Another exciting musical evening awaits us as part of the “Hungarian–Serbian Cultural Season 2025/2026” – a concert by the Hungarian band Söndörgő with special guest, Serbian musician Branko Bako Jovanović. The concert will take place on March 21, 2026, at Dom omladine Belgrade, starting at 8 PM.
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Under the slogan “Two Nations – One Rhythm”, the current Hungarian–Serbian Cultural Season celebrates the beauty of togetherness between two neighboring countries through cultural exchange and artistic dialogue. The aim of the “Season”’s regular and diverse program is to shed new light on the centuries-long historical, cultural, and artistic connections between the two peoples, while creating new meeting points for contemporary cultural actors and strengthening existing ties between communities in both countries.
Following a series of highly successful concerts – including the January 29 event in Novi Sad, marked by a collaboration between the Belgrade band Naked and the Hungarian Vlach-Roma Mónika Lakatos Trio – the Cultural Season now presents a new “specialty”: a performance by the outstanding Budapest-based ensemble Söndörgő and Branko Bako Jovanović, a highly regarded tambura virtuoso, a Roma artist of Serbian origin, born in Austria, where he resides.
Founded in 1995, Söndörgő is a renowned Hungarian world music ensemble known for its distinctive interpretation of traditional South Slavic folk music, incorporating elements of classical music, jazz, and rock. The tambura lies at the heart of their sound, forming the core of the band’s recognizable musical aesthetic. The ensemble is led by members of the Eredics family – brothers Áron, Benjamin, and Salamon, along with their cousin Dávid – whose virtuoso approach to Balkan musical heritage merges authentic sources with contemporary energy and creativity.
Last year, Söndörgő celebrated three decades of an illustrious international career with the album “XXX”, released in September by the American label GroundUP Music. The album reached sixth place on the Top 20 list of best Balkan albums of 2025, as selected by the respected international panel Balkan World Music Chart.
Branko Bako Jovanović is a distinguished Serbian musician and virtuoso of both tambura and guitar, often described as one of the finest tambura players of his generation. Raised in a Roma musical family, he received his first lessons from his uncle, guitarist Dragan Jovanović Šanjika, and by the age of 15 was already performing across Europe. Formally trained in classical guitar, he transferred that knowledge to the tambura, developing a distinctive style. He has collaborated with artists such as Miroslav Tadić and Stochelo Rosenberg, as well as numerous traditional music performers.
Last year, Bako released his fourth album, “Restless Strings”, for the label PGP RTS.
The collaboration between an ensemble such as Söndörgő and an artist like Bako Jovanović promises a volcanic eruption of fiery playing, with an energy rivaling that of rock concerts. The tambura will stand at the center of this sonic encounter, its virtuosity elevated to the highest level by both Bako and Söndörgő. They first crossed their tamburas in late December in Budapest, where Bako appeared as a guest at Söndörgő’s anniversary concert celebration. The concert at Dom omladine will be only their second joint performance – an opportunity not to be missed.
Here’s Skoča’s story about the Ring Ring festival and the performance of the Japanese quintet ONJQ, which closed the 29th edition of the festival at Karmakoma Club, on May 25, 2025. The text was originally posted on Skoča’s Facebook profile.
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You know those rare moments in life when you can literally feel yourself changing? There aren’t many, and that’s exactly why they’re so huge. One of those moments happened to me exactly around this time, 28 years ago. It felt like the doors to a whole new world had opened. I tiptoed in, quietly, like I wasn’t even supposed to be there, and started looking around. I didn’t understand much of what I saw, but I knew – just knew – that I loved it. And that it felt deeply, deeply mine.
It’s been almost three decades, and I’m still living in that world. I love it even more now, and thank God, I understand it a lot better. I don’t sneak around anymore – I sit comfortably in an armchair, smiling, watching younger folks stumble through the same door with wide eyes and confused hearts. Joni Mitchell captured that feeling in “The Circle Game”, and The Rolling Stones in “As Tears Go By”.
Concert Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Quintet – ONJQ, Ring Ring 2025 (photo: Danko Strahinić)
Chris Pitsiokos, guest at the Concert by Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Quintet – ONJQ, Ring Ring 2025 (photo: Danko Strahinić)
I was nineteen and didn’t know a damn thing about anything. But I loved music, deeply. I heard on the radio that some Japanese jazz band was coming to Belgrade, to some festival that had “new music” in its subtitle. When you’re nineteen, everything is new. I bought a ticket and headed to the “Rex” Cultural Centre, in Jevrejska Street. The band was called Ground Zero. After that concert, nothing in my life was ever the same.
There were ten or so musicians on stage, playing a mix of jazz, traditional Japanese music, avant-garde, and even some pop – but all done in a totally unique way. Their way. Capital T.
The horns were growling, the guitars were shrieking, the Japanese instruments were Japan-ing like mad, and my heart was pounding out of my chest.
Otomo Yoshihide, Concert ONJQ, Ring Ring 2025 (photo: Danko Strahinić)
Yoshigaki Yasuhiro, Concert ONJQ, Ring Ring 2025 (photo: Danko Strahinić)
The band was led by guitarist Otomo Yoshihide. I walked into Rex one person, and came out someone else. Never before – or since – have I experienced anything like that. Words may be my favorite toys, but even I can’t find the right ones to describe what I felt that night.
That was my very first time at the “Ring Ring” festival. After that, I went every year. Late May at “Rex” became one of the most cherished traditions of my life. The green treetops lining Jevrejska Street always held a special meaning for me. I discovered so much amazing music and so many incredible bands there.
In this country, I never had any doubt about which festival was the festival. Exit? Please. Don’t make me laugh.
Concert Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Quintet – ONJQ, Ring Ring 2025 (photo: Danko Strahinić)
Concert Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Quintet – ONJQ, Ring Ring 2025 (photo: Danko Strahinić)
Ground Zero’s frontman, Otomo, kept coming back to “Ring Ring” over the years with different bands and collaborators. Seven times in total – I caught five of those shows. They were always great, but never quite like that first one in May ’97. And then, last night, came his seventh appearance – at the 29th edition of “Ring Ring”. So many years have passed since that life-altering concert, but last night, Otomo brought me closer to that feeling than ever before.
Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Quintet closed this year’s “Ring Ring” at “Karmakoma”. He formed the group right after Ground Zero disbanded in the late ‘90s. If you’ve ever wondered what a musical version of an “orgasm” might sound like, you might’ve found your answer at last night’s show.
Silence. Noise. Gasping. Growling. Whimpering. Shattering. And melodies – dreamlike, soaked in the sweat of daily life – all of it filled the little club near the Danube.
Ruike Shinpei, Concert Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Quintet – ONJQ, Ring Ring 2025 (photo: Danko Strahinić)
Osamu Imagome, Concert Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Quintet – ONJQ, Ring Ring 2025 (photo: Danko Strahinić)
We heard Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman”, and also Jim O’Rourke’s “Eureka” – who’s been one of the biggest musical figures in my life for over 25 years. Both pieces were completely reimagined in Otomo’s gloriously warped style. I got chills all over my body. And when “Eureka” started, my friend – who had been with me at that Ground Zero show, and who had gone through the exact same transformation I did – just leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. We’re the same age, we both adore Jim, and we both became different people after that 1997 concert.
If I had to sum up last night’s performance in just one word, it would be emotion. When you tear up at a concert by a Japanese avant-garde jazz band… you know something big is happening.
I want to publicly thank Bojan Đorđević for creating “Ring Ring” nearly thirty years ago – a festival that brought tons of joy into my life, and continues to do so. For me, there simply isn’t a more important music festival in this poor, broken country.
Bojan Đorđević, Ring Ring 2025, Belgrade/Karmakoma (photo: Danko Strahinić)
Concert Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Quintet – ONJQ, Ring Ring 2025 (photo: Danko Strahinić)
Back in 1997, I was nineteen. If that Ground Zero concert had never happened, today I’d be 47. But it did happen. And among the million beautiful things it gave me, one of the most precious is this: it stopped time. So now, you’re reading the words of someone who’s far younger than 47. Only music can do that.
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LET’S RECAP THE PROGRAM OF THE 29TH “RING RING” FESTIVAL
The third “Pocket Globe” festival took place in Novi Sad from November 12 to 14, 2024, across several venues. With a program that included six concerts, a workshop, and a presentation, the spotlight was firmly placed on female artists.
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The first thing I want to say at the very beginning of this article is that the final preparations and organization for the “Pocket Globe” festival have never been more difficult. The reason is serious and grim: eleven days before the third edition of our festival, the roof of Novi Sad’s Railway Station collapsed, claiming the lives of 14 people, with one of the severely injured passing away 16 days later, on November 17.
