The Druga Godba Festival was established in 1984 to present an alternative to the festivals existing at the time whose programmes failed to include more radical or simply “different” musical practices. Initially, these aims resulted in a programme which concentrated on alternative rock, "rock in opposition", contemporary jazz and experimental music, and which rediscovered and re-established Slovene traditional music.
Druga Godba was also the first in the former Yugoslavia to promote reggae and in fact any other locally coloured “world” music genres originating not only in other European but especially in non-European cultural environments. Druga Godba was also the first in this part of Europe to present the artists of African, Arab, Latin-American pop and other ethno-pop, even before the “boom” of world music saw its heyday.
Later Druga Godba became a musical “fellow traveller” of the legendary WOMAD Festival, with which it collaborated in the 1980s. In the 1980s, when the Slovene concert and festival programmes began to expand and open up to musical practices that previously had been neglected, in particular rock and jazz, the focus of the Druga Godba programme shifted to world in ethno* music, but still kept presenting all other original musical genres, though in a smaller scope and frequency.
Alongside its original programme, Druga Godba has initiated and offered a range of parallel events, such as street animation and concerts, musical workshops, events intended for children, exhibitions, film screenings and lectures which formed its accompanying programme. In the 1990s it became the stronger festival with this type of programme in Europe, establishing connections with the majority of other important festivals and becoming also a member of the central international organisation in this field, the European Forum of Worldwide Music Festivals.
In designing its programme and for artist exchange, it regularly collaborates with other international organisations, cultural centres, and foreign consulates and embassies. The sponsors of Druga Godba include the Slovene Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Ljubljana.
Druga Godba was also the first in the former Yugoslavia to promote reggae and in fact any other locally coloured “world” music genres originating not only in other European but especially in non-European cultural environments. Druga Godba was also the first in this part of Europe to present the artists of African, Arab, Latin-American pop and other ethno-pop, even before the “boom” of world music saw its heyday.
Later Druga Godba became a musical “fellow traveller” of the legendary WOMAD Festival, with which it collaborated in the 1980s. In the 1980s, when the Slovene concert and festival programmes began to expand and open up to musical practices that previously had been neglected, in particular rock and jazz, the focus of the Druga Godba programme shifted to world in ethno* music, but still kept presenting all other original musical genres, though in a smaller scope and frequency.
Alongside its original programme, Druga Godba has initiated and offered a range of parallel events, such as street animation and concerts, musical workshops, events intended for children, exhibitions, film screenings and lectures which formed its accompanying programme. In the 1990s it became the stronger festival with this type of programme in Europe, establishing connections with the majority of other important festivals and becoming also a member of the central international organisation in this field, the European Forum of Worldwide Music Festivals.
In designing its programme and for artist exchange, it regularly collaborates with other international organisations, cultural centres, and foreign consulates and embassies. The sponsors of Druga Godba include the Slovene Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Ljubljana.
