Kazum! presents BALKAN FEVER LONDON

BALKAN FEVER LONDON 2008
Started in 2006 as an initiative of the Austrian Cultural Forum, Balkan Fever London has continued with a life of its own to present some of the best music, either from the Balkans, or drawing on the region’s musical traditions. With music being one of the few things that has always travelled across borders without papers, Balkan Fever London holds a loose notion of what is the Balkans and what isn’t; what some say ‘belongs’ to one state or to another. But with a definite world-wide wave of interest in the music and cultures of this region of South Eastern Europe, we’re delighted to bring you more top quality performances to move you - both emotionally and physically!
We’re indebted to Balkan Fever in Vienna, which takes place 17 April - 17 May 2008. www.balkanfever.at
To hear about Kazum! productions throughout the year send an email to [email protected]
CD of the artists in the festival are available to buy through www.kazum.co.uk
DOUBLE BILL ::: OPENING CONCERT
Saturday 10 MAY 7.30pm
QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL, Waterloo
SELIM SESLER & FANFARE VAGABONTU
Balkan Fever London kicks off at the South Bank Centre with a hair-raising double bill of Gypsy roots. SELIM SESLER is Turkey’s old-school gypsy clarinet star, born in Thrace, the eastern-most part of the Balkan peninsula. Leading his group in the elaborate café music known as fasil, Sesler’s clarinet soars with oriental yearning or skips at breakneck speed through highly ornamented dances, guaranteed to make you want to get out your belly dancing costume! His improvisational prowess has led to him being described in the Guardian as ‘The Coltrane of the Clarinet’, and he featured in Fatih Akin’s films Head On, Crossing the Bridge and The Edge of Heaven.
The concert opens with the irrepressibly upbeat music of eight-piece Romanian Gypsy brass band, FANFARE VAGABONTU . Hailing from Moldavia in eastern Romania, the same region as international stars Fanfare Ciocarlia and famous for its village bands, Vagabontu’s rough and ready but superfast arrangements of traditional tunes on tubas, horns and trumpets are a positive celebration of the musical energy of South Eastern Europe. Such is their energy that it may be difficult to keep it confined to the stage!
Stay and enjoy the after-show party in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Front Room Bar until 11.30pm
TICKETS: £22 / £17.50 / £12.50
www.southbankcentre.co.uk
0871 663 2500
VENUE: Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX
FREE EVENT: 6.15pm Bulgarian Dance Group, TANEC
Traditional dances from the different regions of Bulgaria
QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL FRONT ROOM
Monday 12 MAY 8pm
ROMANIAN RESTAURANT 32 OLD BAILEY, Blackfriars
TCHA LIMBERGER & THE BUDAPEST GYPSY ORCHESTRA
‘Brilliancies came and went so fast that there was hardly time to applaud until the end.’ Evening Standard
World-class blind violinist TCHA LIMBERGER comes from a famous family of Belgian Gypsy musicians and grew up with the jazz style of Django Reinhardt. Drawn to the exuberance of Hungarian Gypsy music from an early age, he spent three years studying its roots in Budapest - and there are few ‘primas’ playing in Budapest today who command such respect. Now just 30, he tours with his eight-piece orchestra of hand-picked Hungarian musicians, featuring the characteristic and cascading sounds of the cimbalom (a kind of piano played with sticks!). The delightful informality of London’s Romanian Restaurant is perhaps one of the most authentic places in which to experience this captivating music from the great city on the Danube and gateway to the Balkans.
TICKETS: £15 (booking fee may apply)
www.wegottickets.com
VENUE: Romanian Restaurant, 32 Old Bailey, EC4M 7HS
VENUE NUMBER FOR SEAT BOOKINGS: 020 7489 1842 / 07966 452557
Thursday 15 MAY 9pm
PIZZA ON THE PARK Jazz Club, Hyde Park Corner
MAJA OSOJNIK SEXTET
When award-winning Slovenian singer MAJA OSOJNIK moved to Austria she took with her hidden memories of folk songs sung by her parents at home to accompany special events such as… the hoovering, showering, and birthday parties! In her CD “Oblaki So Rdeci” (The Clouds are Red), and for tonight’s programme in a cosy and intimate venue described by the BBC’s Charlie Gillett as “London’s best small venue”, Maja’s gorgeous warm voice interprets these traditional Slovenian songs in jazz idiom with her five-piece band. The song lyrics can be hard-hitting, sad and sometimes downright rude (Maja also fronts her own punk band, so this is not a problem) but Maja’s performance is never less that deeply emotional.
Supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum
TICKETS: £15 (booking fee may apply)
www.wegottickets.com
VENUE: Pizza On The Park Jazz Club, 11 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LY
RESERVATIONS: 07966 452557
Friday 16 MAY doors open 7.30pm
BUSH HALL, Shepherd’s Bush
BRATSCH
Paris-based BRATSCH are true veterans of European world music. They celebrated nearly 30 years on the road together with the release of their sixteenth album, Plein du Monde, on EMI France, featuring guest artists Khaled, Lhasa, Charles Aznavour and many other friends.