This tragic event will rightfully continue to shake Serbian society and its political scene. During the period of shock and the initial wave of profound grief felt by the people of Serbia, particularly the citizens of Novi Sad, we were nevertheless compelled to go ahead with what had already been scheduled and planned, especially since the official three-day mourning period had passed.
Although the official mourning on a national level ended, the profound despair, suffering, and dissatisfaction continued – and still linger – in people’s hearts.
This situation and atmosphere naturally led to the “Pocket Globe” festival seeing its smallest audience yet. Those who did attend described the experience as almost therapeutic, offering a fleeting sense of solace to their weary minds – whether through something beautiful, pleasant, emotional, contemplative, moving, poignant, restorative, or joyful, depending on the specific concert.
In a way, it could be said that the program of this third edition of the “festival in your pocket” offered a fittingly intimate sound and content – one that neither agitates nor invites celebration. And so, in unfortunate circumstances, everything “aligned” this way.
At the Hiram Salsano & Marcello De Carolis concert, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Manja Holodkov)
At the Maniucha & Ksawery concert, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Manja Holodkov)
The concert program of the third “Pocket Globe” was held in the new building of the Student Cultural Center Novi Sad, located on Vladimir Perić Valter Street. The spacious ground-floor hall, featuring a large stage, excellent sound, and a bar providing easy and quick access to refreshments, created a pleasant, practical, and fitting environment for the concerts that unfolded over the festival’s three evenings. It seemed that everyone was satisfied – musicians, audience, and organizers alike.
The first to perform on November 12 was the French female trio Samaïa. The sincere, almost childlike cheerfulness of the three exceptionally skilled and experienced young artists – Éléonore Fourniau, Noémie Nael, and Luna Silva – established an instant connection with the audience, who clearly enjoyed the performance and rewarded it with enthusiastic applause. Their program featured stunning, harmonious vocal polyphony, beautifully and tastefully arranged instrumental parts (hurdy-gurdy, bendir, riq, bombo legüero, bass drum, daf, and mandola), and a captivating selection of diverse traditional songs from Europe and the Middle East.
It’s fair to say that Samaïa was a revelation for both the audience and us as organizers. Their time is yet to come, and in a way, we took a chance inviting them – uncertain if they would prove to be good or extraordinary. In the end, the latter turned out to be true.
Samaïa, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Lea Bodor)
Samaïa, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Lea Bodor)
Following the young French trio, the stage welcomed the oldest (48) and most renowned musician of this year’s festival edition (centered on women, exclusively Serbian premieres, and predominantly younger artists) – Ana Alcaide from Spain, a prominent figure on the contemporary Spanish music scene. Supported by her longtime collaborator and life partner, Bill Cooley (playing the oud, psaltery, bouzouki, bass pedal, and programming), Ana cast her signature spell with an ambient, ethereal, and transcendent atmosphere.
Her performance, angelically refined, was led by the beauty of her voice and the timeless sound of the Nordic nyckelharpa. She took us on a journey across the Mediterranean and the paths of the Sephardim.
It seemed Ana was slightly disheartened by the modest audience turnout, as an artist of her caliber is accustomed to larger crowds. However, there was little we could do about it. Such was the fate of “Pocket Globe” in the penultimate month of 2024.
Ana Alcaide, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Lea Bodor)
Ana Alcaide, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Lea Bodor)
The second evening, November 13, featured performances by two duos. First, Hiram Salsano & Marcello De Carolis delighted the audience with captivating and energetic interpretations of traditional music from southern Italy, particularly the regions of Campania and Basilicata. Everything was as one might expect from the temperament of this part of Europe: Hiram’s powerful vocals, passionate tambourine shaking, and rhythmic pulsations of the jaw harp created a perfect synergy with Marcello’s virtuosity on the chitarra battente. Loopers added extra depth to the atmosphere without compromising the raw authenticity of the old songs.
At one point, Marcello’s measured dancing with some of the audience members in a traditional circle dance added a warm sense of togetherness – something especially meaningful during those heavy November days.
Hiram Salsano & Marcello De Carolis, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Lea Bodor)
Hiram Salsano & Marcello De Carolis, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Lea Bodor)
After the Italians, the stage welcomed a performance that drew visitors not only interested in world music but also in experimental and avant-garde sound. Some attendees even traveled from Belgrade to Novi Sad specifically for this concert. The Polish duo Maniucha & Ksawery based their performance on the album “Oj borom, borom…”, which, even seven years after its release, continues to inspire and captivate. This duo’s artistry is so compelling that no one expects them to rush into releasing another album anytime soon.
The concert by Maniucha Bikont and Ksawery Wójciński seemed to resonate most profoundly with the somber mood in Serbia during those November days.
With a voice that is tender yet piercing and raw, Maniucha channeled the emotions of rural women from the Ukrainian part of Polesia (a border region spanning Poland, Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, where she has conducted extensive field research for years). Her performance vividly portrayed various forms of sorrow from the everyday lives of these women in the past. Yet, this sorrow was also a means of release, a way for rural singers to alleviate their anguish and restore their psychological well-being.
Double bassist Ksawery, as an interpreter and collaborator in this experimental-traditional exploration of Ukrainian heritage, added tones and harmonies of tenderness, suffering, emotional disjunction, searching, and the reestablishment of inner peace.
Maniucha & Ksawery, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Lea Bodor)
Maniucha & Ksawery, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Vladimir Holodkov)
The third evening, November 14, began with a performance by Finnish artist Teija Niku, who, with her accordion in hand and on her lap, offered the audience around fifty pure “chill-out” minutes. She alternated between the alluring melancholy of Northern Europe and the passionate dynamism of the Balkans, crafting a natural and intimate sequence. Even the familiar melody of the popular song “Ajde, Jano” felt seamlessly integrated into her set. Despite Teija’s invitation for the audience to dance to this close-to-home theme (something we might have eagerly done in another context), everyone remained seated, savoring the beauty of each tone and melodic embellishment.
Teija drew the largest crowd of the festival, thanks in part to a significant group of students from Novi Sad’s “Isidor Bajić” Music School, brought by their accordion teacher, Marko Asurdžić. It was a wonderful example of encouraging young people to broaden their listening experiences outside of school and expand their horizons within their field of study.
Teija Niku, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Manja Holodkov)
Teija Niku, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Lea Bodor)
The final act of “Pocket Globe” featured the increasingly acclaimed Serbian-Austrian artist Jelena Popržan, presenting one of her current projects, the Jelena Popržan Quartett. Over a decade had passed since her last performance in Novi Sad (as part of the duo Catch-Pop String-Strong), one of “her” cities. Born in Novi Sad, Jelena had an overwhelming desire to share all her inner passion, ideas, and creativity with the audience.
Her complete and heartfelt devotion to the music, the moment, the space, and the gathered community resulted in a compelling interpretation of material from the album she released with the Quartett in 2022.
While the instrumental pieces were as fascinating as the songs based on the poetry of Jewish-Polish-Austrian poet Tamar Radzyner, it was these very vocal-instrumental moments that emotionally moved the audience even more profoundly.
Jelena Popržan Quartett, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Lea Bodor)
Jelena Popržan, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024 (photo: Manja Holodkov)
The accompanying events of the festival played a significant role in enriching the experience, starting with a workshop on Tuesday, November 12, in the early evening. This workshop, much like the previous year, marked the official opening of the festival. Last year, it was led by Iva Bittová, while this year, Maniucha Bikont took the reins. Once again, it was a resounding success!
Maniucha was exceptionally dedicated, working with curious and musically inclined children from the Children’s Opera Studio of the Serbian National Theatre on several Ukrainian songs. Along the way, she introduced them to the phenomena of traditional music and rural life. The choir’s conductor, Verica Pejić, observed with satisfaction, occasionally offering her active support.
Some of the children attended Maniucha & Ksawery’s concert the following evening, and one brave girl even joined them on stage to sing a song together at Maniucha’s invitation.
Another complementary event took place at the “Isidor Bajić” Music School on Wednesday, November 13, in collaboration with the “Eufonija” Association, which nurtures and promotes accordion art. Teija Niku delivered a presentation for the school’s accordion students and teachers, sharing her artistic journey and insights into the Finnish accordion scene.
She provided a special focus on a unique type of classical accordion characteristic of Finland, which differs slightly from models in other parts of Europe and the world.
These two events represented additional activities by the guest artists under the framework of the “Sounds of Europe” project. This initiative supported the visits of Maniucha, Ksawery, and Teija to the festival. Beyond Maniucha’s workshop and Teija’s presentation, which formally took place as part of “Pocket Globe”, two other activities aligned with the project but occurred outside the festival’s organization. The first was a concert by the trio WOŠ in Novi Sad at the Cultural Center of Vojvodina “Miloš Crnjanski” on November 11, where Ksawery Wojciński performed with local musicians Predrag Okiljević (tenor saxophone) and Aleksandar Škorić (drums). The second was Teija’s concert on November 12 at the Cultural Center “Mija Aleksić” in Gornji Milanovac, as part of the “traveling” festival “Creative Europe”.
