February 3, 2022 - It appears we have a music-themed month on our hands with Zagreb Music Fair and a few delicious live shows lined up in the coming weeks. We bring you a selection of three performances in Zagreb and Pula that are all rooted in traditional music of the Balkans, some partially, some in full. Enjoy!

Zoran Majstorović & JazzIstra Quartet - Musical Migrations / Zagreb, February 4

First up, Zoran Majstorović and the JazzIstra Quartet performing in Zagreb this Friday. They’ll be playing the six pieces which make up the album Musical Migrations, composed by Majstorović and recorded in 2020.

The album was written for a jazz orchestra featuring a multi-instrumentalist, in this case Majstorović himself. Musical Migrations are influenced by American jazz and traditional music from various parts of the world, combining musical elements originating from multiple cultures in six original compositions. Every piece is a story of its own, with three of them inspired by traditional music of the Balkans and Istria in particular. Here's a rundown as presented in the event description:

The opening track Baal Un is an interpretation of balun (a form of traditional Istrian dance) in an abstract drum’n’bass performance. La Tierra Y El Cielo is inspired by Latin music and flamenco, with a mandolin adding a touch of Mediterranean sound. Wangari combines the music of West Africa with American swing and is dedicated to Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Duck’s Remarks draws inspiration from island music, featuring Jamaican reggae, Hawaiian ukulele, and a dose of free jazz.

In the video above, listen to Oro Machno, named after the Istrian village Koromačno and combining the Balkan oro in 9/8 with melodic elements of the Istrian scale. And finally, Not Giving Up on Our Species, a composition in which delta blues and the New Orleans sound meet Istria and the Balkans.

Zoran Majstorović - guitar, oud, saz, kamal
Branko Sterpin - trumpet, flugelhorn
Bojan Skočilić - double bass, bass guitar
Borko Rupena - drums

Kulturni centar Mesnička (Mesnicka Cultural Centre), Zagreb
February 4, 9pm start

The album will be available for purchase at the venue.
Admission is free, with voluntary donations welcome.

Alice In WonderBand / Zagreb, February 13

On the second weekend in February, Močvara club in Zagreb will host Alice In WonderBand, a duo from Serbia known for their captivating blend of folk music and performance arts. They bring Balkan folklore to life in a unique way, performing traditional music through a combination of singing and body percussion.

Ana Vrbaški and Marko Dinjaški are artists and performers who have been life and stage partners for 25 years. The Alice in WonderBand project was conceived at Fruška Gora in 1998, and has since made its way all over the region. They perform traditional songs from Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Turkey and Hungary.

Their shows are a mesmerising fusion of music, theatre, dance and acrobatics performed using a special skill of body percussion. Watch the video below to see them skip, clap, tap and twirl, all the while belting out some serious tunes:

Močvara, Zagreb
Sunday, February 13, 8pm start
Tickets can be purchased here and at the venue before the show.

Tamara Obrovac Quartet / Pula, February 23

Singer, songwriter, composer and flutist, Tamara Obrovac is a powerhouse best known for her Istria-inspired flavour of ethnic jazz. The immensely talented artist is performing in Pula on February 23 with one of her long-standing ensembles, a quartet whose line-up hasn’t changed since 1997!

They’ll be playing new compositions written by Obrovac for an album coming out later this year.

Have a taste of their sublime sound with a 2018 performance:

Tamara Obrovac - vocals
Matija Dedić - piano
Žiga Golub - double bass
Krunoslav Levačić - drums

INK Pula (Istrian National Theatre Pula)
Wednesday, February 23, 8pm
Tickets can be purchased here. 

ZAGREB, 26 Sept, 2021 - Zagreb will host the 31st Jazz.hr/jesen music festival from 30 September to 2 October, consisting of five concerts, including by the 18-member avant-garde conceptual world jazz ensemble Mimika Orchestra.

The festival will also feature the Croatian Radio-Television Jazz Orchestra together with several soloists and composers, the Zvonimir Šestak Groove Assembly and guests, vocalist Daniel Caccia, and the piano-vocal-percussion duo freekind.

The concerts will be held at Tvornica kulture.

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November 28, 2020 – With her second solo album, ONA, Croatian American musician Thana Alexa Pavelic explores her Croatian heritage. It's just been nominated for a Grammy! Here's an introduction to a singular talent and the sound of her Croatian roots

The songs of Croatian American jazz musician and singer Thana Alexa Pavelic have never sounded more like her life experience. On her second album, 'ONA', we finally hear her Croatian roots colliding with the cool, considered and contemporary world of the New York jazz scene. Legendary for its jazz for over 70 years, the city of New York is full of ambitious musicians chasing the vibe and reputation of its heritage. It can be tough to stand out, to sound original. With 'ONA', Thana Alexa Pavelic has done just that, and earned a Grammy nomination for her efforts.

