by Bojan Đorđević | 26.09.2022.
The tenth Todo Mundo world music festival was held in Belgrade, from September 21 to 24, 2022, at different venues. The program included eight concerts, an international conference, a street parade and a public talk with the artist Džambo Agušev.
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World music in Serbia is a rare species. Easy to receive, difficult to maintain. Musically speaking, it is the most exportable local musical product, at least as it has been shown in the last 25 years. The number of festivals (in Serbia) that have this polygenre as dominant in their program is growing year by year. On the other hand, the number of local audio releases per year rarely reaches the number 10, the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information is reserved for some other genres, and local musicians struggle to decide between surviving and the long-term fight for a place on the European market.
And how to set up and maintain a world music festival then? A festival that should be both a show-window of local culture and a window into (another, better) world.
With such thoughts, we started preparations for the jubilee, tenth edition of the festival, at the already (finally) fixed date – at the end of September. The questions we asked ourselves were: how to make a rich program, with support received through international projects and foreign cultural centers, and be fresh, somewhat different from the others; how to present local groups; how to attract a younger audience…
How well we succeeded will be judged by the musicians, the audience, and colleagues from Europe. But also by our inner one, which has been driving us for years to make a festival regardless of all the problems and to enjoy the concerts at the same time. Here I don’t mean only on our team, but on all dear people who organize similar festivals in Serbia. Enthusiasm as fuel.
We welcomed the first guests fully prepared, although already sleep-deprived. Several novelties were already introduced before the beginning of the festival – a long-term campaign on social networks, preparation of volunteers from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, billboards in several places in the city… We also started cooperation with the visual artist Vuk Maksimović (aka unk_anth), whose three totems and two masks formed the scenography of the concert evenings at JCC.
The beginning itself was a novelty – a street music parade (September 21). For that, there is no better band than the Dzambo Aguševi Orchestra from North Macedonia. Because they do it at numerous festivals around the world, so why not in Belgrade as well. This time they were joined by members of Fanfara Station, an international trio based in Italy.
The weather served us well, people passing by received flyers and their own piece of excellent music. There were also those who walked the entire path with us… Džambo led his orchestra as if at a specific concert, everything flowed spontaneously, without intermission between songs.
Having this orchestra at a festival is a serious matter, not only because they are great, but also because they are very, very busy. Džambo also made several interviews, and he also had a talk with students and professors of the Department of Ethnomusicology of the Faculty of Music. And what a talk… Maestro was inspired, talkative, cordial and open. And then, that same day, later, after terrible downpours and the delay of the entire festival evening due to technical problems with the amplifier, he nailed in the Garden of the Drugstore Club. But, exactly!
They have made great progress in the last three years, so they are never monotonous, not for a second. After such a groove, it would be difficult for anyone else to perform. But not Fanfara Station, who didn’t mind either the coldness (band leader Marzouk Mejri is Tunisian), or the fact that their concert started at 11 p.m., when many are already looking to catch the last night ride towards home.
A powerful performance, and it’s a shame that more people didn’t see them until the end. However, that evening (September 22) also showed what we felt during other evenings – a new and younger audience is coming to world music concerts. This was especially evident on the last evening (September 24).
But let’s go back to the concert beginning of the festival – for the first time, concerts at the Todo Mundo festival were held in the Jewish Cultural Center. This was a test for the audience and for us. The former Cultural Centre Rex has been home to the Ring Ring festival for decades, whose audience trusts the organizer and comes regardless of whether they’ve heard of the band performing that night.
When it comes to Todo Mundo – we moved it too often and until we settle at one venue, the audience won’t settle either. But the scene was beautiful, three hardworking volunteers, Emilia, Marta and Filip fit in easily and were very helpful. And on stage – Brdarići, sister and brother, Bojana and Nebojša, with the band. It’s a nice feeling to stick to the custom of local artists opening the festival with their performance. It is clear that Brdarići, due to their preoccupation with various other jobs, will have to think carefully about where they want to go – the potential is there, the singing and playing skills are there as well.
Jako el Muzikante – a fictional character created by the Spaniard Xurxo Fernandes, sings and plays (in a trio) Sephardic music. As Acart would emphasize – “in the Jewish Cultural Center, in Jevrejska Street”. After the concert, Xurxo and Stefan Sablić (the leader of the local Sephardic group Shira utfila) sang together in the hall. What a picture! Music that is rarely heard here (um, maybe that could have been the theme of the festival). Because on the third night, the Austrian duo Ramsch & Rosen dug deep into Austrian traditional music, which we also rarely hear.