Maniucha Bikont, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024, workshop (photo: Marija Vitas)
Teija Niku, Novi Sad, Pocket Globe 2024, presentation at the Isidor Bajić Music School (photo: Marija Vitas)
The “Pocket Globe” festival is organized by the Ring Ring Association in collaboration with the Music Information Centre of Serbia, and this year also with the Students’ Cultural Center Novi Sad.
The third “Pocket Globe” received support from: “Sounds of Europe” (Creative Europe), the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the Embassy of Spain in Belgrade, the Polish Institute in Belgrade, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the French Institute in Serbia, the Austrian Cultural Forum Belgrade, the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrade, and the magazine Etnoumlje.
The twelfth “Todo Mundo” festival took place in Belgrade from September 20 to 22, 2024, at several locations. The program was dedicated to the Roma people and music, featuring six concerts, a public interview, mentoring sessions, an award ceremony, and an international conference.
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It cannot be said that such a thing is essential, but it is nice and appealing for a music festival to unite the program of its edition around a specific theme. This is how “Todo Mundo” has, several times, created a “story” that flows through the concerts and other program contents. Experienced Todo Mundo crowd may recall the festival’s focuses on the African (2012), Balkan (2014), and Hungarian (2019) music scenes, as well as on women (2021) and the Roma, which served as the thematic thread of the latest, twelfth edition of the festival.
The program design was facilitated by the fact that our Ring Ring Association has been a partner in the European project “Sounds of Europe” since 2022, so this year we also turned to the portfolios of our partners from different European countries. We selected artists and groups and ultimately created a lineup consisting entirely of Roma music performers: Tcha Limberger, Júlia Kozáková, Romano Drom, and Terne Čhave. After that, we needed to add a fitting “local” concert, and the decision was simple: the Belgrade band Kal, which had never performed at “Todo Mundo” before.
And that’s not all when it comes to the Roma theme – a public discussion with Júlia Kozáková at the Musicology Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA) was also focused on the Roma, just like the international conference “Roma People and Music: Freedom, Adaptation, Taking Over”…
EVERYTHING WE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT SLOVAK ROMA
The first event of this year’s festival took place in office 410 of The SASA Institute of Musicology. The public interview with Júlia Kozáková is a continuation of the series of artist conversations that the “Todo Mundo” festival has successfully developed with the idea of offering the ethnomusicological community (with an openness to a wider audience) the opportunity to get closer to a representative of a particular musical tradition or genre through direct contact.
Such conversations have previously been organized at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, in always pleasant cooperation with the Department of Ethnomusicology, and in 2024, we decided to hold it at the Musicology Institute. The conversation with Júlia Kozáková, held on Friday, September 20, in the early afternoon, was led by ethnomusicologist Marija Dumnić Violotijević, Senior Research Associate at the Institute.
The attendees enjoyed a wealth of information and interesting facts both from Júlia Kozáková’s professional life, particularly regarding her love for the Roma heritage of her native Slovakia (Júlia herself is not Roma, but Slovak), as well as data on traditional Roma music and culture in Slovakia and surrounding countries.
The topic titled “Reinterpretation of Traditional Songs of Romani from Central Europe” turned out to be very inspiring for the audience, and as a result, the entire event lasted much longer than originally planned.
A STRONG AND GENTLE EVENING
That evening, we attended the first two concerts of the festival at the Jewish Cultural Center. First, the Belgrade band Kal filled the room with a powerful performance and intense energy, skillfully combining typical rock instruments such as electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums with sound sources characteristic of, among other things, the milieu of folk and Roma music: accordion and violin. The atmosphere was led by the frontman Dragan Ristić (vocals, guitar), always with a strong desire to encourage as many people as possible to dance.
And then – after socializing with cigarettes and beer in the lobby and outside the venue – a complete contrast to the Kal concert took place. The gathered audience was now enchanted by intimacy and warmth. Belgian musician Tcha Limberger, through his playing and voice, weaving threads of emotional tenderness and refined humor, led his Belgian-British-Hungarian-Romanian Kalotaszeg Trio, which also featured Toni Rudi (viola) and Vilmos Csikos (double bass), authentic representatives of the style. This is the sound of Transylvania and the Kalotaszeg region. But it is also about the wonderful, vivid storytelling of Tcha Limberger, through which the audience could gain an even deeper understanding of the music of this unique area.
MENTORING SESSIONS
The sunny Saturday, September 21, gathered us first in the middle of the day at the Hotel “Rex” Garden, where for the first time within the “Todo Mundo” festival, mentoring sessions were held. Our delegates – Martyna Van Nieuwland, (Netherlands/Poland), Ciro De Rosa (Italy), and Christian Pliefke (Germany), experienced professionals in the European world music scene – chatted over coffee and the gentle breeze with interested musicians about their plans, development, careers, and more. With the exception of Júlia Kozáková, the mentoring sessions were attended by local musicians from various genre backgrounds.
HOP, THEN HEAVY
The second evening at the Jewish Cultural Center was marked by two completely different concerts. Júlia Kozáková, an unknown name to the Belgrade audience, surprised them with the attractiveness of her presence and the lightness of her interpretation. Together with the outstanding, authentic sound of her accompanying Roma band Manuša, Júlia delighted the audience. Smiles, clapping, cheers, and those positively charged whistles followed every Roma song and instrumental improvisation on stage. The spirit of the Roma heritage from Central Europe and the vividness of that string tradition illuminated the audience, who, after the break, had to emotionally adjust to a different mood – the performance of Lenhart Tapes and Tijana Stanković.
Before this one non-Roma concert at the 12th “Todo Mundo” festival, we, as representatives of the World Music Association of Serbia, awarded the annual “Vojin Mališa Draškoci” Plaque with a statuette to Vladimir Lenhart for his dedicated artistic work and unique achievements in blending diverse forms of folk and cultural heritage with modern sound tools (walkmans, audio cassettes) and expressions.
Next came the recognizable noise of Lenhart Tapes, woven from beauty, power, suggestiveness, excitement, anger, and many other faces of sound. The “facilitator” of Lenhart’s artistic message – his long-time collaborator, vocalist and violinist Tijana Stanković – skillfully and magically commanded her instrumental and vocal vocabulary.
Their joint performance was predictably convincing, and a new, yet unreleased track “threatens” to become a hit, within the framework of this “industrial sound”, of course.
VIEWS OF THE ROMA
The final day of the 12th festival, Sunday, September 22, featured, as part of the program, the international conference, the fourth organized by the Ring Ring Association within the “Todo Mundo” festival. The theme “Roma People and Music: Freedom, Adaptation, Taking Over” gathered, during two sessions, nine speakers – highly experienced and distinguished individuals and professionals, including musicians, managers, publishers, organizers, ethnologists, ethnomusicologists, and more. Among the participants were representatives of various nations, including Roma.
The speakers came from nine European countries, each with their own specific knowledge and experience. The perspectives were diverse, and each one prompted questions from the audience.
The conference, held at the Jewish Cultural Center, featured the following participants: Ciro De Rosa (Italy), Maša Vukanović (Serbia), Christian Pliefke (Germany), Dragan Ristić (Serbia), Martyna Van Nieuwland (Netherlands/Poland), Tcha Limberger (Belgium), Júlia Kozáková (Slovakia), Dušan Sviba (Czech Republic), Marija Dumnić Vilotijević (Serbia), Anti Kovács (Hungary), and Marija Vitas (moderator/Serbia).
EXPLOSION OF RHYTHM AND JOY
The very end of the festival couldn’t have been more energetic! The concerts held at the Jewish Cultural Center, though vastly different, sparked a similar atmosphere and a lively mood in the audience. And they had one more thing in common: the Roma music of Central Europe, first Hungarian, and then Czech.
Romano Drom is a big name on the Hungarian music scene, one that is not unknown to the Serbian concert audience, although it was certainly necessary to once again “explain” their exceptional talent. However, everything unfolded seamlessly. The sparkling playing and lively voices of the musicians on stage conveyed the spirit of the Vlach Roma heritage from Hungary, with its irresistible mobility of vibrant acoustic music and the striking “crackling” of voices. The joy and excitement of the audience were evident.
Next, with a less traditional and more rock-oriented approach, the Czech band Terne Čhave, also a big name on their country’s scene, got the audience on their feet with even more energy. The reactions were fantastic, despite it being their debut in Serbia, although the leaders of the lively mood in audience came from the Czech Center Belgrade and their friends – Czechs and lovers of Czech culture.
