Members of The Balkan World Music Chart:

Marija Vitas

editor of chart, serbia

balkanwmchart@gmail.com

An ethnomusicologist, music critic, journalist, writer, editor, festival co-selector and co-organizer, cultural worker. In 2007 Marija started to evolve herself in media jobs: TV journalist in Sveti Djordje (2007), journalist, music critic and editor in Radio Belgrade 2 (2008 – 2019), journalist, music critic and editor-in-chief of Serbian world music magazine Etnoumlje (since 2008) and World Music association of Serbia’s portal (since 2018). She is also writing about world music and other topics for several magazines and portals. Marija is the member of Transglobal World Music Chart. As the board member of World Music association of Serbia, Marija guided several field research projects in different parts of the country, recorded folk singers and bagpipers, made interviews and realized CDs. Marija is the chairman or member of juries of several folk festivals in Serbia. She is co-organizer and co-selector of Todo Mundo world music festival in Belgrade. Founder of The Balkan World Music Chart.

Oliver Đorđević

serbia

etnoumlje@gmail.com

World Music promoter, founder, project manager and president of the Board of Directors of the World Music Association of Serbia. Born in 1974 in Jagodina. He was the organizer of the world music festival Etnomus, which took place in Jagodina from 1997 to 2005. He founded Etnoumlje magazine in 2007. He was the editor of the lexicon World Music in Serbia 1982-2012. He has been the initiator of the Serbia at the WOMEX project since 2015. Producer of WMAS Records. He is the creator and editor of the digital archive of Serbian world music. He is the recipient of the Cultural Form Award 2019 awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia.

Bojan Đorđević

Serbia

bojan@ringring.rs

Born 1962 in Belgrade. Started to write about music for student and youth magazines in 1987. Since then he has been collaborating and writing for music magazines in Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Italy and UK. The radio show about experimental and alternative  music on Radio B92 he started  in 1990. This radio show turned into world music radio show in 2000 and has been broadcasted  till 2015, when Radio B92 was terminated.  From October 2015 the same show has been broadcasted once a week on Radio Belgrade 3. Bojan  produced and compiled several albums for Radio B92 label,  like bestseller compilations Srbija: Sounds Global and Rromano Suno. From 1999 – 2002  he collaborated with CBC programe Global Village as correspondant from Serbia. Bojan Djordjevic founded International New Music Festival Ring Ring in 1996. Since 2012 Bojan is artistic director of World Music Festival Todo Mundo. Bojan is the member of  WMCE panel, a board of 50 European radio DJs covering world music.

Nikola Glavinić

Serbia

glavinik@yahoo.com

Born in 1970 in Novi Sad. Journalist and music editor at Public Media Service Radio-Television of Vojvodina. World Music radio show host (Randevu s muzikom) at Radio Novi Sad. Writes for the Etnoumlje Magazine and World Music association of Serbia’s portal.

Dejan Vujinović

Serbia

info@etnofest.org

Dejan Vujinović (1975) is the artistic director of Etnofest world music and Jazziré experimental and exploratory music festivals in Serbia. Known for their sharp programming edge, the mentioned festivals are the place where the roots meet contemporary improvisation, where roots music comes up as a revelation in today’s overwhelming attack of popular “one-day-miracle” music, and where the experimental fusions present the future roots. Dejan holds an MA in marketing, with special interest in integrated marketing communications for cultural events. He is involved in several transnational cultural cooperation projects for many years, where the most recent is the 2020 Troubadours project implemented in the roam of the Creative Europe programme. This project deals with travelling world music artists, staging them all around Europe, giving them a chance to break boundaries. And if that would not be enough, let’s say that Dejan is currently working as a program manager for the Interreg IPA CBC Hungary-Serbia programme as well. Part time, he is also a lecturer at some of the local universities.

Miodrag Andrić

Serbia

m11061971@gmail.com

A reverend with a deep knowledge of world music scene. Born 1971 in Belgrade, where he finished elementary and high school and graduated on The Faculty of Orthodox Theology 1999. From 1997 to 2006 he actively participated in the work of Syndesmos (the World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth) and the Board Committee of the Balkan Orthodox Youth Association (B.O.Y.A.) since 2000, as the vice-president of the organization. He is a parish-priest of St. Nicholas Church in Novi Sad. He is an associate at Radio Beseda (Radio of orthodox diocese of Bačka), where he launched the Sazvučja world music radio show in 2011 and Orthodox Christian podcast Ristretto at 8.30. He works and lives in Novi Sad, married and has three children.

