On the occasion of the jubilee of the prestigious Belgrade Ring Ring Festival, the record company Multimedia Music has released a representative compilation album “Ring Ring, 25 years – local artists”.
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At the end of last year, the oldest existing domestic festival of alternative music, Ring Ring, presented its twenty-fifth edition to a loyal audience. This also marked the 25th anniversary of the festival, during which more than 300 concerts of artists from all continents were held.
However, the festival has always been a place where local artists had the opportunity to show their creativity, current projects, collaborations with musicians from around the world. The list of local artists who performed at the festival is quite large, so that this compilation album, which marks the jubilee, could not contain even a tenth of what the festival presented to the audience at concerts in Belgrade.
When the idea of organizing a festival of alternative music was born in 1996, at this same time of year, it took less time to realize than it took to prepare the disc that marks the jubilee. According to Bojan Đorđević, the founder and artistic director of the festival – one of the most difficult tasks was to “pack” so many important performances, unusual projects, world premieres in less than 80 minutes.
There are 12 compositions on the album. Among them is a recording from the first concert, held on May 22, 1996, which featured Erne Kiralj, Chris Cutler and Stevan Kovac Tikmajer, but also a composition by Tijana Stankovic and Ana Kravanje, performed at the latest, 25th festival, November 28, 2021.
CD “Ring Ring, 25 years – local artists” open the recording of the concert of Novi Sad pianist Marina Dzukljev and Hungarian percussionist Aron Porteleki, which was the world premiere. The album features several more recordings of projects performed at the festival for the first time. Two of them refer to the international projects of the singer Svetlana Spajić: Metamorphic Orchestra, as well as the cooperation with the world-famous avant-garde orchestra Zeitkratzer.
Of the local jazz creators, the album features the most prolific and most prominent artist, Silard Mezei, as well as the groups Fish in Oil and Dragon’s Fuel.
Members of the Zrenjanin duo Blank Disc were presented with their composition, but also as part of the large international project Šalter Ensemble. The Neuroleptic Trio from Subotica offered a part of their concert performance at the festival, and the live recording is the premiere performance of the composition by Svetlana Maras, played by Branko Dzinovic and Aleksandar Latkovic in the Belgrade Philharmonic Hall.
Compilation “Ring Ring, 25 years – local artists” give an excellent cross-section of exciting local scene and after more than two decades (in the late nineties B92 released three compilations of music from festivals held in ’96, ’97 and ’99) returns music from festivals to local CDs shops.
The album was released thanks to the support of the Fund for Cultural Giving at SOKOJ. It is available at all Multimedia Music stores, online, as well as on all relevant music platforms.
Singer JÚLIA KOZÁKOVÁ is best known for her solo work and her previous album “Manuša”, released in 2022, saw her bring new life into traditional Roma songs originally from Slovakia and Central Europe.
Júlia’s band are a group of exceptional Roma musicians from her home town of Bratislava who perform on cimbalom (Ľubomír Gašpar), violin (Viliam Didiáš), viola (Vojtech Botoš), double bass (Ján Rigo) and guitar (Zsolt Várady).
Since she was 13, Júlia Kozáková has worked closely with Roma artists and has collaborated with Czech singer Ida Kelarová and toured Europe with her Romany children‘s choir Čhavorenge. Her breakout and internationally released debut album “Manuša” brought Julia an new audiences performing in UK, Czech Republic and Slovakia and also received positive media feedback – it was the best performing world music album from Slovakia according to the World Music Charts Europe (WMCE) and won the Radio Head Award as “The Best Slovak World Music Album” of 2022.
Júlia studied at London’s SOAS and continues to study jazz voice at Janačkova Akademie in Brno (Czech Republic).
The Belgian-English-Hungarian-Romanian-Romani TCHA LIMBERGER’S KALOTASZEG TRIO brings laments, czardas’ and szaporas from the Transylvanian region of Kalotaszeg with the beautiful voice and violin playing of Tcha Limberger, accompanied by Toni Rudi (viola), and Vilmos Csikos (double bass).
Multi-instrumentalist and virtuoso Tcha Limberger has become recognised as one of the most prominent and important figures in folk music of the Carpathian Basin. This style, played by Gypsies in an area of Transylvania called Kalotaszeg and with a repertoire drawn from Hungarian, Romanian, and Gypsy cultures, is considered to be the most beautiful of all Hungarian music.
His accompanists, the highest regarded rhythm section of modern times from the music of the Carpathains, are: Toni Rudi comes from a long line of viola players and his father was probably the most celebrated of all, and Vilmos Csikos, equally at home in jazz and local music, and is the bass player to Roby Lakatos amongst many others.