The highlight of the evening and the entire festival was the joint performance of several songs, during which members of Romano Drom joined the Terne Čhave band on stage. An explosion of rhythm and joy!
The “Todo Mundo” festival is organized by the Ring Ring Association in collaboration with the Music Information Centre of Serbia.
The twelfth “Todo Mundo” festival was supported by: “Sounds of Europe” (Creative Europe), the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, Collegium Hungaricum Belgrade, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Czech Center in Belgrade, EFFEA/World Music Festival Bratislava, European Folk Network/European Folk Day, the World Music Association of Serbia, the Jewish Cultural Center “Oneg Shabbat”, and the magazine “Etnoumlje”.
CIČIĆI is a contemporary wind ensemble consisting of trumpeter Nikola Vuković and saxophonists Luka Zabric and Jure Boršič. The ensemble’s name represents an abstracted signature of its members, while also serving as a symbolic framework for their collective exploration of sound.
The group emerged from the idea of a wind ensemble that, through the use of instrument preparations and extended playing techniques, explores uncharted territories of sound and the acoustic phenomena of air, metal tubes, and space. Building on their individually developed improvisational practices, the members of Cičići intertwine their artistic approaches into a collective expression in which sound becomes an autonomous and central driving force.
In their work, the trio moves away from conventional and idiomatic approaches to wind ensembles, focusing instead on the layering and deconstruction of fundamental musical parameters such as melody, rhythm, harmony, and timbre. Their music evolves through the exploration of abstract and ambiguous soundscapes, where improvisation and experimentation play a central role.
Cičići cultivate a distinctive artistic voice that blurs the boundaries between composition and improvisation, opening space for new listening experiences and redefining the relationship between performer, instrument, and sound.
Cičići will perform in Serbia for the first time. Their premiere appearance in the country will take place on May 20, 2026, in Belgrade, at the Jewish Cultural Center, as part of the opening of the 30th anniversary edition of the “Ring Ring” festival.
The concert by Cičići is supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum Belgrade and Jazz Cerkno.
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LINE-UP
Nikola Vuković: trumpet
Luka Zabric: alto saxophone
Jure Boršič: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet
Ilia Belorukov & Nenad Marković / CNT: Pierre Bastien & Louis Laurain
May 23
Neue Vocalsolisten
May 24
Lumpeks / Samba Touré
NEUE VOCALSOLISTEN
(Germany)
Neue Vocalsolisten (photo: Martin Sigmund)
The ensemble NEUE VOCALSOLISTEN consists of seven distinct vocal personalities – from coloratura soprano to countertenor to deep bass – who continuously explore new forms of vocal expression through collaborations with artists working in composition, poetry, video, conceptual art, and theatre. They increasingly collaborate with artists who engage with the possibilities of digital media, driven by a desire for connectivity, playful cross-genre exchange, and the dissolution of boundaries in space, perspective, and function. The ensemble’s work is focused on vocal chamber music theatre, with hundreds of works composed specifically for them.
An equally important aspect of their work is their engagement with diverse musical cultures. With curiosity, empathy, and virtuosity, the singers give voice to a wide range of artistic approaches, emphasizing cultural richness and diversity. Alongside numerous international guest performances, they regularly present masterclasses in singing and vocal composition.
They see it as a vital mission to encourage and support fellow artists, providing them with the space to express their creative ideas and artistic aspirations.
In recognition of their distinctive artistic work, the ensemble Neue Vocalsolisten was awarded the “Silver Lion” at the Venice Biennale in 2021, as well as the Italian Critics’ “Prize Premio Abbiati” in 2022.
At a full-length concert – premiering outside their home country – the ensemble Neue Vocalsolisten will perform the program “Balkan Affairs”, featuring new works by young composers from the former Yugoslav region. The concert will take place on the fourth evening of the 30th anniversary edition of the “Ring Ring” Festival, at the Jewish Cultural Center, on May 23, 2026, starting at 9 PM.
The concert of the Neue Vocalsolisten ensemble is supported by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg and the Goethe-Institut Serbia.
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LINE-UP
Johanna Vargas: coloratura soprano
Helena Sorokina: mezzo-soprano
Susanne Leitz-Lorey: soprano
Daniel Gloger: countertenor
Martin Nagy: tenor
Guillermo Anzorena: baritone
Andreas Fischer: bass
SAMBA TOURÉ is a prominent guitarist and singer from Mali, known for his hypnotic guitar lines and expressive vocals that carry a strong imprint of Northern Malian musical tradition. His music blends Songhai heritage with blues, rock, and contemporary influences, creating an authentic sonic landscape where tradition and innovation meet.
He began his career with the group Farafina Lolo, and a key turning point came through his encounter with the legendary Ali Farka Touré, with whom he toured internationally and who produced his debut album “Fondo”. Over the years, Samba Touré has developed a distinctive style, performing worldwide and collaborating with numerous acclaimed artists.
His subsequent albums, all released on the respected label Glitterbeat – such as “Albala” (2013), “Gandadiko” (2015), “Wande” (2018), and “Binga” (2021) – combine social engagement with personal themes. For “Binga”, he received the prestigious “Songlines Music Awards” for Best Artist in 2021.
His latest release, “Baarakelaw” (2024), is dedicated to the everyday people of Bamako, featuring emotionally rich and socially conscious songs that transcend local contexts.
Regarded as one of the key heirs of Malian musical tradition, Samba Touré continues to develop a distinctive artistic voice that builds on his mentor’s legacy while pushing it into contemporary directions.
The concert by Samba Touré at the closing night of the 30th anniversary edition of the “Ring Ring” Festival at Karmakoma club on May 24, 2026, marks the artist’s premiere in Serbia. The evening will open with a performance by the Franco-Polish quartet Lumpeks.
LUMPEKS is a Franco-Polish quartet exploring the space between jazz and the traditional dance music of central Poland. The band is known for its energetic and free approach, in which folk motifs are transformed through improvisation and a contemporary jazz language.
Their debut album “Lumpeks” (Umlaut Records, 2020) was met with strong critical and audience acclaim, standing out as a bold and inventive interpretation of Polish musical heritage.
An important aspect of the group’s work is field research: the material for the album “Polonez” (Umlaut Records, 2023) was collected in 2021 directly from rural musicians in central Poland, particularly in the Radom region, and later reinterpreted through a contemporary musical lens.
They are winners of the Polish Radio “Nowa Tradycja” festival award (2019). Critics describe their music as if an avant-garde jazz quartet had emerged from Polish tradition, highlighting their freedom, courage, and intuitive approach.
The Lumpeks concert on the final, fifth evening of the 30th anniversary edition of the “Ring Ring” Festival, at Karmakoma club on May 24, 2026, starting at 8 PM, marks the band’s premiere appearance in Serbia. The festival will conclude with a performance by Malian artist Samba Touré.
The concert by Lumpeks is supported by the Polish Institute in Belgrade.
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LINE-UP
Louis Laurain: trumpet
Pierre Borel: saxophone
Olga Kozieł: baraban (bass drum with cymbal), bębenek obręczowy (frame drum), percussions, alto saxhorn, voice
Sébastien Beliah: double bass
CNT: Pierre Bastien & Louis Laurain (photo: Arsenio Quichotte)
CNT is a long-term improvisational duo consisting of French musicians and sound researchers Pierre Bastien and Louis Laurain. The project emerged from a shared interest in expanding the possibilities of the trumpet (cornet) and transforming it into a polyphonic, rhythmic, and electroacoustic instrument, through an approach that blurs the boundaries between composition, improvisation, and performance.
The name CNT has multiple meanings: it refers to the abbreviation for “cornet” in jazz notation, but also to the historical anarchist organization Confederación Nacional del Trabajo. In the context of the duo, CNT also becomes a metaphor for “a group of two people playing a single instrument with four hands”, expanding its function to the limits of sound, body, and mechanics.
In their work, the trumpet/cornet is no longer a traditional melodic instrument, but becomes a complex sound system in which both hands play an equal role: one controls the tone, while the other adds percussive, noisy, and mechanical layers. In this way, a unique musical language emerges, based on physical performance and the continuous transformation of sound.
Pierre Bastien is an internationally recognized composer, inventor of sound machines, and pioneer of experimental music, known for his work with mechanical instruments built from various mechanisms and objects, as well as for collaborations with artists such as Robert Wyatt, Issey Miyake, and Aphex Twin. Louis Laurain is a trumpeter whose work spans contemporary and experimental music, improvisation, and electroacoustic practices, with numerous international collaborations and an active presence on the European improvised music scene.
