The 9th edition of the festival of musical discoveries will take place at more than 15 concert and conference venues around Ljubljana. Focusing on new, stylistically diverse acts, MENT Ljubljana showcases up-and-coming and established artists from all over Europe. The MENT conference is also an indispensable part of the festival, attracting hundreds of professionals from all over the world, who visit Ljubljana to enjoy the wide-ranging music programme, make new acquaintances, meet professionals from the Balkan region, strengthen their networks and get the latest updates on trends in the music industry.

This year, MENT presents The Baltic Focus, a joint initiative dedicated to the vibrant scenes of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which will bring together a wide range of performers, professionals, presentations and conference themes related to the Baltic states. The Baltic Focus is co-produced by the export offices Music Estonia, Music Latvia and the Lithuanian Music Business Association with the support of the Baltic Cultural Fund.

MENT is also joining forces with Ljubljana-based electronic music and sound art festival SONICA and SHAPE+ platform with an exclusively curated SONICA & SHAPE+ Stage, presenting adventurous electronic music from Eastern Europe. SONICA’s founder and artistic director Martin Bricelj Baraga and head of SHAPE+ Michael Brenner will participate at this year’s conference, while MENT’s Specials will include two workshops by the SHAPE+ alumni Wojciech Rusin and Katarina Gryvul.

PROGRAMME

31 NEW ACTS:

Croatian post-hardcore outfit ###, Latvian indie dance duo Bel Tempo, intimate indie pop from Hungary boebeck, Italian nu jazz adventurers DayKoda, Slovenian modular explorer DUF, Latvian r&b/hip hop diva Eliza Legzdina, Croatian singer-songwriter/pop phenomenon Fran Vasilić, indie quartet from the Amsterdam underground Global Charming, Slovenian heralds of regional folk traditions Gugutke, Lithuanian singer-songwriter and composer Jausmė, Irish shoegaze dreamers Just Mustard, Slovenian experimental folk trio Kačis, Ukrainian representative of cutting-edge electronica Katarina Gryvul, Austrian postclub producer Kenji Araki, Italian lo-fi romantics LAZZARETTO, Slovenian algorave ambassador Luka Prinčič, Estonian alter r&b singer manna, nonconformist avant-jazz trio Miha Gantar Trio, Slovenian audiovisual electronic project GMB+jesusonecstasy: Nexus AV, Czech futurist pop duo NIVVA, UK jazz metal duo O., Lithuanian noisemakers Plié, Serbian garage rock charmers proto tip, techno punks from South London PVA, Slovak leftfield indietronica Sam Handwich, Slovak experimental electronic duo Tittingur, German pop rock multi-instrumentalist UCHE YARA, French post-punk squad Unschooling, ambient electronica from Slovenia X.U.L, Polish futurist composer and instrument maker Wojciech Rusin and Estonian noise rock veterans Zahir.

ALREADY ANNOUNCED:

birds of unknown (SI)

Klotljudi (RS)

Lelee (SI)

Moveknowledgement (SI)

Nesen (LV)

Planeta Polar (LT)

Puuluup (EE)

Wu-Lu (UK)

Zouj (DE)

MENT 2023 PLAYLIST:

To help you discover the music of the newly announced acts, we've refreshed our MENT 2023 playlist.

CONFERENCE

MENT presents 16 new conference speakers, highlighting some details about the conference programme. The Baltic Focus will offer a full-day programme dedicated to the music scenes of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In conjunction with the regional association of independent discographers Runda, the Runda Digital Day will take place, focusing on digital music content. In addition to the already announced interviews with Christof Ellinghaus, founder of the German independent label City Slang, and legendary Slovenian promoter Igor Vidmar, there will also be a conversation with Elena Natale, founder of Tallinn's HALL club, which is considered to be the meeting point of the Baltic electronic club scene. Martin Bricelj Baraga, founder and artistic director of the Ljubljana-based SONICA festival, will also be a guest of the conference, presenting the history and activities of the festival and its cooperation with the European platform SHAPE+. The MENT conference also includes many other talks, presentations and workshops: booking festivals and concerts in the post-covid era, sustainable touring, breaking into international music markets, sync in films and commercials, opportunities in web3/DAO communities, and also the traditional listening and speed networking sessions.

16 NEW SPEAKERS:

Agnese Cimuška (Music Latvia, LV)

Aleksandar Bošković (Believe, RS)

Dominika Maša Kozar (Kino Šiška, MENT, SI)

Elena Natale (HALL, EE)

Inna Lytovka (Music Export Ukraine, UA)

Ļena Šme (Skaņu Mežs, LV)

Kaytlin Davies (Friends With Benefits DAO, DE)

Martin Bricelj Baraga (SONICA, MoTA, SI)

Login Kochishki (Password Production, PIN Music Conference, MK)

Martynas Butkevičius (8 Festival, 8 Days A Week, LT)

Matwe Kaščak (SPFM, Nová Cvernovka, SK)

Michal Brenner (SHAPE+, CZ)

Tanya Korenik (UCE, EE)

Roman Demchenko (Sveta Bar, DamnLoud Agency, EE)

Victor Diawara (Loftas, LT)

Zoran Stajčić (Ravnododna, HR)

TICKETS

Early bird festival tickets and PRO PASS tickets (festival + conference + access to delegate base + MENT tote bag) are available until 28 February.

LINKSWebsite: https://www.ment.si/en

Lineup: https://www.ment.si/en/lineup

Tickets: https://www.ment.si/en/vstopnice

FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1343715606436202/

Socials: FB / IG / TW / TikTok / YT

M E N T Ljubljana. Produced by Kino Šiška. Conference co-produced by Sigic. The festival is supported by the City of Ljubljana and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.