Chalaban

Fusion of Moroccan, Balkan and Gypsy music (Hungary, Morocco)

www.chalaban.com

Chalaban Band was founded in Budapest by the Moroccan musician Said Tichiti in 1999. The Band is testing a very original opening of the Moroccan music to the music traditions of Central Europe, Balkan and Gypsy styles. The result is that each Chalaban concert is full of desert and spirituality caressed by melancholic melodies of Central Europe ending with an air of trance. Chalaban has 5 albums until now: Moroccan Nomad, Moroccan Spring, Al Baraka, Nejdeb and Hashish Free.

Said Tichiti – Guembri (gnawa bas), Oud, percussion, vocal; Abdulaziz Gob - Djambé, Tama; Khalid Moutahir – percussion, vocal; Kovacs Balint – guitar; Péter Jelasity – Saxophone; Vazsonyi János – sopranino; Torják David - bass guitar: Golovics Feri – drums;

Starowski

Macedonian Cabare - Chalgija (Macedonia) 

www.myspace.com/starowski

The core essence of the Starowski group is the Balkan groove and sound, which further develops in subtle lyrical melodies supported by lyrics from Macedonian poets. Their sound conveys the Mediterranean and Balkan spirit of happy sadness or in other words Cabare-chalgija. Both the lyrics and the music tell stories of life, love, death, longing, happy and sad days.
The fans of Starowski Band describe their music as deep, emotional and understandable to all generations.

Verica Andreevska Spasovic - vocal, percussion; Verica Nedeska Trajkova - vocal; Jordan Kostov - accordion; Dejan Spasovik - ud, tambur, kemane; Krume Stefanovski - percussion, vocal; Zoran Pavlovski – Doublebass;

Simha

Yiddish music (Serbia)

www.myspace.com/simha9

The band Simha was founded in Belgrade in 2009 with an idea to revive the musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews from our region. The group is performing traditional songs as well as songs that were famous in the Yiddish theatre at the beginning of 20th century. The founder of the group and its lead vocal Milena Miletin has been introduced to this music since childhood and during her high school musical studies In the Czech Republic  she had a chance to collaborate, perform and record with various Yiddish and Klezmer music ensembles.

Milena Miletin - vocal, guitar; Jovana Gacin - violin; Filip Pantelić - doublebass; Miloš Lončar – accordion;

Dvir Cohen Eraki

Jewish songs from Yemen (Israel, Serbia)

www.myspace.com/dewanhalev

Dvir Cohen Eraki was born in a family of cantors who sing liturgical poems from the Jewish tradition of Yemen. He studied the special Yemenite Torah (the Jewish holy scroll) reading and singing when he was a child; Throughout the years, he has gained a lot of knowledge through research and personal experience about the different aspects of the traditional Yemenite poetry that varies from the life-oriented female chants, to the sacred mystic male poetry and music. Together with other friends musicians, he started "Diwan Ha-lev", a group that performs on different stages throughout the country and the world .  Over the last three years Dvir has been researching and learning liturgical poetry and music from different Jewish traditions originating from Turkey, Iraq and Morocco.

Dvir Cohen Eraki – vocal; Ariel Qassis – qanun; Stefan Sablic – ud, vocal; zzzare – riq, frame drum, mouth harp; Vlada Nikić – bass guitar; Predrag Manov – guitar;

Kopare

Music of Crete, Asia Minor and the Black Sea (Greece)

www.myspace.com/paulgoodsazman

Folk music idioms such as those found in Crete, Thrace, Pontos, Cappadocia and the Black Sea,  etc. are inter-connected not only to each other but also indeed with music and songs cherished by those forced to emigrate from Izmir & Asia Minor, which in turn have had their own sources of inspiration. The Kopare approach to these among other timeless arts is a total greater than the sum of its parts. Adherence to ancient micro-tonal guidance carefully balanced with the obligation to include the personal tone of each individual instrument and voice take wisdom from the past and give it special relevance to the paths we are weaving through today.

