Jakov JozinoviÄ's concert at Vinkovci Autumn Festival sparks controversy, Josip Dabro publicly backs the young singer
The announced concert by Vinkovci singer Jakov JozinoviÄ at the 61st Vinkovci Autumn Festival has opened a new debate about the relationship between popular culture, wartime memory and performers' right to appear before audiences in different countries. According to the festival's official programme, JozinoviÄ is scheduled to perform on Friday, 11 September 2026, from 10 p.m. on the main stage of the Vinkovci Autumn Festival in Vinkovci. Part of the public opposed his engagement because of a concert he held on 14 March at the SPENS arena in Novi Sad, a place that some Croatian war veterans and former detainees associate with the forced transfer and abuse of people from Vukovar following the collapse of the city's defence in 1991. Domovinski pokret MP Josip Dabro has now also joined the debate, publicly backing the singer and saying that he should be allowed to perform in the city he comes from. At the same time, Vinkovci Mayor Josip RomiÄ also spoke out, stating that the City respects different opinions, but that JozinoviÄ's concert is something many citizens want.
Just a few days before the start of the festival, the controversy has thus grown from a discussion about the music programme into a broader public issue. On one side are critics who believe that JozinoviÄ's decision to go to SPENS cannot be separated from the wartime experiences of people who say they were detained there after the fall of Vukovar. On the other are those who believe that the young performer should not be permanently defined by his decision to hold a concert in Novi Sad and that his performance in his hometown should primarily be viewed in the context of his music career. The organisers of the Vinkovci Autumn Festival have so far announced no changes to the programme, and the official timetable still lists JozinoviÄ's concert on 11 September on the main stage.
The 11 September concert remains on the official programme
According to the official Vinkovci Autumn Festival website, the 61st edition of the festival will take place from 11 to 20 September 2026 and will include ten days of folklore, cultural and entertainment events. JozinoviÄ's performance is scheduled for the festival's first evening, after the Folklore Evening, that is, the county showcase of traditional folklore, and according to the published timetable it will run from 10 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. It is important to distinguish between the beginning of the festival and concert programme and the official opening ceremony: the organisers have announced that the ceremonial opening of the 61st Vinkovci Autumn Festival is scheduled for 18 September. This clears up some of the confusion in public posts in which JozinoviÄ's performance has sometimes been described as a concert at the ceremonial opening. According to the currently available official schedule, it is a concert on the first evening and the beginning of the entertainment and music part of the festival, while the formal ceremonial opening takes place one week later.
This year's Vinkovci Autumn Festival carries the theme "Train of the Slavonian Plain", which the organisers connect with the history of settlement, encounters and the bringing together of people in Slavonia. Alongside folklore showcases and traditional events, the programme includes concerts by numerous performers from different generations and musical styles. Official festival announcements specifically emphasise the combination of traditional culture and a contemporary entertainment programme, which in recent years has become an important part of the identity of the Vinkovci Autumn Festival. In that schedule, JozinoviÄ was given a slot on the main stage on the first evening, making his role highly visible and symbolically important, especially because he was born and raised in Vinkovci.
Mayor Josip RomiÄ responded to the complaints in a post carried by the festival's official website. He confirmed that objections had been received in recent days over the decision to have JozinoviÄ perform at the 61st Vinkovci Autumn Festival, but at the same time said that many citizens had previously asked when the singer would finally hold a concert in his own city. RomiÄ stressed that the organisers do not want to hurt or disregard anyone's feelings and described JozinoviÄ's musical story as one that brings people together. The organisers' post does not state the exact number of complaints received, so the scale of the opposition cannot be reliably quantified on the basis of publicly available statements alone.
Why SPENS has once again become the centre of controversy
The background to the current controversy lies in events from March 2026, when associations of Croatian war veterans, former camp detainees and victims of the Homeland War called on Croatian performers to cancel or relocate concerts planned at the SPENS arena in Novi Sad. In a statement carried by Hina, the associations claimed that the facility had been used after the fall of Vukovar in 1991 to detain Croatian defenders and civilians. Former detainees and representatives of the associations describe SPENS as a transit or collection point from which some prisoners were later taken to other prisons and camps in Serbia. It was precisely because of these testimonies and wartime memories that the venue became the subject of intense public debate in early 2026.
