“Šaban” is moving to the Summer Stage.

31 May “Šaban” is moving to the Summer Stage.

“Šaban” is moving to the Summer Stage

Nišville has decided to relocate the entire program “Friends of Šaban” dedicated to Šaban Bajramović, which has been held in the days leading up to the main festival program at the amphitheater on the quay in previous years, to the Summer Stage from August 10th to 13th. It was on the Summer Stage in 2006 that Šaban received the “Nišville” Lifetime Achievement Award and charmingly opened the then Nišville in English.

In that same year, the largest award, the Nišville Grand Prix “Šaban Bajramović,” was established for the fusion of jazz and other musical styles, which Šaban personally presented to the first recipient, the leader and founder of the group Incognito (Jean-Paul Maunick “Bluey”), saying: “I give you this award of mine.”

As director Ivan Blagojević explains, one of the reasons for moving this program is an attempt to save on the costs of setting up the stage at the amphitheater on the quay since the festival’s revenues are lower than in 2019, while the costs have significantly increased since then.

The second reason is a richer offer for foreign tourists by forming a kind of World Music stage that would include not only the program dedicated to Šaban Bajramović but also the Balkan Brass Orchestras competing in jazz improvisation for the “Buddy Bolden” award, named after the leader of the first jazz orchestra in New Orleans. The winning orchestra will receive prizes such as performing at the closing of the main Nišville program, as well as fees and flights to perform at festivals in France and Belgium. The competition for the six best brass orchestras, whose travel and stay costs in Niš will be covered for their performance in this program, is open until July 1st, and interested orchestras can apply via email at booking@nisville.com, along with the mandatory submission of several links or recordings of their performances.

The director of Nišville explains that according to the rules of this competition, each orchestra is required to perform 30 minutes of their own choice, including the jazz standard “When the Saints Go Marching In” – one of the oldest and most popular jazz standards, an improvisation on a jazz composition of their own choice, and the song “Dželi Mara” by Šaban Bajramović.

Director Ivan Blagojević recalls that the idea for something like this was born at Nišville in 2007 when the famous jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd, after performing with Goran Cekić’s brass orchestra, emphasized that Balkan brass bands greatly resemble the early jazz ensembles from New Orleans.

During the first evening of the program dedicated to Šaban Bajramović, the band Faith & Branko, led by a married couple, will also perform on the Summer Stage: British musician Faith Elliott on accordion and Serbian Roma violinist Branko Ristić. Following their performance, a documentary film about the love between these two artists, brought together by their passion for Roma and Balkan music, will be shown on the Summer Stage. The program “Friends of Šaban” will conclude on Sunday, August 13th, with a performance by the French band “Marcela” (performing at the Sziget festival after Nišville), led by vocalist Marcela Cisarova, whose repertoire also includes compositions inspired by the musical tradition of Roma from the Balkans.

Link: Šaban Bajramović opens Nišville 2006.