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THE ZORULE ENSEMBLE
Ensemble "Zorule" is one of the activities
of the members of the local tamburitza music lovers club of
the same name aimed at preserving the tradition of tamburitza
bands that are an important part of the musical tradition
in Vojvodina. The Zorule Ensemble consists of young tamburitza
players who have already performed throughout Europe winning
first prizes at competitions but also playing at weddings,
festivals, concerts...
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BEOGRADSKA CALGIJA
"Calgija" is a word of Arab origin meaning "rhythm".
It refers to an urban instrumental band. It is believed that
the appearance of such bands in this country coincided with
the arrival of the Turks, although they might have appeared
much earlier. However, it quite certain that calgijas were
a part of everyday life of townspeople in the principality
of Serbia in the nineteenth century. These bands entertained
them in coffee-houses, at wedding parties and during other
public and private celebrations. The last Belgrade calgija
ceased to exist in 1912, after the demolition of the "Dardaneli"
coffee-house. Today this kind of musical expression is still
preserved only in Vranje and in Kosovo and Metohija.
The band "Beogradska calgija" was founded in October
1999. Since then, they have played medleys of folk songs and
dances, thus reviving the already forgotten customs and the
spirit of old Serbian towns. The band includes authentic instruments
originating from the cities of Eastern Mediterranean, the
region to which our culture naturally belongs.
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MOBA
Female vocal group MOBA, whose members were born and grew
up in urban areas, is one of the rare professional bands in
Serbia that has in its repertoire only Serbian songs, in their
traditional form, performed without any (intentional) stylization.
The songs were learnt primarily using on-site recordings of
rural singing, as well as transcriptions.
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DARKO MACURA
Macura is a reformer of the Serbian school of performing
and singing. In his work he was assisted by Bokan Stankovic
and the singers in the band "Moba". This year he
has already played concerts in Hungary, Lebanon, Syria and
Tunisia. Earlier he gave guest performances in Greece, Austria,
Germany and in the US.
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BOKAN STANKOVIÆ
Bokan Stankovic is a well-known musician from Zajecar who
occasionally performs with the local brass band. He performed
at the Belgrade Music Festival (BEMUS) and at numerous traditional
folk music festivals. He also is the founder of the Serbian
male vocal group "Kladenac". He has been a member
of Goran Bregovic's Weddings & Funerals Band for several
years now.
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ACA SISIC
Aca Sisic is the most famous Romany violin player in the
country. He started his career at the age of 12 playing at
weddings. During the sixties, he performed with accordion
player Bata Kanda; together they released one of the first
singles. A number of Aca Sisic's records appeared on the PGP
RTS record label since he was a soloist in the RTS folk orchestra.
He travelled all over the world and was continually receiving
standing ovations. He was offered contracts, but he always
preferred to come back home. He enjoyed playing for elderly
Josip Broz.
We have rediscovered Aca Sisic, in a way, although he has
been performing ever since 1962, setting the standards in
this genre of music. His CD is the second record PGP RTS released
in a digital format. Today, unfortunately, not even a cassette
containing this material can be found. The material is featured
on the compilation album "Balkan Blues" that appeared
on the German label Network Medien. Although he seemed to
have been forgotten, grown old and it appeared that only his
audience still remembered him, he came back in big style,
much to the surprise of many, thanks to the compilation "Serbia:
Sounds Global 2" and the concert held in Sava Centre.
Aca Sisic will soon be in the studio recording a new album.
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KAL
KAL plays contemporary Romany music based on traditional
melodies. Two-quarter beat is typical of this band, while
violins and accordions are the dominant instruments. In the
1970s, Romany music was very popular in the area surrounding
the town of Valjevo and the most prominent musician coming
from this region is certainly Dusko Petrovic.
The latest CD by KAL features traditional Romany folk music
played on acoustic instruments only. They revive an earlier
style of Romany music, which existed before the era of electric
instruments, at the time when acoustic style was the only
way of playing music. Their performance combines diverse influences:
Serbian, Walachian, and Macedonian.
KAL is a Romany band based in Valjevo established in 1996
by the Ristic brothers Dragan and Dusan. Dragan Ristic graduated
from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, while Dusan
graduated from the Faculty of Applied Arts. Apart from Dusan
(guitar and vocals) and Dragan Ristic (violin and vocals),
other members of the band are Davor Vasic (accordion and vocals),
Dragoljub Vasic (acoustic bass) Vladan Vasic (guitar and lead
singer), Ninoslav Lukovnjak (percussions), Radovan Petrovic
(accordion) and Dejan Ristic (violin).
