So, how did that female “voice” sound at the concluded “Pocket Globe 2024” festival?

So, how did that female “voice” sound at the concluded “Pocket Globe 2024” festival?

by | 25.11.2024.

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.

. . .

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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🔗  Pocket Globe:  Website   ǀ   YouTube   ǀ   Facebook   ǀ   Instagram

🔗  Pocket Globe 2024:  A report in Serbian on the Remix Press portal

 

Women’s “voice” at the third “festival in the pocket”

Women’s “voice” at the third “festival in the pocket”

by | 17.10.2024.

The third Pocket Globe World Music Festival will be held in Novi Sad, at the new building of the Student Cultural Center (Vladimira Perića Valtera Street 5), from November 12 to 14, 2024. Each of the six concerts within the festival program will celebrate the creative power of women and their leadership spirit in music and artistic projects in its own way. The start of each evening is scheduled for 8 PM.

. . .

The first two editions of the “Pocket Globe” festival, held in 2022 and 2023, demonstrated that Novi Sad is indeed a suitable place for showcasing sound and cultural heritages from various parts of the world, whether traditionally or modernly interpreted, original or arranged, through their diverse content, large audience, and exceptional atmosphere.

After those exciting, promising, and acclaimed initial steps, the “Pocket Globe” festival happily continues its mission, which involves broadening musical horizons and listening habits, serving as a form of spontaneous music education, and enriching the cultural offerings of Novi Sad and Serbia with rare, lesser-known concert programs, often including premieres: local, Serbian, and even regional.

When it comes to this year’s edition, “Pocket Globe” can proudly announce that all concert programs will be premiered in Serbia.

This year’s festival is dedicated to women. Their “voice” – in both a literal and metaphorical sense – will dominate the concert program, which consists of six concerts divided over three evenings. At some concerts, women will be the sole performers on stage, while in mixed settings, it will still be women who take on the leading roles!

At the very beginning, on Tuesday, November 12, we will listen to the French trio Samaïa, composed of three young artists captivated by vocal polyphony, various musical traditions, and linguistic diversity.

With their radiant and sharp voices, sometimes accompanying themselves on instruments, Eléonore, Noémie, and Luna interpret songs in more than ten languages, drawing from traditional Breton, Occitan, Anatolian, Caucasian, and many other European and Eurasian song sources, enriching their repertoire with their own original compositions.

They have two albums to their credit, with the latest one, “Traversées”, released in June 2023.

Following them, the star of this year’s “Pocket Globe”, Ana Alcaide, will take the stage. This unique Spanish artist is deeply committed to ancient traditions, drawing inspiration from them for her own compositional work.

Ana’s originality is largely based on her combination of playing the nyckelharpa and performing medieval Spanish melodies, some of which have spread throughout the Mediterranean over time. Naturally, Ana’s artistic openness has also embraced Sephardic heritage, including singing in Judeo-Spanish.

On her artistic and research journey, Ana has collaborated with numerous musicians from various countries. Among her regular collaborators is the American-Spanish musician Bill Cooley, who is also her life partner. He plays various oriental string instruments and incorporates electronics into his work. At the concert in Novi Sad, titled “Essentia”, we will hear Bill Cooley alongside Ana Alcaide, who will play not only the nyckelharpa but also the Hardanger fiddle and sing.

The second evening, on November 13, will be opened by the duo Hiram Salsano and Marcello De Carolis, whose fresh joint project “Fronni D’Alia” is rooted in Hiram Salsano’s long-standing dedication to the music of Southern Italy, which she researches in the field and then performs and reinterprets with her exceptional vocals, as well as by playing Italian frame drums (tamorra and tamburello) and jaw harps (marranzano), skillfully using the looper as well. Hiram has received multiple awards in Italy for her work so far. Marcello, Hiram’s partner in this captivating musical experiment, plays the chitarra battente while also using the looper.

The fusion of their affinity for archaic themes and modern virtuosity offers a fascinating journey through the landscapes of Southern Italy, exploring the spirit and essence of folk narrative songs, serenades, work songs, and more.

This “duo evening” will be rounded off by Maniucha Bikont and Ksawery Wójciński, Polish artists whose project, as well as their album “Oj borom, borom”, released in 2017, continues to delight European audiences – not only fans of world music and traditional songs but also enthusiasts of experimental and avant-garde sounds.