CNT develops music situated between improvised orchestration, noise aesthetics, and extended instrumental techniques. Their sound ranges from delicate microstructures and rhythmic pulsations to dense, orchestral layers created in real time, without relying on traditional compositional forms.
The duo’s debut album “C(or)N(e)T” (2025) was created during a residency and released by an independent label, as the result of years of research into the physical and sonic limits of the trumpet as an instrument. Although CNT already has a recorded release, their work primarily evolves through live situations and performances, where the music is shaped as an open process.
CNT is a project that explores how a single instrument can become an entire ensemble, how the body can become an orchestra, and how improvisation can function as a continuous re-examination of sound, space, and the physical act of playing.
The CNT duo’s performance in Serbia, at the end of the third evening of the anniversary 30th “Ring Ring” Festival at the Jewish Cultural Center on May 22, 2026, marks their concert premiere in Serbia. They will perform after the concert of the duo Ilia Belorukov and Nenad Marković, on the same evening.
The CNT concert is made possible by the French Institute in Serbia.
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LINE-UP
Pierre Bastien: cornet, electronics
Louis Laurain: cornet, electronics
The duo of ILIA BELORUKOV & NENAD MARKOVIĆ was formed shortly after their first meeting and conversation in June 2023. Both are established artists in their respective fields. Ilia Belorukov is known for his work on alto saxophone and modular synthesizer in the context of improvised and electroacoustic music, as well as for collaborations with hardcore and metal bands, ambient and rock artists, and for his involvement in contemporary dance and theatre. Nenad Marković is one of the most active trumpeters on the contemporary and classical music scene, with more than 200 world premieres to his name, and also an experienced improviser.
Within the duo, Belorukov and Marković explore the similarities and differences between their instruments, building a contemporary improvised language based on attentive listening to the nuances of noise, drones, and microtonal structures that both instruments can produce. Their music evolves through a dynamic dialogue—sometimes merging into a single sonic mass, at other times entering tensions and contrasts that open up new layers of sound.
Critics have highlighted the striking contrast between the “human” breath of the trumpet and the “alien” sonic world of the modular synthesizer, which in their interpretation develops into a complex and unpredictable dialogue. The duo’s interaction remains constantly alive and inventive, balancing between layered, dark soundscapes and moments in which either instrument seems capable of suddenly taking over and steering the music in an entirely new direction.
During several studio sessions in 2023/2024, the duo recorded material for the album“Signs of Suspicious Activity”, released in June 2025 by the Spanish label Hera Corp in cassette format. Although this is their first official release, they have not yet performed live—however, their upcoming concert on the opening night of the third evening of the anniversary 30th “Ring Ring” Festival will mark their debut performance in front of an audience, making it a world premiere. The concert is scheduled for May 22, 2026, at the Jewish Cultural Center, starting at 8 p.m. They will be followed later that evening by another duo: CNT (Pierre Bastien and Louis Laurain).
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LINE-UP
Ilia Belorukov: modular synthesizer
Nenad Marković: trumpet, mutes
PORAVNA TRIO, led by VESNA PISAROVIĆ, brings together musicians from Germany, Croatia, Australia, and France in a distinctive musical world where the sevdalinka tradition meets contemporary improvisation. The result is music that is at once intimate, melancholic, and resistant to genre classification.
Rooted in a personal relationship to sevdah – particularly the so-called poravna song form – Pisarović shapes a repertoire that treats tradition not as a fixed form, but as a space for new readings and reinterpretation.
The material for the eponymous album“Poravna” was recorded in Berlin and Zagreb between 2020 and 2022, and released in mid-2025 by PDV Records.
While the album features an expanded ensemble, with which the artist also performs, the Belgrade concert presents Poravna in a trio formation with prominent figures of the contemporary music scene: drummer Tony Buck and guitarist Noël Akchoté.
Their performance on the second evening of the 30th anniversary edition of the“Ring Ring”festival, at the Czech Centre on May 21, 2026, marks the concert premiere of Vesna Pisarović and the Poravna Trio in Serbia. They will perform right after the duo of Jasna Jovićević and Predrag Okiljević.
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LINE-UP
Vesna Pisarović: vocals
Tony Buck: drums
Noël Akchoté: guitar
Jasna Jovićević & Predrag Okiljević (photo: Nikola Lučić)
Two artists on three saxophones, JASNA JOVIĆEVIĆ AND PREDRAG OKILJEVIĆ, form an ensemble dedicated to real-time improvisation and attentive, active listening. Both have many years of experience in free jazz and contemporary improvised music, where extended instrumental techniques and sonic exploration constitute a key part of their artistic language.
The music of Jasna and Predrag emerges through spontaneous interaction, without pre-composed material. Their focus lies on subtle sonic phenomena – breath, texture, silence, and time – through which they respond to one another and to the space and its acoustic properties.
Each performance is a unique sonic event, shaped by the relationship between the two performers, the space, and the unpredictable conditions of the moment.
The concert by Jasna Jovićević and Predrag Okiljević on the second evening of the 30th anniversary edition of the “Ring Ring”festival, held in Belgrade at the Czech Centre on May 21, 2026, marks their premiere performance in Serbia.
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LINE-UP
Jasna Jovićević: alto and soprano saxophone
Predrag Okiljević: tenor saxophone
FRED FRITH, born in 1949 in England, is one of today’s leading authorities in free, avant-garde, experimental, and improvised music. He began his progressive musical journey with the band Henry Cow before moving to the United States in 1978, where he continued his career as a guitarist and later as a professor at Mills College.
An innovator, improviser, and leader of numerous ensembles, Frith has become one of the most influential guitarists of his generation, exploring a wide range of genres including jazz, folk, and blues. As a composer, he is also recognized in film, dance, and theatre.
To date, Frith has released 87 albums of improvised and applied music, in addition to numerous guest appearances and contributions to compilations. He has collaborated with some of the biggest names in avant-garde music, including Robert Wyatt, John Zorn, Brian Eno, Iva Bittová, and many others.
At 77 years old, Frith shows no signs of slowing down – he currently has over 40 performances scheduled for the first half of 2026 alone.
In an email to the organizers, Frith wrote: “I dreamt that you contacted me to ask about Ring Ring2026, but I could find no trace of this. I tried to contact you via the Ring Ring site but never received a reply. In any case, if this was not a dream and you are interested in me doing a solo at Ring Ring this year, I would be happy to oblige!”
Jazz critic Vojislav Pantić, reviewing Frith’s performance at the 10th Ring Ring (Popboks, May 27, 2005), wrote: “Here, however, there is no pretense – you see a living man, you see him do all this before you, and you wonder – can small balls, shot, or yellow sugar (I tried to see what it was, and I’m still not sure) that Frith takes out of a tin really make a bunch of magnets and strings play, shaping organized sound?”
Reflecting on the first 15 years of the festival, Vladimir Skočajić – Skoča (B92, May 12, 2010) noted: “…in a packed Rex, the legendary Fred Frith performed (among the audience was also Rambo Amadeus), visually showing us like a magician revealing his tricks how the sounds that marked the second part of his career are created.”
Frith has previously performed in Belgrade twice, in July 1987 and May 2005. His return to Serbia after two decades represents an event that fans should not miss.
Fred Frith has previously performed in Belgrade twice – in July 1987 and in May 2005 (at the “Ring Ring” festival). His return to Serbia in concert after two decades represents an opportunity the audience should not miss. His solo concert will take place on May 20, 2026, in Belgrade, at the Jewish Cultural Center, opening the jubilee 30th edition of the “Ring Ring” Festival, following the performance of the Cičići trio.
Dj Click, nicknamed “Dj SUV” or “General” is a restless explorer of global rhythms, from Indian tablas in Rajasthan to gypsy music around Bucharest, Gnawa lilas in Essaouira, and fiestas gitanas in Sevilla.
Whether solo or with his musicians, he creates feverish, captivating performances for audiences everywhere. Pioneer of the Global Bass scene and founder of the No Fridge label, he has produced over 40 albums with artists including Rona Hartner, Gnawa Njoum Experience, Hamadcha de Fés, and Masha Natanson.
He has also collaborated or remixed Manu Chao, Watcha Clan, Mahala Raï Banda, Dhoad Gypsies of Rajasthan, Rachid Taha, and many others.
Traveling the world with his turntables and mobile studio, Dj Click continuously explores, records, and invents new musical encounters, moving audiences beyond borders.
DJ Click is coming to Serbia for the fifth time. His performance will take place on September 28 in Belgrade, at Karmakoma Club, during the 13th “Todo Mundo Festival”.
Previously, he has performed in Serbia at “Exit” in Novi Sad (2007, 2008), in Guča (2009), and at “Kustendorf” (2021).
DJ Click’s concert in Belgrade is made possible with the support of the French Institute in Serbia.