“This music is little known and I will play it as it is meant to be played” – says Tcha – “It follows the lives of many from baptism to the grave. It celebrates their mutual existence and brings people together in the community of Kalotaszeg.”
Since picking up his first instrument, the guitar, composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Tcha Limberger is one of a handful of world class musicians to have become accepted and respected in a style of music culturally not their own. His showcasing on the international stage of his Transylvanian Kalotaszeg Trio and Budapest Gypsy Orchestra, and his nurturing approach to teaching almost forgotten traditional music has made him one of the most prominent and “important figures in folk music of the Carpathian Basin”.
For this he has received unparalleled praise worldwide from professionals and public alike. Critics remarking on his achievements have claimed he is “entirely made of music”, “The Polymath king of Gypsy music”, whilst musician colleagues refer to him as “the fifth element”.
Limberger was born into a renowned Belgian family of Manouche musicians. He grew up in the world of Gypsy swing style of Django Reinhardt and over the years has collaborated with many of its leading performers.
His eclectic musical tastes, interests and passions were formed from early childhood with his first solo concerts singing Flamenco whilst accompanying himself on guitar at aged just eight. He has an ongoing fascination and love for traditional music from the world over, for a long while leading a band of Belgian musicians playing music from Aimara, and the Quechua Indians of Bolivia.
He studied modern classical composition alongside Belgian composer Dick Vanderharst with his compositional debut for a dance piece by Les ballets C de la B called “Patchagonia” directed by Lisi Estaras. Two current projects include I Silenti, a collaboration with Fabrizzio Cassol, and his much celebrated all-string swing band Les Violons de Bruxelles.
Tcha Limberger studied the music of Kalotaszeg with his mentor the legendary Neti Sandor, and the Magyar Nota style of Budapest with celebrated primas Horvat Bela. Both contribute to his recognition as both an exceptional and enthusiastic teacher who frequently holds masterclasses and leads interactive workshops encompassing both jazz and Central European folk music.
CONFERENCE “ROMA PEOPLE AND MUSIC: FREEDOM, ADAPTATION, TAKING OVER”
International Conference “Music on the Move“, Todo Mundo Festival, Belgrade, RTS Club – Radio Belgrade, 2022 (photo: Vladimir Milisavljević)
The CONFERENCE “ROMA PEOPLE AND MUSIC: FREEDOM, ADAPTATION, TAKING OVER” will be held at the Jewish Cultural Center “Oneg Shabat” (Jevrejska 16) on September 22, 2024, starting at 11 AM.
The conference will feature SPEAKERS from nine European countries: Ciro De Rosa (Italy), Maša Vukanović (Serbia), Christian Pliefke (Germany), Dragan Ristić (Serbia), Martyna Van Nieuwland (Netherlands/Poland), Tcha Limberger (Belgium), Júlia Kozáková (Slovakia), Dušan Sviba (Czech Republic), Marija Dumnić Vilotijević (Serbia), Anti Kovács (Hungary), and Marija Vitas (moderator/Serbia).
The Roma are undeniably a very attractive topic for artists and their audiences, as well as for scholars and a wider circle of people. This has been the case for a long time, and it is still true today. The Roma are a theme through which various elements, interpretations, and stereotypes intersect: truths, falsehoods, assumptions, imagination, idealization, belittlement, and assumed associations with certain talents and temperaments…
At the top of the most common associations with the Roma are music and passion. The proverbial connection of the Roma with music (and dance), as well as the presumed need for freedom in behavior and expression (of passionate) feelings, has inspired numerous artistic music names from different eras: Tartini, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Bizet, Liszt, Sarasate, Dvořák, and others. Their compositions inspired by the imagined or real life and creativity of the Roma are generally extremely attractive to audiences, both from past centuries and contemporary ones. One reason for this perception and taste lies in the fact that the Roma are a paradigm for freedom and overcoming social boundaries and demands, which can be found as at least a latent, inherent need in almost every human being.
This very story of freedom carries a question mark… Are the Roma really the embodiment of freedom and some kind of social relaxation, considering the strongly patriarchal environment in which they have functioned for centuries up to the present day?
Aren’t the Roma actually quite framed by patriarchy and superstitions that largely shape their lives? Do we perhaps recognize freedom in the Roma because they have long lived a different way of life, which is not free, but precisely – different?