This project is also rooted in a woman’s perspective, as Maniucha’s in-depth field research focuses on Ukrainian songs from the border region of Polesie, which she performs with her rustic-ethereal voice.

She found the perfect collaborator in double bassist Ksawery, who seamlessly blends his avant-garde vocabulary with her archaic voice and messages, bringing a deep understanding to their music.

After one trio and three duos, “Pocket Globe” will feature the smallest and largest ensemble in its third edition. On Thursday, November 14, the audience will first be introduced to Teija Niku, an academically trained accordionist from Finland, who not only possesses technical and performing excellence but also a musical cosmopolitanism. Open to various influences, Teija often combines different traditions and genres in her playing and composing. She is perhaps best known for her love of the Scandinavian North and the Balkan South, as evidenced by her three solo albums: “Finsko Pajdusko”, “Memento”, and “Hetkessä”.

To conclude the festival, the organizers have chosen the increasingly recognized Serbian and Austrian artist Jelena Popržan, an authentic and unique performer. Although the local audience has had many opportunities to hear her live in Serbia (Jelena last performed in her hometown of Novi Sad in 2013), this will be the premiere concert of her ensemble and project, Jelena Popržan Quartett. Joining Jelena (vocals, viola) are esteemed jazz musicians from Austria: Richie Winkler (clarinet, alto saxophone), Clemens Sainitzer (cello), and Lina Neuner (double bass).

The project of this quartet, materialized in the 2022 album of the same name, features Jelena’s original compositions inspired by the poems of Tamar Radzyner (1927 – 1991), a Polish-Viennese poet of Jewish descent. This concert program combines the form of a song cycle with a series of vivid instrumental compositions.

The performance of Jelena Popržan’s quartet, which synchronously unites two powerful female signatures, will convincingly conclude the third edition of the “Pocket Globe” festival, dedicated to the strength of the female voice and the creative power and contributions of women in society, culture, and music.

In addition to the concert program, the festival will also offer the audience some accompanying events, about which more information will be available soon.

Tickets for the festival can be purchased through the Gigstix website. The price for a single evening ticket is 1,000 dinars, while the price for a full festival ticket package is 2,500 dinars.

The festival is supported by: The international project “Sounds of Europe” (supported by Creative Europe), the Embassy of Spain, the Polish Institute in Belgrade, the Austrian Cultural Forum, the French Institute, the Italian Institute of Culture in Belgrade, and the Student Cultural Center Novi Sad. The organizer is the Ring Ring Association in partnership with the Music Information Centre Serbia.

. . .

🔗  Pocket Globe 2024:  Website   ǀ   Facebook Event “Pocket Globe Festival 2024”   ǀ   Facebook   ǀ   Instagram

🔗  Samaïa:  Bandcamp   ǀ   YouTube   ǀ   Facebook   ǀ   Instagram

🔗  Ana Alcaide:  Website   ǀ   Spotify   ǀ   YouTube   ǀ   Facebook   ǀ   Instagram   

🔗  Hiram Salsano & Marcello De Carolis:  YouTube   ǀ   Hiram / Website   ǀ   Marcello / Website

🔗  Maniucha & Ksawery:  Facebook   ǀ   Bandcamp   ǀ   YouTube

🔗  Teija Niku:  Website   ǀ   Spotify   ǀ   YouTube   ǀ   Facebook   ǀ   Instagram

🔗  Jelena Popržan Quartett:  YouTube   ǀ   Bandcamp   ǀ   Jelena / Website

 

In the rhythm of world music: “Pocket Globe” 2023 is over

In the rhythm of world music: “Pocket Globe” 2023 is over

by | 13.11.2023.

The second Pocket Globe festival was held in Novi Sad, from November 9 to 11, 2023, at different locations. The program included six concerts, a workshop, a musician’s session, a presentation and two lectures.

. . .

When the idea was conceived in 2021 to turn the series of concerts called “Pocket Globe” into a permanent festival event in Novi Sad, we announced that it would not be an action related only to the year of the “European Capital of Culture”. Because the world music festival is needed in Novi Sad, both because of the curious audience and the fact that members of a large number of peoples live together and very harmoniously in the city, and because of the extremely rich local music scene. In accordance with that idea, we have built a concept in which we are slowly including Novi Sad musicians, cultural workers, concert venues, the media, but also those young and the youngest people.

