A Grand Opening To Be Remembered For A Long Time!

The first evening’s program of this year’s Street Musicians Festival was followed by more than 20,000 people

This year’s 15th Street Musicians Festival was ceremoniously opened yesterday evening in the center of Novi Sad, on Liberty Square, by the spectacular street musical clash concert of Rijeka’s band Let 3 and Novi Sad’s group Atheist Rap. The Festival was officially opened at 9:30 PM by renowned pop and rock drummer Dragoljub Đuričić. Greeting Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia and Europe, he remarked that he played numerous times on the Street Musicians Festival. In the end, he, humorously, expressed his wish to be invited to perform on the 55th edition of the Festival.

The introduction to the street musical clash concert was the grand festival procession which marched its way through the closed Mihajlo Pupin Boulevard. The procession was led by the Italian brass-percussion orchestra BadaBimBumBand, mixed with the immense crowd. They were followed by Novi Sad’s Haos žongleri, as fore runners to the open-topped festival truck with Dragoljub Đuričić’s twenty drummers.

The rhythm arriving from the truck mesmerized the following audience, shaking the shakers which Đuričić prepared and gave away. On route to Liberty Square, through Modena Street, the festival procession was truly impressive. So many smiling faces on the Street Musicians Festival were last seen only during the 14th Street Musicians Festival. By the way, it is estimated that the programs of the first evening of this year’s Street Musicians Festival were followed by more than 20,000 people.

The first three tunes of the street musical clash concert – Kontinentio, 999 and Vjeran pas (Loyal Dog) – were played by Let 3, on stage in front of the Cathedral. Afterwards, we heard three songs from the Atheists – Drugo pakovanje (Another Package) , Zapadna Evropa (Western Europe) and Ne bi bilo fer (It Wouldn’t Be Fair). Novi Sad’s band was on the other festival stage, installed in front of City Hall. And then a real musical spectacle, because the next songs the bands played were as such when one band started the song, the other would finish it…

The Atheists began their Pritilend, making it just to the first refrain, only for Let 3 to finish the song, in ferocious rhythm, and in an exceptional Serbian dialect. The same was done with the great hit Izgubljeni (Lost), although the song’s beginning was played by Let 3 and finished by Atheist Rap. The delighted audience, located between two stages on the Square, during that part of the concert shifted from one side to the other, rewarding with great applause the band playing the cover song at that moment.

The men from Rijeka played particularly well the songs Ja sam video video (I Saw A Video) and Felićita (Felicità), while the Atheists more than copped with performing Drama, the great hit of Let 3. And then on the street musical clash the heavens opened, in time when both bands were singing the great Ode to girls from Rijeka. The hits Dijete u vremenu (Child In Time), Alam iđazi and Ero s onoga svijeta (Ero From The Other World) Let 3 performed in front of the fully drenched, but persistent audience, only for the Atheists to put a full stop on the street musical clash by playing Fatamorgana, Letnji hit (Summer Hit)…

Long will this street musical clash be remembered, for more than one reason: because the audience heard how the bands handled playing on away side, having a chance to see a more descent Let 3 (without naked bums and other parts sticking out), and see how the Atheists look half-nude with fake mustachios – and they looked like that (funny, but charming) yesterday evening while performing the songs of Let 3.

Last evening, the festival audience witnessed a truly beautiful show in the yard of Sokolski dom, performed by the Italian acrobats and multi-instrumentalists Nando e Maila, and prior to them, same place, the magnificent Italian dancer Lisa Pellegrini. French clown and pantomime Jean Ménigault entertained the kids on Liberty Square, while BadaBimBumBand had a stupendous marching program through Zmaj Jovina Street and Danube Street. Also sounding sweet were the guitars from the balconies (of the members from the Association of Guitar Players of Vojvodina) in Zmaj Jovina Street.

The timetable for the Festival, its entire program, map of the festival with all stages and performance locations, everything there is to know about this years performers, news and important information for all tourists – you can find on our website https://www.ulicnisviraci.com/en/! Contact us through our social media profiles and let us know your impressions of this year’s Festival – both on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/UlicniSviraci and Twitter https://twitter.com/ulicnisviraci.

This year’s 15th Street Musicians Festival, lasting until Saturday, 5th September, is organized by the Art Association Inbox from Novi Sad, with support from the City of Novi Sad and the Provincial Secretary for Culture and Information, Tourist Organization of the City of Novi Sad, the embassy of the United States of America in Belgrade, the Italian Institute for Culture in Belgrade, the Serbian Petroleum Industry, Telekom Serbia and Generali Insurance Serbia.