In addition to various dilemmas and themes related to the Roma and the question of freedom, there are also several issues concerning the Roma in music. In Serbia, the attitude of the non-Roma population towards Roma musicians has often been ambivalent – from admiration for their ability and openness to various types of music to some derogatory views, characteristic of the past (in the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, more often in smaller communities), where music was considered an unworthy “Gypsy job” or certain instruments (e.g., the violin) were seen as typically “Gypsy” and thus unsuitable for Serbs, Serbian peasants, Serbian children to play…
It is true that the Roma in Serbia have popularized music as a profession, as a craft, which is also the reason for their musical openness and ability to perform and combine different types of music. In the past, in Serbia, the Roma began to play Serbian music to approach the dominant people, to perform what they needed, loved, and wanted to hear for them as a reward.
In this process of adopting the foreign, they added something of their own to the foreign, some kind of temperament, sensibility, ornamentation in music…
The famous Vranje singer Stana Avramović Karaminga (1897 – 1969) once described the difference between the true, Vranje urban singing, which was “pure”, in which no melisma was allowed in the middle of the melody or at the end, as she believed applied to Roma singers when they performed Serbian, Vranje songs.
In the 1990s, primarily influenced by film art, the Roma seemed to become a synonym for the Balkans, Serbia, and the legacy of brass bands for the West (and not only the West). Although traditional Serbian music is rich and diverse, and despite the fact that Serbs themselves have a strong brass tradition spanning over a century, what makes Serbian music most recognizable to the rest of the world remains the Roma and Roma brass bands.
Today, the Roma continue to adapt to the needs of contemporary listeners, not only to the Serbian rural, urban, and city populations but even more to the listening habits of audiences in the West.
Hence, among today’s Balkan brass bands (Boban and Marko Marković, Džambo Aguševi, etc.), we observe an increasing tendency towards a pure, “polished”, and highly produced sound, as well as the use of various well-known motifs, i.e., quotes from pop, funk, rock, Latino, and other genres.
What is the current situation with Roma musicians today, in Serbia, Europe, and the world? How many Roma musicians and bandleaders are there, as well as international groups and non-Roma bands that don a Roma guise or in any way allude to the Roma? To what extent are the Roma turning to musical literacy and education today? What is the role and place of Roma women in music and on the contemporary music scene? What about the modern audience and their relationship to Roma temperament and creativity?
All these and many other anticipated and unforeseen questions will be discussed and debated at the carefully planned fourth conference organized by the Ring Ring Association.
The conference will bring together local and international, primarily music professionals, to provide insights from their perspectives – musical, managerial, organizational, scientific, ethnomusicological, ethnological, journalistic, and research – on the complexity of Roma life and work in society and the music world, both past and present, especially within the polygenre milieu known as world music.
With the support of the moderator of the conference, which will be divided into two sessions, a debate will develop among the participants, and at the end of each session, the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions, comment, and engage in lively discussion with the speakers.
The conference is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, which has also supported all previous conferences organized by the Ring Ring Association: “Women in the World Music – Artists, Managers, Journalists…” (2021), “Music on the Move” (2022), and “Tradition Nowadays, in the World Music” (2023).
Admission to the conference is free.
TERNE ČHAVE
Terne Čhave, 2023 (photo: Dušan Sviba)
TERNE ČHAVE is considered probably the oldest active, and definitely one of the most well-known Roma bands in the Czech Republic. The band is famous for its distinctive sound that blends traditional Roma music of Central Europe with funk, rock, soul, ska, jazz, blues, and other influences.
Many years ago, these musicians have stood on their own feet, crossing the boundaries of the Roma ghetto. By bringing their gadjo friends among musicians and working with them together, Terne Čhave took confident steps into the big world.
Traveling across Europe, from the Czech Republic and Slovakia through Poland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Benelux, to England and Scotland, wherever they perform, people happily dance along with them.
Today, Terne Čhave is a band that has transcended the phenomenon of genre boundaries, but their Roma roots provide a solid base for musical journeys to destinations that are too far for many.
The band is not burdened by questions of style, but they don’t leave the audience time to think about it either, as they are mostly stunned by the devilish pace of the group’s songs. Therefore, it’s no surprise that Terne Čhave’s slogan is: It’s only Rom’n’Roll!
The band ROMANO DROM (meaning “Gypsy’s Road” in Romani), today the most prominent representative of contemporary Roma culture in Hungary, was founded in 1999 by a father and son, both with the same name and surname – Antal Kovács. Father Antal Kovács has since passed away, but the group has continued to work and preserve the tradition, thanks also to the grandchildren who joined the band.
