A press conference was held at GAT on Adamićev gat ahead of the ninth edition of the Porto Etno Festival, which will be held on Friday and Saturday, September 19th and 20th in Rijeka. This year’s edition brings many new features – a new date in September, a new location and free admission for all visitors. The festival was announced by the director of the Croatian Cultural Centre (HKD) Edvin Liverić, the HKD program coordinator and the organizer of the Porto Etno Festival Jelena Tondini, the leader of the Porto Etno Orchestra Zoran Majstorović and David Kristian Wamberger from GAT.
Big names of world music are back in Rijeka, at a new location
Jelena Tondini, as the main organizer of the festival, presented this year’s program. The festival will begin on Thursday, September 19 at 7 p.m. with a ceremonial opening parade led by the Spinčići Music Society. The procession will start from Jelačić Square, across the Korzo to Jadranski Square and GAT, with performances by five cultural and artistic societies that will then present themselves with short folklore programs: FA Zora from Opatija, FD Poljica from Krk, KUD Zvir Jelenje, KUD Punat and KD Kornić.
Day one: Unavantaluna, Voices in Etno and Humanitarian After Party
On Friday at 9 pm, Unavantaluna will perform, an ensemble of musicians who share Sicilian origins and a strong love for the folk traditions of their homeland, but their work does not remain solely within the framework of folklore – they combine tradition and innovation. Their instrumentation is diverse: it includes archaic instruments such as Sicilian bagpipes and friscaletti (Sicilian flutes), along with classical guitar and vocal parts. After that, the program continues with Voices in Etno: Ether and Čipkice accompanied by Porto Etno Orchestra.
Zoran Majstorović and the Porto Etno Orchestra are the permanent musical foundation of the festival, which has accompanied numerous guests since its first edition in 2017, but also presents itself to the audience with its own arrangements. The orchestra, led by Zoran Majstorović (guitar, oud), consists of: Rajko Ergić (drums), Bojan Skočilić (double bass, electric bass), Dorian Cuculić (keyboards), Vanja Vitezić (percussion) and Robert Mikuljan (trumpet).
This year, the orchestra will accompany the great Istrian musician Ether and the vocal ensemble Čipkice and will perform their famous songs in completely new arrangements. The start of the performance is announced for 10:30 PM.
Ether is a solo project of Croatian musician Nikol Ćaćić. Her debut album Bitke na makovim poljima significantly drew attention to her work, both from the audience and critics. Based on this album, she received three nominations for the Rock&Off Award, including a nomination for best electronic artist in the Elektro&Off category. The Čipkice ensemble is a female vocal ethno band founded in 2008 and currently has 16 members. They cherish traditional musical roots from various parts of the world, combining them with contemporary elements and original arrangements. The artistic direction and research segment is led by ethnomusicologist Ena Hadžiomerović.
After the evening part of the program at the GAT, the first festival day ends with a humanitarian After Party at the Manual Club. DJ Asimin Asanof will perform with a set that combines musical influences from different parts of the world: ethno, dance rhythms and elements of electronic music. The funds collected from the tickets will be donated to the humanitarian organization MAP – Medical Aid for Palestine, which provides medical aid in the Gaza Strip.
Second day: Gastro festival, Melina, Oratnitza plays STOPAN, 47SOUL
Saturday, September 20, brings the Melting Pot gastronomic festival from 11 a.m., where visitors will be able to taste specialties from thirteen countries – from Macedonia, Ukraine, BiH and Italy, through Jamaica, Hungary, the Philippines and Slovakia, to Albania, Trinidad and Tobago, Slovenia, Serbia and Russia. In addition to the delicacies, numerous cultural and artistic societies and national communities will perform – the National Community of Montenegrins Rijeka, the Macedonian Cultural Society Ilinden, the Serbian Cultural Society Prosvjeta, the Association of the Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Italian Community of Rijeka and Opatija, the Bosniak National Community, the Riječke Palade, the Cultural Society of Ruthenians and Ukrainians Rušnjak PGŽ, the Cultural and Artistic Society Sevdah, the Democratic Community of Hungarians in Croatia – Association PGŽ, Matica Slovačka, the Community of Albanians PGŽ and the Development and Integration Center Sveti Vid.
Admission to the Melting Pot will be free, while food vouchers will be sold at a price of 4.50 euros.
The musical part of the second day of the festival will be opened by Melina, a musician of Greek origin whose strong vocals stand out with melismatic ornaments and emotional depth. This year she released her debut EP Melina. The performance begins at 9 p.m.
Next on the stage will be Oratnitza plays STOPAN from Bulgaria. Their music is described as ethnobass — a fusion of Bulgarian folk melodies, Orthodox chants, elements of world music, hip-hop, dubstep, trap, drum’n’bass and irregular rhythms. It is at the Porto Etno Festival that Oratnitza will premiere material from their new album STOPAN.
The late-night highlight of the festival will be 47SOUL, an international music collective based in London and Palestine, composed of established artists: Tareq Abu Kwaik (El Far3i), Ramzy Suleiman (ZthePeople), Walaa Sbait and Hamza Arnaout (El Jehaz). Their genre is Shamstep — a fusion of electronic hip-hop, traditional dabke dance music and reggae. Their music combines Arabic instruments such as arghul and mijwiz with modern styles such as electronica and R&B, often with messages of freedom and equality in Arabic and English.
At the conference Edvin Liverić, thanked all sponsors – the City of Rijeka, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, the Ministry of Culture and Media, the Italian Community of Rijeka and Italian world music media Linatrad.
Liverić especially thanked EUROPE DIRECT Rijeka operating within the Rijeka Development Agency Porin, which is supporting the Porto Etno Festival again this year. Since the goal of EUROPE DIRECT Rijeka is to promote European values, civic solidarity and tolerance, the Porto Etno Festival has been recognized as an ideal partner, and he expressed his hope that after this year there will be an opportunity to establish a long-term partnership with the Rijeka Development Agency Porin.
Last but not least, special thanks went to GAT and its director David Kristian Wamberger for their support and hospitality. Wemberger pointed out that the GAT project was initiated in order, among other things, to give space to programs such as Porto Etno and that it is an honour for them to host such an original and brave festival.
The organizers emphasized that the Porto Etno Festival combines music, dance and gastronomy again this year and invited citizens to join them at Adamićev gat during the festival weekend. Admission to all events at Adamićev gat is free.