MIK stands for "Melodies of Istria and Kvarner". Each year the festival acts as guest in towns of Istria and Kvarner, the regions that cover three different counites in the west part of Croatia. It is a festival based on ethnic music of place which it takes part in, i.e. the music which root is in the so-called "Istrian scale", maybe one of the most interesting music pheomena in the world. The songs only touch the elements of such a characteristic tune in a fluent and pleasent way.

How popular the festival of MIK is among its audience could be seen best at the over-crowded concerts, when the festival is being held on squares of seven to eleven towns every year.

But it is not only the ethnic music that gives a special charm to the festival. The texts of songs are mostly written in "cakavica", the oldest form of Croatian language which is spoken in this part of Croatia. Besides "cakavica" a dialect of the Italian language is spoken by the Italian minority who lives here.