The Balkan Ethno-Fusion Festival "Lokum Fest - Music and Tradition" in its jubilee 15th edition will be held from July 22 to 24 in Bitola.

"Lokum Fest" is a festival that started a decade and a half ago (2007) in the Old Bitola Bazaar. The name of the festival is derived from the consular tradition of welcoming a neighbor, traveler, well-meaning person with Turkish delight and coffee and is synonymous with openness, multiculturalism, meeting between cultures. In fact, one of the main functions of the Festival is to show through the various musical forms (traditional and stylized, chalgia, fusion, world music) all the amalgam and splendor of cultures, ethnicities and landmarks of consular Bitola.

In the past fourteen years, "Lokum Fest" has performed over seventy groups and ensembles, both from Macedonia and twenty countries in the region, Europe and the world, such as Egypt, India, China, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Japan, Sweden, Iceland. , Hungary, Poland, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Albania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Brazil, etc. From the Macedonian participants we remember the performances of the groups "Ljubojna", "Baklava", "Chalgia Sound System", Toni Kitanovski and "Cherkezi", Kocani Orchestra, "Swarovski Band", Jakov Drenkovski, Violeta Tomovska, Zoran Dzorlev, Vanja Lazarova others. "Lokum Fest" is the only festival that actively presents Sephardic music as part of the cultural and historical past of Bitola, or Monastir.

In addition to the music part, the festival in cooperation with ZUR "Macedonian Handicrafts" for the fifteenth year is held "Fair of Handicrafts" motivated by folk tradition, a segment that gives it color and spirit.

The cultural heritage as a potential tourist motive is emphasized by the festival through the promotional materials, but also through the exhibition "Tell your story", or with an exhibition of family rarities from the consular period that the citizens have in their homes. In that way, an active attitude towards the collective cultural heritage and the participation of the citizens is built.

Special emphasis this year is placed on the cooperation with the State Archives - Bitola Department, thanks to which there will be a unique opportunity to present a special rarity, popularly called "Manaki Gramophone", which will be exhibited along with authentic photos of bohemian life and chalgi from the last century.

The jubilee program is rich and exclusive and heralds the future course of the festival. The festival will be opened by Vlatko Stefanovski trio with a concert by Heraclea (July 22.07), on July 23 in Patio - NI Institute and Museum will perform Dragan Dautovski with his son Ratko Dautovski with a concert promotion of the album "Apocalypticum", while on the third night (July 24.07) The legendary ensemble KUD "Ilinden" will perform with "Stories from the Bazaar".

The festival is funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia and supported by the Municipality of Bitola.