The group performs predominantly composed music by Antal Kovács Junior, based on tradition and roots, as well as the language of the Vlach Roma, but with distinctly modern arrangements and a contemporary concept that combines old Roma heritage with Catalan rumba, as well as Arabic and Balkan rhythms.
Romano Drom, a band whose every performance is marked by an eruption of musical energy, with moments of melancholy and warm emotion, boasts an international career with a series of concerts and tours in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. The band has released seven albums, with the latest being “Give Me Wine” (2019) – for the prestigious British label “Riverboat”.
At the “Todo Mundo” festival, the group will, with guest participation, present their special project marking 25 years of work.
The unique musical world of Romano Drom has brought them great success and made them one of the most sought-after global music ensembles dedicated to Roma heritage.
Lenhart Tapes feat. Tijana Stanković, 2022 (photo: Vladimir Opsenica)
Vladimir Lenhart, known by his stage name LENHART TAPES will happily drop Ethno-Noise on you, then leave you to work out what that might mean. You’ll have a pretty good idea after about a minute of the “Dens” album (Glitterbeat, 2023) - or indeed if you’ve spent any time in the Balkans generally, surrounded by folk music in all its incarnations, and in Belgrade specifically, which yields up the ghosts of the Yugoslav punk and industrial scenes of the 1980s and the city’s current experimental excursions to anyone with time to listen and explore.
Vladimir’s grandfather Ján was a popular interpreter of Slovak folk song in the 1950s, and the careful marshalling of national minority cultures in Yugoslavia produced a musical heritage that continues to resonate for those that have come after. Being younger, however, means that they have their own musical stories to tell and influences to work around.
Vladimir’s tapes-by-the-kilo, car-boot-sale approach is something familiar to turntablists and hip-hop artists, but it’s his love of industrial sound that’s key, producing a magical, beauty-and-the-beast encounter of dirty noise, improvised violin and righteous folk.
Lenhart Tapes is only one half of the story here, however. Enter Tijana Stanković: singer, classically trained violinist, ethnomusicologist and Radio Belgrade music editor. By Vladimir’s own admission, her encyclopaedic knowledge of the music he had grown up with turned the project from something somewhat ironic to something very sincere.
He recalls an immediate connection, over a shared love of that music, and it’s a connection that has since developed in perhaps unforeseen directions, with Tijana herself pushing Vladimir into an even more uncompromising sonic stance.
The slow burn of Lenhart Tapes’ emergence has been built upon a set of scorching small-venue performances, with Vladimir’s Walkmans laying down a collage of beat, noise and tune for Tijana’s voice and violin to respond to and, at times, work against. But if you think that makes them more of a live than a recorded proposition, you’d be wrong. A decade of sporadic releases, frequently on cassette, was followed by 2021’s “Duets”, a sweeping, sample-heavy progress report. Now comes “Dens”, which hits a different kind of stride.
The loops and samples of the previous record are still there, but are joined by an expanded roster of musicians. It’s denser, more considered, but still spacious; and it’s as rackety as Belgrade, one of Europe’s most intense capitals, but beautifully put together.
The “Todo Mundo” Festival is offering, for the first time this year, an opportunity for world music musicians (both those performing at the festival and local artists with world music bands/projects) to meet and talk with the delegates invited to the festival.
Musicians will have the chance to talk with:
– Martina Van Nieuwland, editor of the “Music Meeting” festival in the Netherlands and former director of the “Ogrody Dźwięków” festival in Poland, as well as an author and participant in numerous international projects.
– Ciro De Rosa, journalist and editor of the Italian “Blogfoolk” portal, collaborator with the famous English “Songlines” magazine.
– Christian Pliefke, owner of the record labels “CPL-Music” and “Nordic Notes”, distributor.
In these 10-15 minute conversations, musicians will have the opportunity to present their band/project and learn how to promote their band in the European market, how to get involved with the right festivals, record labels, media, and more.
The meetings will take place in the garden of the Hotel “Rex” (Sarajevska 37), starting at 11 a.m., and in case of bad weather – inside the hotel.
Registration is mandatory, and the number of spots is limited. Send your applications via email to: todomundofestival@gmail.com.
“DRAŠKOCI” AWARD CEREMONY
Lenhart Tapes, recipient of the Draškoci 2024 Award
LENHART TAPES is the recipient of the “Vojin Mališa Draškoci” award for 2024. The decision was made by the Award Committee of the Representative Association in Culture, the World Music Association of Serbia.
The award will be presented at the “Todo Mundo” festival in Belgrade, at the Jewish Cultural Center “Oneg Shabbat” on September 21, during the second evening of the twelfth edition of the festival.