This year, a part of the city’s new cultural hub, SKCNS Fabrika, was chosen as the central concert venue. In the end, the choice turned out to be excellent.

Although this space may be famous as a place where rock or punk music is played, in cooperation with excellent sound technicians, we have enabled the audience to enjoy the concerts, which are world music, but with rock elements, as was the case on the first night, and turning space into the hall for real chamber concerts, which characterized the second evenings. Again, on the third evening, there was enough room for those who wanted to sit and enjoy the music, as well as for those who were driven to dance by the same music.

The organizing team, in cooperation with volunteers from Novi Sad, technicians, also with the help of friends of the festival and the understanding of the city’s institutions that reduced the prices of their services, realized second very successful festival, with six concerts, two lectures, one presentation, a musician’s session and a workshop.

Certainly the headliner of the festival was Bombino, an artist from Niger, whose latest album was released just two months before the festival and who included Novi Sad in the program of his European tour.

At the premiere concert in Serbia, Bombino showed how great an artist he is, but also a humble person, approachable for conversations with the audience after the concert.

The Belgrade-based band The Cyclist Conspiracy, who released their debut album for an Italian label a month before the festival, fit perfectly into the program of this first evening.

Although Bombino was the biggest name of the festival, the Czech artist Iva Bittova had the most intense contact with the audience. First of all, on the festival’s first day, during the workshop with members of the Children’s Opera Studio of the Serbian National Theatre created exceptional communication with the youngest and showed a desire to continue this cooperation. The children, together with their parents, the following evening, with the invitation of Iva and the organizers, came in large numbers to the concert, which introduced them and the large audience into an incredible atmosphere, at the end of which Iva Bittova and her collaborator Vladimir Vaclavek sang an encore together with the audience.

The second evening was opened by Serbian artist Jasna Jovićević (feat. Bojan Bojić), with the program “Illusion of Freedom”, premiered on this occasion. Before the concert, Jasna was awarded with the “Vojin Mališa Draškoci” award, which has been awarded for years by the World Music Association of Serbia to those artists who creatively combine tradition and world music with other musical genres.

On the last evening, the Slovakian group Nogaband, led by violin virtuoso and researcher Michal Noga, performed first, which was a great opportunity to hear traditional music performed in a very authentic way. Italian artist Stefano Saletti with his band Banda Ikona had the premiere concert in Serbia that evening, presenting Stefano’s vision of the Mediterranean, along with the story of the extinct Mediterranean language – Sabir. Saletti, on the same day, held a successful and well-attended lecture on this contact language in the Zenit bookstore.

In addition to the concerts and the aforementioned lecture and workshop, the festival included several additional events: the lecture “Rich and vital, old music of Slovakia” by Michal Noga in the Zenit bookstore (10.11), a session by Vladimir Vaclavek with local musicians at the Petrovaradin Fortress (10.11), as well as the presentation of the “Creative Europe – Culture” program in cooperation with the Creative Europe Desk Serbia, also in the Zenit bookstore (11.11).

 

“World in a pocket”: Three days of intense encounters

“World in a pocket”: Three days of intense encounters

by | 10.10.2023.

The second edition of the world music festival Pocket Globe will be held in Novi Sad, at SKCNS Fabrika, from November 9 to 11, 2023. The program will include concerts, lectures and workshops.

. . .

One of the youngest musical genres, world music, is gaining more and more fans in Serbia as well. Every year a new festival emerges that gives local musicians the opportunity to present themselves, and the audience – to hear and see big names from the world scene.

“Pocket Globe” started as a series of concerts, which will grow into a festival in 2022. Last year’s edition showed that Novi Sad needs this kind of event.

A large audience, great concerts and lectures – what better fuel is there for the organizers to continue with their plan to make the world music festival in Novi Sad a regular annual meeting place for musicians, audience and experts?

In accordance with the name, this year the festival will also present musicians from different meridians, and already on the first evening at SKCNS Fabrika, a big name, Bombino, will perform with his quartet. The music created by this prominent artist from Niger is the essence of “desert blues” – the instruments are all the same as in America, the cradle of blues, but the sound is from the origin of blues, West Africa and its Saharan part.

