The 6th World Tamburica Fest

World's fifth "Tamburica Fest" was held from June 15 to 17, 2012 at the Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad. It featured artists from the region, the USA, Russia, Italy, Greece and Austria, and the revial program spot was reserved for the stars of the domestic and regional music scene: Željko Joksimović, Jelena Rozga, Zvonko Bogdan and Apsolutno Romantično. The sponsors of the festival were the City of Novi Sad and the AP Vojvodina Government with media support by the Serbian Radio Television, Vojvodina Radio Television and the public media service of the Republic of Srpska. The general sponsor was Kutjevačko Vinogorje, as well as the big friends of the festival - Jelen Pivo and Hotels "Novi Sad" and "Leopold". The special recognition award for contributing to the festival program was awarded to the Tamburitza Orchestra "Hrvatski Dom" from Wels, Austria, "Batini Bećari" from Romania, "Tasludža" from Montenegro and "Iz Cirkulan" from Slovenia. The Special Media Award went to "Banjalučki Tamburaši" from Bosnia and Herzegovina; the Audience Award went to "KUD Lola Beograd". The award for preserving the tamburitza tradition went to tamburitza orchestra from Begeč, Serbia and the award for Best Artistic Expression to "Savski Valovi" from Croatia. The best Vocal Solo Artist was awarded to Trajko Jordanovski from Macedonia; the Best Begeš award went to Igor Ćosić from the Veseli Tamburaši orchestra from Novi Sad; the Best Bass Prim went to Branko Kutuzov from the Subotica-based "Hajo" orchestra, the Best Prim was awarded to Franjo Jusbašić from the orchestra "Kristali" - Croatia, and "Hajo" from Subotica won the Best Orchestra award.

The potential of a small village in Vojvodina, Deronje was not only recognized by the organizers but numerous friends of the festival: The Public Office of the President of Serbia, the Serbian Ministry of Culture, AP Vojvodina Government, the Municipality of Odžaci, The Museum of the City of Novi Sad, the Tourist Organization of the City of Novi Sad, Hotel "Novi Sad", Stylos, Pagal, Žito, Dalton gradnja and DDOR. Thanks to the big support of media sponsors such as the Serbian Radio Television, Vojvodina Radio Television, Republic of Srpska Radio Television, Večernje Novosti, Press, Dnevnik, Blic, Nacionalni Građanski, In Radio, Radio Zrenjanin, Osijek City Radio, Internet Radio D65, Radio Kikinda, Radio Dunav, BOSS Radio, NS FOLK Radio, Radio Novosti and Delta Radio Television, the festival was viewed by a multimillion auditorium. The award for the Best Orchestra went to the Varaždin Tamburitza Orchestra; the Best Prim Award went to Tamaš Balog from Hungary; Best Bass Prim went to Branko Jovanović Bako from Austria; Best New Song was awarded to Croatia's “Garavuše“. The Special Audience award was given to the Tamburitza Orchestra of the City of Banja Luka; the Special Media Award to ”Batini tamburaši” from Romania, and the Special Musical Expression Award went to ”Tamburaši sa Dunava” from Zemun, Serbia.

The world's first tamburitza music festival - the "Tamburica Fest" was held in the village of Deronje from June 27 to 29, 2008. This vivid village at the west of Bačke was always famous for extraordinary tamburitza players who went into the world to promote the music of the Vojvodina Plain. The festival was also marked by the colorful entertainment, cultural and gastronomic program, as a part of the Vojvodinian culture and tradition. The festival was opened by the famous actor Rade Šerbedžija, after which the audience was enchanted by the voice of Olivera Katarina with the song "Ðelem, delem", who reminded all people of the times when "Skupljači perja“, a cult Serbian film directed by Aleksandar Petrović in 1967. The first festival evening featured Haris Džinović, one of audience's favorites. Saturday and Sunday was reserved for tamburitza players from Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia and the USA, and after the competition part of the festival program, the audience had the wonderful opportunity to enjoy music by the group Ođila and Luis. The awards went deservedly to “Ravnica“ from Subotica as the Best Orchestra and Zoran Bugarski Brica from “Zorule“ as the Best Prim Player. “Biće skoro propast sveta“ from Deronje won the Best Authorial Song award.

The fourth world's "Tamburica Fest“ was held from July 1 to 3 in Deronje.

Eleven orchestras from nine countries competed for the best tamburitza orchestra title, and more than 30 orchestras were included in the revial part of the programme. The Best Bass Prim Award was given to Dejan Radović from the orchestra Romansa, the Best Prim Award was handed out to Zoltan Vilzari from the Hungarian orchestra "Vizin“, whereas the Special Award was given to the "Sjenke“ orchestra from Rešetari, who also won the Best Song Award with "Duša Cigana“. Esad Menić from Pljevlja's City Tamburitza Orchestra won the Best Solo Artist Award; audience voted the tamburitza players from Vipava, Slovenia as the best, and the Best Interpretation Award went to the tamburitza players from Požega, Croatia. This year's festival was followed by tens of thousands of tamburitza music fans. The revial part of the festival was reserved for the members of the Big Tamburitza Band of the Serbian Radio Television, as well as Šaban Šaulić, Dženan Lončarević and Zvonko Bogdan.

The festival was supported by the AP Vojvodina Government, while the media coverage came from Serbian Radio Television, Vojvodina Radio Television, Republic of Srpska Radio Television, Večernje Novosti, Dnevnik, Press and Građanski List.

To the satisfaction of more than 90.000 visitors, strings have been buzzing for the past three days and nights in Deronje as never before! Dozens of tamburitza players were played in "Deronjan standard" tuning; sometimes privately, sometimes on the table, but always in good spirit.

International jury was headed by one of the biggest experts on ethno music from Serbia, Predrag Cune Gojković, while the other members included Viara Grančarova, ethno music professor at the Musical Academy in Sofia; Mihael Ferić from Croatia, professor and composer, the author of many textbooks; Mićo Miranović, the head of the Tamburitza Festival in Bijelo Polje; as well as Budimir Stojanović, music professor and a conductor from Pančevo.

The award for the Best Orchestra was given to "Diako“ from Croatia. The Best Authorial Work was awarded to the song "O tamburo sviraj sviraj”, by the "Javor” orchestra from Ruma, while the Best Instrumentalist award went to Edin Nalović, the prim player from the "Tuzlanski tamburaši” orchestra.

The special mark to the festival was left by the performances by Legende, Ana Bekuta, as well as the bard of tamburitza music, Zvonko Bogdan.

Vojvodina Radio Television was in charge of broadcasting all three festival nights, whereas the final competition was also broadcasted by Serbian Radio Television.