ORIENT – Festival of Oriental Music
Next concerts:
Festival ORIENT in co-operation with Porta Festival presents:
March 24th, 2026, Riga / Latvia
Kodō’s One Earth Tour LUMINANCE
Tickets
The new production Luminance is dedicated to light — to a world that has grown darker in recent years through pandemics and wars.
The concert’s title is not just a slogan but carries a much deeper meaning rooted in Japanese Shinto tradition, where priests and shamans once used giant drums to call back the light when it was most needed — to illuminate both the Earth and the human soul.
March 24th, when spring finally returns, will be the perfect moment to experience Kodō’s Luminance — a performance that breathes new life into a world weary from winter.
Come and witness an unforgettable show featuring drums weighing nearly half a ton, played by musicians whose powerful physiques recall ancient Greek Olympians — all within a captivating Oriental atmosphere, enhanced by cutting-edge light and video design.
Festival Orient presents:
June 19th, 2026, Jämaja church, Kingdom of Torgu, Saaremaa island, Estonia
BURKINA AZZA
Traditional percussion quartet from Burkina Faso / West-Africa
Tickets will be available in February at Piletilevi
The first ever concentrated show of oriental music in Estonia, a tradition going back to the year 1992, has brought the most authentic performers from India, Siberia, Middle East, Central Asia, Far East, and South East Asia. It is certainly a leading musical event in the Baltic States where music lovers can enjoy performers like Peking Opera, Paṇḍit Hariprasad Chaurasia, ensemble Kodō, Paṇḍit Ravi Shankar, Anoushka Shankar, Jivan Gasparyan, ensemble Huun-Huur-Tu, Alim Qasimov, Burhan Öçal, Sevara Nazarkhan, Gyuto and Gyume Tibetan Buddhist monks, Kitaro, Tuvan National Orchestra, etc. Keep a close eye on our website and advertising – the show goes on.
Orient Festival – directed by Peeter Vähi and Tiina Jokinen – is an event comprising any kind of ritual, folk and traditional classical music of mostly Asian origin. Most of the festival performers are chosen in their natural environment during the numerous visits to the Asian countries. Orient festival aims to be diverse, representing the most important cultural regions of Asia: Arab countries, India, Tibet, Siberia, China, Indo-China, Japan, etc. We must admit that not everything presented during the festival is absolutely authentic and pristinely “pure”. Year by year it is harder to find musicians bearing pure centuries-old tradition. A Siberian refuses to sing without microphone, the works of some Japanese conductors sound more American than those of a true American, an Arab tries to make merchandise out of his faith, a Korean monk demands thousands of dollars for a fee, a Cambodian folk-musician’s favourite refreshment during an intermission is Coca-Cola. Finally, when you manage to find someone who is really authentic, he claims to come directly from Shambhala. That’s the way it is at the beginning of the 3rd Millennium and we have to take it or leave it. Our obvious choice is to take it! Feel free to take the ride with us!
Past events: Orient presents 2023, Orient presents 2022, Orient presents 2021, Orient presents 2020, Orient presents 2019, Orient presents 2018, Orient 2017, Orient 2015, Orient 2013, Orient 2011, Orient presents in 2010, Orient 2009, Orient presents in 2008, Orient 2007, Orient presents in 2006, Orient 2005. See also the cancelled Orient in Palmyra (Voices from the Stars Above the Desert), The Path to the Heart of Asia (CD recorded with featuring musicians of Orient 1992)
Organizers:
Peeter Vähi and Tiina Jokinen − directors
Kadri Kiis − accountant
Olavi Sööt − logistics
Mart Kivisild − design
Johannes Vähi − IT, website
Reno Hekkonens − marketing
Special thanks: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Toyota, Tallinn – city of music
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