The Ortigueira´s Festival opens the call for the 2024 Runas Contest

The contest, aimed to encourage the promotion of new values of Celtic music, reaches its 25th edition. This year, the Ortigueira´s Festival returns to the format of four days, from the 11th to the 14th of July.

The registration period for the 2024 Runas Contest of the Ortigueira’s International Festival of the Celtic World is open. This initiative is focused on music bands that have between two and ten members, whose repertoire is related to the traditional music of the Celtic countries.

The registration period will remain open until 23:59 h on Monday, the 29th of April 2024 and the selection process will consist of two phases. In the first phase, a technical committee appointed by the City Council of Ortigueira will make a selection of a maximum of ten groups.

From Tuesday 7th of May, the second phase will take place, in which the public will be able to listen to and vote for the selected groups on the Festival’s website until 14:00 h on Tuesday, the 21st of May.

The finalist groups will be determined by a five-vote system. One vote will come from the voting system of the Festival’s website, and the remaining four votes will come from a jury composed of musicians, music journalists and promoters selected by the City Council of Ortigueira.

From the result of the second phase, the three finalists of the 2024 Runas Contest will be chosen, which will be announced on Wednesday 22nd, Thursday 23rd and Friday May 24th on the Festival’s social media and website. The finalists will perform on Thursday the 11th of July at the Ortigueira’s International Festival of the Celtic World, and they will receive a €1,500 cash prize. The winner of the contest will perform in the 2025 edition with a €3,000 fee.

The finalists will share the stage with great artists such as Ailá, Aroze, BackWest, Bagad Brieg, Capercaillie, Cúig, Dervish, Escola de Gaitas de Ortigueira, Fillas de Cassandra, Green Lads, Kinnaris Quintet, NoGood Boyo, Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia Pipe Band or Muro Kvartet, winner of the 2023 Runas Contest.

The Runas Contest, which has been held since the year 2000, aims to share the Celtic culture and music through the promotion of new groups, always giving priority to original compositions. The contest remains faithful to its principles, although along the way it has evolved in its form. More than 250 national and international bands have passed through the Festival, which indicates the importance of this platform for the promotion of new bands in Celtic and folk music.

Requirements available at www.festivaldeortigueira.com/runas/