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LINE-UP
DJ Click: DJ controller, turntables, theremin, Jew’s harp
Nasip Kısmet fuses Anatolian lyrical poetry with the eclectic rhythms of ethnic jazz, fusion, and psychedelic folk, connecting with audiences on a deeply spiritual level.
Formed in 2019 by Arif Erdem Ocak, founder and guitarist of the famed Turkish band Seksendört, the ensemble includes Dávid Szegő on drums, Dániel Mester on saxophone and clarinet, Márton Eged on bass, and Derya Ocak on backing vocals.
Their first 3-song EP (Nasip Kısmet, 2021) quickly built a devoted following, leading to performances at major Budapest venues and festivals. In April 2022, they released their LP “Live at SuperSize Recording” (Hunnia Records).
The band’s name, meaning “fate” in Turkish, reflects their philosophy of surrendering to life’s currents. Even when listeners don’t understand Turkish, the emotive vocals, percussive guitar, and intricate instrumentation resonate universally, creating a powerful musical journey that transcends borders.
Nasip Kısmet is coming to Serbia for the first time. Their debut performance in our country will take place on September 28 in Belgrade, at Karmakoma Club, during the 13th “Todo Mundo Festival”.
Their concert in Belgrade is made possible with the support of the Collegium Hungaricum Beograd.
Founded in 2015 in Groningen, the Netherlands, the AVA Trio – Giuseppe Doronzo on baritone saxophone and wind instruments, Esat Ekincioglu on double bass, and Pino Basile on frame drums and cupaphon – explores the rich sonic landscapes of the Mediterranean.
Combining jazz, improvisation, and maqam music, they have developed a unique style they call “Mediterranean Avantgarde”.
With four critically acclaimed albums and over 160 performances in 17 countries, the trio continues their archaeo-musicological research into Mediterranean civilizations. Their performances reflect a timeless musical journey that transcends borders, blending virtuosity, improvisation, and cultural dialogue.
In September 2025, they bring their music to the Balkans, performing alongside Aron Horvath in Budapest, Zagreb, and Ljubljana, followed by shows in Bihać, Lukavac, and culminating at the “Todo Mundo Festival” in Belgrade, before heading to Istanbul.
AVA Trio is coming to Serbia for the first time. Their debut performance in our country will take place on September 27 in Belgrade, at Czech Center, during the 13th “Todo Mundo Festival”.
Esat Ekincioglu from the AVA Trio has previously been to Serbia, performing at Studio 6 of Radio Belgrade and at the “Pančevo Jazz Festival” with the band Kuhn Fu.
AVA Trio concert is made possible with the support of the Sounds of Europe project.
Tomáš Kočko & ORCHESTR deliver a world of acoustic energy, blending traditional, pagan, and folk influences with virtuosic instrumentation and unforgettable voices. Their concerts bring timeless stories and a powerful acoustic experience to audiences everywhere.
Hailing from the heart of Moravia, their music carries the weight of ancient traditions, expressed through guitars, violin, dulcimer, recorders, percussion, and other folk instruments, creating a raw and natural sound enriched with elements of rock, metal, and jazz.
Critically acclaimed as the “Moravian Jethro Tull” or “Moravian Chieftains”, they have won the ANDEL Award in 2006 and 2012, and their albums “Poplor”, “Velesu”, and “Ona” have achieved high rankings on European World Music Charts.
The orchestra has toured widely across Europe, performing at the European Broadcasting Union Folk Festival in Cork, Rock for People and Colours of Ostrava in the Czech Republic, Nowa Tradycja and Ethnosfera in Poland, Viljandi Folk Festival in Estonia, Heritage World Music Festival in Hungary, Halkaer in Denmark, Harvest in Russia, Le Village Européen des Nouvelles Musiques Traditionnelles in France, Waidhofen an der Thaya in Austria, and the United Islands of Prague.
Tomáš Kočko & ORCHESTR is coming to Serbia for the first time. Their debut performance in our country will take place on September 27 in Belgrade, at Czech Center, during the 13th “Todo Mundo Festival”.
Their concert is made possible with the support of the Czech Center in Belgrade and Ministry of Culture Czech Republic.
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LINE-UP
Tomáš Kočko: lead vocals, guitars, mandoline
Helena Vyvozilová: recorders, quinton, dulcimer, vocals
Jakob Steinkellner, born in 1995 in Linz, discovered his passion for music at six. He began on accordion and later focused on the Styrian harmonica. At 14, he entered the Anton Bruckner Private University while finishing secondary school. He earned dual Bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and Performance, graduating with distinction, and completed a Master’s with highest honors.
Steinkellner teaches at the Upper Austrian Music School System and has lectured internationally in Peru, Vietnam, Japan, Tunisia, and the Philippines. In addition, he is focused on making music with people with disabilities.
Since 2017, he has endorsed Landerer harmonicas and serves as deputy chairman of the Harmonica Association of Upper Austria.
Between 2023 – 2025, he performed over 200 concerts in more than 30 countries worldwide.
He has received awards including the Cultural Promotion Award (2020), EXTRA funding (2021), NASOM selection (2023), and the Rotary Music Award (2024).
Jakob Steinkellner is coming to Serbia for the first time. His debut performance in our country will take place on September 25 in Belgrade, at Ložionica, during the 13th Todo Mundo Festival.
Jakob Steinkellner’s concert is made possible with the support of the Austrian Cultural Forum Belgrade.
Tamala’s third album, “Diboli”, marks the quartet’s new formation with harmonica player Olivier Vander Bauwede. Named after a border town between Senegal and Mali, the album honors West Africa’s musical heritage and ancestral support.
Tamala, meaning “travelers”, explores blending kora, violin, harmonica, and voice. Senegalese singer and multi-instrumentalist Mola Sylla plays and makes traditional West African instruments. Violinist Wouter Vandenabeele adds a European touch, while Olivier Vander Bauwede brings bluesy harmonica tones. Kora virtuoso Bao Sissoko, a griot descendant, contributes rhythm, solos, and composition.
Guided by tradition and innovation, Tamala performs globally, supporting Senegalese education and earning the nickname “ambassadors of CEPPE”, combining versatility, spiritual depth, and cross-cultural collaboration.
Tamala is coming to Serbia for the first time. Their debut performance in our country will take place on September 25 in Belgrade, at Ložionica, during the 13th Todo Mundo Festival.
Mola Sylla himself performed at the “Ring Ring Festival” in Belgrade in 2002 with the group Vershki da Koreshki.
The Tamala quartet concert is made possible with the support of the UpBeat platform.
Jelena Popržan is a charismatic and vocally expressive violist, singer, and sound artist from Serbia, who has brought fresh vitality to the Austrian music scene through projects like Catch-Pop String-Strong, Sormeh, and Madame Baheux. Among her newest projects, alongside her acclaimed solo program “La Folia”, is the JELENA POPRŽAN QUARTETT, a venture she’s been nurturing since its concert debut at the “Glatt & Verkehrt” festival in Krems in 2021.
The quartet is formed by three renowned figures from the Austrian jazz scene: Christoph Pepe Auer, Clemens Sainitzer, and Lina Neuner.
Jelena discovered the poems of Polish-Viennese poet Tamar Radzyner (1927 – 1991) in a publication by the “Theodor Kramer Society”, which deeply moved her. Radzyner, a Polish Jew who survived the Shoah and participated in armed resistance, later found a home in Vienna and in the German language. She worked with figures like Georg Kreisler and Topsy Küppers. Her poetry, marked by a blend of wry humor and bittersweet pessimism, left a lasting impression on Jelena.
In tribute, Jelena has crafted a song cycle as a musical homage to Radzyner. However, the majority of the program is dedicated to Jelena’s brand-new instrumental compositions, which feature rich sonic imagery and melodic storytelling.
In September 2022, the Jelena Popržan Quartett released their self-titled debut album.
Jelena Popržan Quartett’s concert at the “Pocket Globe” Festival will mark their debut performance in Serbia!
This event is supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum in Belgrade.
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POSTAVA KONCERTA
Jelena Popržan: viola, voice
Lina Neuner: double bass
Clemens Sainitzer: violoncello
Richie Winkler: clarinet, alt saxophone
🔗 LINKS
Jelena Popržan: Website ǀ Jelena Popržan: Facebook ǀ Album “Jelena Popržan Quartett”: Bandcamp
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TEIJA NIKU
(Finland)
Teija Niku (photo: Antti Kokkola)
TEIJA NIKU is a Finnish accordionist, known for her expertise in Nordic and Balkan folk music. She has been described as a composer with an excellent sense of melody, as well as an inventive arranger, and her lyrical style of playing the accordion transcends technical accomplishment or pose.
