This weekend I took the train out to Visaginis, a small town in eastern Lithuania on the border with Belarus, to visit a friend doing a photo documentary project and attend the Visaginis Country Music Festival. On Saturday and Sunday nights, I — along with a crowd of Lithuanians wearing cowboy hats — listened to country music by bands from Lithuania, Poland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Canada and the US of A. It felt a lot a like county fair in the US, except for the lack of 4-H club kids and their livestock. The music was not the best country music I’ve ever heard, but it was loads of fun. Sunday night featured a great performance by Virgis Stakėnas, who apparently single-handedly introduced country music to Lithuania through a radio show that he hosted. Here he is performing “Mama, don’t wake up” at the 2007 Visaginas Country Music Festival.
August 16, 2011
Visaginis Country Music Festival
By amanda
About amanda

Creating academic and public environments for the humanities to flourish
Researching Soviet and Eastern European history
Engaging people and ideas as a writer and interviewer
Traveling as much as possible
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 16th, 2011 at 1:00 pm and posted in Lithuania Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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