Young singers from Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Russia and Bulgaria opened last night, June 26, the 2009 Faces of Friends Festival in Cahul’s Independence Square. The 10th edition of the festival was inaugurated by musician Iurie Nicolae Arseni. According to the festival’s regulation, the participants must perform a song in their language and an international song. “This year, both the singers and the organizers have considerably improved their performance. And we intend to achieve bigger and bigger successes each year”, the festival’s director, Serghei Orlov has told Info-Prim Neo. Even backstage the participants felt great, managing to lose their fears and the tension traditionally associated with a competition. Not even the scores assigned at the end by the jury managed to disappoint the participants who performed less well. Vlad Costandoi, a member of the jury, said this year the participants are really good, but there are weak and inexperienced performers too. When the competition part ended, a concert was given by the bands Undervud, Mate, and NDS. The band Todo closed the concert, rocking downtown Cahul.