Paul Goodman – cretan lyra, saz; Michalis Haniotakis – qanun, vocal; Stelios Kasapakis -oud, ney, vocal; Despina Apostolidou-vocal, frame drum; Manolis Papadakis - vocal, frame drum;

Classical Hindustani Music

(India, Serbia)

www.ethnofusionfest.com

Indian Classical Music is probably the oldest continuous musical tradition in the world. Tracing its beginnings to the time of early Vedas, today represented by two systems, Carnatic, South Indian, and Hindustani, North Indian, which is a fusion of Persian and Indian music, both in musical theory and practical performance, introducing as well, new instruments like tabla, sitar, dilruba, sarod and santoor.  Nenad Vjestica Khan studied Hindustani classical music at the Al-Hamra Music Academy, Lahore, Pakistan, focusing on sitar, under Master Ustad M. Alam Khan in the Senia Gharana tradition. Akash Bhatt is a percussionist born and raised in Ahmedabad, India. As a child, he trained for many years to play tabla in the Banaras Gharana tradition. Through performing with musicians and artists from various backgrounds, he has developed a language that is more contemporary and free than purely traditional.  

Nenad Vještica Khan - sitar; Akash Bhatt - tabla

Shira u'tfila

Sephardic music (Serbia, Israel)

www.shirautfila.com

Founded by vocalist and oud player Stefan Sablic, Shira u’tfila brings together a multi-ethnic, multi-confessional ensemble that draws its inspiration from the diversity and richness of Judeo-Spanish, Ottoman-Turkish, Arabic and Balkan musical traditions. Shira u’tfila has released seven CDs, toured a dozen countries and collaborated on various research and production projects involving Sephardic music from the Balkans, the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East. The band passionately blends its knowledge of classical traditions and dedication to their preservation with a flair for improvisation and a talent for fusion.  Its distinct sound brings a modern twist to an historical legacy.

Stefan Sablić – vocal, ud; Filip Krumes – violin; Ariel Qassis – qanun; Srđan Đorđević – doublebass; Akash Bhatt –  darabuka, frame drum; zzzare – riq, mouth harp, frame drum;

Bengalo

Fusion of traditional music, jazz and rock (Norway, Serbia)

www.myspace.com/bengalomusic

Bengalo plays traditional Romani-music from the Balkans, influenced by its member's musical curriculum (jazz, rock, punk, Norwegian folk). Its members, Anne Fossen, Jovan Pavlovic and Christian Haug, developet Bengalo-sound into something different and new. They are joined by several guest musicians on bass, violin, banjo and drums. During the years their music has evolved into a very unique blend of tradition, jazz and rock. Strong element of the band is the powerful vocals by Fossen, who has a very expressive voice and impresses in both the energetic and peaceful songs.

Anne Fossen-vocal; Jovan Pavlović – accordion; Christian Haug – guitar;  Trygve Fiske – bass; Helge Norbakken-percussion;

Traditional music of Islam, Christianity and Judaism

(Serbia)

Jews, Christians and Muslims sing and listen to the same songs of lament and joy, confessions of sins, hymns of praise and adoration. This unique musical event is conceived to build bridges among the music and the people of these three monotheistic religions.

Abdurahman Mehmeti – vocal; Arton Haliti - vocal; Miloš Nikolić – vocal, clarinet; Stefan Sablić – kanun, vocal; Filip Krumes – violina; Nenad Vještica Khan – ud; Srdjan Djordjević – doublebass; Dejan Zarić – rik, frame drum; Akash Bhatt – darabuka;

Odjila

Gypsy music from around the world (Serbia)

www.grupaodjila.com

Odjila has been founded in the year 1988 and since then it performs all around the world recognizaby Gipsy music. They represented Yugoslavia on the world festival of Gipsy music in 1988 in London and they received many awards for their interpretations. They performed throughout Europe and until Far East. This is one of the rare remaining groups that plays in a authentic style with a repertoire from all around the world.

Sanja Uzelac – vocal; Davorka Bosnić – vocal; Slobodan Simonović – guitar, vocal; Boris Nikolić – solo guitar, back vocal; Andrej Stefanović – bass, guitar, keyboards;

Ticket sales: Bilet Centar, Eventim, Tickets.rs, Klub ljubitelja pozorišta, Ticket Master and one hour before the beginning of each concert at the venue. All concerts start at 8 pm, except on Friday, June 17^th at 6:00 pm and on Saturday, June 18^th at 9:30pm. In the case of bad weather, the concerts will be held at the Jewish Center for Cultrue and Art in Kralja Petra Street 71a.

Ticket sales

www.ethnofusionfest.com