PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s central government and authorities in the capital joined forces on Monday to bring back home an international music festival founded by the father of singer-songwriter Dua Lipa which had been moved following a dispute with its organizers.
A week ago the Sunny Hill Festival announced it was moving to neighboring Albania after a political dispute between Kosovo’s ruling party and the party in power in Pristina prevented organizers from getting permission to put on the festival, which has a daily capacity of 15,000.
Dukagjin Lipa, the singer’s father and manager, who was born in Kosovo, said he had made “a difficult but necessary” decision to stage the Aug. 4-7 event in Albania’s capital, Tirana.
Organizers have been asking Kosovar authorities for three years to allow them to manage a 17-hectare (42-acre) area of parkland where they say they will build the appropriate infrastructure for the annual festival and also let it be freely used for the rest of the year.