WORKSHOP

Svetlana Spajic Latinovic and White Linen

Vlada (Vladimir) Simic – caval, tamburitza, chanter
Natasa Simic – vocals, tambourine
Zvezdana (Anastazija) Ostojic – vocals
Darko Karajic – tamburitza, lute
Nikola Djokic – tambourine, drums

Guests:

Akash Bat - tabla, goch, drums, tambourine
(Ahmabad, Gudjarat, India)
Risto Soluncev – bagpipes, caval
(Skopje, Macedonia)

Svetlana Spajic Latinovic has been in the traditional singing ever since 1993 and performed with several traditional music groups. Since 1999 she has led the “Drina” project. Besides traditional singing styles of Serbian people, she has also fostered the songs of other Balkan peoples.

She performed in both the country and abroad. In 1955 in Thessalonica she was a member of the Traditional Inter-Balkan Ensemble where she performed with some of the greatest Balkan artists, including Janka Rupkina, Xantipi Karatanasi, Ihsan Osgen, etc.

She features at several albums: Drina “Live Water”, Serbia: Sounds Global 1 & 2, Extended Europe Live from Vienna, etc.

White Linen is a group of people endeavouring in preserving and performing authentic folk music from Kosovo and Metohija, south-eastern Serbia and Macedonia. White Linen’s music has been characterized by the Balkan modality, impressive female vocals and music performed on authentic traditional folk instruments. Some of the instruments (caval, chanter, tamburitza) have been crafted by Vlada Simic in his workshop on the eleventh floor of a New Belgrade high-rise building. White Linen features in the Serbia: Sounds Global 2 edition and in its first edition: White Linen (June 2003).
Akash Bat has been the inhabitant of Belgrade since recently. He studied a traditional “Banaras Garana” mode of playing tabla, but also uses to play it in modern style. He likes Serbian folk music very much, recognizing in it certain similarities with the folk music of Gudjarat.

Risto Soluncev is the leader of a new Skopje band “Pece Atanasovski Orchestra of Authentic Folk Instruments”, named after its famous teacher.