Lendorfer Schuhplattler in Syria
Despite Bosra International festival postponement to next year, Lendorfer Schuhplattler dance and music group from Southern Austria didn’t cancel its trip to Syria. The preparations for the trip went smooth and yesterday the group arrived to Damascus! Today the group had performance in Azem Palace, one of most attractive Damascus style houses, that was home of Azem family and now is museum. Recently it restauration works have finished and it is even more beautiful then before. It is very cozy, can host not more than 400 people, and Ministry of Culture holds their presentations, concerts, it is one of the venues where Bosra Festival groups perform in Damascus. This year when we informed Mr. Nazih Khouri that Austrian group is traveling to Damascus, he was so kind to book this impressive venue for Lendorfer Schuhplattler. After the concert in Azem Palace the Austrian embassy in Damascus invited them to Sheraton Damascus for a small gathering. Next performance is in Homs municipality. The group will travel to visit Crack de Chevalier: one of the greatest monuments from Crusaders’ time, then they will be greeted by Directorate of Culture in the Governorate of Homs and will perform in a small festival held in Masht Al-Helu and in the evening they will arrive to Hama, to see the famous Nawaeer ( Noria) on Orontes.. The final stop over is Palmyra or Tadmur, the city of Queen Zenobia. The trip will end in Damascus from where the group returns back to Austria. I thank the group for their determination and cooperation as well as all those who helped me in organizing this trip. Special thanks to Ministry of Culture of Syria, to Mr. Nazih Khouri – Director of Foreign Relations in the Ministry, to Austrian embassy in Damascus, and to Mr. Nizar Almajian who was following up with organization process.