About Vaka folk festival
Imagine a 3-day folk arts festival with music, dance, workshops, and a feast, and you’d have the 2024 Vaka Folk Festival.
Vaka interweaves age-old folk traditions and contemporary practices, introducing festival-goers to Icelandic song, dance and music. What’s more, you’re encouraged to participate in workshops and festivities over the course of the weekend. If you’ve ever wanted to find out about and try playing the langspil — one of Iceland’s folk instruments — sing Icelandic rímur ballads, or have a go at European bal dance, this festival is the one for you.
Together we revive valuable traditions, create new ones along the way and create unforgettable experiences. Vaka opens in the Ráðhús (City Hall) at 2.00pm on Friday afternoon with ‘Barna og unglinga rímna tónleikar’ (Kids’ rímur concert), with children from Laufásborg's Kvæðabarnafjelag and Tríó Zimsen with Rósa Jóhannesdóttir and Helgi Zimsen, who will perform Dótarímur by Þórarin Eldjárn.
In the evening there is a concert in the Fríkirkjan at 19.30 with Gadus Morhua, Chris Foster and Bjarni Karlsson. After the concert, the fun continues with an all comers session at Ægir Bar, the home of Reykjavík Trad Sessions and the monthly Sagnavaka ballad dance sessions.
On Saturday the focus shifts to Iðnó, Reykjavík’s oldest performance venue. During the day there will be workshops of various kinds. Then, Saturday evening features the festival’s centerpiece event, a feast of food, dance and music. The expert chefs of Valkyrjan Bistro and bar will serve their delicious and filling signature soups, breads and salads. During dinner, entertainment is provided, with brief pop-up party pieces punctuating the feast, including music and impersonations, as well as a raffle.
After dinner, we’ll move the tables aside to create a dance floor, on which everyone — young or old, expert or novice — is welcome. Callers will lead you through each dance, and those who participated in the dance workshop earlier in the day will have a chance to show off their newfound skills.
On Sunday afternoon, which is also Dagur rímnalagsins (Day of rímur songs) Kvæðamannafélagið Iðunn and Árna Magnússon Foundation for Icelandic Studies hold a symposium and concert at EDDA, the home of the Árni Magnússon Institute. The programme is open to everyone and admission is free.
A festival pass valid for all events costs 11,900.
you can also buy tickets to individual events and at the door.
Vökufélagið is an independent non-profit organization and entrance fees are a large part of our funding. Ticket prices are moderate, so we invite those who are interested and are passionate about sustaining our folk arts traditions to enter an amount of their choice above the minimum. We are incredibly grateful for all the support!
