The chapter is an attempt to analyse the phenomenon of broadly understood music heritage festivals from two main perspectives: the heterodox theory of heritage and the interdisciplinary critical heritage studies, as well as performance and interdisciplinary festival studies. The titular tension between festivalisation of heritage and heritagisation of festivals will be shown on the examples of different kinds of contemporary festivals based on traditional music that take place in Poland. A cross-section of the most representative examples in these events’ diverse categories will be presented and analysed. Among the festivals considered here there are those belonging to the following genres: folkloristic, folk, ethno, regional, minority, intercultural, neofolk, ethno-fusions, and those focusing on broadly understood intangible heritage. Apart from outlining the general panorama of such events in Poland, the article also aims at showing how music festivals are not only occasions for celebrating cultural heritage, but themselves become its significant part.

Keywords: festival studies, performance studies, critical heritage studies, heritagisation processes, intangible heritage

The study of festivals and cultural events and performances has been developing intensively for several decades. As well as the identity perspective, one important perspective that has recently emerged within them is the heritological perspective (Boissevain 1992; Handelman 1999; Noyes 2003; Testa 2014, 2016, 2020; Hafstein, Skrydstrup 2020). However, this aspect is not new. Alessandro Testa emphasises that this approach draws on previous research interests and

Authenticisation, festivalisation and ludicisation should also be added to this list. The present discussion, while remaining largely in the spirit evoked by Testa, is narrowed down to the “heritage of traditional music” of the title (understood here in the broadest sense and taking on very different aspects) and to contemporary Polish festivals based directly on this kind of music, as well as to those which in various ways refer to it, are inspired by it, elaborate on it, process it, combining and, at the same time, going beyond various cultural circles and musical genres.