July 5, 2019 - Bellezza, female a capella vocal band (traditionally called klapa) from Tivat won the best Montenegrin klapa at the 18. International Klapa Festival, which was finished last Sunday in Perast.

“The International Festival of Klapa Perast is one of the festivals that nurture a cappella singing of traditional songs and thus attracts participants and fans of klapa singing. All singers sing, according to the festival's propositions, one traditional and song from Boka kotorska. This is good for the affirmation of songs from our region, because they will be performed at festivals outside of Montenegro. Through the festival, composers, songwriters (Nova pjesma – New Song), songwriters, arrangers and, of course, performers are also recognized. Therefore, it is important for us to participate in festivals and give our contribution to the preservation and the development of klapa music”, said Mirela Mudreša, the leader of “Bellezza” for MTN.

“In addition to the already well-known Montenegrin vocal bands that appeared in the competition and the entertaining part of the programme, this year we were introduced to the young bands Marineri KO, Primorkinje BD, Štiglići PG, Kamerton Podgorica, which is very good for the future of klapa music in Montenegro”, she added.

Klapa Bellezza has had some serious preparations for this festival, where it had already won the award “Deštregovi” for the best debut klapa in 2014:

Professor Jasminko Šetka has been working with us at professional seminars and we have had more frequent rehearsals. The song "Budila majka Ivana" (Mother Was Waking Ivan Up) carries sadness and cries of the mother, which, in the solo section, was dramatically portrayed by our member Nataša Pavlović. In 'My Craving' (cover by Nikola Gregović), after the modulation, the rhythm of the Bokelian Dance has been awakened by the touch of Angela Homen. The II jury's award, which we have also received at the Festival was the result of our good energy and the desire to revive these songs together.                                                                                                                                                                                                        At the final evening of the festival, the Bellezza vocal band was named the best Montenegrin klapa and I hope that this will bring us 'wind in the sails' in our further work.

Bellezza was founded in 2012, following earlier projects at the Music school in Tivat and the members were mainly school professors. One of them, Bruna Matijević says:"I like singing in this acapella vocal group and we are all very enthusiastic about it. In the beginning, the idea was simply to start working as a klapa after a few performances that we had done. Some of the members have changed and there are seven of us singing together now".

The Bellezza vocalists are preparing for different performances around Boka kotorska this summer, so the audience will get the chance to hear them more.

05. July, 2019 - Shooting a Rooster, a traditional event in Perast, could be prohibited in the future if organizers do not cease using firearms and live targets. This is now the official request to the competent authorities.

A recommendation to consider and revise the event's content has been sent to the organizers of the Perast Local Community, the Association of Friends of the City of Perast and the Municipality of Kotor, by the Council for Civil Control of Police Work, after last year’s and this year’s protest of the Organization for Animal protection “Korina” because a rooster was killed on the event last year and again this year. 

Shooting a live rooster is part of a long tradition in Perast. The "Shooting a Rooster" event, marking a great victory over the Turks in the 17th century, is organized every May 15th.

The Veterinary inspections, according to claims by Korina NGO, confirmed last year that the tradition will be interrupted.

"An order was issued to the organizers last year that they should not use a live animal during the event, but this year they announced that the tradition will remain the same, and that the target will be a living animal," said Tijana Kovačević from this NGO. She contacted the Veterinary Directorate this year.

 "They were very undecided, but I insisted that on May 15th, when events were held, they monitored the event. The veterinary inspector later did not answer my phone calls and one of them did not even want to go out to the field. We have also informed the police about everything," she says, adding that at the end of the incident, however, a live animal was used.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              “Korin” informed the Council for Civil Control of Police Work Inspection about everything, which received a response to the question from the Police Directorate (PD), headed by Veselin Veljovic, on July 2^nd.  The council, after that, also sent its opinion on everything. In the letter, they recall that the officials of the Kotor police in the particular case took measures and actions within their jurisdiction in accordance with the positive legal regulations. They also add that there were no omissions in the conduct of these actions.

 "The PD submitted all collected information to the Basic State Prosecutor (BSP) in Kotor in a timely manner," the Council's letter says, whose members are convinced that the outcome of prosecutors' activities will “be professional".

"After the final assessment of the BSP in Kotor, the Council expects the police to be responsible in the area of ​​its competence, bearing in mind the fact that the use of weapons has been banned in a public place and that the security of citizens could be endangered," they add. The recommendations state that "it is time to re-examine the character and content of this traditional manifestation whose activities and contents must be in accordance with the positive regulations of Montenegro".