After the release of their album "Balkan Ambience"
on the Komuna label, German record label United One included
one of their songs on its 1998 compilation, which featured
two other bands: Louise Attaque from France and Muszikas from
Hungary.
KAL performed several times in Hungary with famous Hungarian
Romany bands Kali Yag, Ando Drom and Ternipe, as well as at
the Pepsi Sziget Festival. In October 1999, together with
two other bands, they toured Germany, Hungary and the Check
Republic. In the summer of 2002, they took part in the festival
"La notte di San Lorenzo" in Milan.
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ALEKSANDAR CARIC
Tenor Blokflöte and voice simultaneously, a washbowl full
of water, a mattress pump…
Multi-instrumentalist and actor Aleksandar Caric explores
music and theatre and their numerous and most varied forms.
His exploration of folk music, tradition and everyday life
led to the staging of the play "Can you defeat the war
by your stereophonic ability?" (in collaboration with
multimedia artist Branislav Petric). Some other musicians
defined this play as "Avant-folk".
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SHIRA U'TFILA
The band Shira u'Tfila (meaning "song and prayer"
in Hebrew) was founded in 2000 by Stefan Sabljic, cantor of
the Belgrade synagogue. Since then, the band participated
in a number of projects focusing on liturgy, paraliturgy,
as well as secular (folk or ethno) music of Sephardic Jews.
Using a wide variety of sources including melodies rooted
in different Jewish musical traditions in the Balkans, Middle
East, north Africa, Turkey, Spain etc and writing new arrangements,
Shira u'Tfila has created a rich selection of songs that are
sung primarily in Hebrew and Ladino (a language based on Spanish
and Hebrew), but also in Turkish, Judeo-Arab (a combination
of Arabic and Hebrew), Greek and Serbian. Apart from Stefan
Sabljic, other band members are: Djorde Stijepovic, Elad Gabay,
Bozidar Obradinovic, Georges Grujic and Jonah Rehavi.
The band includes three singers and the following instruments:
'ud (lute), violin, percussions (tarabuka and bendir) and
ney or kaval. Since last year, the band has collaborated with
well-known Jewish musician Elad Gabay, master of the qanun.
In addition to participating in several festivals in Bulgaria,
Romania, Croatia, Greece etc, Shira u'Tfila, has had a number
of successful concerts in the country and the region in the
last two years.
Until now, they have released two CDs. The first one "Nagillah
Halleluiah" (Let's Rejoice and Praise the Lord) is centred
around the musical tradition of Jews in the Middle East, while
the second one "Arvit Shel Sabbath" (Evening Service
on Saturday) presents a rich and specific tradition of melodies
sung in Belgrade and Sarajevo.
The new album, the group is currently working on, includes
little known songs rarely performed in front of a wider audience
that are characteristic of historical Jewish communities including
those that existed in Yemen, Aleppo, Damascus, Baghdad, Maghreb
communities, Istambul, Thessaloniki, Izmir, Rhodes, Belgrade,
Sarajevo and Pristina.
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MARSYA
Authentic Balkan medieval music spiced with the unique
singing of Anja Djordjevic and Georges Grujic's solos on the
kaval, zurle, cow horn, bagpipes and pipes.
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BELO PLATNO
White Linen is a frequent motif in folk songs. As
a symbol of cleanliness, white linen plays a role in the entire
life cycle of man: at birth a child is swaddled in it, at
christening draped in it. At weddings, the hands of the bride
and the bridegroom are joined by using a towel made of white
linen, wedding guests are given white linen towels as presents,
white linen is worn throughout life; the dead are wrapped
in it.
Belgrade-based band "Belo platno" ("White Linen")
was established in 1997 and brings together musicians sharing
pure love of authentic folk music and the need to preserve
and revive the local tradition of singing, playing music and
dancing (at weddings, family saint festivals (slavas), celebrations
and on other occasions).
The players use traditional folk instruments such as pipes
(kaval, double flutes, supelkas), tamburitza, tapan (goc,
drums), tarabukas and tambourines (as well as begpipes which
will be used in the future).
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