In the summer of 2019, Ääniä Records released Niku’s third solo album “Hetkessä”, which features the artist in a truly solo performance. The wide range of registers, as well as the dynamic and technical possibilities of the accordion, combined with in-the-moment improvisations, form the foundation of the music, which is entirely composed, arranged, and recorded by Niku herself. Hetkessä received glowing reviews and airplay across Europe.
Since 2022, Niku has been working on new music, supported by a three-year artist grant awarded by the National Council for Music in Finland.
Teija Niku’s performance at the “Pocket Globe” festival marks her debut concert in Serbia!
This concert is supported by the Sounds of Europe project.
MANIUCHA & KSAWERY is a duo that uniquely combines jazz improvisation with the traditional, endangered songs of the Polissya region in Ukraine. In their compositions, they evoke spring, wedding, and love songs, as well as lullabies, weaving them into narratives that trace the cycles of nature and human life. Their music tells tales that cross eras and genres, drawing from Maniucha’s years of traveling to meet Ukrainian village singers, along with their shared musical imagination.
In their concerts, they not only sing and play but also share the stories and folklore connected to their repertoire.
Maniucha Bikont is a vocalist, musician, and anthropologist who has conducted numerous field recordings in Poland, Ukraine, and Russia. She is a member of various music and theater groups dedicated to traditional music, rituals, improvisation, and unconventional vocal techniques. She sings and plays the tuba with Tęgie Chłopy and collaborates with groups like Janusz Prusinowski Kompania, along with jazz and avant-garde musicians.
Ksawery Wójciński is a double bass player and composer, known for his broad musical sensitivity and adventurous experimentation. His range spans early music to sophisticated contemporary improvised music, and he has collaborated with musicians like Charles Gayle, Satoko Fuji, Ken Vandermark, and Mats Gustafsson.
The album “Oj borom, borom…” (2017) by Maniucha & Ksawery is a layered narrative rooted in ancient songs from Western Polissya. Traditional songs, tales, and fairy tales are the starting point for a dialogue of voice and double bass, which serve as equal storytellers. The bass doesn’t merely accompany the voice; it narrates its own stories and engages in dialogue with the voice, creating a fluid, balanced musical exchange. In this process, traditional and improvised music emerge as kindred languages, as if they were local dialects of a shared musical language.
The duo’s performance at the “Pocket Globe” Festival will be their debut in Serbia!
This concert is supported by the Sounds of Europe, the Polish Institute in Belgrade, and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
Hiram Salsano & Marcello De Carolis (photo: Vito D’Andrea)
The music project “Fronni D’alia” was born from the meeting of Hiram Salsano’s young yet ancient voice and Marcello De Caroli’s modern, virtuosic chitarra battente.
Together, the two artists fully express the sonic and evocative potential of the sounds and rhythms of southern Italy. Their musical exploration merges tradition with original compositions, enhanced by the use of loop stations.
Each note, like a gentle breeze, caresses the soul, carrying the sounds of narrative songs, serenades, and work chants across the landscapes of southern Italy. At the same time, the driving rhythms convey strength and vigor, echoing the resilience and passion of a community that has lived its history with tenacity.
HIRAM SALSANO, an independent ethnographic researcher from Cilento (Salerno), explores the voice as an instrument and plays southern Italian frame drums (tammorra and tamburello). In 2023, she released her debut album, “Bucolica. In 2024, her ethnographic research book “Chi fa ammore va Camminanne was published. She has earned several prestigious Italian awards for her contributions to the world music scene.
MARCELLO DE CAROLIS is an artist specializing in the chitarra battente. His recordings include “The Eclectic Beating – Contemporary Music for Chitarra Battente”, “Venti” (with Francesco Loccisano, a project selected for the official Womex ’23 lineup), and “Cordaminations” (with Luca Fabrizio). In 2019, he co-authored “La chitarra battente – Metodo Base” with Francesco Loccisano, the first beginner’s method for the chitarra battente.
Salsano’s and De Carolis’s concert at the “Pocket Globe” Festival will be their debut performance in Serbia!
This event is supported by the Italian Cultural Institute of Belgrade.
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CONCERT LINEUP
Hiram Salsano: voice, frame drums, Jew’s harp, loop station
Marcello De Carolis: chitarra battente, loop station
Offering polyphonic creations rooted in traditional song, the trio SAMAÏA creates a sound that is entirely their own, woven from harmonies, drones, and polyrhythms. Their voices, solidly anchored in the earth, reinvent traditional stories of Eurasia. Their repertoire draws from traditions dear to each of the three singers and honors the regional languages of France (Occitan and Breton), as well as other regions of Europe and the Middle East.
Their music is a powerful blend of their different life journeys:
Eléonore Fourniau, a specialist in Kurdish and Anatolian music, lived in Istanbul for six years to study languages and music, focusing on singing and the saz. With her powerful voice and unique style of playing the hurdy-gurdy, drawing inspiration from various stringed and wind instruments, she has won over Kurdish audiences and a wider global following;
Noémie Nael, a singer-songwriter in the French chanson tradition, trained as an actress before turning to singing and songwriting. She began composing and performing her own songs, accompanied by Joël Simon on piano. In 2017, her singing career took a leap with the creation of Trio Samaïa;
Luna Silva, a singer-songwriter of folk/world music, is the daughter of an English actress and a Spanish circus clown and grew up immersed in diversity and travel. Trained as an ethnomusicologist, she journeyed around the world, making it her open-air conservatory. Her passion lies in exploring various vocal techniques, which she incorporates into her songwriting.
The name “samaïa” comes from a traditional Georgian dance performed by three women, symbolizing the different facets of Queen Tamar: the young princess, the wise mother, and the all-powerful sovereign.
On stage, the three expressive singers accompany themselves with percussion and the hurdy-gurdy. They offer an intimate performance that is both moving and refreshing, leaving no one untouched.
Their second album, “Traversées”, celebrates life and its challenges through stories from various rural traditions across Eurasia. Each song narrates a rite of passage, a welcome, a farewell, a plea, or a celebration.
Their concert at the “Pocket Globe” Festival will be their premiere performance in Serbia!
This event is supported by the French Institute in Serbia.
ANA ALCAIDE is a musician and composer from Toledo, Spain, known for her research on ancient traditions and cultures. She is one of the most recognized Spanish artists in the folk and world music scene.
Alcaide has performed her music at major festivals, theaters, and venues across Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, Morocco, China, Malaysia, Tunisia, Canada, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Estonia, Switzerland, Hungary, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, Uzbekistan, Argentina, Uruguay, and more – over 600 concerts on four continents!
She has played a pioneering role in introducing and popularizing the nyckelharpa in Spain. Rooted in ancient traditions yet distinctly modern, her compositions blend musical styles from various cultures with finesse. Inspired by the city of Toledo, Ana writes and produces her songs, crafts new arrangements, and adapts the nyckelharpa to ancient melodies from medieval Spain that have traveled throughout the Mediterranean region. In recent years, her personal and artistic evolution has led her to explore new creative territories.
In Novi Sad, Ana Alcaide will perform her “Essentia” program, alongside her husband, Bill Cooley, a multi-instrumentalist originally from the USA.
Ana Alcaide’s concert at the “Pocket Globe” Festival will mark her premiere performance in Serbia!
This event is supported by the Embassy of Spain in Serbia.
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CONCERT LINEUP
Ana Alcaide: vocals, nyckelharpa, Hardanger violin
Bill Cooley: oud, psaltery, bouzouki, bass pedal, programming
CONFERENCE “ROMA PEOPLE AND MUSIC: FREEDOM, ADAPTATION, TAKING OVER”
International Conference “Music on the Move“, Todo Mundo Festival, Belgrade, RTS Club – Radio Belgrade, 2022 (photo: Vladimir Milisavljević)
The CONFERENCE “ROMA PEOPLE AND MUSIC: FREEDOM, ADAPTATION, TAKING OVER” will be held at the Jewish Cultural Center “Oneg Shabat” (Jevrejska 16) on September 22, 2024, starting at 11 AM.
The conference will feature SPEAKERS from nine European countries: Ciro De Rosa (Italy), Maša Vukanović (Serbia), Christian Pliefke (Germany), Dragan Ristić (Serbia), Martyna Van Nieuwland (Netherlands/Poland), Tcha Limberger (Belgium), Júlia Kozáková (Slovakia), Dušan Sviba (Czech Republic), Marija Dumnić Vilotijević (Serbia), Anti Kovács (Hungary), and Marija Vitas (moderator/Serbia).
