The audience, which mostly attends the very high-quality programs of this year's 18th International Festival of the Mediterranean Theater in Tivat, is in doubt and a kind of disbelief as to how, as part of this cultural event, which is already renowned and high-quality in the region, it could happen that its organizer, the Tivat Center for Culture ( CZK), organizes a concert of turbo-folk music by a Belgrade singer Dear Peđa Jovanović.
Namely, on July 15, CZK organized a big concert by Peđa Jovanović and his band Big Concert Orchestra on the Tivat summer stage as part of "Purgatory", so that night the whole of Tivat resounded with the sounds of low-quality, shoddy folk music interpreted by Jovanović, but which is very popular in the area of the former Yugoslavia.
It is an incredible contrast that within the framework of a prestigious manifestation of culture, which for the people of Tiv and visitors of that city has had a cult status for 18 years, as is the case with "Purgatorie", after a series of prestigious and very expensive and high-quality cultural programs from the countries of the region, but also from Europe, organizes an all-night concert by folk singers who normally perform in discotheques and night clubs, he stunned the people of Tiv, met with numerous protests on social networks, but also with the subsequent surprise of some members of the JU Center for Culture Council who did not expect that something like Jovanović's concert would take place. ever happen in the official program "Purgatory".
In response to the questions of who and for what specific artistic values of the music created and interpreted by Peđa Jovanović, on behalf of the Tivat Culture Center, made the decision to organize a concert by that folk singer as part of the International Mediterranean Theater Festival, the director of the Ju Goran Božović told "Vijesta" that he did it himself.
"The decision to include Peđa Jovanović's concert with a large concert orchestra on the Summer Stage as part of the Purgatorija 2023 accompanying program was made by the business director Goran Božović, as well as for the entire festival program, with the full support of the members of the Council of the institution as a whole, without a single word against it. It is specifically about a performer whose popularity is on a dizzying upward trajectory in the region, who performs quality fun, pop, rock and folk music. There is no talk of turbo folk," said Božović, adding that in addition to Jovanović's original songs, "which are mostly ballads," "blocks of the most popular songs of other artists like Zdravko Čolić, Dino Merlin, Tom Zdravković, in an extraordinary arrangement and performance by a large concert orchestra of over ten musicians, including a string trio".
"The emphasis is precisely on the performance with a large concert orchestra for the first time in Montenegro, which makes this event special, with a repertoire adapted to the occasion and place, with extremely elegant and very cultural arrangements and a high-quality performance of all the songs in the repertoire at the concert," he pointed out. Bozovic.
He claims that the management of the CZK wanted to prepare "a more diverse content for a wider audience, for a more diverse taste, for the citizens of Tivat, as well as for tourists, bearing in mind that the festival program represents the dominant tourist offer of the city" in the accompanying program of the festival.
However, the "Purgatory" festival, although it has its own touristic dimension, is primarily a manifestation of culture, and not cheap tourist entertainment for the general public, as part of its "Tivat summer festival" program, organized by the Tivat Tourism Organization, which often organizes popular but artistic concerts. and culturally poor quality music.
The Center for Culture, as a JU that deals with culture, and not with tourist propaganda or tourist animation, on the other hand, would have to think primarily about the artistic and cultural level and quality of the programs it organizes, and especially those programs it includes in the program of a prestigious event such as International Mediterranean Theater Festival "Purgatorija".
Božović, who is the business but not the artistic director of JU CZK, seems to be unaware of this, so he was guided by the popularity of Belgrade folk musician Jovanović, who started his career some 20 years ago with the worst turbo-folk music on the albums recorded in "Grand Produktion", and considered that such a performer should be brought and allowed to perform on the stage of the largest open stage in the southern Adriatic - Tivat's Summer Stage, which has 1.100 seats in the auditorium. Božović, however, does not see this as a problem:
"The accompanying content of the festival is so rich and varied, it's just a matter of personal taste whether someone will like something or not, but even by chance it cannot be said in the connotation of inappropriate content. There are photos and videos that confirm that Peđa Jovanović's concert was spectacular, a high-quality production, with an excellent atmosphere and, above expectations, an excellent reaction from the audience, who spent almost more than half of the concert on their feet and cheered, expressing their satisfaction", said the director of CZK Tivat "to the news ".
When asked to confirm or deny the information that individuals in the audience at Peđa Jovanović's concert, carried away by the cultural atmosphere he created, sat on the chairs in the auditorium of the summer stage and drank on them and "fell into sevdah", Božović said that "there were such cases".
"Whether someone was influenced by the excellent atmosphere in such a way that at some point they climbed on the chair, there were also such cases, which was regulated with the reaction of the security, and that ultimately speaks of the culture of the individual, and cannot devalue the quality of the event itself" , the director of the Tivat Cultural Center is convinced.
When asked how much money the CZK allocated for the organization of this event, Božović said that the costs of organizing Peđa Jovanović's concert amounted to 22.000 euros, "of which a large part, over 15 thousand, was covered by the tickets sold"... When asked if he considered the organization of such an event turbo-folk music concert this year's "Purgatories" and in general, the image that the city of Tivat is trying to build in terms of culture was dealt a big blow, Božović replied in the negative.
"We believe that there are no negative effects even on the Purgatory festival, and especially not for the city of Tivat, on the contrary! We believe that with this concert we got more quality, that after a long time we organized a quality concert of popular music, which was confirmed by the huge interest, satisfaction and praise of the audience, and we are sure that this concert will be remembered for the excellent and very cultural and polite performance of the performers. and a superb orchestra, with a fantastic atmosphere almost unheard of at concerts in Tivat", summarized Božović.
Several members of the Council of CZK Tivat, however, unofficially told "Vijesta" that they were extremely unpleasantly surprised by what was seen and heard at the concert of Peđa Jovanović on June 15 in Tivat and that they do not consider such a program at all appropriate for "Purgatory" and in general, the activity that deals with CZK.
"At the session of the Council, when the program "Purgatory" was considered, the business director of CZK presented this event in a completely different way, which we accepted, because most of us didn't even know who Peđa Jovanović was because we don't listen to that kind of music. In any case, a mistake was made, but it is now a done deal and we will try to make sure that something like this never happens again", said one of the members of the Council, who did not want his name mentioned in the media.
By the way, after the concert at the Summer Stage in Tivat, as part of the official supporting program of the International Festival of the Mediterranean Theater "Purgatorija", Peđa Jovanović and his Big Orchestra Band held a concert with the same repertoire at the Top Hill discotheque in Budva.
Bonus video: