Skopje, 26 May 2026 (MIA) - The programme of this year’s 25th OFFest festival of world music will feature eight concerts over four festival evenings from June 3 to 6, the organiser, the Skopje Jazz Festival announced Tuesday at a press conference. This year’s edition will feature artists from 12 countries, with a special focus on Africa.

Festival director Oliver Belopeta stated that the concept remains unchanged, with all performers bringing special projects. He explained that even though this is an anniversary edition, the program was not expanded because of limited funding and a lack of suitable concert infrastructure. He also noted that a summer stage has been requested for years due to high temperatures, but without success.

“The most important thing was the main concept of the program and bringing in the most representative names from the so-called Third World, meaning world music, without neglecting Europe or the Mediterranean countries. This year the focus is on Africa. Every year we feature one or two musicians from a specific region, and now we are bringing together several African regions to present a cross-section of what is currently relevant there,” Belopeta said.

“Twenty-five years is a really long experience. The list of performers is huge, and I am still surprised when I look back at who we have hosted over the years, starting with David Byrne and Cesária Évora at the first OFFest,” he said.

The 25th OFFest will open on Wednesday (June 3) at 8 pm at the National Opera and Ballet (NOB) with a performance by Guitari Baro (“Guitar Conversations”), an instrumental trio of two guitars and a balafon, performed by three renowned griot musicians from Guinea and Mali. Their music blends traditional hypnotic styles with jazz, Congolese rumba, Guinean dance bands and Cuban music.
South African group BCUC (Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness) will also perform on the opening night of the festival at 10 pm at the National Opera and Ballet (NOB). Active for 23 years, the band delivers a vivid, trance-like sound that reflects the traditions, spirituality, and rituals of their homeland. Their unique blend of psychedelic grooves, combined with hip-hop consciousness and punk rock energy won fans from all around the world. They return to OFFest’s jubilee edition after two years, presenting their new fifth album, “The Road is Never Easy.”

The concert on June 4 at 8 pm at the National Opera and Ballet (NOB) will feature acclaimed Norwegian violinist Nils Økland and his collaborators from the Nils Økland Band, known for combining traditional folk music, contemporary sounds, jazz and free improvisation. Økland will first perform solo, and later in a duo with organist Sigbjørn Apeland.

At 10 pm at the National Opera and Ballet (NOB), Macedonian duo “Dobrila & Dorian” (Dobrila Grasheska and Dorian Jovanović), known from Chalgia Sound System, will perform. Their OFFest appearance will mark the concert promotion of their third album, “Wind To Blow.”

The third festival night (June 5) at 8 pm at the National Opera and Ballet will open with the Spanish–Italian duo Raül Refree & Maria Mazzotta. Raül Refree is known for pushing beyond traditional genre boundaries and is regarded as one of Europe’s most innovative producers of the last decade. Maria Mazzotta is one of the most important voices of the music scene in Italy’s Apulia region. Their collaboration resulted in the album “San Paolo di Galatina,” through which they reinterpret Apulian folk music, portraying Italy at the beginning of the 20th century.

The second concert on June 5, at 10 pm at the NOB, will feature the female collective Les Amazones d’Afrique, with musicians from Mali, Benin, and Congo, representing contemporary West African feminism. The group was formed in Bamako, Mali, in 2014 by three musical stars and social activists: Mamani Keïta, Oumou Sangaré, and Mariam Doumbia. They use music as a campaign for gender equality and to draw attention to the serious issue of violence against women. Their sound is rich and stylistically diverse, blending pan-African influences and collective harmonies with raw contemporary pop.

The final night of OFFest (June 6) will take place at the dancing hall of the Youth Cultural Center (MKC). At 10 pm, Mozambican musician, composer, and instrument maker Matchume Zango will perform. He is regarded as a leading contemporary master of the timbila, a traditional wooden xylophone. He is part of the famous Timbila Mozimba group and has released solo work such as “Wata M'cande” and “Tatei Watu”. Over the past twenty years, Matchume has toured the world as a performing musician and composer of traditional, experimental and fusion music.

At 11 pm at the same venue, the four-member band Zawose Queens from Tanzania will perform, continuing the long tradition of fluid polyrhythms and rapturous polyphonic singing of the Gogo people (also known as Wagogo) from the Dodoma region of central Tanzania. They will bring their East African roots with subtle electronic elements-with beats and drops.

On the final night of OFFest, the Brazilian musical documentary “Elis & Tom – It Had to Be You” by director Roberto de Oliveira will also be screened at MKC Cinema Frosina. The 2023 film is composed of archival footage documenting the making of the album by bossa nova icon Tom Jobim and popular Brazilian singer Elis Regina. In 1974, they met in Los Angeles to record what would become one of the most iconic albums in the history of Brazilian music.

OFFest is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, which has granted Mden 2.4 million for this year’s edition. The City of Skopje is not participating in the support, which was previously suspended by the city’s former mayor. As in previous years, the festival poster and catalogue were created by artist Zoran Kardula.

Photo: MIA