Zajecar's Gitarijada: 11 Bands Over Three Nights
The 59th Zajecar Gitarijada runs August 27-29 at Kraljevica, bringing together Crvena Jabuka, Divlje Jagode and Goran Bare, with this year's honorary chairman a man who won the same festival in 1983.
Milan Djurdjevic won the Gitarijada in Zajecar in 1983, playing with the band Nova Zemlja. Forty three years later he is returning to the same stage, at Kraljevica, but in a different role: the founder and keyboardist of Neverne Bebe has been named honorary chairman of the 59th Zajecar Gitarijada, running from August 27 to 29. Djurdjevic is also a former member of Smak, so this year’s festival ties both the competition’s own history and the history of Serbia’s rock scene to a single person.
The program was announced this week, and the Gitarijada remains what it has been for decades: a mix of a competition among unestablished bands and a showcase of established names, with one detail that still keeps it accessible. Admission to every festival program, all three nights, is free.
Who plays which night
The schedule runs across three evenings, each with its own semifinal or final of the demo band competition ahead of the main showcase program.
- Thursday, August 27: the first competition semifinal starts at 8 p.m., followed by Promonael, one of two winners of the 58th Gitarijada, then Crvena Jabuka and finally Zoster.
- Friday, August 28: the second semifinal, then Moxie 8, last year’s other winner, followed by Letu Stuke, Neverne Bebe and an EKV Krug Tribute program.
- Saturday, August 29: the demo band final, after which Goran Bare & Majke and Divlje Jagode take the stage, with Rainmaker, an Iron Maiden tribute band, closing the night. The winners will be announced and awards handed out at 12:30 a.m.
Eleven bands for one title
Eleven bands are competing for the 59th Gitarijada title. An expert jury selected ten, and the eleventh spot went to Ena Djordjevic, representing the BARF festival, the Gitarijada’s partner competition. The competitors are Conspiracy from Skopje, Raspad Sistema from Rijeka, Arterije from Brod, Ricky Loud from Belgrade, Noise Gate from Novi Sad, Last Nerve from Tuzla, Frontmeni from Leskovac, Foliranti from Belgrade, Crockett from Novi Sad and Mece from Belgrade.
The geography of that list says something about the festival on its own, even before any of these bands touch a string. None of the competitors are from Zajecar, and the names span Skopje, Rijeka, Brod and Tuzla just as much as Belgrade and Novi Sad. The Gitarijada has long been a regional competition rather than a local one, and the lineup confirms that more clearly than any announcement could. The call for demo bands stayed open until July 24, so the list now made public is the result of more than a month of judging.
An honorary chairman with history on that stage
The honorary chairman title here is not an empty formality. This year the festival handed it to a man whose biography is written directly into the competition’s history. Djurdjevic won the Gitarijada in 1983 with Nova Zemlja, before joining Smak and later co-founding Neverne Bebe, the band that is itself playing in the showcase program this year, on Friday night. An honorary chairman performing with his own band the same weekend is not a common occurrence, and that detail sets this year’s Gitarijada apart more than the guest lineup alone.
The rest of the showcase program is familiar ground for the Kraljevica audience. Crvena Jabuka and Divlje Jagode are names that return to this stage season after season, while tribute programs devoted to Ekatarina Velika and Iron Maiden let the festival honor, alongside its current performers, bands whose original lineups no longer exist in full.
For its 59th edition, then, the formula that has kept the Gitarijada running for nearly six decades stays the same: free admission, three nights, one competition for young bands and a guest program that brings generations of rock fans in Zajecar together in the same place.