A special issue was Dunja Knebl, the oldest participant. She performed as the winner of the Award “Vojin Mališa Draškoci”, in a duo with half a century younger Roko Margeta. Warm, immediate, she wrapped us (the few of us who did not go to see Manu Chao that evening) in the atmosphere of traditional songs of several countries.
The next morning we chatted cheerfully, learning that she used to live in Belgrade, and that she visited the place where “Jugotehna” company used to be, where she worked. And her speech at the “Music on the move” conference (September 24) was cheerful and heartfelt.
After all, the whole conference had passed in a pleasant way, like a conversation and an exchange of opinions, but during which you learn a lot.
Both Dea and Lea from the Perija group were with us then, to tell another unusual story. About the travels and performances in unusual places, of the band which is growing and growing. Whose concert on the same evening filled the Jewish Cultural Center. Admittedly, they were helped wholeheartedly by Meybahar, the Hungarian-Greek band, who opened the last festival night. And they surprised us – their repertoire is made up of Greek traditionals, excellently arranged and performed. This was one more opportunity to realize that bands are the ones who can make a key contribution to promotion, if only they deliver all the necessary material on time. This kind of Meybahar will have more and more fans.
And finally the Perija Quartet. For more than a year, now 18-year-old Ognen, one of the discoveries of the festival, has been with them. They bravely performed the repertoire from their upcoming album, which will be released not before next year. It is obvious that they have young fans who follow their work. From the first song, a few got up and danced until the end of the concert.
Is Perija “the next big thing”? We cannot guarantee it, but that they are on a serious upward trajectory, that is clear. That they will come to Serbia often is already clear from the invitations of several festivals for 2023!
That last evening brings us back to the aforementioned fuel, which sometimes needs to be topped up. Evenings like this – with two great concerts, with a full hall, a new, young audience, promising volunteers, smiles and praise from the musicians – fatigue fades under a new burst of positive energy.
Those vibes lead us first to the Pocket Globe festival in Novi Sad, which is also organized by us from the Ring Ring Association, and will carry us to the next, eleventh edition of the Todo Mundo festival.
by Ring Ring | 05.09.2022.
The tenth world music festival Todo Mundo will be held in Belgrade, from September 21 to 24, 2022, at different venues. A rich, varied program has been prepared, which includes eight concerts, an international conference, a street parade and a public conversation with one of the artists. Well – Let’s be curious!
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The jubilee of a festival is an opportunity to confirm the previous, recognizable efforts and goals in a sumptuous form. And what the organizers of the Todo Mundo festival – a manifestation dedicated to various “languages” and subgenres of world music – have always strived for is to challenge the curious audience, through an interesting, attractive, current, but also unusual program that moves off the beaten track. Or, as it was in 2019, critic Ivana Ljubinković wrote in Etnoumlje magazine during the presentation of the last evening of the 8th edition of the Todo Mundo festival:
– “The visitors, in the spirit of the very name of the festival, once again toured, if not the whole world, at least a significant part of it. But not the sights of the main cities, accessible to every responsible tourist, but those hidden alleys and landscapes, which only locals can recommend. And it was worth listening to them.”
In the jubilee year, Todo Mundo realizes part of the festival program thanks to international cooperation and its activities within two large European projects. The concerts of the Džambo Aguševi Orchestra, Fanfara Station and Perija will be held as part of the fresh, newly started project “Sounds of Europe”, while the concert of the duo Ramsch & Rosen will be realized through the already renowned project “MOST – Bridge for Balkan Music”.
Artists of the younger and middle generation dominate the concert program. Such a spirit will also mark the opening of the main, music part of the festival program: the concert of Bojana and Nebojsa Brdarić (September 21). The performance of our great interpreters, who are currently preparing their second album, continues the tradition of the Todo Mundo festival where the first concert is reserved for local artists.
In the company of outstanding singers and players who are in their twenties, thirties and forties, there is, however, a 76-year-old world music diva from the former Yugoslavia – Dunja Knebl, a unique artistic personality. Dunja and Roko Margeta, excellent young multi-instrumentalists and vocalists, will present themselves to the Belgrade audience for the first time.
