Ethnomusicologist, music critic, journalist, researcher, magazine and portal editor, festival co-organizer and co-selector…
Born in 1980 in Belgrade. Graduated from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade (2006). In 2007, Marija started working in the media. From 2008 to 2019, she worked at Radio Belgrade 2: 1) CD reviews and reports on world music/classical/pop/rock/jazz concerts and festivals in Serbia, and abroad, 2) hosting the show “Od zlata jabuka” focused on Serbian and Balkan music and cultural heritage, 3) playlists in different talk shows. Marija has been writing articles for the Serbian world music magazine “Etnoumlje” since 2008. She soon became the deputy editor, and from the end of 2012 – the editor-in-chief. Since 2018, she has been editing the portal of the World Music Association of Serbia, within which there is also an online version of the “Etnoumlje” magazine. She collaborated with Radio BBC 3 and Canadian Radio CBC and writes for the Italian “Blogfoolk” portal and German “Folk Galore” magazine. Her texts have been published in “Vreme”, “Novi magazin”, “Politika”, “Nedeljnik” and on numerous portals (“BeforeAfter”, “Opanak”…) She is a member of the “Transglobal World Music Charts” panel and the founder and administrator of the “Balkan World Music Chart” panel.
As a member of the World Music Association of Serbia, Marija led several field research projects to date, which were immortalized on CD releases that Marija is editor of: “Pesma izvika”. “Vojvođanski gajdaši”, “Svirka i pesma 5 gajdaša”, “Gusle: Epic Tradition of Serbia”, “Izvika Singing in the Beauty of Female Voices”, etc. Marija often writes liner notes for albums by different artists, and prepares promotional texts and EPKs for bands.
She was involved in the international project EU.T.ER.PE (2014 – 2016), as an art director in the team of the Serbian partner (“Ring Ring” Association). She is also included in the current European project ‘’Sounds of Europe’’. Since 2019, she is the President of the “Ring Ring” Association and a member of the team of the “Todo Mundo” and ‘’Pocket Globe’’ world music festivals. She also cooperates with the “Gergina” Association from Negotin, actively participating in various projects – “Gergina” Vlach music festival, CD and book releases (The Magic of Vlach Music/2021, Vlaške pesme/2021, Etno grupa Gergina/2022, etc.) – related to the tradition of Vlach minority in Serbia.
Marija is often a jury member at various folk music festivals and competitions in Serbia. She is a member of the international jury, which chooses the best world music album in Slovakia (2019/2020/2021/2022). She was a member of the Hungarian Heritage House’s jury that selected Hungarian musicians in 2019 for promotion abroad. She participated as a delegate, speaker or journalist at many music conferences and world music festivals so far: Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Finland, etc. She is the author of the book “The Musical Heritage of Vranje” (2020) released with UNESCO’s support. “Muzika Klasika” magazine chose her as the “Best Music Critic” in Serbia in 2019.
Marija is a member, communication manager and editor of ‘’Music Information Centre of Serbia’’ internet portal.