One of the first groups in Western Europe to immerse themselves in the bitter-sweet sounds of the Balkans and to perform these side by side with French chanson and manouche styles, throwing in the odd Italian tarantella on the way, their characteristic gruff voices touch raw emotion and make hairs stand on end. Exuberant and heartfelt violin, clarinet, accordion on top of a tight rhythm section makes for dancing, singing, laughing and crying along with these plunderers of good music from all over Europe.
Bush Hall is an ornate turn of the century dance hall. With chandeliers and intricate plasterwork - what a place for a very rare UK visit by this wonderful group!
Supported by the French Music Export Office
TICKETS: £16 (booking fee may apply)
www.wegottickets.com
VENUE: Bush Hall, 310 Uxbridge Road, Shepherds Bush W12 7LJ
VENUE NUMBER: 020 8222 6955
Sunday 18 MAY, 6pm - 12am
CARGO, Shoreditch
OJOS DE BRUJO Soundsystem + DJ [dunkelbunt]
Vienna-based DJ [dunkelbunt] weaves Dub, Reggae, Electronics, and Breakbeats with a Balkan thread. In a unique Latin-Balkan culture clash from early evening till midnight, [dunkelbunt] shares the stage with ODB Soundsystem , consisting of DJ Panko (turntable, palmas, MC), Max (beatbox, cajon) and Carlitos (trumpet, keys) – all members of Barcelona’s legendary flamenco fusionists Ojos de Brujo. You decide who has the grittiest, hottest beats and the sexiest tunes. Is it breakbeat rumba and drum & bass bulerias, or brass band beatbox and Gypsy ragga?
[dunkelbunt] plays from 6pm followed by ODB
Supported by Austrian Cultural Forum, in collaboration with polyglotta and BalkanBeats London
TICKETS: £12 / £10
www.wegottickets.com
www.cargo-london.com
VENUE: Cargo, 83 Rivington Street, Shoreditch EC2A 3AY
Friday 23 MAY, 7pm - 1 am
93 FEET EAST, Brick Lane
KOBY ISRAELITE BAND, Gypsy Sound System
Talented multi-instrumentalist KOBY ISRAELITE changed musical direction after encountering Romanian Gypsy stars Taraf de Haidouks. A former speed metal drummer, he took up accordion and was signed to John Zorn’s Tzadik label. His Balkan-infused music fits equally well in a jazz, blues or rock festival and was selected by Madonna for the soundtrack for her film Filth and Wisdom.
With special sets from very busy Swiss DJ duo, GYPSY SOUND SYSTEM .
In collaboration with Yes Boss Music
TICKETS: FREE
VENUE: 93 Feet East, 150 Brick Lane, E1 6QL
Thursday 29 MAY doors open 7.30pm
ROMANIAN RESTAURANT 32 OLD BAILEY, Blackfriars
TÉA HODZIC TRIO
'Her voice haunted me for the rest of the day...' Clive Davies, The Times
TÉA HODZIC sings the songs of her homeland, the former Yugoslavia, and its bordering countries. Her new album Stay Awhile has received critical acclaim and the simple trio format provides a space for Téa’s sumptuous vocals, beautiful traditional melodies and exquisite flights of violin fancy. Born in Sarajevo, Téa moved to the UK in 1989 where she joined the Balkan super-group Szapora and has played everywhere from Womad to Buckingham Palace. She is accompanied by violinist Oliver Wilson-Dickson, who has performed at The Royal Opera House, The RSC and The National Theatre, and accordionist Luke Carver Goss, whose music includes commissions for symphony orchestras, rock bands, and musicals.
TICKETS: £12 (booking fee may apply)
www.wegottickets.com / 07966 452557
VENUE: Romanian Restaurant, 32 Old Bailey, EC4M 7HS
Live music starts 9.00pm
VENUE NUMBER FOR SEAT BOOKINGS: 020 7489 1842 / 07966 452557
Friday 6 JUNE 7.30pm
ST JAMES CHURCH, PICCADILLY
EVA QUARTET
Nothing is quite like the haunting female choral singing that burst into global consciousness in the 1980s with the Bulgarian State Female Vocal Choir, Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares. In 1995 four young friends and current soloists from Le Mystere formed EVA QUARTET . Such is the command of their voices that when they sing together the audience has the impression of a single multi-layered voice, the unaccompanied close harmony and dissonances expressing togetherness, tensions, raw humanity and deep spirituality in a way few musical forms can. The repertoire of the quartet comprises authentic folk songs and church hymns from different parts of Bulgaria, but they also take more contemporary approaches, and have worked on projects with French electronics master Hector Zazou. The programme includes interludes on Bulgarian gayde bagpipes from choral director Milen Ivanov.
GERGANA DIMITROVA - soprano
SOFIA KOVACHEVA – mezzo soprano
EVELINA CHRISTOVA – alto
DANIELA STOICHKOVA – contralto
MILEN IVANOV - conductor
TICKETS: £16 (booking fee may apply)
www.wegottickets.com
VENUE: St James’ Church, Piccadilly
ENQUIRIES: 07966 452557