17.-27.04.2025, E-Werk, Freiburg

BIRTHDAY EDITION
The Tamburi Mundi Festival, directed by percussionist Murat Coşkun, celebrated its 20th anniversary. The world's largest frame drum festival opened its doors for 11 days to international frame drum artists, festival visitors from all over the world, and renowned instrument makers. To mark the anniversary, visitors were treated to a special line-up and a first-class, incredibly varied program of concerts, workshops, sessions, and hands-on activities.

The move from summer to Easter brought only a slight cooling of temperatures outside—inside the Freiburg E-Werk, the drumming was just as intense, hot, and passionate!
More than 200 participants attended the workshops this year. Particularly noteworthy was the three-day ensemble course, which opened the festival for the second time and presented a final concert as a small highlight.

INTERNATIONAL PERCUSSION
The 2025 festival offered a wide range of different styles and percussion personalities, including Glen Velez (USA), Takashi Tajima (Japan), Andrea Piccioni (Italy), Liron Mejuhas (Israel), Khayrullo Dadoboev (Tajikistan/Germany), SISU Percussion (Norway), Robbe Kieckens (Belgium), Philipp Kurzke (Germany), Juana Laretta (Spain), Salim Beltitane (France), and many more! Most of them performed on stage and also offered exciting workshops as part of the festival program.

Special mention should be made of the six-piece female ensemble “Drums'n'Voices,” whose musicians from Italy, Poland, Germany, Spain, and Iran (Kasia Kadłubowska, Isabel Martín, Emanuela Lodato, Sara Fotros, Negar Bouban, and Gesine Bänfer) completely thrilled the audience.

YOUNG TALENTS

According to festival director Coşkun, promoting young talent and regional cooperation are important pillars of the festival program, alongside bringing together international frame drum greats. The young talents of the Bundesjugendpercussionensemble bundesbeat, together with Tamburi Mundi artists, built a bridge between the classical percussion repertoire and frame drums. On the other hand, at the

traditional cooperation evening “P.O.P. Power of Percussion,” young students (including Max Gerwien, Jordi Doben, and Yaschar Coşkun) from the Popakademie in Mannheim showed how much power there is in shared rhythm.

Also worth mentioning are two young percussionists who were given special attention this year: Ana Nicolás, who received the 2025 Frame Drum Award for young artists, including a frame drum of her choice from the Schlagwerk company. The other was this year's Artist in Residence Michał Pȩkosz from Poland, who presented his modern vision of traditional Polish music with “Sitartronic-Pekoslavsky,” among other pieces.

NEVER ENDING CONCERT
At the traditional “Tamburi Special Evening,” all of the percussionists participating in the festival stormed the E-Werk stage: the anniversary concert lasted over four hours, with one act trumping the next. World-renowned greats from the frame drum world came together here, improvising and performing compositions they had brought with them for this special occasion.

WORLD PREMIERES
The spectacular closing night featured a collaboration between a string orchestra and frame drums. In addition to a composition by four-time Grammy winner Glen Velez (USA), a piece written especially for “string orchestra and frame drums” was premiered at Tamburi Mundi.

FRAME DRUM FAIR
This year's “I.F.D.F.” (“International Frame Drum Fair”) once again attracted top-class instrument makers from a wide variety of countries: Schlagwerk Percussion (GER), Majid Drums (GER), Shiger (JPN), Biagio Panico (IT), Bruno Spagna (IT), Zelazek Drums (POL), Yalcinkaya Percussion (TR), DoubleYou Drums (POL), David Roman Drums (GER) and Brainframe (HRV).

TAMBURI GOES CINEMA
Tamburi Mundi presented two documentaries to mark its anniversary:
one about Glen Velez and another about the history of the festival. Both films were made in collaboration with Colombian filmmaker Fao Torres.

AND NOW?
After 20 years, Tamburi Mundi has established itself as a permanent institution. It has become more than “just” a festival: it is a trendsetter, a global hub for frame drum music, an inimitable festival with respectful cultural exchange and creative collaboration. It is a festival that showcases innovation and gives artists the time and space to conceive and try out new ideas. The concert projects are unique to Tamburi Mundi, with a clear message when, for example, musicians from Israel and Iran come together. A statement without many words, but with clear rhythms and drumbeats!

By the way: All concerts were streamed live and are still available to watch on the Tamburi Mundi YouTube channel.

(Ulrike Kudla)

Save the date: The 21st Tamburi Mundi Festival take place from April 02-12, 2026!