After the award ceremony, Lenhart Tapes will perform a concert with singer Tijana Stanković. The festival evening will begin at 7:30 p.m. with a concert by Júlia Kozáková’s band, which cherishes Slovak Roma music.
The “Vojin Mališa Draškoci” award was established in 2013 with the aim of encouraging, developing, and popularizing the world music genre in Serbia, as well as preserving the memory of professor, composer, and double bassist Vojin Mališa Draškoci (1945 – 2000). Previous recipients of the award include Filip Krumes, Vasil Hadžimanov, Vlatko Stefanovski, Vladimir Nikić, Nenad Vasilić, Veljko Nikolić – Papa Nik, Đorđe Stijepović, Jelena Popržan, Dorian Jovanović, Dunja Knebl, and Jasna Jovićević.
“It is a great honor for me to receive an award that bears the name of our musical visionary Vojin Draškoci” – said Vladimir Lenhart for the magazine Etnoumlje – “The first thing I could say about myself is that I am not a formally trained musician, nor do I play any musical instrument (except perhaps the bass guitar). I see myself more as a musical listener or a seeker of unique melodies, and what I do in the field of creation is sampling, collaging, and producing new musical works from existing, so-called ready-made material. The primary tools I use for this purpose are audio cassettes and cassette players for their playback, as well as electronic equipment like samplers. I incorporate live instruments and vocals into my compositions, mostly performed by female singers of traditional music. I am proud that in my naïve approach to music, the WMAS committee recognized something worthy of attention. Although I sought my musical role models, like Holger Czukay or Brian Eno, in the Western world, I applied their musical methodologies to our environment: the Balkans, in a broader sense of musical tradition, as well as the local community in which I grew up, which is the micro-community of Vojvodina Slovaks living in Serbia. For me, the essence of world music is not in simply replaying folk songs in modern times but in defining a new time with the help of traditional tunes and melodies.”
The band KAL delivers an infusion of pure energy and sound that leaves the body and mind of concertgoers captivated at every moment. Under the slogan or genre subcategory Rock’n’Roma (sometimes also Gypsy Rockabilly), Kal creates an eclectic mix of Western Balkan music with swing, jazz, blues, and pop, offering an original and irresistible sound that is easily absorbed from the first to the last chord.
The band was formed in 1996 in Valjevo, with Belgrade later becoming the band’s base. The name of the band comes from the Romani language and means black (the color black). Kal has performed several thousand concerts both locally and abroad, and has participated in numerous significant European festivals: “Roskilde” (Denmark), “Fusion Festival” and “Berlinare” (Germany), “Sziget” (Hungary), “EXIT”, “Nišvil”, “Kustendorf”, and “Belgrade Beer Festival” (Serbia), “La notte di San Lorenzo” (Italy)….
In addition to intense European tours, Kal’s long history includes two American tours (in 2006 and 2008), during one of which they collaborated with the famous New York attraction, the band Gogol Bordello.
Slovak singer and artist JÚLIA KOZÁKOVÁ interprets arranged Roma traditional music and performs as a soloist, accompanied by a group of Roma musicians from Bratislava (on cimbalom, violin, viola, double bass, and guitar). She has collaborated with Roma musicians and has sung across Europe with the Romany children’s choir Čhavorenge, led by the esteemed Czech artist Ida Kelarová. In 2022, Júlia released the album “Manuša” (“people” in Romani) featuring songs of Roma from Slovakia and Central Europe, which received highly positive reviews from world music critics in several countries. Since then, she has performed at festivals in Slovakia, the UK, the Czech Republic, and other European countries. She studied music at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London and continued her training in jazz singing at the Janáček Academy in Brno.
A conversation with artist Júlia Kozáková, as part of the accompanying program of the 12th Todo Mundo Festival and its first event, will be held at the Institute of Musicology SASA (Knez Mihailova 36, Office 410) on Friday, September 20th, starting at 12 PM. The event will be conducted in English. It is part of the international project Sounds of Europe, co-financed by the European Union.
The topic of the conversation, titled “Reinterpretation of Traditional Songs of Romani from Central Europe”, will be led by ethnomusicologist Dr. Marija Dumnić Vilotijević, Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Musicology SASA.
Admission to the event is free.