At his premiere performance in Serbia, Bombino will also promote the new album “Sahel” (Partisan Records, 2023).

The very opening of the festival, before the performance of Bombino, belongs to the Belgrade band The Cyclist Conspiracy, who can also boast of a fresh album, “Mashallah Plan” (Subsound records, 2023).

After an interestingly conceived, energetic opening, the festival continues the next evening with two top authors. Local and increasingly international Jasna Jovićević, multi-instrumentalist and composer, will perform a solo program largely dedicated to the legendary professor Vojin Mališa Draškoci (1945 – 2000).

Then, accompanied by bassist and guitarist Vladimir Vaclavek, another great name of the world scene will perform, Iva Bittova, a violinist, singer and composer from the Czech Republic.

Iva is coming to Novi Sad again after 12 years, and this time, for the first time in Serbia, with her decades-long friend, fellow compatriot and collaborator Vaclavek, with whom she released the acclaimed album “Bílé Inferno” (Indies Records), which is experiencing a new, a different concert performance.

In addition to the joint concert, Iva and Vladimir will hold two separate workshops within the festival, bringing the festival closer to a wider Novi Sad audience, as it was intended during the development of the idea of a world music festival in Novi Sad. Several more musicians will have their lectures or workshops at the festival, about which there will be more information soon.

The last evening in the SKCNS Fabrika will be opened by Nogaband, a Slovakian group led by the phenomenal violinist and researcher of traditional music Michal Noga. It will be Slovak traditional music in the best light – with dancing, enthusiasm and openness!

For the end of the festival, the organizers left one of the biggest names of the rich Italian world music scene, Stefano Saletti, who will perform with his quintet Banda Ikona. What the audience expects is the music of the Mediterranean, evoked through the Saletti’s composer’s prism, but also singing in the extinct language of the Mediterranean – sabir.

Tickets for the festival can be purchased through the gigstix website. The price of an individual ticket is 1,500 dinars for the first evening, or 1,000 dinars for the second and third evening, while the price of a complete set of festival tickets is 3,000 dinars.

The festival was supported by: City of Novi Sad, international project “Sounds of Europe” (supported by Creative Europe), Ministry of Culture of Serbia, Italian Institute for Culture in Belgrade, French Institute, Slovak Arts Council, World Music Association of Serbia. The organizer is the Ring Ring Association in partnership with the Music Information Centre of Serbia.

 

The “Budapest Ritmo Award 2023” goes to a family from Serbia

The “Budapest Ritmo Award 2023” goes to a family from Serbia

by | 18.04.2023.

Respected cultural workers from Serbia, Bojan Đorđević and Marija Vitas, were awarded the prestigious Budapest Ritmo Award 2023. The award was given on April 13, 2023, in the capital of Hungary, at the famous world music festival Budapest Ritmo.

. . .

The Budapest Ritmo festival had its first edition in 2016. It is an event that is successfully and ambitiously led and developed by the association Hangvető, known for many high-quality European projects, including the multi-year project “MOST – The Bridge For Balkan Music”.

This widely famous project (2020 – 2023) made the Balkan world music scene significantly more visible and helped numerous artists, festivals, concert venues and music experts to raise their work to a higher level, giving them a serious “wind at the back”. Some of the names from Serbia that received support through “MOST” are: Naked, Rodjenice, Shira utfila, Lenhart Tapes, Alice in WonderBand, Etnofest, Todo Mundo, Zeman Fest, Malomfesztivál, Kvaka 22…

The festival itself, which had its eight edition from April 12 – 15, 2023, every year offers a lavish program consisting of concerts, conferences, film screenings and other accompanying activities, including the “Budapest Ritmo Award”, given to prominent individuals, for their significant contribution to the world music scene.

Previous winners include: Ben Mandelson (2017), Simon Broughton (2018), Hilde Björkum (2019) and Helen Sildna (2022). Cultural workers from Serbia, Bojan Đorđević and Marija Vitas, life and professional partners, joined the list this year as the fifth award winners.

They received the award, symbolically, together with their daughter, minor M. Đ, who has been regularly present at festivals throughout Europe since the first year of her life, including almost all previous editions of the “Budapest Ritmo” festival.