At the same time, there is also a terminological debate in public about how precisely to describe SPENS's wartime role. At a conference of war veterans' and former detainees' associations in March, historian Ante Nazor, director of the Croatian Memorial and Documentation Centre of the Homeland War, was quoted as warning, according to that report, that people from Vukovar and the surrounding area had been brought to the facility against their will and that some had been physically and psychologically abused there. At the same time, the need for further systematic research of archives and testimonies was emphasised in order to reconstruct the role of that space more precisely in historical terms. For that reason, in journalistic reporting it is safest to distinguish between confirmed testimonies of forced transfer and abuse and the legal or historical classification of the facility itself, which remains the subject of public and expert debate.
The sensitivity of the issue also stems from the fact that the consequences of the war are still not merely a historical matter. Croatia's Ministry of Veterans' Affairs continues during 2026 with the processes of identifying victims and searching for persons missing from the Homeland War, including victims connected with Vukovar. Such activities show that for some families and former detainees, the wartime experience is not a closed chapter, but an issue with direct personal and social consequences. In that context, decisions by public figures and performers to appear at locations that some people associate with wartime suffering can provoke reactions that go far beyond music itself.
JozinoviÄ decided in March to perform in Novi Sad
Jakov JozinoviÄ's concert in Novi Sad was scheduled for 14 March 2026 in the large hall of the Sports and Business Centre Vojvodina, known as SPENS. Information from the Gigs Tix ticket service confirms the date, location and commercial organisation of the event. Several days before the concert, after war veterans' associations called on him to withdraw or change the venue, JozinoviÄ spoke out on social media and said that he was continuing the tour. In a post reported by Croatian media, he emphasised love, youth and "music that knows no borders", making it clear that he would not cancel the concert. The performance then took place on 14 March, and media reports from Croatia and Serbia stated that the arena was filled with an audience.
JozinoviÄ's decision attracted particular attention at the time because another Croatian singer, Tony Cetinski, had cancelled a concert planned for the same arena several days earlier. Cetinski explained that after learning about the testimonies of people for whom SPENS carries painful wartime memories, he had decided not to perform there, while stressing that his decision was not directed against the audience in Serbia. The different decisions by the two performers further intensified the debate: part of the public interpreted Cetinski's move as an act of respect for the victims, while others defended JozinoviÄ's right not to link a musical performance with political and historical divisions. That debate has now, almost six months later, returned to the spotlight because of his announced concert in Vinkovci.
As of 7 September, according to publicly available reports on the current Vinkovci controversy, JozinoviÄ himself had not issued a new detailed statement further responding to objections related to his performance at the Vinkovci Autumn Festival. His position from March remains the clearest publicly recorded response to the question of why he decided to perform in Novi Sad. The current comments by his critics and supporters are therefore largely a continuation of the same debate, but in a different local context: this time the issue is not whether a musician from Vinkovci will perform in Serbia, but whether the public will accept him at one of the best-known events in his hometown.
Dabro: the young performer should be given a chance in his city
Josip Dabro, an active Domovinski pokret MP in the Croatian Parliament, publicly supported JozinoviÄ after criticism emerged over his performance in Vinkovci. According to his post reported by Croatian media, Dabro emphasised that JozinoviÄ is a young man from Vinkovci and Slavonia who has achieved a major breakthrough through work and talent and that he sees no reason why he should be challenged precisely in his own city because of that. He particularly stressed that the success of a performer who also appears outside Croatia can increase the visibility of the community he comes from. He also said that people do not have to share the same musical taste or view all of a performer's decisions in the same way, but that they should leave enough room to support a young man who is only beginning to build his career.
Dabro linked his message to the idea that the Vinkovci Autumn Festival should be a place of pride, togetherness and joy. He announced that he would personally support JozinoviÄ with the words "I will be the first to applaud him". His involvement in the debate is also important because the controversy has therefore no longer remained only at the level of social media comments and local reactions, but has also acquired a clear political dimension. As an MP from the 5th electoral district and a member of Domovinski pokret, Dabro is a public figure whose position carries additional weight in debates that touch on wartime memory, identity and local politics in eastern Croatia.