"The Council invites LC Perast, the Association of Friends of the City of Perast and the Municipality of Kotor to carefully consider and review the content of this event, which, no matter that it is traditional, has to recognize the unquestioning respect for law in relation to the use of weapons and moral advancement in re-examining and rejecting traditionalism in the treatment of animals," it states, among other things, in the recommendations.

The Council, composed of Aleksandar Sasa Zekovic, Drazen Cerovic, Branislav Radulovic, Vladimir Dobricanin and lawyer Zoran Celebic, invite the Government and "especially its advisory body for the care of animals to encourage activities and efforts to protect the welfare of animals."

The Police Directorate was recommended to temporarily suspend the public gathering of this kind in future or even cease it if it is implemented in the same way as before.

source D. Kalač, "Vijesti"

After almost two decades of joining to the island of St Nikola by throwing hundreds of cubic meters of rock and concrete blocks into the sea by the businessman from Belgrade Nenad Djordjevic, with no approval from the authorized state agencies, the small island of Skoljic is free again.

The members of the local community have excavated the former natural passage between these two islands and thus enabled the former natural passage of sea currents.

Thus, as the member of the Council of the local community "Old Town" Stefan Bozovic said, the enormous damage that was done to the submarine and the whole aquarium of Budva Bay has been corrected because the merging of the two islands completely disrupted the biodiversity.

Bozovic stated that they had a great deal of help from the current beach tenant on the island, the company "Yachteagle" from Podgorica and their executive director Vukota Odovic, who are ready to completely free the natural passage after the season with a construction plant, as there are plenty of concrete blocks and large stones which are impossible to be removed now.

Twenty years ago, Djordjevic, a former high official of JUL, bought three hectares at the southern end of the island from an old-town family, after which he began extensive construction work. In addition to building a few stone objects on the island without any approval, which had been removed by inspection in 2002 and construction was stopped, he had dredged 400 meters of beach and then merged Skoljic, destroying one of the touristic and natural attractions.

Concrete blocks will be removed in autumn (Photo: Vuk Lajovic)

Concrete blocks will be removed in autumn. The newly-appointed council of the local community has now launched an action to alleviate the consequences of this devastation of the natural environment. "We, several fishermen, have gone to the tenants on the island and asked whether they can meet our demands and open the natural passage between Skoljic. They were willing to help us and excavated with their plant as far as they could. Now it can be passed through there by swimming, but by boat, it's still impossible. We agreed to clean it up completely in September and return it to the previous state. They have nothing against excavating the passage and they immediately supported our action. Every summer they had problems, because the tourists who climb to Skoljic used to fall and they were often injured," Bozovic pointed out.

Opening of this passage, as he said, is important not only to be a tourist attraction again, but because of the flow of the sea.

"Much more important is to enable the sea flow. “Tunja”, or the shallow sea that connects the Slovenian beach and Skolj, has been disrupted since the natural passage was blocked. You know, as soon as you "touch nature," you put something where it doesn’t belong, it reflects on another place, instead of sand filling the beach, it is now placed on another location," Bozovic said.

Murava - the lungs of the underwater are in extinction

Bozovic said that one of the consequences of the closure of the natural passage is that the seagrass of Posidonia oceanica, the so-called murava, is lost from the entire belt of Budva Bay.

"Murava, as we call it, is an indicator of the seawater quality and is a habitat for many other species. It needs pure water, flow. Unfortunately, it has been lost at many places. It is known that Posidonia is the lungs of the underwater. Murava is protected by numerous world, European and national laws as the priority habitat of the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, almost exclusively as a result of human activity, murava is being extinct throughout the Mediterranean," Bozovic said.

Text by Vuk Lajovic, on July 4th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

Memorial Day was marked with a central celebration in Herceg Novi, Sutorina, where the wreaths to the victims fighting for freedom were laid by the President of Herceg Novi Stevan Katic and the President of SUBNOR Herceg Novi 1941-1945, Mihailo Kilibarda.

Vice-Presidents of the Municipality Danijela Djurovic and Milos Konjevic, Consul of Serbia in Herceg Novi Zoran Dojcinovic, as well as representatives of various organizations and citizens attended the Memorial Day celebration.

"By marking this Day at the memorial park in Sutorina, we remember and celebrate all the ancestors who defended their families, homes, customs, language, freedom, and homeland during the turbulent history," Katic said and stressed that Memorial Day must not be just a figure in the school books, because even today there is fascism as a state organization of radical authoritarian nationalism.