The Roma are undeniably a very attractive topic for artists and their audiences, as well as for scholars and a wider circle of people. This has been the case for a long time, and it is still true today. The Roma are a theme through which various elements, interpretations, and stereotypes intersect: truths, falsehoods, assumptions, imagination, idealization, belittlement, and assumed associations with certain talents and temperaments…
At the top of the most common associations with the Roma are music and passion. The proverbial connection of the Roma with music (and dance), as well as the presumed need for freedom in behavior and expression (of passionate) feelings, has inspired numerous artistic music names from different eras: Tartini, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Bizet, Liszt, Sarasate, Dvořák, and others. Their compositions inspired by the imagined or real life and creativity of the Roma are generally extremely attractive to audiences, both from past centuries and contemporary ones. One reason for this perception and taste lies in the fact that the Roma are a paradigm for freedom and overcoming social boundaries and demands, which can be found as at least a latent, inherent need in almost every human being.
This very story of freedom carries a question mark… Are the Roma really the embodiment of freedom and some kind of social relaxation, considering the strongly patriarchal environment in which they have functioned for centuries up to the present day?
Aren’t the Roma actually quite framed by patriarchy and superstitions that largely shape their lives? Do we perhaps recognize freedom in the Roma because they have long lived a different way of life, which is not free, but precisely – different?
In addition to various dilemmas and themes related to the Roma and the question of freedom, there are also several issues concerning the Roma in music. In Serbia, the attitude of the non-Roma population towards Roma musicians has often been ambivalent – from admiration for their ability and openness to various types of music to some derogatory views, characteristic of the past (in the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, more often in smaller communities), where music was considered an unworthy “Gypsy job” or certain instruments (e.g., the violin) were seen as typically “Gypsy” and thus unsuitable for Serbs, Serbian peasants, Serbian children to play…
It is true that the Roma in Serbia have popularized music as a profession, as a craft, which is also the reason for their musical openness and ability to perform and combine different types of music. In the past, in Serbia, the Roma began to play Serbian music to approach the dominant people, to perform what they needed, loved, and wanted to hear for them as a reward.
In this process of adopting the foreign, they added something of their own to the foreign, some kind of temperament, sensibility, ornamentation in music…
The famous Vranje singer Stana Avramović Karaminga (1897 – 1969) once described the difference between the true, Vranje urban singing, which was “pure”, in which no melisma was allowed in the middle of the melody or at the end, as she believed applied to Roma singers when they performed Serbian, Vranje songs.
In the 1990s, primarily influenced by film art, the Roma seemed to become a synonym for the Balkans, Serbia, and the legacy of brass bands for the West (and not only the West). Although traditional Serbian music is rich and diverse, and despite the fact that Serbs themselves have a strong brass tradition spanning over a century, what makes Serbian music most recognizable to the rest of the world remains the Roma and Roma brass bands.
Today, the Roma continue to adapt to the needs of contemporary listeners, not only to the Serbian rural, urban, and city populations but even more to the listening habits of audiences in the West.
Hence, among today’s Balkan brass bands (Boban and Marko Marković, Džambo Aguševi, etc.), we observe an increasing tendency towards a pure, “polished”, and highly produced sound, as well as the use of various well-known motifs, i.e., quotes from pop, funk, rock, Latino, and other genres.
What is the current situation with Roma musicians today, in Serbia, Europe, and the world? How many Roma musicians and bandleaders are there, as well as international groups and non-Roma bands that don a Roma guise or in any way allude to the Roma? To what extent are the Roma turning to musical literacy and education today? What is the role and place of Roma women in music and on the contemporary music scene? What about the modern audience and their relationship to Roma temperament and creativity?
All these and many other anticipated and unforeseen questions will be discussed and debated at the carefully planned fourth conference organized by the Ring Ring Association.
The conference will bring together local and international, primarily music professionals, to provide insights from their perspectives – musical, managerial, organizational, scientific, ethnomusicological, ethnological, journalistic, and research – on the complexity of Roma life and work in society and the music world, both past and present, especially within the polygenre milieu known as world music.
With the support of the moderator of the conference, which will be divided into two sessions, a debate will develop among the participants, and at the end of each session, the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions, comment, and engage in lively discussion with the speakers.
The conference is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, which has also supported all previous conferences organized by the Ring Ring Association: “Women in the World Music – Artists, Managers, Journalists…” (2021), “Music on the Move” (2022), and “Tradition Nowadays, in the World Music” (2023).
Admission to the conference is free.
TERNE ČHAVE
Terne Čhave, 2023 (photo: Dušan Sviba)
TERNE ČHAVE is considered probably the oldest active, and definitely one of the most well-known Roma bands in the Czech Republic. The band is famous for its distinctive sound that blends traditional Roma music of Central Europe with funk, rock, soul, ska, jazz, blues, and other influences.
Many years ago, these musicians have stood on their own feet, crossing the boundaries of the Roma ghetto. By bringing their gadjo friends among musicians and working with them together, Terne Čhave took confident steps into the big world.
Traveling across Europe, from the Czech Republic and Slovakia through Poland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Benelux, to England and Scotland, wherever they perform, people happily dance along with them.
Today, Terne Čhave is a band that has transcended the phenomenon of genre boundaries, but their Roma roots provide a solid base for musical journeys to destinations that are too far for many.
The band is not burdened by questions of style, but they don’t leave the audience time to think about it either, as they are mostly stunned by the devilish pace of the group’s songs. Therefore, it’s no surprise that Terne Čhave’s slogan is: It’s only Rom’n’Roll!
The band ROMANO DROM (meaning “Gypsy’s Road” in Romani), today the most prominent representative of contemporary Roma culture in Hungary, was founded in 1999 by a father and son, both with the same name and surname – Antal Kovács. Father Antal Kovács has since passed away, but the group has continued to work and preserve the tradition, thanks also to the grandchildren who joined the band.
The group performs predominantly composed music by Antal Kovács Junior, based on tradition and roots, as well as the language of the Vlach Roma, but with distinctly modern arrangements and a contemporary concept that combines old Roma heritage with Catalan rumba, as well as Arabic and Balkan rhythms.
Romano Drom, a band whose every performance is marked by an eruption of musical energy, with moments of melancholy and warm emotion, boasts an international career with a series of concerts and tours in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. The band has released seven albums, with the latest being “Give Me Wine” (2019) – for the prestigious British label “Riverboat”.
At the “Todo Mundo” festival, the group will, with guest participation, present their special project marking 25 years of work.
The unique musical world of Romano Drom has brought them great success and made them one of the most sought-after global music ensembles dedicated to Roma heritage.
Lenhart Tapes feat. Tijana Stanković, 2022 (photo: Vladimir Opsenica)
Vladimir Lenhart, known by his stage name LENHART TAPES will happily drop Ethno-Noise on you, then leave you to work out what that might mean. You’ll have a pretty good idea after about a minute of the “Dens” album (Glitterbeat, 2023) - or indeed if you’ve spent any time in the Balkans generally, surrounded by folk music in all its incarnations, and in Belgrade specifically, which yields up the ghosts of the Yugoslav punk and industrial scenes of the 1980s and the city’s current experimental excursions to anyone with time to listen and explore.
Vladimir’s grandfather Ján was a popular interpreter of Slovak folk song in the 1950s, and the careful marshalling of national minority cultures in Yugoslavia produced a musical heritage that continues to resonate for those that have come after. Being younger, however, means that they have their own musical stories to tell and influences to work around.
Vladimir’s tapes-by-the-kilo, car-boot-sale approach is something familiar to turntablists and hip-hop artists, but it’s his love of industrial sound that’s key, producing a magical, beauty-and-the-beast encounter of dirty noise, improvised violin and righteous folk.
Lenhart Tapes is only one half of the story here, however. Enter Tijana Stanković: singer, classically trained violinist, ethnomusicologist and Radio Belgrade music editor. By Vladimir’s own admission, her encyclopaedic knowledge of the music he had grown up with turned the project from something somewhat ironic to something very sincere.
He recalls an immediate connection, over a shared love of that music, and it’s a connection that has since developed in perhaps unforeseen directions, with Tijana herself pushing Vladimir into an even more uncompromising sonic stance.
The slow burn of Lenhart Tapes’ emergence has been built upon a set of scorching small-venue performances, with Vladimir’s Walkmans laying down a collage of beat, noise and tune for Tijana’s voice and violin to respond to and, at times, work against. But if you think that makes them more of a live than a recorded proposition, you’d be wrong. A decade of sporadic releases, frequently on cassette, was followed by 2021’s “Duets”, a sweeping, sample-heavy progress report. Now comes “Dens”, which hits a different kind of stride.
The loops and samples of the previous record are still there, but are joined by an expanded roster of musicians. It’s denser, more considered, but still spacious; and it’s as rackety as Belgrade, one of Europe’s most intense capitals, but beautifully put together.
Lumpeks (photo: Hanna Linkowska)