The brilliance of the jubilee edition is ensured, therefore, by a considerable number of premiere performances. In addition to Dunja and Roko, in Belgrade we will attend the concerts of Džambo Aguševi Orchestra, Meybahar and Perija for the first time, while in Serbia Fanfara Station and Ramsch & Rosen will have their premieres, and in the area of the entire Balkans – Jako el Muzikante!
The tenth Todo Mundo festival also has its own slogan – #budimoradoznali (let’s be curious) – with which the organizers want to encourage the attention of the wider audience even more in the direction of discovering diverse musical traditions, as well as authorship inspired by the most diverse cultural heritages.
In addition, each concert evening is a kind of small, separate entity with a specific concept and title: 1) “Rootsology” (an evening dedicated to a more traditional sound), 2) “Partyard” (time and space for a real world music party), 3) “Skriveni dragulj” (concerts by artists who have a very original, unusual approach to traditional material) and 4) “Na istoku mašte” (an evening of accentuated oriental and Balkan expression, intoxicating and moving).
The sound of the tenth Todo Mundo festival is very colorful. First of all, we will listen to Serbian traditional music (Brdarići), and Sephardic heritage performed by the fantastic trio Jako el Muzikante, which comes from Spain, a country where Jews lived for a very long time and from where they were exiled at the end of the 15th century.
Then, we will dance to a modern Balkan brass band expression (Džambo Aguševi Orchestra), as well as to a combination of Mediterranean tradition and electronics (Fanfara Station).
There will also be a variety of pearls from the collections of songs from Croatia, Yugoslavia, the Balkans, Europe and the world, realized through the intimate storytelling of Dunja and Roko, as well as the author’s playing with elements of the Austrian and Alpine tradition (Ramsch & Rosen).
The hidden and burning passion of the Balkans will mark the entire final evening and the performances of Meybahar and Perija. This is a phenomenal year for the Perija quartet, an increasingly sought-after Balkan band on European stages, and their participation at the prestigious WOMEX fair, which will be held in Lisbon this October, was recently announced. Perija is releasing a new album soon.
Eight concerts will be held by musicians from ten countries: Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Austria, Spain, Italy, Tunisia and the USA. Some of the musicians will also participate in the international conference, which will be organized on the last day of the festival. It is now the second conference at the Todo Mundo festival and the plan is to make this part of the supporting program a tradition. While last year’s conference was focused on women in world music, the current topic “Music in motion” will bring conversations and exchange of experiences related to the movements of people, nations, cultures, and music itself in the world.
The accompanying program of the tenth festival also includes a street parade by the Džambo Aguševi Orchestra and Fanfara Station, in the pedestrian area of the city center, on September 21. In addition, in cooperation with the Department of Ethnomusicology of the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, a public talk will be held by artist Džambo Agušev and students of ethnomusicology, with the aim of getting to know the tradition of trumpet music in North Macedonia, the musical family from which Džambo originates, as well as numerous other related aspects.
Tickets for the festival can be purchased through the Tickets.rs website, as well as at the entrance before the start of each concert evening, at a price of 600 dinars for each evening, and a set of tickets is also available at a price of 2,100 dinars.
Let’s be curious!
by Bojan Đorđević | 02.10.2021.
The ninth Todo Mundo world music festival ended on September 28, 2021, in the Belgrade club DIM. That evening, Dobrila and Dorian Duo and Jelena Popržan performed.
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.A few days ago, the ninth edition of the World Music Festival “Todo Mundo” in Belgrade ended. During four days, in addition to six great concerts at the DIM club, the international conference “Women in the world music – artists, managers, journalists…” was held, and the audience could also see an exhibition of photos of “Monika i Mazsi” by the Slovenian photographer Janez Marolt.
The conference, held in the RTS Club – Radio Belgrade Gallery, was absolutely “on trend” in terms of topic and participants. Marija Vitas, as moderator of the conference, by asking important questions, managed to start a serious debate and open several important topics.
Each of the participants (Sofia Labropoulou, Iva Nenić, Araceli Sanchez, Bojan Đorđević, Ivana Maraš, Svetlana Spajić, Sotiris Bekas, Rok Košir, Julijana Baštić and Giuseppe Bortone) gave their opinion on gender equality in the world music genre, presented the development of the scene and the role women in their countries, at the same time looking at some general issues, drawing attention to topics that are of great importance to everyone.
This conference was an excellent opportunity for participants to network, which will result in further cooperation. It is important to point out that Radio Belgrade Third Program recorded the entire course of the conference and will soon broadcast recordings from the conference. It is expected that this material will be offered to other radio stations through the EBU exchange.