This event also marks the beginning of the series “Conversations about Traditions of Music and Dance”, organized by the National Committee in Serbia of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD) in cooperation with the Institute of Musicology SASA. All events in the series will take place at the Institute. This series will serve as a platform for an open public and collaborative ethnographic dialogue between ethnomusicologists and selected performers, as well as providing a stage for invited musicians to present their work, art, and community heritage through performance lectures with discussions. The shift of ethnographic research from its original context to an academic setting aims to give voice to the performers, providing a wider audience, and fostering direct dialogue between the performers and the broader academic community. This initiative seeks to bridge the gap between documentary ethnographic interviews and professionally guided conversations that portray the artist. The selection of participants aims to showcase representative practitioners of intangible cultural heritage in Serbia, including ethnomusicologists-performers, choreographers, and others.
Tickets can also be purchased via email: todomundofestival@gmail.com
Šalter Ensemble
Šalter Ensemble (photo: Darja Štravs Tisu)
Šalter Ensemble operates on the border between free improvisation and composition, focusing on collective processes as a central part of its practice. The project is an international electroacoustic ensemble initiated in 2017 by Jonas Kocher in collaboration with Zavod Sploh Ljubljana and Izlog Festival Zagreb, and has since performed at numerous venues and festivals in Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Switzerland and Serbia.
In 2021, the ensemble released the album Štiri dela and in 2024 it’s second album Tri dela.
The ensemble consists of outstanding personalities from the international music scene. The musicians come from a wide range of backgrounds – from jazz to traditional and folk music to contemporary improvised and electronic music – and are from different generations.
In its current programme, Šalter presents new compositions, which were developed especially for Šalter during a residency in Venice in May 2023: “Interstices / Interferences” (Jonas Kocher & Gaudenz Badrutt), “šum III” (Elisabeth Harnik) and “My Wish Your Command” (Tomaž Grom).
Line-up:
Gaudenz Badrutt – electronics; Estelle Beiner – violin; Ilia Belorukov – saxophone; Tomaž Grom – doublebass, electronics; Elisabeth Harnik – piano; Josef Klammer – drums, electronics; Jonas Kocher – accordion; Samo Kutin – hurdy gurdy; Alfred Lang – trumpet; Irena Z. Tomažin – voice
The Ex, Catalytic Sound Festival (photo: Geert Vandepoele)
The years and decades may pass, but The Ex never falter! The famous quartet from the Netherlands, highly respected in circles of unconventional, avant-garde punk music enthusiasts, celebrates its 45th birthday in 2024. This milestone is marked by an impressive series of concerts in 45 countries, including their 2000th career concert held in the Netherlands at the beginning of March. This is their first tour since the pandemic.
The Ex exude inexhaustible energy and strength. Their concerts and tours boast an enviable intensity, while their discography remains highly dynamic. They are also known for their frequent, unusual, and diverse projects and collaborations, which span the realms of avant-garde, traditional, and improvised music.
Founded in 1979 in Amsterdam, The Ex began collaborating with jazz musicians and a Kurdish-Iraqi group in the early 1980s. Throughout the 1990s, these collaborations became more frequent and diverse, but perhaps their most famous phase of musical cross-pollination began in 2002 with Ethiopia. This culminated in a collaboration with the renowned saxophonist Getatchew Mekuria, with whom The Ex released two albums and performed over a hundred concerts.
As unwavering advocates of the “do it yourself” concept, The Ex have operated independently of record labels, managers, and roadies throughout the years, serving as a model for other progressive bands and musicians. They have released 28 albums on their label, “Ex Records”, and from the outset of their career, they formalized their independent management activities under the name “Stichting Ex”. They have performed concerts across nearly all of Europe, as well as in the USA, Russia, Canada, and Ethiopia. In Belgrade, they have performed three times, with their last appearance in 2015, also at the “Ring Ring” festival.
TRIOBROK was formed in Istanbul in late 2023. Drawing inspiration from sound references such as Albert Ayler, Peter Brötzmann, and Mats Gustafsson, TRIOBROK blends subtle musical structures with free and noisy madness. They have already performed several improvisational concerts in Belgrade and Istanbul.
Although recently formed, each member is a locally renowned musician with a significant number of releases and publications. Daniel Izmaylov is a member of the trio DYW and the Belgrade-based jazz-punk quartet the Omy. Ali Onur Olgun has performed with various artists, including Kastenfaul, Nobody Presents, and the Cem Tan Quintet. Atilla Ozan Keskin is a prominent figure in the Turkish contemporary jazz scene, known for his work with Şu Güzel İnsanlar and the Uninvited Jazz Band.
Michael J. Schumacher / sculptures: Mark di Suvero (photo: Michael Yu)
Michael J. Schumacher is an American composer, improviser, pianist, media artist, curator, and a teacher.