Nevertheless, his support does not invalidate the arguments of people who opposed the concert. For former detainees and some war veterans' associations, the decision made in March is not a matter of musical taste, but of the attitude towards a place that they associate with their own wartime experience. This is precisely where the central dispute lies: some see JozinoviÄ's performance at SPENS as a professional decision by a young performer appearing before an audience outside Croatia's borders, while others believe that public figures can be expected to show special consideration towards places and symbols associated with wartime suffering. Such positions are difficult to reduce to a simple division between those for or against the singer because they arise from different understandings of responsibility, memory and the role of culture.
The City of Vinkovci is trying to keep the focus on the festival
Mayor RomiÄ's response shows that the city authorities currently have no intention of abandoning the announced concert. In a post on the official Vinkovci Autumn Festival website, RomiÄ stressed that he respects different opinions and does not want to disregard the feelings of people who objected to the choice of performer, but at the same time reminded the public that JozinoviÄ's performance had been desired by part of the local audience. Such an approach seeks simultaneously to acknowledge the sensitivity of the wartime issue and retain the originally planned cultural and entertainment programme. Meanwhile, the organisers have continued publishing regular programme information without any indication that the concert on 11 September could be cancelled or relocated.
For the Vinkovci Autumn Festival, the controversy comes at a time when the organisers are seeking to emphasise a broader theme of bringing people and communities together. The festival will last until 20 September and, in addition to folklore, showcases, exhibitions and accompanying events, includes a series of concerts on the main stage and in the festival tent. The official ceremonial opening on 18 September is dedicated to the theme "Train of the Slavonian Plain" and, among other things, to the story of Friar Didak BuntiÄ and the rescue of Herzegovinian children during the First World War. The organisers thus present this year's edition as a story of arrivals, acceptance and togetherness, while the current debate surrounding JozinoviÄ has shown how easily contemporary cultural events can collide with historical traumas that remain very much alive.
Given that four days remain until the festival begins, the key fact for visitors and the public is that JozinoviÄ's performance remains officially scheduled. The concert is due to begin on 11 September at 10 p.m. on the main stage, and there has been no official announcement of any change of performer or time. Whether the controversy will subside or intensify further by then cannot at present be reliably predicted. What is already clear is that a single concert has grown into a debate about much broader questions: how far artists' responsibility extends when choosing venues at which to perform, how society relates to places marked by wartime memories, and whether music can truly remain outside political and historical contexts when audiences bring their own experiences into that space.
Sources:
- Vinkovci Autumn Festival - official programme of the 61st Vinkovci Autumn Festival and the scheduled time of Jakov JozinoviÄ's concert (link)
- Vinkovci Autumn Festival - official post about reactions to JozinoviÄ's performance and a statement by Mayor Josip RomiÄ (link)
- Vinkovci Autumn Festival - information about the duration, theme and programme of the 61st edition of the festival (link)
- Dnevnik.hr / Hina - appeal by war veterans' and former detainees' associations over concerts at Novi Sad's SPENS arena in March 2026 (link)
- VeÄernji list - JozinoviÄ's statement ahead of the Novi Sad concert and confirmation that he would perform at SPENS (link)
- Gigs Tix Serbia - information about Jakov JozinoviÄ's concert on 14 March 2026 at SPC Vojvodina in Novi Sad (link)
- Dalmatinski portal - Josip Dabro's public support for Jakov JozinoviÄ and the content of his message (link)
- Croatian Parliament - official information about Josip Dabro's parliamentary mandate and party affiliation (link)
- Index.hr - report from the conference about SPENS and the reported position of historian Ante Nazor (link)
- Index.hr - report on Jakov JozinoviÄ's concert held in Novi Sad on 14 March 2026 (link)
- Ministry of Croatian Veterans - current information about the identification of victims from Vukovar and the continuation of the search for missing persons (link)