He was concerned that a large number of people are still struggling for basic rights and freedoms, which are difficult to conquer and easily lost.

"That is why we must not forget the dates that represent the beginning of an anti-fascist struggle, and we have to convey to the young generations the memory of the many names and dates that determined the history and the future of our people," Katic said.

Memorial Day was also marked in Bijela, where the members of the local organization of the fighters laid wreaths and flowers on the grave of Milo Savo Serovic, at the church of the Virgin Mary. The Serovic family gave another bold son of the revolution - Petar, who fully contributed to the liberation struggle of Bijela and Herceg Novi.

Text by Slavica Kosic, on July 4th 2019, read more at Vijesti

The 4^th Street Performance Festival InArt will be held from 24 to 26 July in Tivat. As in previous years, special attention has been paid to the international character of this cultural and tourist event that attracts more and more interest from year to year. This year, there are participants from eight different countries, who will perform on the streets of Tivat.

The festival’s program director Ljubo Kalicanin said at the press conference that this year the audience would see various programs, and particularly interesting are the guests from Italy 'Teatro dei Venti' and from Chile 'Comani Depaso'.

Kalicanin said that the program for the youngest would also be exciting, in addition to Pilko Pilko's troupe from Germany at the festival, Montenegrin actor Sejfo Seferovic will have the premiere of his play “Klovnovska posla” (Clown’s business).

Kalicanin emphasized in particular that the InArt festival became part of the European Association of Festivals which is very important both for the festival itself and for the development of cultural and tourist facilities in Montenegro.

"Thanks to the fact that InArt is recognized as a festival that has made a big contribution to the development of street art in this part of Europe in recent years, we will attend the presentation of projects funded by Creative Europe. InArt is the only festival that invites not only from Montenegro but also from the region, and we have found ourselves among 25 other European festivals. This opens up the possibility of direct cooperation with other festivals, which could be of great importance not only for the development of the festival, but for the overall picture of our country we are sending in Europe and beyond," said Kalicanin.

Dejana Stijepcevic from the Tourist Organization of Tivat estimates that the fact that InArt festival has been admitted to the European Association of Festivals says that the idea we have supported four years ago is developing in the right direction and being recognized not only here but also in the wider area. "In this way, the city of Tivat is increasingly important in the international context as a tourist destination. Projects like this and many others are long-term and thanks to them, Tivat builds the image of a tourist town that offers guests a new experience," Stijepcevic said. Nina Vukcevic said that the NTO supported the festival since its foundation because it was recognized as a festival that contributes significantly to the tourist offer of Tivat and Montenegro.

This year's Ambassador of InArt, Vojo Cvetanovski from Northern Macedonia, said that the cooperation of everyone, both the local community and the state, is crucial for the success of each festival in the region, as European festival budgets are great and only in this way can we create a quality event.

The organization of the festival is supported by TO Tivat, Ministry of Culture, NTO.

Text by CdM, on July 4th, 2019, read more at CdM

Tivat Airport continues to break records! On Sunday, June 30, the airport accepted and operated 56 aircraft and 11,313 passengers in less than 24 hours.

"On the same date last year there were 13 airplanes and 1,750 passengers less, and these results give us the assurance that 2019 will be another record year for the airports of Montenegro," said ACG's management.

They recalled that, when ACG 2003 took over the airport in Tivat and Podgorica from JAT, the annual traffic of passengers at both airports was 600,000

"Now it is two million more. In 2003 we had only two regular and ten charter lines. We are now connected to 80 destinations throughout Europe. Every year, we are progressively establishing new partnerships with reputable airlines, and only in the last two years, 30 new lines have been opened," emphasized ACG, adding that at the same time the assets of the state-owned company were increased by more than four times, with ACG's last year’s sales of 37, 5 million euros, which is nine percent more than in 2017.

Text by Sinisa Lukovic, on July 1st, 2019, read more at Vijesti

The 2nd International Scientific Conference "Maritime and Port Logistics - MPL of the MHCL 2019" finished in Bar, which aimed at integrating science and maritime economics, transport and logistics. During the two days at the MPL Bar, 40 published scientific research papers were published by university professors and researchers from 16 countries around the world, from Memphis in USA to Kobe in Japan.

