About the association

The “Ring Ring” Association was established in Belgrade in 2000. This marked the official culmination of the long history of activities by the future leaders of the Association in the field of cultural activities and the organization of musical life, giving it a legal form and a new way of working.

The key figure of the “Ring Ring” Association and all previous and subsequent projects is Bojan Đorđević (Belgrade, 1962), a lawyer, radio host, music manager, booker, and promoter, as well as the organizer of numerous concerts and festivals, since the second half of the 1980s. Among these, the “Ring Ring” new music festival, launched in 1996, holds a special place, after which the future Association was named fourteen years later.

Throughout its long history and prehistory, the “Ring Ring” Association (previously, in some projects and activities, unofficially referred to as “Ring Ring Promotions”) has been part of or, alternatively, initiator of numerous projects and events, including, in addition to concerts and festivals, lectures, workshops, and presentations related to world music, traditional, and experimental music genres.

The “Ring Ring” New music festival, initiated under the auspices of the media company B92 (with which Bojan Đorđević collaborated), completely transferred to the newly established Association in 2010. This festival is dedicated to avant-garde, experimental, free jazz, improvised, and electroacoustic music, as well as other forms of contemporary art, such as sound art, installations, performances, etc. The festival often includes lectures, workshops, and exhibitions. In May 2024, “Ring Ring” will celebrate its 28th edition.

In 2012, the Association began organizing the “Todo Mundo” festival, also in Belgrade. This event is dedicated to world music and, in addition to concerts, includes various events such as international conferences, public conversations with students, lectures, workshops, street parades, etc. The festival changed its timing several times, settling in the third third of September after several editions in April and August. From September 20th to 22nd, 2024, “Todo Mundo” will have its 12th edition.

The third, youngest festival regularly organized by the “Ring Ring” Association, also autumnal and dedicated to world music, is called “Pocket Globe”, and is located in Novi Sad, tied to the first half of November. The festival represents a natural extension of the concert series of the same name started in 2019. The third edition of the “Pocket Globe” festival is scheduled for November 14th to 16th, 2024.

In addition to these three festivals, the Association is part of various international projects supported by foreign and local institutions, as well as the European Union, through the Creative Europe program. Among the completed projects are “Lost Languages of Europe” (2010 – 2012) with partners from Austria, Croatia, and the Czech Republic, as well as “EUTERPE” (2015 – 2016) with partners from Italy, Croatia, and Greece.

At present, the European project “Sounds of Europe” (2022 – 2025) is ongoing, in which the “Ring Ring” Association (through its festivals “Todo Mundo” and “Pocket Globe”) is one of 13 partners from 11 countries: Belgium, France, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Finland, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Italy, Serbia, and the Netherlands.

In 2011, the Association received an invitation to participate in the programming and organizing the music part of than newly established Belgrade festival “Dunavfest” (“Danubefest”), which, in addition to music, included theater performances, exhibitions, student films, etc. The Association participated in the festival also the following year, in 2012.

In the summers of 2012 and 2013, the Association participated in the production of the renowned “Belgrade Summer Festival – BELEF”, designing and organizing special subprograms titled “Ring Ring at BELEF”.

The Association participated in the both editions of the initially biennially conceived “Swiss Music Days” festival in 2013 and 2015. The first year, there were only 19 concerts and 2 workshops held in Belgrade, while in 2015, the festival was expanded to a total of six Balkan cities: Zagreb, Ljubljana, Skopje, Tirana, Pristina, and Belgrade. The program then included not only artists from Switzerland but also from the broader Balkan region.

In collaboration with the Music Information Center Austria, the Association organized the “Zajedno Zusammen” festival in Belgrade in 2014, marking the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War. The festival featured artists living in Austria but not born there.

The Association was also a co-organizer of the traditional music festival “Retnik” in Serbia during the four years of its existence (2015 – 2018).

Members of the “Ring Ring” Association are highly active on both the local and international scenes, participating as delegates at conferences, fairs, and festivals, thereby creating and strengthening connections with the Balkans, Europe, and beyond. In Serbia, “Ring Ring” members are involved in numerous research projects related to traditional music, and they also serve on the jury for several competitive traditional music events. Furthermore, in the media sphere, the President of the Association, Marija Vitas, is the editor of the magazine “Etnoumlje” and the portal of the World Music Association of Serbia, while her deputy and founder of the “Ring Ring” Association, Bojan Đorđević, is the author and host of the “Disco 3000” radio show on Radio Belgrade 3. Besides them, Vojislav Malešev has his regular DJ slot under the name “Put oko sveta sa Vojom” on the internet radio “Sun”.

Year after year, we strengthen collaborations with other festivals, facilitating artist exchanges, and often providing advice to local artists on how to improve their work and present it abroad. Bojan Đorđević, in addition to all the aforementioned, has developed considerable experience as a manager and booker, having worked with Boris Kovač, the Boban and Marko Marković Orchestra, Svetlana Spajić Group, and others. At present, Bojan is working with Džambo Aguševi Orchestra, Divanhana, Merima Ključo & Jelena Milušić, as well as the artist Jelena Popržan.