Here we go again! It’s time for Europavox Festival Zagreb, the border-spanning event with 10 bands from 10 European countries, curated by the INmusic team. What was business as usual before the age of Covid-19 now looks like a logistical nightmare.
On a sunny Friday morning, Ivana Jelača from INmusic came to my Radio 808 to promote the forthcoming event in the main city club, Tvornica. While we waited for the boys and girls from Belgrade band KOIKOI to come for the radio interview, Ivana moaned about last minute cancelations. On day 1, Romanian act Balkan Taksim and Croatian act nemanja missed their festival gigs because of Covid problems. But Ivana quickly found a replacement by booking Zagreb band Pocket Palma, and Europavox was ready to start right in time.
The festival’s opening act heptagram came from Sofia and gave the Croatian audience a very rare opportunity to see a Bulgarian rock band. Fronted by classically trained multi-instrumentalist Daniel Ivanov, they play complex prog-rock tunes with a psychedelic touch. Next on stage were KOIKOI, who generated lots of buzz all over the Balkans earlier this year with their excellent debut album ‘Pozivi u stranu’. The powerful 4-piece live band with Marko, Ika, Ema and Gizmo on stage sounds like a brighter future for Serbian indie rock.
Synth pop trio Pocket Palma were very busy the whole weekend, having three shows in different locations in just two days, but always ready to come back to Tvornica where they performed what’s widely seen as their breakthrough gig less than two years ago. The sound of Europavox Zagreb completely changed around midnight, though, with the Damir Imamović Trio from Sarajevo. Damir is deeply rooted in his family traditions, as a grandson of legendary Bosnian sevdah folk singer Zaim Imamović. A bit like fado or much more like the extinct Greek genre rembetika, the old school sevdah music is all about love and sadness, while contemporary reinterpretation by Damir Imamovic could be a magnificent experience for every world music festival.
Europavox Zagreb day 2 started with the duo YellowStraps from Belgium. Their frontman Yvan Murenzi was born in Rwanda, grew up in Uganda and his singing still has an East African feel inside YellowStraps blend of neo-soul, trip-hop and downtempo electronic. Slovenian alt-rockers Koala Voice played several gigs in Zagreb before, but this one was simply the most remarkable, with some extra points for their frontwoman Manca Trampuš.
Lithuanian Timid Kooky made the long road trip from Vilnius and played a freak rock extravaganza sometimes similar to early King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Belarus electro-punk and coldwave duo Super Besse were a part of INmusic Europavox lineup in 2018 and 2019. With those memories in mind, the festival audience was ready for the band which came to Zagreb from Minsk via Berlin to sound like a part of the new Manchester scene. Super Besse played loud as always, but Parisian noise rockers The Psychotic Monks made it yet louder. Just a couple of minutes after the beginning of their frenetic show, it was very clear why they were selected as the closing act for the premier Europavox Zagreb event. The impressive finish by the Psychotic Monks serves up the strongest recommendation for next year’s festival.
Check out the Europavox festival Zagreb 2021 aftermovie!
And now let’s head for Europavox Clermont-Ferrand for the Part 2 (France) !
After a wonderful event at the Marcel-Michelin Stadium last June, the Europavox festival is back and is taking over the Coopérative de Mai for two days of celebration! The programme includes the best of the European scene: eight groups, seven nationalities, eight unique universes selected over the past year by the European artistic committee, to be discovered without delay. The village will host food-trucks and entertainment, as well as the #NextGenEU stand of the European Commission Representation in France!
LINE-UP
- 5.10 – Jesse Markin (FI), PPJ (FR), Mourn (ES), Yasmyn (EE)
- 6.10 – Lor (PL), Joan Thiele (IT), The Psychotic Monks (FR), YellowStraps (BE)
