- Title: “Country in exileâ€: Belarusians gather to celebrate their culture in Poland
- Date: 17th July 2022
- Summary: GRUDEK, POLAND (JULY 16, 2022) (REUTERS) FESTIVAL ATTENDEES HOLDING A BIG WHITE-RED-WHITE BELARUSIAN FLAG, USED BY BELARUS OPPOSITION WOMAN COVERED IN WHITE-RED-WHITE BELARUSIAN FLAG FILMING WITH PHONE PEOPLE DANCING, HOLDING WHITE-RED-WHITE UMBRELLA AND FLAGS WOMAN DANCING WITH CHILD IN HER HANDS, CHILD WAVING PHONE FLASH PEOPLE WAVING PHONE FLASHES, DANCING, GIRLS COVERE
- Embargoed: 31st July 2022 15:02
- Keywords: Belarus Duda Lukashenko Poland Tutaka Ukraine art culture festival music festival
- Location: GRUDEK, POLAND
- City: GRUDEK, POLAND
- Country: Poland
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Music
- Reuters ID: LVA001238117072022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Belarusians who have left their country gathered to hear musicians who currently have no way to perform at home at a festival in northern Poland on Saturday (July 16).
The Tutaka Festival, held near the small Polish town of Grudek a few kilometres from the Belarusian border, has become home for Belarusians who want to celebrate their national arts and culture.
Several thousand, including some who fled Belarus after a disputed presidential election in August 2020 as well as others who have been living for a longer time in Poland, gathered to watch and dance.
"Belarusian culture and arts are currently forced to develop in other countries," said festival organiser Pavel Stankevich.
Tutaka is the direct heir of the 'Basovishcha' music festival, where for almost 30 years music bands that faced persecution from the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko government performed.
"Now, we are a country in exile: in exile both inside the country as partisans and outside its borders," said actress Kristina Drobysh, who attended the festival with the hopes to "dance out the pain".
The political situation in Belarus "is frightening" she said, although she added she hopes to attend a similar festival one day in her home country.
The 2022 edition of Tutaka aimed to represent not only Belarusian music, but all of the national cultures in its diversity, organisers said. They said one of the main themes was the expression of Belarusian and Polish solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
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