In his practices, Schumacher centers around immersive sound, continuing a long tradition going back to the “Philips” Pavilion, “acousmatic” presentations at GRM, Stockhausen’s “Kugelauditorium”, Young’s “Dream House” (not technically multichannel but immersive and architectural), Lucier’s “Music for Solo Performer”, Amacher’s “structure borne sound” and many others.
There are two basic reasons for using lots of speakers: 1) sound from the rear triggers unique emotional responses; 2) spatial aspects, foregrounded, become a structural component of the music.
An added benefit is that by taking away the visual focus of the stage, listeners become more receptive to “moment” forms.
The Portable Multi-Channel Sound System is a unique musical instrument designed so that the artist can present his immersive compositions in a variety of settings and situations. It sets up in less than an hour and can be carried in a single suitcase, yet provides 8 fully discrete audio channels, complete with speakers, cables, amplifiers, audio interface and computer.
Schumacher uses high quality 4” full-range drivers and improvised resonators to extend the frequency response.
His creative work includes also the music for modular synthesizers, prepared guitar, piano, video and dance.
Fish in Oil & Jelena Popržan, Belgrade, DKSG, 2024 (photo: Milorad Marković)
Fish in Oil, a unique Belgrade band, and Jelena Popržan, a versatile musician from the Austrian scene, are celebrating their five-year collaboration, which began with a spontaneous joint performance at the Jazziré festival in Subotica.
In this exciting project, the eclectic music of Fish in Oil, inspired by punk, free jazz, film music, blues, rock, etc., merges with the viola and voice of Jelena Popržan. Jelena’s vocal color, intensity, and character surprisingly transform and fit into the diverse repertoire of the band.
The authentic fusion of musicians’ sensibilities, shaping the original themes of Bratislav Radovanović Braca, creates unique musical narratives, taking the audience to imaginative sonic landscapes, filling them with positive emotions.
Fish in Oil has been around for more than 30 years, and the audience has had the opportunity to hear them at some of the most famous local and regional festivals. In addition to festival performances, there are numerous club performances both locally and internationally.
Jelena Popržan, a violist, vocalist, and composer, known to the local audience from festivals such as Ring Ring, Todo Mundo, Jazziré, and Ethno Fusion Fest, harmoniously combines various musical experiences: rock, classical music education and interpretation of the works of classical music, interest in traditional music, and a penchant for improvisation and experimentation.
Line-up:
Jelena Popržan – viola, vocals; Bratislav Radovanović – electric guitar; Rastko Uzunović – tenor saxophone; Đorđe Kujundžić – saxophones; Branislav Radojković – double bass, electric bass guitar; Feđa Franklin – drums; Aleksandar Radojičić – percussion; Bojan Rajačić – sound design
Manja Ristić, born in Belgrade in 1979, is a violinist, sound artist, published poet, curator, and researcher. As a classical solo and chamber musician, as well as a composer and an improv musician, she has performed all across Europe and in the US, involving collaborations with established conductors, performers, multimedia artists, poets, and theatre/film directors.
Ristić’s sound-related research besides contemporary performance in the field of instrumental electro–acoustics, is focused on interdisciplinary approaches to sound and field recording as well as experimental radio arts.
Ristić has created commissions for ORF musikprotokoll, Radiophrenia, Radio Art Zone, Kunstradio – Radiokunst, Radio Cona, Semi-Silent, Radia.FM, Framework Radio, REVEIL Soundcamp, all national broadcasting agencies across SE Europe, and many independent media platforms.
She co-curated sonoAdriatic Tales at Ars Electronica 2020, and in the last 20 years curated and developed a distinctive number of cultural events, international projects, cultural conferences, and educational platforms in the fields of inter-media, experimental sound-related arts, scene, and multimedia arts.
Manja signs several independent theater and movie productions as an author, composer, and performer.
The winner of several distinctive awards for solo and chamber classical music.
Works and lives on the island of Korčula, Croatia.
The Cologne-based ensemble, Trio C / W | N consists of three accomplished and experienced improvisers and personalities of the international improvised music scene: pianist Dušica Cajlan, saxophonist Georg Wissel and percussionist Etienne Nillesen.
Since 2016, Trio C / W | N has been continuously developing their concentrated ensemble language and convince with fascinating, imaginative, lively and subtle playing.
A trialogue of musicians who simultaneously co-create, react, complement each other and always act highly musically. In doing so, they place the qualities of sound, tone and noise with open forms, precisely formulated structures and accentuated rhythms at the centre of their music composed in real-time.
In November 2022, their album Thirty Nine Fifty Five was released on the New York label Acheulian Handaxe and was enthusiastically received by the critics. In March of 2023, C / W | N performed at renowed ART ACTS Festival in Austria, one of the most important European festivals for contemporary Improvised music and free jazz.
