'Mix the City – the Balkans' resulted from a partnership between the British Council and EXIT Festival who have teamed up to bring together Ghostpoet, a UK based recording artist and 12 local musicians from across the Balkans to create a unique musical experience that tells an unexpected story of the region, encourages people-to-people conversations and reinforces friendly relations.
Over the past few weeks I realised that despite of the language barrier or me never meeting these musicians before we all think the same, we all want to make good music and be creative so this was really an eye-opening experience from the beginning.
- Ghostpoet
By engaging with ‘Mix the City – the Balkans’ audiences across the world are now able to easily explore and experience the sights and sounds of the Balkans at their fingertips. By mixing recorded audio samples of the 12 artists that might have never even seen each other before, every user has to use his/her own creativity to bring the eight cities closer together. The end result of every interaction with the platform is a unique mix in form of a shareable music video clip that combines user-generated audio mix with footage of performing artists and authentic landscapes of the Balkans.
Over a few weeks in March and April, Ghostpoet has been travelling the Balkans in search for well established and emerging artists that have through their own music told a story of how they see the Balkans, its cities, people and culture. This has been an exciting journey through Banja Luka, Belgrade, Budva, Novi Sad, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje and Tirana. During the tour, Ghostpoet recorded samples with 12 local musicians and filmed footage that shows progressive talent, richness and diversity of the region. The stories behind the filming locations in the eight cities will help ‘Mix the City’ users discover some of the hidden gems that make the Balkans truly special.
The 12 local musicians that will be featured on the platform are: Saša Kukolj from the band Shizomantra (in Banja Luka), Hornsman Coyote (in Belgrade), Harmonija Choir and Verica Čuljković (in Budva), Slobodan Trkulja (in Novi Sad), Liburn Jupolli and Florin Fanaj (in Pristina), Jusuf Brkić (in Sarajevo), bands Luboyna and Blagojče Penov from String Forces (in Skopje) and Fatos Qerimaj and Bledi Boraku (in Tirana).
Take a look at the mix created by Ghostpoet.
Following the great successes of ‘Mix the City’ in Tel Aviv and Istanbul, ‘Mix the City – the Balkans’ is produced by the British Council and EXIT Festival. The project is realised in collaboration with British creative agencies Flying Object and Roll Studio.