Mario Batelić

Slovenia

mario.batelic@gmail.com

Mario Batelić is freelance journalist from 1993 on, covering alternative rock, jazz, experimental and world music. His articles were published in major daily newspapers and weekly magazines (Delo, Dnevnik, Stop), as well as in specialised music media, such as Muska magazine, web magazine Odzven and Radio Študent. In years 2011 and 2012 he was editor-in-charge of Odzven, web magazine published by Slovenian Music Information Centre (SIGIC), and was also editor of Odzven 2011, printed book with selected articles from this magazine. At SIGIC, he was also part of teams that put together CD compilations of Slovenian world music and jazz, such as Jazz Slovenia 2011, the first ever compilation of Slovenian jazz music. Since 2002, he is part of the Jazz Cerkno festival team, writing texts for the festival booklet, media announcements, etc. In recent years, he is a member of the Jazz Cerkno festival program board. From 2003 on he is radio host for Globaluna weekly show at Radio Študent, covering world music. For the same radio he writes album and concert reviews. In his Globauna radio show he occasionally organizes live concerts and conduct interviews with well-known international musicians such as Anoushka Shankar and Rokia Traoré, and numerous Slovenian musicians and bands.

Török Ferenc

Hungary

torok.ferenc45@gmail.com

A journalist and radio editor. One of the founders of Budapest Folk FestHe has been editing a folk and world music radio program on Bartok Radio (the Hungarian public service radio) for six years and Radio Patria, Bratislava and Pannon Radio, Subotica for one year. He edits and writes for folk and world music blog Ritmus és hang.

JUAN ANTONIO VÁZQUEZ

Spain

radio@mundofonias.com

Co-director of Mundofonías radio show —“Comunicando al Son” Award 2016 and “one of the best programs of music from all over the world” (Gerald Seligman) — broadcasted on +40 radio stations in 17 countries, including major global urban areas: Mexico City, São Paulo, Madrid, Berlin, Lima, La Paz, Hamburg, San Juan de Puerto Rico… He hosts A la Fuente radio show on Radio Clásica-RNE (Spain’s National Radio) and El Palabrero on Radio 5-RNE, focused on linguistics issues. He has also developed other productions for the national radios of Spain, Belgium and Colombia. Co-founder and co-director of the Transglobal World Music Chart. Member of the jury of Premios MIN de la Música Independiente (ES), Russian World Music Awards (RU), Sori Frontier (KR), Folkspot Denmark (DK), Premio Andrea Parodi (IT), Iberian Festivals Awards (PT/ES)… Member of the critics pool of fRoots magazine (UK). Compiler of The Ultimate Guide to Spanish Folk and author of the Little Guide to the World Music Instruments.

EMIR FULURIJA

Croatia

emirfulurija@gmail.com

I’m born in Dubrovnik, Croatia, 26th of February 1979. After finishing high school in my hometown, I went to Zagreb where I studied journalism. Parallel to my study, I started to work on Radio Student and in some clubs as a DJ. After finishing study I lived in both Dubrovnik and Zagreb, and in the last 10 years I’m only in Zagreb. Some years ago I start to get interested in world music and I organized some DJ nights in Dubrovnik and Zagreb with that kind of music. I also write about world music and other musical genres on several Croatian media, small and big ones. In the year 2011. I started a world music podcast called Izvorišta (Croatian ancient word for ‘water springs’) on webzine potlista.com. After two years I move Izvorišta on Radio Student, the biggest independent radio station in Croatia, and I’m running it every week. From the summer of 2019. Izvorišta is running on three more radio stations: KLFM and Radio Roža in Croatia and Radio Bruškin in Montenegro.I’m a regular DJ on most world music concerts and DJ nights in Zagreb, and from 2018. I’m a curator of world music concert program called Vrelo zvuka in Mochvara club in Zagreb.

