After last year’s jubilee, when the festival incorporated the sounds of the European Jazz Connective project, Druga Godba returns to its usual line of thought for this year’s 36 th edition. Many DG diehards will recognise something of a return to the past – not, perhaps, in terms of line-up conventions, but of having a stand-out name at the top of the bill. This was how Druga Godba used to be in the golden years of ‘world music’, when the likes of Cesaria Evora, Youssou N’Dour, Khaled and Mariza, to name but a few, played to packed houses in Ljubljana. So we are incredibly excited to be joined in 2020 by Fatoumata Diawara, the undisputed leader of a new generation of African musicians who have managed to break through to festivals and concert stages that, like Druga Godba, pay genre no heed, and that even offer musicians the chance to curate the programme, like Fatoumata Diawara did at the great Le Guess Who? festival last year.
There are a number of other firsts at this year’s festival, including performers from the Russian republic of Buryatia, Lithuania and Afghanistan, wildly danceable Afro-Caribbean champeta from Colombia, and two Slovenian singers who have been leading lights on the domestic scene for the last decade. However, in order to keep one of the festival’s traditions alive, we couldn’t resist arranging the return of the brilliant Silvia Perez Cruz, an appearance by currently the best Balkan brass band on the planet, and the arrival of a bunch of youngsters from France, who will remind many longstanding DGists of Lo Còr de la Plana’s exceptional performance all those years ago.
Is that all? Well, with Druga Godba, it never is. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be adding more performers, an enticing programme of talks and workshops, and a new show for kids, which we are designing in collaboration with Vodnikova Domačija.
We pretty sure you (and every other music fan) will love the musical scope and geographical diversity on offer this year. Come and share the love with us in Ljubljana and Maribor between 13 and 16 May.
See you there!
Druga Godba programme board:
Bogdan Benigar, Senada Čorović, Ira Kolbezen, Maaike Wuyts
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