Nenad Vasilić Balkan Band
Vasilic Nenad – bass, fife, score-writing, compositions
Dusan Novakov – drums, percussions
Stefan Heckel – piano
Nicolas Simion – s.t. sax
Andjelko Stupar – drums
Klemens Pliem – s.t. sax
Peric Predrag – percussions
Armend Xhaferi – guitar
Georg Gratzer – t.s. Sax
“If you are looking for something that is
both new and old, if you want a multi-coloured music, you are
at the right place. This band’s music is ironic and rebelliously
brimming with love and faith, this is a music of people and freedom…All
the rest you should know is comprised by their two album – Folk
Songs and Joe Jack. Relax and enjoy this sophisticated and simple
work of art named Nenad Vasilic Balkan Band”.
Nenad Vasilic was born in 1975 in Nis where
he finished high musical school, department for chorus arrangement
and theory. He continued his musical education in Gratz, Austria,
at the Jazz Institute with Music University, department for jazz
double bass and electrical bass.
After having performed in numerous international
group concerts with the jazz greats as Mark Murphy, Sheila Jordan
and trumpet player Steva Gut, Vasilic founded his own band in
1998. His initial idea was to form a jazz quintet which will not
have any American songs in its repertoire. In time, the focus
of their music approach has become more clearly defined, resulting
in a fusion of European jazz and improvised music featuring melodies
and rhythm of the vast tradition of the Balkan folk music. Vasilic
spent some time collecting the most interesting traditional melodies
of his region and arranged them for his band. His success is based
on a blend of the feeling and tradition of this folk music with
contemporary instrumentation and a number of a jazz quintet expressions.
For Nenad Vasilic, melodies and rhythms of his
native Serbia (and entire Balkans!) have always been in the centre
of his music aspirations. Combining these elements with contemporary
jazz elements, Vasilic’s music evolved into the original European
interpretation of the world jazz.
