇫🇷 Nice, FranceNice CarnivalCarnaval de Nice
A two-week winter festival of papier-mâché floats and flower battles in Nice, FranceFestival
🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreLezginkaЛезгинка (Russian) · Лезги кьуьл (Lezgian)
A fast dance of the North Caucasus, solo or in pairs, named for the Lezgin peoplePerformance
🇷🇴 Romania and 1 moreColindă
A Romanian and Moldovan Christmas carol tradition where village groups sing Nativity songs door to door.Festival
🇨🇭 Basel, SwitzerlandCarnival of BaselBasler Fasnacht
A 72-hour masked carnival of drums, flutes and satire in northern SwitzerlandFestival
🇱🇹 Vilnius, LithuaniaLithuanian Song FestivalLietuvių dainų ir šokių šventė
A periodic national festival of choral singing, dance and folklore in LithuaniaFestival
🇱🇺 Echternach, LuxembourgDancing procession of EchternachIechternacher Sprangprëssioun
A Roman Catholic hopping pilgrimage honouring Saint Willibrord in eastern LuxembourgSpiritual
🇲🇹 Valletta, MaltaMaltese Carnivalil-Karnival ta' Malta
A lively week of costumed parades, dancing, satirical floats and sweets across Malta.Festival · Sweets given and shared
🇭🇷 Dubrovnik, CroatiaDubrovnik Summer FestivalDubrovačke ljetne igre
An annual summer celebration of theatre, music and dance held in the historic streets of Dubrovnik.Festival
🇺🇦 Kyiv, UkraineVertepвертеп
A two-tiered Ukrainian puppet theatre that mixes the nativity story with satirical comedy and folk music.Performance
🇪🇸 Alicante, SpainBonfires of Saint John in AlicanteFogueres de Sant Joan
A midsummer festival of towering satirical monuments, music and fire in AlicanteFestival
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreCarol service
A Christmas church service of seasonal hymns, scripture readings and candlelightSpiritual
🇬🇧 Abbots Bromley, United KingdomAbbots Bromley Horn Dance
A September folk dance in an English village featuring dancers with reindeer antlers and a hobby horse.Performance
🇭🇷 Omiš, CroatiaKlapa
Unaccompanied harmony singing from Dalmatia, built by groups of friendsPerformance
🇭🇷 Konavle, Croatia and 2 moreOjkanje
A throat-shaking style of folk singing from Croatia's Dinaric highlandsPerformance
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom and 6 moreBoishakhi Melaবৈশাখী মেলা
A Bengali New Year fair in London each May, with a parade, music and food stallsFestival
🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreMaypole
A tall wooden pole, garlanded and danced around, raised at May Day, Whitsun or MidsummerFestival
🇦🇹 Vienna, AustriaVienna New Year's ConcertNeujahrskonzert der Wiener Philharmoniker
A morning of waltzes and polkas on 1 January, played by the Vienna PhilharmonicPerformance
🇸🇰 SlovakiaFujara
A tall Slovak flute played by shepherds, with a deep voice built from overtonesPerformance
🇱🇹 Lithuania and 1 moreLithuanian folk songsliaudies dainos
Songs of love, weddings, work and war, sung in unison or in harmony across LithuaniaPerformance
🇩🇪 Munich, Germany and 3 moreSchuhplattler
An Alpine folk dance of stomps, claps and flat-hand slaps on shoes, knees and thighsPerformance
🇷🇴 Bucharest, Romania and 7 moreHorahoră (Romanian), хоро (Bulgarian), оро (Macedonian), הורה (Hebrew)
A circle dance from Southeast Europe, danced at weddings and festivalsPerformance
🇮🇪 Dublin, Ireland and 3 moreIrish dance
Ireland's traditional solo and group dances, from social halls to world competitionsPerformance
🇮🇹 ItalyCantu a tenorecantu a tenòre
Four men singing in a tight circle, a vocal art of Sardinia's Barbagia hillsPerformance
🇷🇴 RomaniaDoina
A free-rhythm Romanian song of longing, sung alone or played to open a dancePerformance
🇬🇧 United KingdomLong sword dance
A Yorkshire winter sword dance kept by village teams at Christmas and Plough MondayPerformance
🇨🇭 Appenzell, Switzerland and 5 moreYodeling
A singing style switching between chest voice and falsetto, kept as a folk tradition across the Alps and globally.Performance
🇷🇸 Serbia and 3 moreKoloКоло
A South Slavic circle dance of linked hands, kept at weddings and gatheringsPerformance
🇪🇸 SpainCorrefoc
Devil-costumed fire runs through the streets of Catalan and Valencian festival townsFestival
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Tuvan throat singing: Johanna Kovitz, Public domain, source
- Twmpath: Geoff Charles, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mummers' play: Aladjov, CC BY 3.0, source
- Galičnik Wedding Festival: IvanaKrstik, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Diada de Sant Jordi: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Fête des Vignerons: "Groupement des photographes officiels" / Fête des vignerons Vevey / S, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cremà: Paula Ramírez Morant, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Þjóðhátíð: Drumstick21, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Rose Festival: Animsaj, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kalevala Day: Vladimir Menkov, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Moors and Christians: No machine-readable author provided. Jarke assumed (based on copyright, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mascletà: Pablo Enzo, Public domain, source
- Flamenco: John Singer Sargent, Public domain, source
- Guča Trumpet Festival: svickova, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Latvian Song and Dance Festival: Laima Gūtmane (simka), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Aalst Carnival: Wikisid, CC BY 3.0, source
- Seville Fair: Sevilla Congress & Convention Bureau, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Nice Carnival: Honeydew, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Lezginka: Vasily Vereshchagin, Public domain, source
- Patras Carnival: www.infocenterpatras.gr, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Colindă: Post of Moldova, Public domain, source
- Carnival of Basel: Claude TRUONG-NGOC, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Lithuanian Song Festival: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Dancing procession of Echternach: David Edgar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Maltese Carnival: Ronny Siegel, CC BY 3.0, source
- Dubrovnik Summer Festival: Roberta F., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Vertep: Микола Василечко, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bonfires of Saint John in Alicante: Fernando Pastor, CC BY 2.0, source
- Abbots Bromley Horn Dance: Caeciliusinhorto, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Klapa: Albin Olsson, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Boishakhi Mela: Ripon Miah, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Maypole: Uploaded by Mikael Häggström, CC0, source
- Vienna New Year's Concert: Michal Osmenda, CC BY 2.0, source
- Fujara: -jkb-, CC BY 3.0, source
- Lithuanian folk songs: Gailė Paštukaitė, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Schuhplattler: Harald Bischoff, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hora: Chajeshukarie ( talk ), Public domain, source
- Irish dance: U.S. Army, Public domain, source
- Cantu a tenore: Sardegnabella, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Long sword dance: donald judge, CC BY 2.0, source
- Yodeling: Paebi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kolo: Sasa.mazinjanin, Public domain, source
- Correfoc: Calvesklein, CC BY-SA 4.0, source