The special lecturers at the conference were two leading university professors, scientists and researchers worldwide in the field of naval and port logistics - prof. Dr. Harilaos Psaraftis from the Technical University of Denmark and prof. Dr. Kap-Hvan Kim from South Korea's State Pusan ​​University.

In a specially organized session on the maritime industry, the domestic companies AD Luka Bar, AD Marina Bar, DOO Agent Plus, “Cerovo”, Luka Drac, and the university “Aleksander Moisiu” from Drac, were introduced.

"The conference was a very useful experience for all the participants, we had the opportunity to share experiences directly and to gain new contacts. These meetings are particularly important for the development of the logistical direction through Bar, and I hope that they will continue to be in the future in Montenegro. Special Contribution with his engagement was provided by Prof. Dr. Branislav Dragovic from the Faculty of Maritime Studies in Kotor, and Prof. Nenad Zrnic from the Belgrade Faculty of Mechanical Engineering," said Kenan Perazic, Executive Director of the DOO Agent plus from Bar. The conference organizers were the Technical University of Vienna and the University of Šamgaj, and co-organizers and supporters were the Ministry of Science of Montenegro, AD Marina Bar, MARLCEN, MedAMPL and DOO Agent Plus.

Text by Radomir Petric, on July 3rd, 2019, read more at Vijesti

In the waters of the Ljuca river, Plav lake and Lim, the competition part of the jubilee twenty-fifth European championship in fly fishing began, which is hosted in Montenegro for the first time.

President of the Association of Sport-Fishing organizations of Montenegro, Omar Basic, said that everything went well and that the host cities Plav, Gusinje, Andrijevica and Berane did their best to show our country in the best way possible.

"There are about a hundred contestants from twenty teams and states from across Europe. These are the best fishermen in fly fishing in the world. Their criteria are very high, but I think we have met the same. Already on the first day of the competition, we have great catches and even more impressions of nature and Montenegrin rivers," Basic said.

He reminded that the European championship in fly fishing is taking place in five areas - on the river Ljuca, in the territory of the Gusinje and Plav districts, then on Plav Lake, on the route below Plav, in Andrijevica and Berane.

"Local self-government in all municipalities has helped us prepare both financially and mechanically in preparations. The Ministry of Agriculture also assisted with the organization," Basic said.

He recalled that fly fishing is one of the oldest disciplines in sport fishing.

"Some even call it royal fishing and it is very popular in the world. In addition to a special accessory, it requires creativity and craftsmanship. You catch the fish in clear waters and gather a large number of nature lovers who, over time, have been promoting the technique," Basic said.

According to him, the goal is not to eat the fish - but to return it to the water so it can continue living, extend the life of the species, or gratify another fisherman.

"It is too much to emphasize how much this technique contributes to the conservation of fish stocks, and the participants in fly fishing enjoy adrenaline, competition and unique experience. For this most human aspect of fishing, it is often said that it is about life philosophy," explains Basic.

The zone of fly fishing in Plav is one of the best and most diverse offers in Montenegro, and tourists are equally attracted to the fly-fishing zone on Lim.

"We expect the European championships to promote these terrains significantly and to contribute to the development of fishing tourism, which is very popular in the world," Basic said.

The European Championship in fly fishing on the fields of Gusinje, Plav, Andrijevica and Berane will last for the next three days.

All of the one hundred competitors, judges and controllers who came from twenty countries are accommodated in hotels in Plav.

Text by Tufik Softic, on July 3rd, 2019, read more at Vijesti

The 27th Kotor Festival of Children's Theater opened in Kotor last night. In the next 12 days, children will take over the government and manage the city, so the president of the municipality, Vladimir Jokic, handed over the keys of the town to Kristina Miljanovic.

Many children and parents attended the opening, and the festival director Petar Pejakovic announced a rich theater program.

27^th Kotor Festival of Children's Theater

During the opening of the festival, Vanzemaljko (the Alien), who for 27 years has been wandering the universe in search of the festival, landed on the stage.

27^th Kotor Festival of Children's Theater

This year's festival was opened with the play "Ivo Vizin-Captain of Dreams" co-produced by the Podgorica City Theater, Kotor Festival for Kids and KC Nikola Djurkovic.

The play is about becoming a hero and how heroes are struggling with failures.

The text won the first prize at ASSITEJ last year's competition.

27^th Kotor Festival of Children's Theater

 The festival will last from 1 to 12 July and will be devoted to various educational workshops and cultural events dedicated to children.

Text by Boka News, on July 2nd, 2019, read more at Boka News