When the Collegium Hungaricum Belgrade sent an email at the beginning of August with the information that it is possible to have a photo exhibition of one of the “stars” of the festival as part of the festival, it was a reason for enthusiasm. But also for thinking about where to display 22 large photos.
As the DIM club was a good solution for concerts, the choice of gallery space was facilitated by the offer of the owners of this club to have the exhibition in their nearby Kula Gallery, whose official opening is scheduled for the beginning of October. So, the exhibition before the official opening of the space!
Janez Marolt himself, the author of the exhibition “Monika i Mazsi”, a Slovenian photographer, decided to come in person, post the photos and open the exhibition.
The photos were taken in 2019 in Ljubljana, after the performance of Mónika Lakatos and Mazsi Mihály Rostás in Pinelina dnevna soba, a concert series that has been organized by Rok Košir in the family living room for years. So, by chance, it happened that the author of the photographs and the artists who were the inspiration, as well as the organizer of the Ljubljana concert, who encouraged the photographer to organize a photo session the next day in Ljubljana, were at the opening.
World music concerts in DIM are not a very common thing, but Todo Mundo is a festival that is different. The combination of the ninth edition of the festival and DIM was a great success, a good atmosphere was created, and many people came to the club for the first time in their lives and were delighted. The sound was excellent, there were places to sit and dance, and the musicians were within reach, so the contact was immediate and warm.
The local trio Rođenice opened the festival with their authentic and raw performance of traditional music, without “hits”. Modern approach, video projection, but singing that you rarely hear in cities. The Todo Mundo festival has given space to the performance of traditional music from the very beginning and will continue to do so in the future.
The long-awaited arrival of Monika Lakatos has finally come true. This modest woman with a powerful voice, accompanied by guitar and percussion, mostly performed songs of the Olah Roma from Hungary, predominantly energetic songs that invite dancing or at least dancing in the place. But the audience was swept off their feet by a ten-minute ballad in the middle of the concert.
On the first evening, two trios, and on the second evening, two duos. Sofia Labropoulou, a Greek composer and artist on the kanun, started the performance with her compositions, which touch on traditional music, improvisation, contemporary music, and was joined in the second part of the performance by the violinist and singer Tijana Stanković, and together they performed several songs from the Balkans.
The magic of the evening continued with a concert by singer Maria Mazzotta from the Italian region of Salento, accompanied by accordionist Antonino de Luca. A fantastic performance of her program “Amoreamaro”, with which she already toured the whole of Europe this summer.
After a day-off, the festival ended with two more concerts on September 28. However, before the concerts, the new issue of the world music magazine Etnoumlje was presented, and then the Vojin Mališa Draškoci awards were given to Jelena Popržan (for last year) and Dorian Jovanović (for this year). Since 2013, this award has been awarded by the World Music Association of Serbia together with the family of the late Draškoci.
Dobrila and Dorian Duo from Skopje are a new band of old fellow musicians. In Belgrade they presented a wonderful program of old chalgi and other songs, without exaltation. But the audience was excited, so an encore followed. Singer Dobrila Grašeska is a true revelation of the festival.
Although Jelena Popržan has already presented her solo program in Belgrade several times, she always manages to surprise with the maturity of her performance, lucid ideas, superb playing and singing, as well as wit. Fascinating.
Excellent concerts, great atmosphere, strong audience reactions, good networking of local and foreign festival guests, conference participants, managers, promoters, journalists… All that adorned the ninth Todo Mundo, makes us, the organizers of the festival and representatives of the Ring Ring Association, fulfilled and satisfied. giving us the “fuel” to prepare the next, jubilee, tenth Todo Mundo festival.
by Ring Ring | 07.09.2021.
The ninth Todo Mundo, the Belgrade world music festival, will be held in Club DIM, from September 25 to 28, 2021. The focus of the upcoming edition is on women in world music.
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After last year’s break caused by the pandemic, the capital’s world music festival returns to the scene. The new edition of the “Todo Mundo” festival will include six concerts, a photo exhibition and a conference.
The Todo Mundo festival is often adorned with a connecting thread or theme, which gives to each issue a striking feature. Among the themes so far have been: Africa, Turkey, the Balkans, Hungary… Far from clear geographic determinations, this time a woman was chosen as the connecting thread of the festival.
The wish of the organizers and selectors is to emphasize and bring to the fore the creative strength and power of women in the music world, more precisely – the world music milieu, considering the genre orientation of the festival.
