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Radyoyo (RDYOYO) is basically a bunch of like-minded music enthusiasts which were brought together 10 years ago by their love of quality music. Dissatisfied with what the electronic music scene in Slovenia had to offer, they devised their own plan: to bring to Slovenia the music genres that were taking the British clubs by storm - dub, reggae, dubstep, breaks, hip hop, soul and drum'n'bass. Over the years people came and went, and the Radyoyo crew now includes DJ's and producers JAMirko, Pier, Tigor (also known as Klasick), hip-hop MC's Murat & Jose, K'Pow, Massimo, Fu, Zeds, Ubu and Roots in Session. An important figure in the crew is Tina Matijevec, who is in charge of media promotion, and who kindly took the time to answer my questions. "It all started with the weekly radio show Radyoyo, which quickly progressed into Radyoyo club nights. We have always been a Do-It-Yourself crew, and our members include DJ's, MC's, producers, musicians, event promoters, music managers, designers and visual artists, a video production crew, sound engineers and sound technicians. Our contribution to the birth and development of urban youth culture in Slovenia is undeniable. We were the pioneers in all things breakbeat and drum'n'bass - we were the first to put on a drum'n'bass club night, the first to bring over a foreign drum'n'bass DJ and the first to organise a live breakbeat-based festival (Breakbeatnikk). We work closely with the Place4bass collective which comprises promising young electronic DJs and does a great job at keeping people informed about this kind of music via their webpage. Projects with moving pictures, filming and editing have also been occupying us, and we work closely with Resourceful Bunch production. We've established creative connections with various like-minded crews, including Buttercuts (UK), Confusion (Croatia), Saf (Macedonia), Zeiger (Austria) and others." Lack of Understanding of Urban Music Many young Slovenian music producers have to come to grips with the depressing fact that it is very hard to produce, let alone sell, records in Slovenia. If they manage to survive, they inevitably have to turn to foreign record labels. The Radyoyo producers are no exception, although they release music via their own independent record label T3S Muzik as well. They've contributed tracks for the DJ Magazine and Knowledge magazine cover CD's, released tracks for the Perfect Toy imprint in Germany, and released the Klasick's remix of 'A Jovem Samba' - originally by the legendary Brazilian musician Jorge Ben, on a Japanese label earlier this year. For the domestic market, they released the first Slovenian hip-hop compilation - "5'00'' Of Fame - Za Narodov Blagor" - with local MC's, the best-selling hip-hop album "V Besedi Je Moc" by Murat & Jose, the first official hip-hop mix tape and a joint Slovenian-British hip-hop album called Yoyocuts by Murat & Jose and London's BC400. In a small country, organising music events that are less oriented toward mainstream tastes may seem doomed to failure, but from the beginning the Radyoyo crew has had the courage to book artists that no other promoter dared to book. The crew decided to put on fewer events to ensure that their events were professionally organised, a strategy that convinced their audience they meant business. Radyoyo events have become synonymous with top-quality electronic music entertainment and attract an open-minded, generally positive audience. Despite their success and resilience, things have not always been rosy for them. "The lack of appropriate venues is a major problem in Slovenia, as is a lack of funds for events. It is virtually impossible to get financial help from governmental institutions because of their lack of understanding of urban youth culture. What is worse, they do not reward potential sponsors with tax incentives, and a company sees no benefit in making a donation to a music project. We cannot afford proper advertising; we use the internet (websites, myspace, forums), flyers, posters and street stickers. We have established some partnerships with radio and television stations, but our radio show, which we broadcast for 6 years, has sadly been put on hold. All our work is voluntary and any profit is invested back into studio equipment, future events and record releases." Music Education the Modern Way The Breakbeatnikk festival took the Krizanke open-air theatre by storm in 1999 as the first live breakbeat-based festival in Slovenia. Over the years, it has changed location several times; this year it took place at Viba Film Studios in Ljubljana on October 14th. As it has been every year so far, the festival was a great success. "The basic concept of Breakbeatnikk (www.myspace.com/breakbeatnikk) is very simple and very different from all other Slovenian music festivals. We bring together many modern urban music genres on a single stage, in a single evening. Most bands perform live, rather than just have a DJ, and all acts and genres are presented equally. Our guests are either highly-acclaimed artists or artists on the brink of hitting it big. Breakbeatnikk provides a chance to hear artists one might never hear again in Slovenia." One of the biggest problems in getting people informed about urban music is the lack of education in Slovenia on modern music. While classical music (and sometimes jazz) are practiced and discussed in music and public schools, it seems as if this is where the music ends, despite the myriad of modern musical genres flourishing around the world. When the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) came to Slovenia a couple of years ago, this brought the opportunity to obtain the technical knowledge and skills necessary for music production. However, there is still no information influx, urban-music magazines or urban music oriented radio stations. "We introduced the concept of workshops to discuss urban music at last year's Breakbeatnikk festival. We have felt for a long time that something needs to be done to fill the void that has existed in Slovenia for years. Our workshops provide a starting point for discussion on modern music and the music industry; with Breakbeatnikk festival performers as guests, the workshops provide real-life information, not abstract theory."