City Beerhouse (Gradskapivnica), 6 Njegoševa St.
14th November, 9pm
Nemanja Mihajlović, fagot, voice; Ervin Malina, double bass
Aca Pejčić, multi-instrumentalist; Voja Savkov, saxophone
Boris Hložan, guitar; Lav Kovač, drums
NEMANJA MIHAILOVIĆ
A fagot player andsinger, Nemanja Mihajlović was born in Kovin. He completed Secondary Music School “Mokranjac” in Belgrade in class of Prof. MAMirkoIsaeski and graduated from the Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade with the same professor. During his education he won a number of awards at National Competitions and Festivals of Serbian Music Schools. He is a founder of the chamber ensemble DAMS+, wind trio at the Faculty of Music Art, and the wind quintet “Majstoriduvači”. He has been a regular associate of the Artistic Ensemble “Stanislav Binički” as a solo fagot player, with which he has performed as a soloist as well. As a freelance artist, he has collaborated with the RTS Symphony Orchestra, Vojvodina Chamber Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonics (an ongoing collaboration), as well as Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra on the position of the first fagot. As a member of the Festival Ensemble, he has taken part in the festivals: Bemus, Nomusand KotorArt, and has held several recitals in our country. Nemanja has attended the fagot masterclasses with Mauricio Paeza (Izrael), Knut Sanstevold (Sweden), Gilbert Audin (France), as well as for chamber music with ViolaMokrosch (Germany), Norbert Girlinger, BoštjanLipovšek (Slovenia) and the French windquintet“Le concert impromptu”. For three years from 2011, he took part in the projects of German-Scandinavian Youth Philharmonics giving concerts in the great and chamber halls of the Berlin Philharmonics and in Hamburg. He has performed at the Telavi International Music Festival in Georgia, whose patron is the famous ElisoVirsaladze. He has been a member of the orchestra “Orfelin” since 2008, as well as of a completely New Wind Quintet. He is currently on the position of a fagot soloist of the Serbian National Theatre’s Opera orchestra and the Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra in Novi Sad.
Nudged by friends, who pleaded with him to stop singing only in the shower, he took up singing in 2012. He has performed in jazz and alternative bands and collaborated with different musicians from Novi Sad belonging to the jazz and fusion scene at concerts and club sessions in major Serbian cities and towns. He is the founder of the NemanjaMihajlović Quintet, which was later renamed into Jazz Kombinat. He was a conductor of the Vojvodina Jazz Youth Big Band for two years, collaborating with them as a vocal soloist as well. Among the notable performances are: the great concert at Novi Sad’s Studio “M”, which was recoded and kept in the Radio Vojvodina archives, as well as a concert at Mixer House, Belgrade, concerts in Zrenjanin, Vršac, Ruma and the Cultural Centre of Novi Sad. In2016, together with Vojislav Savkov, Marko Čurčić, Boris Hložan, and many other musicians, he formed the group “Čičini Čvorci”.
ERVIN MALINA
Ervin Malina is a graduate of the Art Academy of Novi Sad (Serbia).
His ability to transform and identify with different music styles enabled him to collaborate with a number of music ensembles.
He is one of the most sought-after double bassists in Novi Sad in the fields of improvised and jazz music. He collaborates with theVojvodina Symphony Orchestra and different chamber orchestra (The Novi Sad Chamber Orchestra, Orphelin, CamerataAcademica NS). He is a member of many ensembles with which he has recorded a number of CD albums and had numerous performances in our country and abroad: Majamisty trio, Earth Wheel Sky Band, Serboplov, MezeiSzilárd, OSSA Quartet, ensemble MAKUZ, AleksandarDujinOrkestra, Boris Kovač, Serbian National Theatre, Novi Sad Theatre.He is also active in Slovak, Hungarian and Serbian folklore ensembles… He has also collaborated with choreographerJozef Nagy…. He has performed at different festivals in Serbia, Germany, Hungary, Austria, France, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Roma¬nia, Ukraine, Norway, Japan.
