The 14th Street Musicians Festival Begins Today

MUSICAL DIVERSITY AND WORLD CULTURES IN NOVI SAD

The traditional cultural event, the Street Musicians Festival, starts today and will last to Saturday 6^th September, on different locations in the Novi Sad city centre. This rally of street art will for the 14^th time gather the best musicians from the country, region, Europe and the world, who will bring to Novi Sad the artistic vision and culture of their parts, sharing it with the audience.

The program of the Street Musicians Festival this year will be fully dedicated to music. Over 200 participants, soloists, ensembles and troupes, arriving from the United States, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Mexico, Moldova, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia, and their performances they bring with them, will take place on the Freedom and Theatre Squares, in the Catholic courtyard, Zmaj Jovina and Danube Streets, the yard of Sokolski Dom and in the Institute for Culture of Vojvodina. The entire program is free to all visitors.

The greatest attraction of the Festival, performing and raising the curtains tonight at 8:30pm on Freedom Square, is the world famous Harlem Gospel Choir from New York, bringing with them the contemporary view of gospel as the traditional spiritual music of the African-American people. The program dedicated to the music and culture of Ireland, “Irish Night”, will take place on Friday evening in the Catholic courtyard, with the appearance of the singer-songwriter Ray Scully from Dublin, and bands Irish Stew and Belfast Food. The backbone of the main program will be the less established, but quality musicians from the local scene, chosen through the Festival competition: Barka Dilo, Acoustic Sharks, the Hoods and La Banda, as well as Moskva from Rijeka and Sopot from Banjaluka. From the far reaches of the world, arriving in Novi Sad are Tribal Dance from Israel and Rulas Quetzal from Mexico, as well as top musicians of the Italian street scene.

The social engagement of the Street Musicians Festival will this year be presented through the special program – “Open Up”, dedicated to contemporary art and culture of the Roma in Serbia and Europe. After the panel discussion on the topic “Openly About Romani Culture”, on Friday,12pm in the Institute for Culture of Vojvodina, awaits the musical part of the program, on Saturday evening, on stages across the city centre, and the performances by Kal and Roma Sijam from Belgrade, Gipsy Mafia from Zrenjanin, Gipsy Groove from Priština, Chisinau Youth Orchestra from Moldova and the GRUBB Foundation from Great Britain. The project is realized in cooperation with the Fund For An Open Society from Budapest.

The two-year long international project “Circus as a Way of Life” will end with the performance of the play “Utopia?”, as part of the special program of the Street Musicians Festival, on Saturday at 8pm, on the premises of Sokolski Dom. The play’s actors chosen among all of the participants of the project are from Varaždin (Croatia), Tirana (Albania), Gračanica and Novi Sad, while their instructors are respected masters of the modern circus crafts, working with them through the entire program, are from the troupes Helix (Greece) and Capilotracté (France).

The Street Musicians Festival is organized by the Art Association “Inbox” from Novi Sad, supported by the City of Novi Sad, Tourist Organization of Novi Sad, Provincial Secretariat for Culture and Public Information, embassies of the United States of America and Israel in Belgrade, Petroleum Industry of Serbia and “Telekom” Serbia.