BALKAN:MOST Festival

How about a road trip in the Balkans from Istria to the Black Sea? From Croatia to the southern tip of the Balkans Peninsula? The BALKAN: MOST Festival will provide you with this same travel experience in the heart of Veszprém - through music, art, and gastronomy. It will come to you in the form of the atmosphere of Sarajevo, the alleys of Kotor or Mostar, the aroma of cevapi, the most exciting musicians of contemporary Balkans culture and the energy of a real Balkans party.  

The music of the Balkans is full of undiscovered treasure and energy, guaranteed to shake up the streets of Veszprém. We will create a musical world that is honestly spirited, astonishingly beautiful, rooted in tradition and inviting feet to dance for three days: more than thirty acts - emerging bands and world music, ethno and jazz concert superstars, gastro programmes, and to top it off: professional programmes that will attract hundreds of music professionals from all over Europe. All this is the BALKAN: MOST Festival, the closing celebration of the summer of VEB2023.  

BALKAN: MOST is not just a festival of joy and release. It is the final top priority event of a four-year European project, ‘MOST Music’. The word ‘most’ means ‘bridge’ in Slavic languages, and ‘MOST Music’ is a bridge to Balkans music. The mission of the project, coordinated by Hangvető (‘Hangvető’ Music Dissemination Society) in Hungary, is to bring Balkans world music (including genres such as electro-folk, ethnojazz and dark folk rock) closer to audiences in the western part of Europe.  

The MOST project involves more than thirty bands, nearly eighty managers and sixty festivals, clubs, and cultural centres. A series of training sessions, internships and networking meetings lead up to the big final event in September. As part of the professional programme, a music industry-focused conference will be organised, with networking programmes, a record fair open to the general public, a listening session, and an exhibition.