Porto Etno

Porto Etno is an international festival of world music and gastronomy that every year gathers hundreds of performers (musicians, dancers, cooks) in Rijeka, turning it into the world culture epicentre for a weekend. The indigenous smells, tastes, songs, and chants of Istria and Kvarner region blend with those from around the world, offering a vibrant recipe for a multicultural and open city.

The festival is centred around the ethnic music and gastronomy of countries whose minorities are active in Rijeka and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. Additionally, it also presents melodies and tastes of cuisines from all around the world that we can encounter due to increasingly intense migrations.

In addition to space offered to national minorities, their culture, gastronomy and folklore, the festival pays great attention to the development of the local music scene. Thus, its’ prominent feature is the Porto Etno Orchestra which gathers young jazz musicians from Rijeka, Kvarner and Istria. As the members of the supporting orchestra, they have an opportunity to perform with big regional and world stars. So far, they have played with: Iva Bittová (Czech Republic), Vasil Hadžimanov (Serbia), Maya Kamaty (La Réunion/France), N.O.H.A. (Czech Republic), Tamara Obrovac (Croatia),Saba Anglana (Somalia), Božo Vrećo (BiH), Teofilović brothers (Serbia), Amira Medunjanin (BiH) and many more. The festival also featured numerous world-renowned performers such as Boban Marković Orkestra, Divanhane, Baba Zule, Acid Araba, Esma’s Banda to name a few.

We take the best from culture and nature and turn it into a spice that gives a new flavour to Rijeka, thus creating new spaces for get-togethers, solidarity and tolerance.

In 2022, Porto Etno Festival has become part of the MOST Music European network whose mission is to strengthen the music market of the Balkans by connecting and supporting artists, festivals, clubs and institutions on the world music market.