Eco means the house, home, surroundings or environment we live in. Eco-logy reminds us to take good care of all of those, and that the eco-nomy can be handled differently. So there’s going to be a musical evening in Vrbnik, fostering good-neighbourly relations through an unusual blend of ecology and music. Vrbenski sopci (long flute players from Vrbnik), Kanturice (female choir), sopčići (a name for young instrumentalists in the local dialect), the Marko Žele band from the Lovran Neighbourhood, and the eco-workshop on building musical instruments from recyclable materials led by Ana Jagić Aljić, a music pedagogue, and last but not least, an eco-performance by the pupils of the Vrbnik branch school and musicians.
After Gomirje Accordion Mundial in Gomirje and the Bell-ringer’s Symphony in Čavle, the last warm-up event for the Porto Etno festival within the Rijeka 2020 ECoC project, will be happening on Saturday, 24 August 2019, in Vrbnik on the island of Krk. Vrbenski sopci whose long flute tunes have already conquered concert venues in Brussels, Strasbourg and Galway, will this time be performing before local audiences in the Škujica Square starting at 9 pm. It will be a musical evening fostering good-neighbourly relations through an unusual blend of ecology and music. Besides Vrbenski sopci, visitors will also be able to enjoy the performance of the attendees of a musical workshop led by Ana Jagić Aljić, a music pedagogue. They will be playing ethno music on musical instruments built from recyclable materials, while sopci and sopčići (a local dialect name for young and adult instrumentalists), Marko Žele’s electro-rock fusion band (from the Lovran Neighbourhood), and the Vrbenske Kanturice female choir will jointly go all out to try and woo the audience with a mellifluous medley of traditional Mediterranean sounds. The event will be organised by: Rijeka 2020, the KUD Frankopan Cultural and Artistic Association, TB Vrbnik, Vrbnik branch school, and the Interval Association from Lovran.
On the occasion of the Vrbnik event, Rijeka 2020 – European Capital of Culture will be providing fare-free transport by bus from Rijeka to Vrbnik and back. The bus departs from Rijeka to Vrbnik at 7:30 pm from the Žabica bus station, while the return from Vrbnik to Žabica is planned for around 11:30 pm. Applications will be accepted at the following e-mail address: dunja.matic-bencic@rijeka2020.eu. Limited seats available.
The events making up the Preliminary Programme of the Porto Etno festival are a blend of the 27 Neighbourhoods and the Kitchen of Diversity flagships of the Rijeka 2020 – ECoC project.
“Kitchen of Diversity” is focused on migrations and minorities, unusual music combinations, cookery, art and activism. It is open for the exchange of ideas, habits and for discussing existing prejudices, and it is also thematically focused on minorities and includes and celebrates various minority cultures and subcultures: national, ethnic, religious, gender, minorities according to physical or mental diversity, age and lifestyle. Everyone is invited to the “Kitchen of Diversity”. “Kitchen of Diversity” creates room for everyone.
The “27 Neighbourhoods” flagship gathers together neighbourhoods throughout Primorje and Gorski Kotar County and connects each of them with one neighbourhood in one of the member states of the EU. The “27 Neighbourhoods” flagship connects people from the islands, the coast, the outback, the highlands and the city of Rijeka. These are: Lovran, Opatija, Matulji, Kastav, Pehlin, Drenova, Škurinje, Turnić and Mlaka, Student Campus in Trsat, Jelenje, Čavle, Praputnjak, Kostrena, Crikvenica, Novi Vinodolski, the island of Rab, Unije, the city of Cres, the island of Krk, Malinska, Vrbnik, Gomirje, Mrkopalj, Fužine, Delnice, Brod na Kupi and Gornji Kuti. Our neighbours achieve international cooperation with 27 European neighbourhoods. This flagship provides multiple opportunities for an exchange that extends across Europe, thus creating an informal network of cultural activities that will last beyond 2020.