Currently, the trio is concentrating on a kind of analogue granular-synthetic ensemble playing, in which the music creates itself, so to speak.
DAMIR IMAMOVIĆ (Sarajevo, 1978) is one of the most important representatives of today’s Sevdah scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has released seven albums so far, some of them for prestigious world music labels such as The Glitterbeat Records (Dvojka, 2016) and Wrasse (Singer of Tales, 2020). Growing up in a family of Sevdah bards, Damir got to know the world of traditional music early on. He recorded his first album in 2006, followed by a series of performances in BiH and the region of the former Yugoslavia. Later, tours will take him to part of Europe, to China, USA, Mexico, Japan and India. He collaborates with numerous eminent musicians, and he also worked with producers such as Chris Eckman (Dvojka), and Joe Boyd and Andrea Goertler (Singer of Tales).
BORIS KOVAČ NEW RITUAL ENSEMBLE
This concert program brings a number of compositions by Boris Kovač: works of chamber music and world-jazz-dance tracks written for film and theater, as well as one ballad by Lav Kovač, all arranged for an ensemble that had its premiere performance at the Opening Ceremony of the Novi Sad – The European Capital of Culture program, in the Serbian National Theatre, on January 13, 2022, in front of high-ranking dignitaries from the European Union and Serbia. The members of the ensemble are collaborators of Boris Kovač for several decades, and their performing creativity is deeply woven into his compositional expression. Boris Kovač is a composer, instrumentalist and multimedia artist. He writes music for chamber ensembles, which he usually rehearses and leads himself.
MONSIEUR DOUMANI
Hailing from the island of Cyprus, the multi-award-winning trio MONSIEUR DOUMANI has been impressing audiences worldwide for the last ten years or so with music strongly rooted in the Eastern Mediterranean. Their music has been extensively presented on worldwide media and they participated in the most celebrated festivals such as ESNS, WOMEX, WOMAD, Sziget, Trans Musicales, to name only a few. While their lineup may sound unusual for a three-piece (tzouras – small bouzouki, trombone, acoustic guitar) Monsieur Doumani are using electronics, effects and loop pedals to venture into a world that is refreshing and exciting.
BAB L’ BLUZ
Created in Marrakech in 2018, BAB L’ BLUZ was born from the dream of propelling guembri (the Gnawa’s Guitar) on the international music scene of contemporary music. Moroccan-French power quartet Bab L’ Bluz are reclaiming the blues for North Africa. Fronted by an African-Moroccan woman in a traditionally male role, the band are devoted to a revolution in attitude which dovetails with Morocco’s ‘nayda’ youth movement – a new wave of artists and musicians taking their cues from local heritage, singing words of freedom in the Moroccan-Arabic dialect of darija. Ancient and current, funky and rhythmic, buoyed by Arabic lyrics, soaring vocals and bass-heavy grooves, the band’s debut album Nayda! seems to pulse from the heart of the Maghreb. Some describe them as Hot Psychedelic Gnawa Blues.
SHIRA UTFILA
The group SHIRA UTFILA was founded in 2000 by Stefan Sablić – vocalist, oud player, arranger, composer, theater director and cantor. Stefan’s many interests, as well as numerous improvements in Serbia and Israel, contributed to and enabled him to provide a thorough and systematic approach to Sephardic music tradition, as well as to the general Jewish tradition and tradition of other nations who shared the historical, geographical and cultural landscape of the Balkans, the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the past centuries. Shira utfila brings together a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional ensemble that draws its inspiration from the diversity and richness of Judeo-Spanish, Ottoman-Turkish, Arabic and Balkan music traditions.
KEJHAN KALHOR I ERDAL ERZINDŽAN
This concert brings together two virtuoso musicians steeped in the traditional music of their respective cultures – Persia (Iran) and Anatolia (Turkey). The classical music traditions of Persia and that of Ottoman Turkey have much in common. They share the ancient modal compositional system known as maqam, and improvisation plays a definitive role in performance. Likewise, the regional folk musics of these two countries have much in common: the similarity of some instruments, and the strumming techniques used on them, and the high keening vocal techniques so common to mountainous lands and used by singers throughout this vast area. The music performed by these two musicians – Kayhan Kalhor on kamancheh (spike fiddle) and Erdal Erzincan on bağlama (lute) – while derived from ancient roots, is thoroughly modern. It is purely instrumental which is a considerable deviation from tradition in both cultures where the singer is considered pre-eminent.
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