Rujanfest

Even if you don't know a word of Croatian, you should definitely consider attending the annual Rujanfest; it is one of Zagreb's biggest and most enjoyable music festivals and is much loved by its hometown audience. Each year, Rujanfest sees some of the biggest names in Balkan music visit, but it is much more than a stage for these headliners. Rujanfest holds a terriffic atmosphere, it is cheap enough to be able to be appreciated by a wide demographic of locals and offers outdoor drinking, a range of fast foods and several stages of performance. On smaller stages you will find a variety of musics, such as tributes to popular artists like Azra and the Balašević band and on the main stage, some of the bigggest names from the Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian music scenes.

Occurring over two weekends, the festival begins on Friday 21 September with leading Osijek band Grupa Vigor performing. Following immediately on the main stage will be legendary Bosnian singer Halid Bešlić, making a return visit to Rujanfest to air some of his favourites which have been loved over all countries of the former Yugoslavia since the '80s.

On Saturday 22 September, popular Belgrade based group Lexington Band appear and also Croatian singer and former Bijelo Dugme frontman, Željko Bebek plus band. On Sunday 23 September it's an all Croatian line up, with Dalmatinac Mladen Grdović performing, followed by one of Croatia's hardest working singers and celebrities, the ever energetic Maja Šuput.

The following weekend starts early, with popular pop singer Tony Cetinski appearing on Thursday 27 September, followed by Split's Petar Grašo on Friday 28 September. The festival's penultimate night, Saturday 28 September, sees Belgrade based singer Željko Samardžić visit and also Leskovac titans Amadeus bend. The festival concludes on Sunday 29 September with an evening that will be full of patriotic Croatian songs with Miroslav Škoro and Mate Bulić appearing.