HISTORY

World Music Association of Serbia (WMAS) has been nurturing, promoting, and advocating world music and traditional music since 2000. Its beginnings are connected with Jagodina and the Etnomus Festival (1997), which represented a pioneering impulse for the development of the world music scene in Serbia. The association was founded by Oliver Đorđević.

Over the years, WMAS launched the magazine Etnoumlje (published in print from 2007 to 2021, in an online format from 2021 to 2025, and since 2026 replaced by the Etnoumlje Blog, edited by Marija Vitas), organized World Music Summits in Belgrade, published the lexicon World Music in Serbia 1982–2012, and developed a number of discographic projects with more than 35 releases under the WMAS Records label. By 2024, it had also published six thematic information guides on world music and traditional music in Serbia, intended to present the local scene internationally. WMAS is a co-founder of the Music Information Centre of Serbia (MICS), a member of the International Association of Music Centres (IAMIC) network.

Since 2015, WMAS has represented Serbia at The World Music Expo (WOMEX), while also developing service guides and implementing international projects. In 2019 it received the status of a representative association in the field of intangible cultural heritage, and in 2024 it became an accredited advisory organization to UNESCO. The association is also a member of the European Folk Network and the initiator of the regional chart Balkan World Music Chart.

Today WMAS implements projects such as Play It! and LHTMApp, developing education, documentation, and archiving of musical heritage, while creating a creative space for contemporary musicians, preserving cultural heritage and nurturing the memory of generations of artists who have shaped this scene.

On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, WMAS has also published a special booklet on its history, which can be downloaded here >>