Delegates and musicians get the chance to meet the representatives of the cream of Balkan music festivals. The session aims to provide a platform for forming new collaborations, joint projects and exchange between festivals and organisations. Book your slot to meet the faces behind your favourite Balkan festival!
About the festivals:
EXIT is an award-winning summer music festival that takes place at the Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia, with more than 1000 artists who play at over 40 stages and festival zones, and one of the greatest cultural, social, and entertainment events in the world. In 2013 and 2017 EXIT won The Best Major European Festival Award, the most influential festival title on the planet. Additionally, in 2007 EXIT was voted The Best European (Overseas) Festival at the UK Festival Awards. EXIT is not only a festival, it is a movement, a symbol of progress and a motor of change in the society, but also the leading platform for creative industries not only in Serbia, but in the Balkan region as well.
EXIT Festival will be represented by: Dragan Ambrozic – main stage artistic director
Balkan and world music festival „Lokum fest – music & tradition “ is a unique ethno-fusion and world music festival. The event’s home is an ancient, 15th century Turkish bazaar in Bitola. „Lokum” and other heritage locations. The name of the festival comes from an old custom: to have a coffee with your neighbours. This is a beautiful ritual of the Balkans, where people from different cultures, religions or classes can meet. Actually is a synonym for amalgam of cultures and sounds that characterise Bitola and Balkans. Since the first edition of the festival in 2007, until the 17th, more than 100 bands and ensembles from the region, Europe and the world have performed at Lokum Fest. Lokum Fest is one of the few festivals that adheres to a clear concept of promoting traditional Chalgia, Ladino and Balkan music in general by established performers, while promoting cultural heritage as an important part of our identity.
Lokumfest will be represented by: Todor Ivanovski
Once again this year, one of the main aims of the Malomfesztivál is to erase borders – all of them: internal ones, between each other and between countries. It also wants to show the untouched beauty of Serbia, of Vojvodina, where time still stands still, the clock ticks more slowly, and to lure people out into the wilderness, where the sky and the earth meet in the endless horizon, and at some point in the endlessness, you and we might be you and us, somewhere at the foot of the mill.
Malomfesztivál will be represented by: Tamás Horváth – chief organiser
International festival of traditional and modern ethnic music – Metno is the longlasting world music festival in Croatia. It was first held in 2008. and since then, it has been held every year during June, in Makarska, a maritime town on the Dalmatian coast.
The festival was founded by the women’s group which performs within the Folklore Ensemble Tempet in order to promote traditional music from Croatia, the Balkans, and other countries. During all these years, the festival has featured the biggest names in the Croatian and Balkan world music scene, as well as several groups from around the world, and many workshops have been held to promote traditional music, especially vocal music
Metno will be represented by: Any Carević Grbić – Organiser, President of folklore ensemble Tempet, Željka Mikavica Vranješ – artistic director
Méra World Music Festival (RO)
Méra World Music Festival is the world music festival of Transylvania (Romania). The festival got its name from its location, the village of Méra, which served as an attractive destination for ethnographers from the mid-20th century because of its rich folk traditions. The festival’s concept is built around the local culture, although each year 12-14 bands are coming to play on the festival’s barn-stage from all over the world. This way the festival since its first edition in 2016 has become the most important meeting place for the local folk culture and the international world music. This meeting of the local and global creates the unique glocal Méra experience.
Méra World Music Festival will be represented by: Ágnes Fülöp – financial coordinator, Viola Makai – artistic coordinator
”Mumus” is the Hungarian name of the ”Bogeyman” (like ‘Babau’ or ‘El Coco’). A demon used for inciting fear in children to get them to behave, ‘mumus’ has a different face in every culture. The festival’s name comes from the belief that everyone struggles with their inner ’mumus’ which represents all the fears they need to let go of. The organisers of this very nature-centric Transylvanian festival believe the power of art is the power of freedom over fear. The festival is completely DIY & brand-free, with an emphasis on ecological and social awareness promoted through different workshops & activities. It’s a small festival with 2 stages and a lot of activities, focusing on psychedelic music, world music and different genres of electronic music (like house, techno, downtempo, trance).
Mumush will be represented by: József Halmen – booking coordinator
Porto Etno is an international festival of world music and gastronomy that every year gathers hundreds of performers (musicians, dancers, cooks) in Rijeka, turning it into the world culture epicentre for a weekend. The indigenous smells, tastes, songs, and chants of Istria and Kvarner region blend with those from around the world, offering a vibrant recipe for a multicultural and open city. The festival is centred around the ethnic music and gastronomy of countries whose minorities are active in Rijeka and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. Additionally, it also presents melodies and tastes of cuisines from all around the world that we can encounter due to increasingly intense migrations. In addition to space offered to national minorities, their culture, gastronomy and folklore, the festival pays great attention to the development of the local music scene.
Porto Etno will be represented by: Jelena Tondini – festival director
Prishtina Music Conference (XK)
Prishtina Music Conference is an educational platform that provides networking, promotional, and inspirational opportunities for artists through performances, panel discussions, presentations, exhibitions, workshops, and masterclasses. PMC is particularly relevant for Kosovo, which has the most youthful and neglected population in Europe, and is designed to support and nurture the growth of the global artistic industry. The need for a music conference such as the Prishtina Music Conference (PMC) is multifaceted. On a local level, Kosovo has the potential to be a breeding ground for talented artists and make a significant impact on the global music industry, and events like PMC can provide valuable networking, promotional, and educational opportunities for artists and industry professionals in the region.
Pristina Music Conference will be represented by: Kushtrim Dushi – founder, Diellza Gosalci – conference director
Špancirfest is the largest and most popular festival in Croatia. More than just a street festival, it’s also a celebration of music, theatre, food and creative arts – blended together with a traditional and party atmosphere. An event with overflowing diversity that for more than twenty years, continues to win the hearts and souls of tens of thousands of visitors, who eagerly gather among the streets of Varaždin’s historic centre ready to feel the unique and unforgettable magic of Špancirfest.
Špancirfest will be represented by: Dorotea Solomun – lead organiser
Preliminary registration is required to participate in the speed meeting. Registration is available in the PRO area!
90 mins
Meet the speakers
Dragan Ambrozic
Serbia
