The non-formal association of the Novi Sad drummers and percussionists ‘Samićani’ will bring closer the beauty and variety of percussion musical instruments and musical styles related to them to a wider audience in the Egység Cultural Station on Wednesday, 22 July, at 7 p.m. The audience will be able to follow the summit of the Novi Sad drummers live on the official Facebook page of the Egység Cultural Station.

A musical journey through different cultures that reveal their authenticity through percussion is one of 22 projects that received funding in the ‘Artists. Now!’ public call of the ‘Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation that aims to strengthen the Novi Sad cultural scene through a network of cultural stations, raising its capacities, decentralisation of culture and audience development.

The authors point out that such a programme, which presents the process of work and cooperation of drummers, is important not only from the aspect of opening for the audience, but also the promotion of cooperation among musicians.

‘Playing drums and percussion encourages an individual to socialise and create a unique interaction through rhythm. The entire event will be filmed and photographed in order to collect promotional material for future projects and continue cooperation with the ‘Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation. By that we mean organising events such as Fair of drummers, producers of drums and drum equipment, which would include workshops of some of the world’s most renowned drummers and percussionists, holding the Festival of Drums and Percussion (concert part) and the fair, with the aim of attracting a wider population and professional musicians. The main result of the project is the promotion of the ‘Samićani’ association both through the programme itself and through the material on electronic media after the implementation’, says Saša Ignjatović.

The programme starts at 7 p.m. with the presentation of artists, after which the collective improvisation of jazz musicians – jam session begins. Saša Ignjatović, Dušan Raškovicć Branko Bošković, István Cik, Zoran Tegeltija, Đorđe Bubnjević and Vladimir Stojković will perform a great musical performance. The authors say that the idea for this project came from the initial idea of occasional informal gatherings of the Novi Sad drummers.

‘At those gatherings, we exchanged experiences, knowledge, talked about topics related to the music business we deal with, presented our equipment and instruments, exchanged equipment, etc. A special segment of our gathering, and the most favourite, is playing together in the form of sessions. Later, the idea of raising informal socialising to a higher and more serious level arose, where the goal is to form a formal association of citizens in the near future, i.e. The Novi Sad drummers and percussionists, through which we could expand our activities, such as increasing the number of members, organising workshops, concerts, events, fairs and exhibitions of percussion instruments and drums, etc.’, explains Ignjatović.

The Novi Sad drummers and percussionists point out that the ‘Artists, Now!’ project, together with cultural stations, is exactly one of the necessary types of support for artists.
‘Artists now have more opportunities and places where they can present their work. The problem we see is the lack of adequate financial support that independent artists have, because in that sense the opportunities are reduced to engagements through public and state institutions and possibly to some festivals. We need even more places in the city for presentation and the opportunity to hold events throughout the year and that artists can be adequately paid. We hope that this will help expand such activities and open new opportunities for freelance artists,’ says Saša Ignjatović.

The ‘Artists. Now!’ public call received 112 applications from a wide field of artistic expression, of which 22 grants were awarded to artistic projects from various fields, including dance performances and workshops, art installations, exhibitions, contemporary theatre, mini-festivals of urban subculture, concerts, forums and literary programmes.

Partner in the ‘Artists. Now!’ project is Mercator S.

Photo Credit: V. Veličković