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@home: Jewish Music Past and Present

Belgrade, BITEF Teatar, December 7^th 2008, 8 pm

The event dedicated to the music of the Serbian Jewish community gathers several outstanding performers: a renowned singer of Sephardic songs Drita Tutunović, world music group Shira U’tfila and klezmer ensemble J’haz Klezmori. They will demonstrate several features of the Jewish musical heritage: traditional and contemporary approaches to the Sephardic tradition of the local Jewish community (Tutunović, Shira U’tfila), contemporary reconstruction of Ashkenazi music (J’haz Klezmori) as well as other variations of Jewish music influenced by the neighboring traditions (Shira U’tfila).

The evening will start with a performance by Drita Tutunović, Belgrade’s sole keeper of the ladino tradition whose artistic and philological work rescued invaluable examples of Sephardic music from the silence. Shira U’tfila is a highly-awarded group whose work covers a broad spectrum of the arrangements of Jewish, Mediterranean and Near Eastern music, together with their own compositions performed on authentic instruments. Their music is appreciated internationally as an outstanding modern approach to the Jewish musical heritage, while also ranking among the best achievements of the Serbian world music scene. J’haz Klezmori fusion of klezmer style with contemporary arrangements results in an overall ’chamber’ quality of the sound.

The concert will include short documentary movies portraying the life of the local Jewish community. As a specific reconstruction of the Jewish cultural legacy, this event will merge traces of the past with the living and lived practices that bring the prospect of multiculturalism in today’s Serbian society.

Music@Two

Belgrade, Hol Dečjeg kulturnog centra, December 22^nd 2007, 8 pm

The concert "Music@Two" is the first segment of the project named "Music Speaks Different Languages!", a series of musical events dedicated to the promotion of the musico-cultural diversity of Serbia. As Vojvodina is a region of strong multicultural legacy where neighboring cultures live and prosper next to each other, its music served as a baseline of the project. Rich heritages of Romanian and Hungarian musical cultures today live in 'unchanged' traditional forms, but they also serve as an inspiration for young performers and ensembles that bring stylistic and genre innovations to the tradition. The concert "Music@Two" was thus intended to promote both Romanian and Hungarian music, at the same time highlighting the ongoing encounter between the old and the new. The concert was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia.

The first part of the repertoire was devoted to the traditional music of both ethnic cultures. Young Romanian singers Adriana Uzoni and Marijana Okolişan-Petrović are the bearers of an authentic vocal expression, and so far have successfully participated in numerous domestic and foreign festivals. Gabriel Gaşpăr is one of the rare Romanian performers from Serbia that plays the pan flute. Edit Tényi holds the "Young Master of Folk Art" title awarded by the Hungarian Ministry of Culture in 2003, due to the outstanding musical versatility and grasp of diverse genres of Hungarian traditional music. Member of the "Hungarian Culture Chivalric Order" (2006) and "Young Master of Folk Art" (1998), Béla Micsik is the only practicing player of tekerő  in Vojvodina as well as one of the best performers and constructors of cither.

The second part of "Music@Two" gathered musical practices inspired by tradition that blend a contemporary approach with the archaic sound of the past. Due to the thriving interest in various fusions of traditional and contemporary music, the concert provided an insight into tradition’s reinterpretation that takes place in Vojvodina. The repertoire of neo-folk ensemble Wekant consists of the written pieces of Romanian renaissance music and the arrangements of Romanian folk songs and melodies. Members are Gracian Ion (mandolin), Višnja Spremić (viola), Livijus Pavlov (guitar), Vesna Pavlov (flute), Bojan Boljanac (frula), Aleksandar Dogan (percussion) and Sanja Ugričić (voice). The band Paniks from Subotica builds its dynamic expression on a variety of the Balkans’ motifs, taking a particular influence from the Hungarian music. A part of their opus draws on Bela Bartok’s transcriptions, with constant multigenre experimentations that achieve a well-measured balance between tradition, jazz improvisation and other musical influences. Paniks band members are Jelena Vujačić (flute), Vladimir Todorović (guitar), Nenad Knežević (accordion), Robert Verebeš (bass), Vladimir Rac (percussion) and Krunoslav Virovac (drums).

The concert "Music@Two" aimed to improve the visibility and contribute to the further development of the minority cultures of Serbia. It was an attempt to design a model that restates the concept of a multicultural society in the field of arts, and the further implementation of the project will continue to shift the Serbian culture towards similar European and international trends. By reaffirming the place of the minority music on the Serbian cultural scene, "Music@Two" embodies a prospective model of cultural policy based on promoting diversity and developing the reciprocal dialogue with the Other.