ARACELI TZIGANE

Spain

aracelitzigane@gmail.com

Araceli Tzigane is involved in music because of a whole life passion. She doesn´t remember why, but she knows that, from her earliest childhood, she loved Arabic music, Gypsi, klezmer, bossa-nova… In her humble family there were a big appreciation for music and she had access to a quite nice collection of classical music but world music at that time was just occasionally in the TV, with videoclips of Ofra Haza or Mory Kante. The access to the Internet in the late 90s meant for her the access also to much music and to many other world music lovers. Wow, can you imagine? As soon as she realised how to develop any initiative related to that, in order to share her discoveries, she opened a emailing group, Ethnobeat, that got to gather more than 300 people from all over the world, included some of the main producers of music of that time and many specialized disseminators. One step takes you to another, so soon after that, Araceli started to write in a magazine and to make radio. It was in 2002 when she started to be involved also in management. She has continued these activities since then, with the agency Mapamundi Música and the radio show Mundofonías as the main initiatives. She is usually on a jury of awards like the Premios MIN or FestimadTaste and guest speaker in international events.

KOSTADIN SHURBANOVSKI

North Macedonia

sjf2@skopjejazzfest.com.mk

Kostadin Shurbanovski – ​Shurbe is a culture manager, promoter, label owner, radio host, DJ and music journalist with more than 20 years of experience in organising concerts, festivals, promo parties and cultural events in Macedonia. As a chief editor and member of the Editorial board in the Music Radio – Kanal 103, he was involved in many projects: concerts, festivals, exhibitions, CDs and books publishing. From 2001, as a project manager in the Cultural Institution – Skopje Jazz Festival, he has participated in the organization of Skopje Jazz Festival and OFFest and took part in different activities of the institution (publishing, exhibitions, release parties etc). He has attended lot of international and local conferences, music fairs, workshops etc.

SOTIRIS BEKAS

Greece / Austria

bekassotiris@gmail.com

Journalist, Backpack Journalist, Videographer, Documentary Filmmaker, Music critic and Editor. Sotiris has been working as Media Professional and a researcher of Greek folk and world music, since 1996. In 2008, he launched his own column called Paradounai kai Lavein (“Given and received”) first presented in the most popular music magazine in Greece, Difono (1995-2010) and then hosted in one of the most well known Greek webzines for music, musicpaper.gr (till today). During all these years, he has been covering very closely the work and development of music generation that popped up in 90s in Greece and had the chance to meet and learn from the great musicians of the past (those that came to urban centres in 50s and recorded the music from Greek villages to discography). Sotiris had illustrated the portraits of the most prominent figures of folk and world music in Greece both in print and in videos. In 2020, he launched a series of documentaries on the female activity and work in folk music, called Women in Folk Music, in 2018, he presented a documentary about the Hungarian philosopher György Lukács (Georg) and after a decade of filming and documentation a documentary film on the work of Zoltán Kallós, the legendary ethnomusicologist of Transylvania, is about to be released. Sotiris holds an MA in Quality Journalism and New Technologies, (Danube University Krems – Austria) and a B.A. in European Culture Studies (Hellenic Open University – Greece).

Photo privat Grit Friedrich

GRIT FRIEDRICH

Germany

grit_friedrich@freenet.de

Romania was my gateway to the Balkans although geographically this country belongs to the Balkans with only a small percentage. But that is where the Balt-Orient Express from (east) Berlin went. Already in Transylvania people spoke in many tongues, Hungarian, Romanian, Romanes, German could be heard. As a student I discovered folk musicians at legendary concerts at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest, organised by ethnomusicologist Speranța Radulescu, listened to Maria Tănase on dusty records and muzica lautareasca, with Roma singers like Romica Puceanu. Since mid-nineties, I have interviewed musicians from Romania, such as Ada Milea, Alexander Balanescu or Fanfare Ciocărlia, Trei Parale, Balkan Taksim or Corina Sîrghi și Taraful Jean Americanu. I brought voices from the Romanian diaspora on the radio, like Oana Catalina Chițu from Berlin or Sanda Weigl from New York. And of course many other artists, who work with the rich folk heritage between Athens, Sarajevo, Sofia, Belgrade and beyond. I coedited the albums Malédiction d’ Amour, Ciuleandra and Magic Bird by Maria Tănase (Oriente) and compiled Suburban Bucharest (Trikont). Working for different radios as a freelancer, I host a program on MDR KULTUR – das Radio, called Folk und Welt.

