Biser Jadrana Folklore Festival
A Mediterranean pop song contest in Tivat: 24 acts, a jury, and a live RTCG broadcast.
This event has ended
It returns every year — dates for the next edition haven't been announced yet.
There was a time when the Adriatic summer meant song festivals: open-air stages, orchestras, new melodies premiered to holiday crowds and broadcast to the whole country. Biser Jadrana deliberately picks up that thread, and Tivat — with its warm July nights and easy-going waterfront — makes a natural home for the revival.
The format is a genuine competition: twenty-four acts perform before an expert jury, competing for the festival's awards, and the whole evening is broadcast live on RTCG, Montenegro's public broadcaster. New songs in the Mediterranean spirit are premiered before a national audience, placing Tivat in the lineage of the region's storied festival stages.
For visitors, it is a rare chance to watch a piece of living pop culture being made: an open-air television spectacle of new music, stage lights and summer-night atmosphere in the middle of Tivat's walkable waterfront town centre. The audience is part of the broadcast — applause, verdicts and all — which gives the night a charge an ordinary concert cannot match.
Because every song is new, nobody in the crowd knows the melodies in advance; you listen the way juries do, picking favourites as the evening unfolds, and arguing for them afterwards over a late drink on the promenade.
The festival lands in the heart of the high season, so it pairs naturally with a beach day or a stroll along the Pine promenade — arrive as the evening cools, find your spot before the broadcast begins, and let the contest carry the night.
What to expect
A real song contest
Twenty-four acts compete before an expert jury for the festival's awards.
Live on RTCG
The whole evening is broadcast live on Montenegro's public broadcaster.
Reviving the Mediterranean song
The festival renews the Adriatic tradition of summer song contests, premiering new Mediterranean pop.
Summer Stage, Tivat
One open-air July evening in the heart of the town's summer season.
All-new music
Every song is a premiere — the crowd hears each entry for the first time, just like the jury.
Pairs with a beach day
Mid-July high season in walkable Tivat: swim by day, stroll the Pine promenade, then take in the contest as the evening cools.
What happens when
July 18, 2026
- 18 July, eveningTwenty-four acts compete before the jury at the Summer Stage in Tivat
- Live broadcastThe whole contest airs live on RTCG
- FinaleJury awards crown the best new Mediterranean songs of the year
Where it takes place
Plan your stay
Tivat — where to stay and how to get around
Live offers from local hosts on our booking platform. Nothing is charged online — you pay the host on site.
Booking requests are confirmed by the host; payment on site. Offers come from the Travel to Montenegro booking platform.
More events
What else is on in Montenegro around the same time.
Kontrasti
Three free December evenings of classical music spotlighting young artists.
New Year’s Eve in Herceg Novi
Three days of New Year’s programme on Nikola Đurković Square in Herceg Novi, with performances by regional music stars from 31 December to 2 January.
New Year’s Eve in Tivat
Four nights of open-air concerts by the sea on the Pine waterfront in Tivat, from 30 December to 2 January, featuring the biggest regional performers.
