If you are in the town of Sibenik on the Croatian coast on 22 and 23 August 2025 you are as far as I and many are concerned most fortunate! You have the opportunity to witness and attend a music festival of Dalmatian songs that will take your breath away; embed themselves in your memory so much so that you are bound to find yourself humming the tunes for quite some time to come. And if you are not there in person then, this year for the first time, you will be able to tune in from the comfort of our home to the Live Stream that will be set up.  And all this is due to a diaspora Croatian patriot and talented music artist Tommi Mischell who had the thriving foresight to return to Croatia from the United States and invest in the purchase of the Sibenik festival of Dalmatian Chansons! This, she said to me, was because of her passion and dedication to Croatian culture, which in turn ensures its survival and growth. Investment into Croatian economy by Croats living in the diaspora does not have to confine itself to manufacture, farming, building, tourism … to be gratifying. Investing in cultural undertakings as Tommi Mischell has done is equally gratifying and when it comes to a patriot it can be thrilling.

Hence, Sibenik will once again become the centre of the Dalmatian music scene at the end of August. The 28^th Dalmatian Chansons Festival will bring a rich program, a large number of performers, and for the first time it will be available to audiences on all continents via live stream. In the hosting role, alongside the experienced Branko Uvodic, the audience will have the opportunity to once again watch a familiar face from the small screen, Mirna Berend, who is returning to the stage after years of absence.

“Dalmatian Chansons in Sibenik has been excelling for 27 years in preserving musical quality by carefully selecting compositions by eminent composers, songwriters and performers, leaving the door open for new forces. The festival had 22 nominations for the Porin (a prestigious Croatian music award, equivalent to the Grammy’s Record of the Year in the US) and won five statues of this prestigious award – which no other music festival in Croatia can boast of,” Tommi Mischell points out.

This year, the stage in Sibenik will feature, among others, Ibrica Jusic, Darko Domijan, Đani Stipanicev, Đani Marsan, Nenad Vetma, Mate Grgat, Zorica Andrijasevic, Marko Pecotic Peco, Amir Kezic Leo, Boris Ostric, Bruno Krajcar, Simun Severdija, the Trogir a cappella group, Branimir Bubica and the Sebenico a cappella group, the Zirje a cappella group, the Prezenca women’s a cappella group from Zadar, and singer-songwriters Antonio Perina, Alex Jadro and Yoshka.

The festival traditionally offers an opportunity to young performers, and this year Martin Kosovec, Andrina Frleta, Anita Zagar/ (from the amazing Licke Drvosjece group), Dino Miklausic, Antonio Hranic, Karla Miklausic and Lana Mandaric will perform.

Among the international guests, the young Ana Petan from Skopje and the chansonnier Nemanja Nesic from Novi Sad stand out. The audience will also have the opportunity to hear the song by Zadarska Lucija Marcelic produced by Pink Noise, signed by Neno Belan, and among the authors stand out Nenad Nincevic, Dusan Sarac, Grigor Koprov and Elvis Stanic.

The big news this year is the global broadcast – the Festival will be broadcast live via streaming for the first time, making it available to viewers on all continents, with a special emphasis on the Croatian diaspora. The broadcast will also be available on the music television CMC, as well as numerous radio stations from New York, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver, but also from Argentina, South Africa, Australia, Germany and Austria.

Tickets for both festival nights are available via the Entrio system. Ina Vukic