The extended weekend ahead of us will be marked by the World Music Pocket Globe Festival, which takes place in Novi Sad from 10 to 12 November as part of the Other? Europe programme arch. This is one of the few festivals that will be held at as many as three locations in the European Capital of Culture. Concerts await us at the Youth Theatre, the Synagogue and the Svilara Cultural Station. On this occasion, Novi Sad will host artists from Iran, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Morocco, and Slovenia. We highly recommend you to visit these gigs. In the unique ambience of the Synagogue, then the 90-year-old theatre, as well as the cultural station, a former symbol of the city’s industrial heritage, we will embark on a musical journey around the world, through the representation of minority cultures. If you have planned to spend this coming weekend in the European Capital of Culture, get your tickets on time from the GigsTix network and the Youth Theatre. We present to you world music artists whose six concerts you will surely enjoy.

Thursday, 10 November at 8 p.m., Synagogue

Damir Imamović, Trio Singer of Tales & Boris Kovač New Ritual Ensemble

Feel the music of the world at the first concerts that await you in the Synagogue on 10 November. The Singer of Tales trio, consisting of Damir Imamović, Derya Türkan and Žiga Golob, will perform, followed by the famous Boris Kovač with the New Ritual Ensemble.

One of the most significant representatives of today’s sevdalinka scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Damir Imamović, is a multi-awarded musician from Sarajevo. At the same time, he is considered the best European world music artist. Now he will perform in the European Capital of Culture with two other fantastic artists from Turkey and Slovenia. In addition to Damir, the fantastic trio consists of the Istanbul master of Turkish classical music, Derya Türkan, as well as the talented Slovenian double bassist Žiga Golob.

If you are in the mood for sevdalinka, do not miss the concert, which will be followed by a musical journey into the world of seductive notes. We will enjoy the performance of the legendary instrumentalist and composer Boris Kovač and the New Ritual Ensemble. You can read the interview with the artist, who will introduce us to the world of ‘lighter notes’.

Friday, 11 November at 8 p.m., Youth Theatre

Monsieur Doumani

Straight from Cyprus, on the second day of the Pocket Globe festival, a Monsieur Doumani trio arrives in Novi Sad. This band has been impressing audiences all over the world with their performances for a full decade. So far, we have had the opportunity to hear the phenomenal trio twice in Belgrade, and now they will perform in the Youth Theatre in Novi Sad. Their line-up is perhaps unusual for a three-member group (cura saz – small bouzouki, trombone, acoustic guitar). However, Monsieur Doumani uses electronics, effects and loop pedals to enter a world that is refreshing and exciting.

They have four albums, the last of which, Pissourin, released by Glitterbeat Records, shifted their Mediterranean sound into the depths of psychedelia and avant-folk. Do not miss the concert on Friday and get to know the music of the trio consisting of Antonis Antoniou, Demetris Yiasemides and Andys Skordis. Their greatest value, as the band members say, is friendship and congruence of perspectives at music and art. ‘The time we spend working on the arrangement of a song is a kind of sacred act for us, during which we are at the same time very focused and excited, enjoying the whole process and learning from it without limit,’ pointed out Antonis Antoniu in the interview.

Bab L’ Bluz

The band that will also perform at the Youth Theatre on the second day of the concert is the Moroccan band Bab L’ Bluz, which means the gateway to African blues. The music of the desert is, as they say, a very important source of inspiration for their work. The members of the band are Yousra Mansour (lead vocals, awisha, percussion, gimbri), Brice Bottin (gimbri, guitar, percussion, backing vocals), Hafid Zouaoui (drums, backing vocals) and Jérôme Bartholomé (flute, percussion, backing vocals). Now, for the first time, they are coming to the European Capital of Culture, where they will introduce the Moroccan heritage to the Novi Sad audience, the songs they write and create themselves, but also the sound of the unusual gimbri (a type of guitar). Led by a Moroccan woman in a traditionally male role, the band is devoted to the revolution. They promote an attitude that is in line with the Samarocan youth movement ‘nayda‘ – a new wave of artists and musicians who rest on the local heritage, singing verses about freedom in the Moroccan-Arabic dialect.

‘Through the lyrics, we wish to present our way of thinking, values, principles and beliefs, as well as the vision of the world we would like to live in.’ The nayda movement is part of that, because it represents an entire generation that fought for freedom of expression and at a time when extremist currents were rising at the expense of spirituality, and keeping a large part of the population in ignorance and favouring repression, corruption, discrimination, as well as other scourges,’ Yousra explained in the interview.

Saturday, 12 November at 8 p.m., Youth Theatre

Shira Utfila

The last concert night will be dedicated to top performers of Sephardic music. The multi-ethnic and multi-confessional Belgrade band Shira Utfila was formed 22 years ago. It was founded by Stefan Sablić – singer, organ and qanun player, arranger, composer, theatre director and cantor. The ensemble, the guardian of tradition, draws its inspiration from the diversity and richness of Judeo-Spanish, Ottoman-Turkish, Arab and Balkan musical traditions. The crown of many years of work is as many as nine published albums, seven of which are folk music and two liturgical music. Their specific sound brings a modern approach to historical heritage, and now we will have the opportunity to hear it in the European Capital of Culture. This interesting ensemble consists of Branislava Podrumac (vocals), Aleksandar Jovanović Šljuka (piano), Filip Krumes (violin), Sinan Aćifović (clarinet), Srđan Đorđević (double bass) and Goran Milošević (percussion).

Kayhan Kahlor and Erdal Erzincan

The concert part of the Pocket Globe festival will round off a premiere performance in Serbia, which probably attracts the most attention. It is the performance of Kayhan Kahlor, a Grammy winner and an expert in Iranian music, but also an extraordinary player of the kamancheh, an ancient Persian instrument. This extraordinary artist will be joined on stage by his longtime collaborator and friend, Erdal Erzincan, a baglama player. Saturday evening brings us a concert by two virtuosos. Their performance will be permeated with the traditional sounds of the cultures from which they originate – Persia (Iran) and Anatolia (Turkey). The duo often collaborate together and have The Wind album. We could freely describe their music as intense, but at the same time one that sounds like a prayer. The goal of their music and creativity is to bring the listener into their trance-like realm, interweaving ecstatic rhythms with gorgeous melodic phrases. Do not miss it!

Author: Marina Marić

Photo: Promo/EPK