ACA PEJČIĆ
Born in Kruševac and based in Kragujevac, multi-instrumentalist (piano, kaval, saxophone, accordion, tabla…), composer and arranger AcaPejčić became known to the wider music audience in 2006, when he started his musical journey in Kragujevac. He is an active member of a number of bands, groups and projects such as: Esoteric Oil Lamp, Thrill Seeking Polymers, KochetovKvintet, ČičiniČvorci, Bliks, Caras, Ethnics, Wine in Rakia, among others, and has played with numerous jazz musicians in Serbia and the region. He has been active in the fields of composing, arrangement and production since 2003, making music and sound design for theatre, film, television and video games. The music he creates and performs is based on improvisation, and his musical language is jazz. His influence is world music (Balkan, African, Indian, Latin-American music…). For the past 9 years he has been organising Monday Jazz Evenings at the Student Cultural Centre in Kragujevac and the Cultural Centre UMMUS.
VOJISLAV SAVKOV
Vojislav Savkov, a saxophonist, born on 12th January 1962 in Novi Sad, is a well-known and recognised musician in the domestic jazz circles.
He has played with almost all jazz musicians of Novi Sad, with musicians from Serbia as well as from other European countries, always ready for cooperation and dedicated to discovering new musical knowledge. VojaSavkov has travelled all over the East and Latin America through the mind and the body of a spiritual traveller. He shares his experiences through words, music and meditative presence of his existence.
BORIS HLOŽAN
Guitarist Boris Hložan is one of the prominent young jazz instrumentalists, whose activity contributes to and continues the rich jazz tradition of the Novi Sad music scene.Born in Novi Sad, Boris Hložanwent to the Music School “IsidorBajić”, where he studied the classical guitar in class of Prof. ZoranKrajišnik.He has beenactive in rock and reggae music (performing with the bands “Lost Propeleros” and “Josip a lisac”), but jazz is the most important field of his musical activity.
He learned the basics of jazz guitar performance by himself, advancing his knowledge in workshops and master classes of VanjaKevrešan, RatkoZajča, Peter Herbolchaimer, Jerry Bergonzi, Uwe Plath, AntalPusztai, among others. He has performed at festivals in Germany, the Czech Republic, Serbia and the countries of the region.
He is one of the founders of the Jazz Youth of Vojvodina, an association whose mission is education of young musicians and popularisation of jazz music in Serbia. Currently, Boris is performing with the Ivan Švager Octet, Swingeraj Jazz Kombinat and as a member of the Milena Jančurić Quintet.
LAV KOVAČ
Although he completed his primary and secondary education at the Music School “Isidor Bajić”for classical percussions, his primary instruments are drums and piano, as of lately.He graduated from the Jazz Department of the “Prins Claus”Conservatory in Groningen, Holland, inclass of Steve Altenberg. His active creative career started in Western Europe, within the groups KUHN FU, Howling Owl, HAKOS trios and the Boris Kovač New Ritual Group, being the author of music in some of them. On the local scene the band he is most active with is Dragon’s Fuel, honing the idea of live jazz band that regularly performs at the same club, but always with a different repertoire.
He is active as a composer as well, and is interested in exploration and finding out possibilities of eclecticism in music. Stylistically diverse, yet not belonging to any of the established movements, he approaches both the instrument and the music authorship in the most intuitive and inclusive way, seeking the freshness of musical expression.
Some of the names he regularly performs with include: Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer, VasilHadzhigrudev, Christian Kuhn, Enrique Oliver, Julian Sanchez, Boris Kovač, and Michael Moore.
Some of the festivals he has had a chance of performing at are: The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City, Sounds Of Music Groningen, ZomerJazzFiets Tour, Mittelfest, Fusion Festival, Positivus, Interzone, Novi Sad Jazz Festval,…