Serbian guslar Srđan Avdalović performed at the first edition of the Festgħana festival, held in Malta from 21 to 24 May 2026. In an interview for the MICS portal, he reflects on presenting Serbian traditional music to an international audience and on his impressions from the famous Mediterranean island.

— Interview by Marija Vitas

One of the leading younger-generation guslars, Srđan Avdalović (1994), gave his most significant international performance to date at the inaugural Festgħana festival, dedicated to the traditional Maltese vocal form għana. This element of Malta’s intangible cultural heritage was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List in 2021, while Singing to the accompaniment of the Gusle was inscribed in 2018.

Avdalović was born in Trebinje. He completed primary and secondary school in Gacko. In 2013, he moved to Belgrade, where he enrolled at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy. From an early age, through his father, the renowned guslar Momir Avdalović, Avdalović became closely connected to the gusle, singing with this instrument, and Serbian epic tradition.

During his career, he has received several awards: first prize at the Festival of Young Guslars of the Republic of Srpska (2010), first prize at the Festival of Guslars of Serbia (2019), second prizes (2021, 2023), and a third prize (2022) at the same festival, as well as third prizes at the Federal Festival of Serbian Guslars (2022, 2025). In 2023, he was awarded the title of “National Guslar”, the highest distinction in this field. He is president of the Gusle Association in Belgrade, an organisation dedicated to the preservation and promotion of this part of Serbian cultural heritage. He is married and the father of two children, a son Jug and a daughter Mila.

At the Festgħana festival, Avdalović performed on May 22, presenting excerpts from “Propast Carstva Srpskoga” (The Fall of the Serbian Empire) and “Hasanaginica”, an excerpt from “Gorski vijenac” (The Mountain Wreath) by Petar II Petrović Njegoš, and the song “Ko udara tako pozno (Sveti Sava)” (Who strikes so late in the stillness of night/Saint Sava) by Vojislav Ilić.

• Srđan Avdalović at the Festgħana Festival, 2026 | Photo: Chelsea Muscat / Festgħana

MICS: How much were you able to “get a feel” for Malta in just the two days you spent there?

Srđan Avdalović: “I did my best to use my time in Malta to the fullest. Still, the feeling that I hadn’t come as a tourist and that I had an important task to complete didn’t really allow me to fully relax before I finished the performance, so it was only the day after the concert that I finally 'let my mind graze freely' and gave in to hedonism. As someone who is deeply interested in history, the opportunity to visit Malta was wonderful, because Malta is truly full of history worth experiencing. As for the cities I visited, those were St. Julian’s and Valletta, but I experienced the whole of Malta as a kind of Belgrade with its municipalities – where there is no clear boundary between Zvezdara and Vračar, just as there is no sharp distinction between Floriana, Valletta, and other towns. Climbing up to the Upper Barrakka Gardens and the bastions of Valletta and looking out over the open sea is truly an experience that is hard to describe. Also, visiting St. John’s Co-Cathedral, seeing Caravaggio’s painting 'The Beheading of Saint John', and witnessing that splendor was truly priceless. I recommend Malta to everyone!”

• The Parish Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Julian's | Photo: Srđan Avdalović

MICS: What was the festival audience like? How well attended was the festival, considering it is traditional music and only the first edition of the event?

Srđan: “The audience was very diverse. There were many young people, there were children, and there was also quite an older audience. It also seemed to me that there were equal numbers of men and women. What I noticed in Malta is that it is very difficult for me to figure out who is Maltese and who has simply ended up living there. I spoke with people while traveling around Malta, and when I would be sure that someone was not Maltese but, say, from Asia, they would tell me about their family: 'We’ve been in Malta for 200+ years' (laughs). There are people of fair complexion, darker complexion, even some I would assume to be of Asian appearance – all of them are Maltese! The audience was just like that – very colorful and diverse. As for numbers, since the festival took place in an incredibly beautiful location, resembling our Kalemegdan with a 'transplanted' botanical garden, there were certainly over 500 people across the entire area.”

• Upper Barrakka Gardens, Valletta | Photo: Srđan Avdalović

MICS: Did anyone from the audience approach you after the performance to talk, share impressions, or ask questions about the gusle tradition?

Srđan: “Unfortunately, before and after the performance, all performers were in the backstage area, so neither the artists nor the audience had the opportunity for more intimate or personal conversation. Only after the performance, and toward the very end of the program, did I go into the audience, but in 'civilian clothes', so it wasn’t quite the same. However, many people from the 'back', meaning production staff, as well as other performers, were curious and very pleasantly surprised by what they heard and saw (here I don’t mean me, but the gusle and traditional costume). So really, almost everyone who saw the gusle asked something about them, and it was my pleasure to answer.”

• Srđan Avdalović at the Festgħana Festival, 2026 | Photo: Chelsea Muscat / Festgħana

MICS: How did you feel during the performance? I assume the entire atmosphere is quite different from what you are used to at competitions in Serbia and the region or at gusle evenings.

Srđan: “Very different (laughs). I am used to singing for 'our' people, for those who know our history and language and who know who and what I am singing about. This was a journey into the unknown, among people who do not understand the language or the instrument, but who, I hope, were able to understand the emotion and feel at least a part of the love I feel for the gusle – and I am sure that emotion radiates, and that anyone with a receptor can feel at least something. There was no cheering from the audience or applause at moments such as when 'Miloš strikes down the Turkish emperor', but there was genuine expression of respect after each performed song. Also, before each piece, the narrator explained to the audience what the song was about and told its story – how it originated, who recorded it, and so on – so they did have some 'background knowledge' about what they were listening to. As a result, even if the lyrics were unknown to them, you could still notice emotions on some faces.”

• Festgħana Festival, Malta, 2026 | Photo: Chelsea Muscat / Festgħana

MICS: The Festgħana festival focuses on the traditional Maltese folk song, which, like Singing to the accompaniment of the Gusle, is on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Did you take a moment at the festival to hear that Maltese heritage? How present is għana / l-Għana as a tradition in the everyday life of Maltese people?

Srđan: “When I landed at the airport and was heading to the hotel, I spoke with the driver about the reason for my visit. He then briefly explained what għana is and told me about its history, noting that the tradition is not particularly popular among them (so we are the same there, we Serbs and Maltese). When I first heard għana myself, I personally liked it – the guitar accompaniment and live singing. The song has no fixed text; instead, a 'debate' happens in real time between people who tease and joke with each other in a humorous way. It reminded me of some old guslars who, in their minds, would create songs suited to the moment and the event they were attending and performing at. The fact that, after returning to the hotel that evening, I spent the night listening to għana on YouTube says enough about the impression it left on me. Unfortunately, I was in Malta for too short a time to see how much they themselves nurture that part of their tradition.”

• Għana tradition, Festgħana Festival, 2026 | Photo: Chelsea Muscat / Festgħana

MICS: What else did you have the opportunity to hear at the festival?

Srđan: “That evening of the festival when I performed, the program included only gusle and għana, so those were the only traditions I was able to experience.”

MICS: Does presenting Serbian gusle tradition to an international audience create an additional sense of responsibility for you?

Srđan: “It was truly a pleasure to perform in Malta. I had a strong feeling that I had to give my absolute best, because I believe that it was not Srđan Avdalović who went to Malta. It was the gusle and Serbian tradition and history that went there, and I was merely the medium through which they were manifested. I hope I justified the trust that was placed in me and that I represented the gusle and Serbia in a good way. If at least one Maltese person, after my performance, typed the words 'gusle' and 'Serbia' into the Google search of their smartphone, then for me the mission is successful, and I want to believe I carried out my mission with dignity.”

LINKS:

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