Published in 2015, Thana Alexa Pavelic's debut album 'Ode To Heroes' was similarly well accomplished. But, it seemed to more reflect her American experience rather than embracing the whole. Born in New York to a father from Zagreb and a mother of Dubrovnik heritage, Thana Alexa Pavelic spent every summer in Croatia and so was hardly uprooted when the family moved back to Croatia when Thana was 13. She returned to America to complete her university studies – music and psychology.

In comparison to 'Ode To Heroes', new album 'ONA' sees Thana Alexa Pavelic replacing her femininity with feminism – the album is inspired by the experiences of Croatian women, most of all her mother and her grandmother. Not just evident in the language of the album title, for the first time in her solo output, on 'ONA' you can hear Croatian language, traditional Croatian music and the Croatian female experience in the songs of Thana Alexa Pavelic.

It is doubtless these Croatian influences that separate Thana Alexa Pavelic from the rest of 2020's jazz hopefuls. They are partially responsible - alongside the superb execution and production of the songs - for the Grammy nomination. It is the first-ever Grammy nomination received by a Croatian musician.

And, rather than simply take from the Croatian experience, 'ONA' also gives back. Thana Alexa Pavelic has dedicated a donation from each sale of the album to Zagreb-based human rights organisation Solidarna and their #spasime campaign (which supports victims of violence). Whether Thana Alexa Pavelic wins the Grammy for Best Vocal Jazz album or not, with 'ONA', she has placed a Croatian voice on the world's music stage in more ways than one. If she is successful, then the award will surely make its way to Croatia at some point, held in the hands of a Transatlantic artist now exploring in music her Croatian heritage. Good luck at the Grammys Thana Alexa!

August. 28, 2020 - On Thursday, August 27, 2020, with the opening of the exhibition "Jazz Greats in the Ethnographic Museum", the Split Open Jazz Fair 2020 began. It is a photographic exhibition of portraits of jazz musicians by Davor Hrvoj from Zagreb, the doyen of Croatian jazz journalism ("It's time for jazz").

Hrvoj started working in journalism in the 1980s and published his works in numerous Croatian newspapers, such as Jutarnji list, Vijenac, and Gloria. He was a member of the international jury for the  European Jazz Prize and is currently a member of several cultural councils and a leader of jazz events in Croatia. Besides, he is a permanent member of the Croatian Journalists' Association as a freelance journalist and the Croatian Music Union, the Croatian Society of Composers, and the Croatian Association of Independent Artists.

"Why portraits? Because in this way, with the help of a telephoto lens, it's possible to get closer to the gestures of artists and the spirit of jazz music and what musicians feel and the way they think. Unlike most other photographers, I like to wait for the end of a concert, when artists are already losing control of their behavior and their gestures. Then I catch them in those moments when they are truly natural when they are truly what they are", the author explains.

After the opening, there will be two concert evenings at Đardin as part of the Urban Culture Review - EVO RUKE 7 with, as always, free admission. The exhibition is open to visitors until 18.09.

"Since jazz is my life, as is theirs, this is how I try to capture the essence of jazz", Hrvoj concludes.

The program for two evenings of the concert program can be found below.

On Friday, 28.08.2020. perform:

21:00 - Peter Smith & The Hosters, Split,
22:00 - Elena Stella & A.J.Jazz Trio, Zadar/Biograd

On Saturday, 29.08.2020. perform:

21:00 - Doringo, Zagreb,
22:00 - Just Jazzy, Split

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Jazz comes to Istria.

Pula is the place to be this year as the live music just doesn't stop.

Beth Hart played at Zagreb's Boogaloo Club on Friday, November 10, 2017. 

From the 17^th – 20^th August 2017, the fourth edition of the Makarska Jazz Festival will be placed at the top of the jazz scene in Croatia and beyond. It has attracted some of the best local and international musicians, who trade their usual stage for one of the most gorgeous settings along the Adriatic Coast – the Makarska Riviera.

Over two consecutive weekends, June 11 and 12 and June 18 and 19, the Botanical Gardens in Zagreb will be host to an event "Biljke i svirke", connecting music and nature in a more than original way.