Following the excellent concerts of the BiH pianist Adis Sirbubalo from the Sarajevo City Hall and the Iranian artist and Grammy winner Kayhan Kalhor from the Bimhuis in Amsterdam, which opened the 24th edition of Jazz Fest Sarajevo 2020 last night, on the second day of the Festival, tonight, on the 20th of November, we present three concerts from Sarajevo and New York that can be watched free of charge on our Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Within the Sevdah at a Distance program focusing on traditional music of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the concert of a vocalist, Tijana Vignjević and a cellist, Belma Alić, recorded in the War Childhood Museum, will be shown at 9 p.m. The TV premiere of this duo will also be broadcasted tonight on Face TV at 11 p.m.
The next two concerts bring the Jazz Fest audience to New York. At 9.40 p.m., we first go to the EastSide Sound Studio – the place where some of the important albums of contemporary music created by American and world artists came to being. This is the venue where the duo of two top guitarists and improvisers, Mary Halvorson and Miles Okazaki, will have its world premiere at the Jazz Fest. Last year, Okazaki introduced himself to the Jazz Fest audience with his solo project Work – Music of Thelonious Monk, and as a member of the Mary Halvorson Quartet. In addition to her Quartet performance at the Jazz Fest, Mary also performed at the Festival with the Thumbscrew Trio. She is the current prestigious MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” winner.
Our third concert today will start at 10.30 p.m. By his music, an American multi-instrumentalist, composer and improviser originally from Iraq, Amir ElSaffar explores the connections between Arab traditional music and jazz idioms and improvisation. Voice Magazine describes his performances as an elegant, meditative, refined and daring musical experience and his Jazz Fest concert was recorded in the New York’s Museum of Contemporary Art, famous MoMA PS1.
YouTube links for the concerts can be accessed at the “Program” link.