https://www.mdr.de/kultur/podcast/folk-und-welt/folk-welt-podcast-100.html

www.graphicfront.ro

KRISTINA DENCHEVA

Bulgaria

kristinaidencheva@gmail.com

Editor, writer, special events manager and PR specialist. Kristina graduated from the National Conservatory in Sofia, BG, with piano, musical analysis and history of music. Since then she is special events manager, copywriter, editor and editor-in-chief for New Moment New Idea Group Magazine BG, DHL Clients Magazine BG, CATS – Lifestyle and Wild Nature Magazine. Executive director of Finnish Opera Festival Operosa Euxinograd for Bulgaria and Serbia. PR & Communications Manager and Senior Events Coordinator of Bulgarian Music Association, writer and editor-in-chief of unique BG online project See The Music, dedicated to rising stars on 21st century’s Bulgarian music stage, their innovative art projects in the country and around Europe and the contemporary music critics.

CIRO DE ROSA

Italy

kyros.derosa@gmail.com

Living in his hometown Naples, a long-time contributor to Songlines, he has received a PhD in cultural anthropology and is a secondary school teacher. As a music journalist and disseminator of traditional and world music he has published articles and essays over a period of more than 30 years. These days he co-edits the online magazine www.blogfoolk.com, produces and hosts the radio show Globofonie and as a free lance contributes to the daily Il Manifesto. He is a consultant to the artistic direction of Premio Nazionale Città di Loano per la Musica Tradizionale Italiana and he’s in the panel jury of Premio Andrea Parodi. He’s been a panelist to Transglobal World Music Chart since the launch.

Toni Pennacchia (DJ Madame B)

USA

mergingarts@gmail.com

Creative Director of MergingArts Productions, based in New England/Northeast US, Toni has over twenty years of experience, both as a producer and director for genres including: folk, world/global, and electronic. She produces the show Transworld Airwaves, a cross-cultural musical journey united in voices and rhythms, syndicated via Pacifica Radio and in Boston on WZBC. Toni is a Genre Music Director and charts for NACC and Roots Music Report, and is an active panelist for the Transglobal World Music Chart. More recently, she was invited to present the US in the next Russian World Music Chart. Toni produces Donne del Mondo, Global Music by Women, for Pacifica Radio affiliates, along with filmmaker conversations on Spoiler Alert Radio. She contributes to WRIU on World Wide Waves regionally and nationally for Pacifica’s Sprouts. She has produced the acclaimed Short Short Story Film Festival and Womanimation! international film festivals for several years.

ula nowak

Ula Nowak

POLAND

ula.m.nowak@gmail.com

Ula is a music journalist, presenter, producer and curator. Producer and member of the program board of the OFF Festival Katowice. Co-founder and long-term programmer of the Pannonica Festival. Panellist of the Transglobal World Music Chart. Owner of the Mosaic Beats concert agency. As an independent producer/curator, she has worked regularly in recent years with the Juliusz Slowacki Theater in Krakow, the Łaźnia Nowa Theater, and the Nowa Tradycja Polish Radio Folk Festival. She was the host of the author’s radio program for six years, presenting music from the Balkans – Balkanera. She published among others for nationwide music magazines, such as Jazzarium.pl, Jazz Forum, Pismo Folkowe, Gazeta Wyborcza and ProAnima.pl. She implemented projects for the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Krakow Festival Office. For 5 years she was a spokeswoman for the Jazz Juniors Festival. Currently associated with the Krakow radio station JAZZKULTURA, where she hosts her show with world music every Wednesday –  Świato-czułość | WorldSensitivity. She also cooperates with the Carbon Footprint Foundation in Krakow, implementing artistic projects at events organized by this organization to raise awareness about sustainable activities in the music industry.

daryana antipova

Daryana Antipova

RUSSIA

scythianhorn@gmail.com

Daryana Antipova – musician, agency manager and music journalist. Originally from Siberia, Daryana formed the experimental folk outfit Vedan Kolod with her siblings in 2005 and has since released eight acclaimed albums with the group. Drawing on ancient Russian folk traditions, Vedan Kolod has attracted an impressive global cult following and toured extensively throughout Russia and Europe. In addition to her performing work, Daryana works as a freelance music journalist and recently served as an organizer for the Russian World Music Charts, and Scythian Horn agency which aims to promote Russian folk music abroad. Organized a few world music networking conferences in Russia. Was a speaker at the biggest world music conferences worldwide.