Bojan Đorđević and Marija Vitas were awarded for their dedicated, long-term work on the world music scene, which includes continuous promotion of traditional music, cultural heritage and the world music scene of Serbia and the Balkans.

Their work is very diverse and includes various activities: the magazine Etnoumlje, the radio show Disco 3000 (Radio Belgrade 3), the world music festivals Todo Mundo (Belgrade) and Pocket Globe (Novi Sad), the Ring Ring festival (Belgrade), the Music Information Centre of Serbia, World Music Association of Serbia, writing about music for various local and foreign media, field work, Balkan World Music Chart, projects like music albums and books, promotion of artists abroad, etc.

The “Budapest Ritmo Award” was given to them on April 13, during the second festival evening, in the popular Budapest club Szimpla Kert, in the presence of numerous delegates of the festival, musicians, journalists and representatives of the “Hangveto” association.

 

A new age has begun: On the success of the 1st “Pocket Globe” Festival

A new age has begun: On the success of the 1st “Pocket Globe” Festival

by | 15.11.2022.

The first world music festival Pocket Globe was held in Novi Sad, from November 10 to 13, 2022. The program included six concerts, three lectures and one workshop-session. Pocket Globe was part of the program arch Other? Europe of the Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture project.

. . .

Are we finally entering a new era? The one in which the local audience (and the media) finally became aware of the existence of the world music genre and, even more, of its uniqueness and interestingness that should always be experienced. And in which the hype doesn’t rise only when Mariza comes.

We, from the Ring Ring Association, which deals with several festivals, already noticed signs of that new era at the end of September, when the tenth Todo Mundo – the world music festival, which is often carried out with serious efforts – started selling tickets and festival passes even a month in advance, when the festival then attracted not only our passionate followers, but also some completely new faces and, most importantly, gathered a lot of young people, which we have been dreaming about for years.

And, while this year’s Todo Mundo was still a guess, the first edition of the Novi Sad world music festival Pocket Globe gave us full confirmation.

All three concert evenings were very well attended, with the dominance of the younger audience, and the three lectures were also well attended, not only in terms of the number of people in the hall, but also in terms of their activity, curiosity and inquisitiveness.

The media has also shown broad-mindedness towards world music and us, as the organizers. Various and numerous media – radio, TV, printed newspapers, internet – gave space to announcements of the festival program, as well as interviews with artists (the latter refers to Etnoumlje, Nedeljnik, Kulturni Dodatak u Politiki, Danas, VisitNoviSad and NsHronika). In all of this, we had great logistical support from the team gathered around the “Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture” project, especially in the field of communications and marketing. Because, let’s not forget, Pocket Globe was part of the program arc “Other? Europe” of the Novi Sad ECC 2022 project!

Let’s add that Pocket Globe also had its own after-story in the media, also important, but unfortunately these days, reports, reviews, reviews are increasingly rare. Nikola Glavinić spoke about the entire festival for Radio Beograd 2 and wrote for Etnoumlje magazine, while Ivana Jovanović reported on each evening separately for the Remix Press portal.

Media support is preceded by the key one – financial. Apart from the Foundation 2022, which was our main support, the festival also received help from the City of Novi Sad, then through the European project Sounds of Europe (whose partner is the Ring Ring Association), as well as the French Institute in Serbia (partly for the performance of Bab L’ Bluz). In the entire implementation of the festival, we were supported in our own way by a circle of wonderful volunteers, whose diverse help we could always count on.

Who are we, in fact, in the case of the Pocket Globe festival? That basic festival organizational cell consisted of three elements, one from Novi Sad and two from Belgrade: Vojislav Malešev, Bojan Đorđević and Marija Vitas. We functioned as one and created a solid base for future activities full of will and enthusiasm, in which we will look forward to possible team expansions. It is likely that the good response of the audience was also influenced by Voja’s skilful management of the series of concerts of the same name, starting in the fall of 2019, of which the Pocket Globe festival is a kind of natural continuation.

The most important thing for the festival organizer is the music itself, which – at least it should always be – we love, follow, know and are passionate about. Our great fulfillment of positive emotions during the festival and after the end of it, was stimulated first of all by fantastic concerts, some of which in the same evening made a crazy good chemistry, which made the organizers smile with satisfaction and a little pride.

