In 2024, we celebrate the centenary of the Lithuanian Song Festivals. Song means a lot to us. It was sung during the years of the press ban, in exile and in the diaspora, and even during the Soviet era, Lithuanian songs were sung among the obligatory works of the occupation ideology, and they set hearts on fire. For us, the Song Festival, which grew out of the tradition of song, is not just a once-a-year celebration. It is a tradition that has helped preserve Lithuanian identity and language. It is also a kind of forge of music and culture, where various genres and costumes of national culture have developed. The first Lithuanian Song Festival took place in 1924, twenty years after the lifting of the ban on the press, in Kaunas, in the seventh year of Lithuania's independent statehood, because the capital Vilnius was under occupation. Times and people have changed in this centuries-old tradition. We have lived through the ambitions of a young state, world and guerrilla wars, occupations, exile and repression, the Sąjūd and the restoration of independence. Throughout this time, the Song Festival, like a living organism, has been close by, growing, changing, reflecting the cultural and political context. The festival will be held in the courtyard of the M. and K. Petrauskas House (31 K. Petrauskas St., Kaunas), in P. Vileišis Square (K. Petrauskas / Aukštaičių St., Kaunas), in the vicinity of the Sports Hall (Ąžuolyno St. / Paparčių St., Kaunas) and in the oak tree above the Valley of Songs until 3 June.