The main, music part of the program consists of performances by artists and ensembles from Hungary, Greece, Italy, North Macedonia, Austria and Serbia. The first festival evening(September 25) will be opened by the local female a cappella trio Roђenice, whose members come from Novi Sad and Belgrade. They will give the audience the raw energy of Serbian and Balkan archaic songs, which form the backbone of their repertoire. At the same time, it is not about archaism that has museum value. The sound is ancient, but the attitude and stage appearance of these young singers are modern and contemporary, which is additionally supported by the accompanying multimedia content.
The power of the female voice, in the continuation of the first evening, will also be presented by the Monika Lakatos Folk Trio from Hungary. Monika (Mónika Lakatos) is a Romani singer, a member of the Olah Roma community, whose heritage she cherishes devotedly.
Her fascinating voice is infused with a specific color and vibrato, and expressiveness built on large dynamic amplitudes and a combination of melancholy and boldness. She is the winner of the prestigious WOMEX Lifetime Achievement Award (2020). At the concert in Belgrade, Monika’s voice will be supported by guitar and percussion.
On the second evening (September 26), on Sunday, we will first listen to the Greek qanun player, composer and improviser Sofia Labropoulou. Her art combines the heritage of Greece and the Mediterranean, classical Ottoman, medieval, experimental and contemporary music. She collaborates with numerous musicians, composes film music and holds master classes dedicated to the Qanun and Greek folk music.
The special guest at Sofia’s concert in DIM will be Tijana Stanković, a singer and violinist from Belgrade.
Rounding off the second evening is Maria Mazzotta, one of the most impressive female vocalists on the contemporary European world music scene. With many years of experience built up in the famous Italian ensemble Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, Maria ventured into soloist waters a few years ago. In January 2020, she released the album Amoreamaro, which was extremely well received by the audience and critics.
At the concert in Belgrade, accompanied by accordionist Antonino de Luca, Maria will pamper us with the charm and rhythm of the Italian south. This is her first concert appearance in our country.
After a day off, the festival will have its third night on Tuesday, September 28. We will listen to a fresh project by the Macedonian artist Dorian Jovanović (oud), created in collaboration with the singer Dobrila Grašeska.
In July, Dobrila & Dorian Duo released the album Apocryph, composed of original Macedonian songs in a simple, striking, irresistible arrangement. Dorian is the winner of the Vojin Mališa Draškoci award for 2021, which will be given to him at the beginning of the evening by representatives of the World Music Association of Serbia.
The honor of rounding off the ninth “Todo Mundo”, whose thread is women in the world music world, went to Jelena Popržan, a prominent artist from Austria, born in Serbia. Jelena is a respected violist, vocalist, composer and performer. She is a versatile musical personality, always prone to self-reflection, new discoveries, changes…
Jelena is also the winner of the above-mentioned Vojin Mališa Draškoci award for 2020, which will also be given to her this evening. At her solo performance in Belgrade, she will present mainly material from the album La Folia (2020).
The beginning of every musical evening is at 8 p.m. DIM (Cetinjska 15a) was chosen as the venue for the concerts this time – an alternative and innovative city space intended for concerts, performances and diverse cultural events.
The main theme of the festival – women’s contribution in music – is also dealt with by an international conference, which kicks off the ninth “Todo Mundo”. The gathering entitled “Women in the World Music – Artists, Managers, Journalists…” will be held in the “RTS Club – Radio Belgrade Gallery” (Hilandarska 2, entrance from Svetogorska), on Saturday, September 25, starting at 11 a.m. Participants come from Slovenia, Italy, Greece, Austria, Spain and Serbia. The conference has been supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia.
On the same day, at 7 p.m., an exhibition of photographs by the Slovenian author Janez Marolt will be opened in the “Kula” Gallery (Cetinjska 15a). It is about a series of portraits of Monika Lakatos, a singer who will perform at DIM on the same evening. The exhibition will be opened by the author.
The organizer of the “Todo Mundo” festival is the “Ring Ring” Association.
The festival was supported by: Collegium Hungaricum Belgrade, Austrian Cultural Forum, Italian Institute of Culture in Belgrade, Ministry of Culture of North Macedonia, World Music Association of Serbia and Music Information Centre of Serbia.
Tickets can be purchased in advance through the Facebook page of the festival, at a price of 600 dinars for the first two concert evenings and 500 for the third evening. During festival days, tickets will cost 700/700/500 dinars.
