Juliana Voloz

“I could say, I became a music promoter accidentally. But to say truth I think it was just meant to be like that. It was just the matter of time. 

I have graduated from Chemical department of Tallinn Technical University and worked 10 years in Marine Research Institute as a marine chemist. In the spare time I was passionately photographing and playing a bit guita. And I always liked to organize performances and events both in school and later in university. Even if I knew, that what I like is called culture management, I would not have been able to study that. At that time there was no such discipline at universities, so I became a chemist. 

It was only much later, 2003 in Germany, as I was invited to a Christmas concert, whichturned my life. One of the program highlights was a Georgian band The Shin, announced asvirtuosi of Georgian Jazz. Being Estonian, I new Georgia and Georgian music rather well and was very sceptical about Georgian virtuosi living in South Germany. However, curiosity was stronger than scepticism, and as a reward, I met those outstanding musicians who have changed my career.

At some point the guys told me, that they would like to perform in Moscow, as the local music scene was flourishing. At that point I had just one contact: a son of my friends was a music journalist. So I called him, and he gave me 3 phone numbers. I called these 3 numbers and got 6 more and at the end of 2005 the band was performing in Moscow in the fully booked venue with all possible media coverage. Listening to this concert and watching the happy faces of the audience and the musicians, standing ovations in the end, - I realized that I made it happen and this is what I like to do. 

It was difficult in the beginning, having zero professional skills (I did not even know the difference between management and booking J) – it was all very intuitive, but each small achievement made me really happy and even more motivated. 

In 2006 I approached JARO, a great German agency, and they liked the band and it was the beginning of our wonderful cooperation. Same year I applied for WOMEX and The Shin was chosen for a showcase. Things started to develop, and in few years I brought the band in more than 30 countries.

In 2007 I have opened my own agency JV-Promotion and in 2011 have decided to cooperate with more bands, such as Serbian guitar trio Balkan Strings, Russian singer Inna Zhelannaya, Ethno Trio Troitsa from Belarus, Tunisian Band of two brothers Amine and Hamza, Flamenco and Indian fusion project Indialucia and some others.  

In 2009 - 2013 I was co-organizing several international music projects, such as Port of Culture, Georgian showcase conference Tbilisi Music Week, international project Planet of People in Russia and some others. Annually I am attending WOMEX, Jazzahead, Tallinn Music Week and other music conferences expanding my network and getting more experience. 

At the moment I am booking for 9 bands and managing 3 of them. I am really proud, that one of them, Georgian men choir Iberi, has been chosen for the WOMEX showcase this year, and another one, the shooting star of Estonian music scene - TRAD.ATTACK! received 7 Estonian Music Awards, was a discovery of Folk Alliance International in USA and performed in 13 countries in just one year. 

I feel doing the right thing, being demanded and appreciated by musicians and my colleagues, and it feels great”