A happy reunion of MOST participants and celebratory vibes marked PIN Music Conference and Showcase 2023 in Skopje, MK, as the festival welcomed MOST (again) with open arms. Macedonia’s first and only music conference has hosted trainings, showcases and other MOST events over the past four years, making the whole community feel at home.

UPBEAT’s Best New Talent awardee Zarina Prvasevda enchanted listeners with her performance, with MOST artists Koszika, PJEV, Shkodra Elektronike and Flying Nomads also gracing the PIN stages and showing the cultural and musical riches represented by the project.

A MOST Reception attended by artists and industry professionals Flying Nomads, Koszika, Zarina, PJEV, Baklava, Alice in WonderBand, Dunjaluk and Ljubljana-based impresario Rok Kosir offered yet another opportunity to sum up the project’s results and lessons. As Login Kochishki and Balázs Weyer agreed, MOST alumni acted as a well-oiled community, the base of the future success of its members. Eszter Barna, manager of MOST’s management training and music export pillars underscored the sense of connection the project fomented, projecting fruitful continuation.

Further lessons were drawn at the press event dedicated to MOST, where speakers articulated the project’s coherence, structure, and tangible takeaways. Dunja Bahtijarević of Dunjaluk recalled a memorable instance of spontaneous singing at the conclusion of one of the trainings, and expressed a general atmosphere of kindness and solidarity among participants. Ivana Stefanovska of Password Productions gave voice to a belated sense of achievement she felt during an evaluation panel at BALKAN:MOST: “While you are doing it, there is often no time to stop and let yourself be emotional. This panel really gave me goosebumps as we realised together how much we did.” Strahinja Babić of DUK festival, in line with many, gave thanks to the professional network the project engendered,  helping him on his journey.