Morgan Cultural Association

Contact

Kulturno umetniško društvo Morgan

Ledine 105a, SI-5000 Nova Gorica

kud.morgan@gmail.com

Founded in 2012 and headed by critic, producer and musicologist Tadej Stolič, Morgan Cultural Association (KUD Morgan) is one of the main organisers of live music events in Nova Gorica and the surrounding region, with a particular focus on jazz, folk, world and Slovenian music. Starting with the Music of the World Festival (Glasbe sveta) in 2012, the association has since steadily added other concert cycles and festivals to its roster, most of which have subsequently been brought under the regionally focused Pretočnice banner.

Music of the World Festival

Although KUD Morgan was involved from the start, the Music of the World Festival was inaugurated in 2013 at the initiative of the late Andrej Malnič, long-time director of the Goriška Museum, partly as a way of increasing the profile of the museum's main site at Kromberk Castle. The festival centres on folk musics from the across European continent and beyond, with a particular interest in artists who use their national traditions to explore more contemporary expression.

Generally held throughout August, the festival has focused on high-profile home-grown acts (Boštjan Gombač, Uršula Ramoveš in fantje z Jazbecove grape, Vasko Atanasovski, Brina Vogelnik and Neca Falk, among others), although room has also been found for global names, such as Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu (2013), Swiss-Albanian singer Elina Duni (2015) and Hamid Drake, widely regarded as the world's best jazz percussionist (2020).

The first five editions took place exclusively at Kromberk Castle, with the sixth being split with the atrium of the Municipality of Nova Gorica building in the centre of the city. The festival fittingly returned wholly to Kromberk in 2018, the European Year of Cultural Heritage, before a collaboration with Controtempo, a Cormons-based cultural organisation specialising in jazz, tipped a portion of the festival over the Italian border into Gorizia in 2019 as the (ultimately successful) joint Nova Gorica-Gorizia bid to become 2025 European Capital of Culture gathered pace. The events were held at Kromberk and at Teatro Verdi in Gorizia, which hosted a concert by Kamasi Washington, the biggest international name to appear at the festival to that point.

The Covid emergency meant that the 2020 edition was a scaled-back affair, although the collaboration with Gorizia and Controtempo continued. There was some controversy in the months leading up to the festival as the Municipality of Nova Gorica, responsible for around 20% of the festival's funding but faced with swingeing budget cuts as a result of the pandemic, sought to move the Slovenian part of the festival from Kromberk to the city centre. Resistance was largely successful, which meant that Kromberk could continue to play its role as the festival's spiritual home.

Series of Vinyl Evenings (Vinilni večeri) have preceded the festival since its inception and generally take place on Tuesdays in July. Held initially at Kromberk and latterly at the municipality's premises, they are lectures-cum-listening parties moderated by well-known Slovenian critics, writers and DJs, the only stipulation being that the music be presented in an analogue format. The evenings are usually accompanied by a small record fair.

Ubrane Note Festival

Much like Pretočnice, Ubrane Note functions as something of an umbrella for various other strands of KUD Morgan's work, being an all-year festival that encompasses the ObGlasBo, KvantAvtorske sabotaže v Novi GoVorici and JAZZ@trijA concert cycles. The first of these explores the intersections between music, the visual arts, spoken word and performance, with highlights that include Proti kapitulaciji (Against Capitulation), an audio-visual spectacle mounted by Slovenian electronic pioneers Borghesia in May 2019 at SNG Nova Gorica, a frequent venue for KUD Morgan events. ObGlasBo has also produced events for the nationwide Stories Today Festival.

The KvantAvtorske sabotaže v Novi GoVorici cycle, which began in 2014, showcases singer-songwriters of a more unconventional bent (Damir Avdić and Jani Kovačič, among others), as well as more mainstream rock artists (Demolition Group, Haiku Garden). Venues have included the terrace at SNG Nova Gorica, Mostovna Cultural Centre and Carinarnica.

Although the Covid emergency brought the cycles to a premature end in 2020, Ubrane Note partnered with Sajeta Art & Music Festival in December of that year to present the Zelena Oaza series of online concerts.

Other festivals

Since 2019, KUD Morgan has been responsible for organising events across Nova Gorica to mark World Music Day (also known as Fête de la Musique) on 21 June.

Medana

Kontrada

Pixxelmusic

Podpora: Mestna občina Nova Gorica in Ministrstvo za kulturo RS

See also

• Music of the World Festival
• Kromberk Castle
• Goriška Museum
• Sanje v Medani
• Municipality of Nova Gorica
• Ministry of Culture
• SNG Nova Gorica
• Mostovna Cultural Centre
• Sajeta Art & Music Festival