Bajaga Headlines Mountain Music Fest, Vranjkovic Closes Show
The eleventh Mountain Music Fest in Divcibare had its centerpiece night on Saturday, headlined by Bajaga i Instruktori, but the stage ultimately closed with a set from Nikola Vranjkovic.
On Saturday night in Divcibare, several things could be heard happening at once, and that’s probably the most accurate description of what Mountain Music Fest tries to be. From the main stage came choruses the crowd knew even when it hadn’t chosen them, from the woods drifted the murmur of the festival section called Magic Forest, and from the third and smallest stage came an electronic set that had nothing to do with the first two. A festival spread across three days on a single mountain rarely allows itself this much contrast within the same hour.
The program on the main STAZA stage opened with Del Arno Band, followed by the Croatian hip hop act Elemental, and the night’s high point was a concert by Bajaga i Instruktori. What came after was more interesting than the high point itself: the stage was taken over by Belgrade rappers Bigru and Paja Kratak, and the night’s program was ultimately closed by Nikola Vranjkovic.
Why wasn’t the high point of the night also its end?
Lineup order is always somebody’s decision, and it always says something. When a festival places its biggest name in the middle of the program rather than at the very end, it signals that the event wasn’t built around a single performance. Bajaga’s concert in Divcibare did what that catalog has done for four decades, it brought together generations that otherwise share no other playlist, but once it ended nobody turned off the lights and sent people back to their tents. Instead, two rappers and one alternative rock artist took over.
That’s a curatorial choice with consequences. The crowd that came for the canon stayed for a program that doesn’t speak to that canon, while the crowd that came for hip hop got Bajaga as an opening act, whether anyone intended it that way or not. Festivals that put their headliner last are, in practice, organizing an exit from the grounds. This one organized staying.
Three stages, and the forest as a fourth
Running alongside the main program were the BREZA and VINIL stages. On BREZA that same day played the Hungarian fusion jazz act Jazzbois and electronic artist Ijan Puli, while VINIL hosted Berlin based DJ and vocalist Stela Zekri, originally from Paris. Three parallel programs at a festival this size mean no single visitor can catch everything, and that’s by design.
What sets Mountain Music Fest apart from the big summer showcases isn’t the lineup so much as what happens between the concerts. The festival runs more than 40 side programs, from open air film screenings and creative workshops to sports activities and food offerings, and Magic Forest brings together art installations, a film program and content for families with children. An earlier program announcement said the festival would screen digitally restored domestic classics, “Varljivo leto ‘68” and “Majstori, majstori.”
Those two titles playing in the forest, a few hours before or after Bajaga’s concert, form a dramatic arc the organizers probably never planned but that exists all the same. It’s the same cultural layer, the post Yugoslav context that here isn’t sold as nostalgia but left to work quietly in the background while children draw on the trees.
The festival has run since 2016 and declares its reliance on solar power, recycling and sustainable practices. This year marks its eleventh edition, running from July 31 to August 2, tickets are sold at the gate as well, children under ten get in free, and pets are allowed on a leash. That last detail isn’t a marketing flourish, it decides who shows up in the first place.
What’s left for Sunday
The festival’s final day is today, and the program across the three stages looks like this:
- STAZA: IDEM, Zoster and the British acid jazz act The Brand New Heavies
- BREZA: Dvica and Bvana Herbalajzer & Dzezeri
- VINIL: Timbe b2b Iron and Stella and the Longos Live
An earlier program announcement had also mentioned Nu Genea Live Band, Rundek and Haustor i Ekipa, names that would headline the bill at almost any other festival in the region. Here they’re just part of the list.
Eleven years is a serious run for a domestic festival, especially one that hasn’t grown fast. Mountain Music Fest has stayed small enough to walk across in three days and stubborn enough to bring in one international name each year that otherwise doesn’t get played in Serbia. Judging by Saturday’s lineup, the festival knows what it’s doing when it leaves room not for ovations, but for whatever comes after them.