Such was the second evening, held on November 11 at the Youth Theatre. It’s true that the Cypriot trio Monsieur Doumani blew up on their own, just as the Moroccan-French quartet Bab L’ Bluz blew away in their own way (there is still an informal, futile vote about which band was better), but above all that, they turned out to be a fantastic series!

Both bands boast a powerful sound, energy and rock psychedelia, which at Pocket Globe, in truth, did not have an adequate partner in the seating area of the Theater. Nevertheless, the audience was so excited that it sent strong impulses towards the stage equal to those of the visitors standing, dancing and jumping.

And everything started somewhat solemnly, because that is the space of the Novi Sad Synagogue. Before that evening ritual, on November 10, the threat of rain receded, which made people ready in advance to spend the evening outside the house after a pleasant, sunny, cold autumn day. Such weather conditions will, to our joy, accompany the entire festival. Because the second most important thing for the festival organizer (in Serbia) is the weather… Our people don’t like rain, nor wind, nor…

Damir Imamović first shined in the Synagogue with his trio Singer of Tales. Spontaneous, with an expressive voice, with a well-chosen repertoire, Damir captured the imagination with his interpretation of eternally popular sevdalinka songs and some of his original pearls, without a shred of pathos. He is a man of this millennium, with a conscious, mature and authentic view of tradition. The concert of Damir, Derya Tirkan and Žiga Golob was followed up beautifully by Boris Kovač with his New Ritual Ensemble and colorful arrangements of compositions from various phases of Kovač, very attractive to listen to.

Even though Boris Kovač’s slightly smaller ensemble performed only two months earlier as part of the NS EPK program, the Novi Sad audience is obviously always eager to hear this unique artist live.

The third concert evening, like the second, took place in the Youth Theater, attracting the largest number of people coming from other cities, especially Belgrade, who were also present at the previous evenings, as well as at the lectures. It only shows that the enthusiastic audience does not give up in the face of the greater number of kilometers that need to be covered to reach the point of musical boiling. And not everyone came from Belgrade by car!

The evening was opened by the local band Shira utfila, which has now fully matured in a refreshed line-up, to which singer Branislava Podrumac and pianist/keyboardist Aleksandar Jovanović Šljuka contributed. Very gradually they made an emotional, dynamic and rhythmic gradation, in order to completely spoil the audience with an increasingly moving and passionate interpretation of Sephardic love songs.

The organizing team was proud of its July decision that Shira utfila was chosen to perform at the Pocket Globe festival, after the “Serbian Globe” competition, which we opened for local artists in May.

The mood was brought to a boil. We were almost nervously awaiting the performance of Kayhan Kalhor and Erdal Erzincan. And then we got something that exceeded expectations. It was an hour and a half continuous flow, musical invention, liturgy, ritual…

Constantly in motion between contemplation and passion, melancholy and fervor, quiet sobs and voluminous roars – Kayhan’s kamanche and Erdal’s baglama breathed as one organism, and that perhaps they never looked at each other.

A wonderful interweaving of traditions and innovations, and a magical combination of Iran and Turkey, in which the very traditions of these countries become One…

What an end, and it wasn’t the end! Because the real finale of the Pocket Globe festival happened the next day, at the Svilara Cultural Station, at Kayhan’s lecture on the music of Iran. It was the third and last lecture of the festival, which was preceded by similar events in the Small Hall of the Youth Theater. Yousra Mansour and Brice Bottin, members of the band Bab L’ Bluz, spoke (11.11) about the music of the Gnava ethnic group and the role of women in the music of Morocco, while Damir Imamović (12.11) talked about the saz and the place of this instrument in the cultural heritage of Sarajevo and BiH.

In addition, the Bab L’ Bluz band had another, special activity, when (11.11) they took Novi Sad musicians through the rhythmic paths of their workshop-session at the Petrovaradin fortress.

When it was all over, and when we, tired and satisfied started to return home – Voja on the bike, and Marija and Bojan in the car – our heads were buzzing with delight, praise and gratitude, which the audience gave us those days. Because of them, we will continue to spin the pocket globe in our hands. Ideas are piling up on paper, and we have already turned on the oven “to 1”. The program of the second Pocket Globe festival is being slowly thought through.

 

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