Lukas Kranzelbinder, double bass, electric bass, guembri, leader; Fabian Rucker,, alto saxophone; Johannes Schleiermacher, tenor saxophone, flute; Mario Rom, trumpet; Oliver Potratz, double bass, electric bass; Niki Dolp, drums, percussion; Christian Eberle, drums, percussion 

The flagbearers of a new wave of Austrian jazz and as yet the only true answer to Sons of Kemet!

Making their debut at 2016 Jazzfestival Saalfelden, this group of Austrian creative musicians led by rising star bassist Lukas Kranzelbinder quickly became one of the hottest live acts on the circuit, not only on the home turf but also across Europe and further afield, including Canada, Mexico and Morocco. Mention must also be made of Shake Stew's dazzling sold-out concert at the 2018 Ljubljana Jazz Festival. Shake Stew are making a return visit to Ljubljana on their European tour in support of their sixth album, Lila.

Shake Stew seemingly exploded onto the scene out of nowhere and have since been delighting audiences with their electrifying mixture of hypnotic afrobeat and jazz grooves. Their unusual configuration of 2 drummers (Herbert Pirker gave a brilliant performance with Hari Viderci at the Druga godba Festival this year), 2 bass players and 3 horns is one of the key things that has made this 7-piece band stand out. This instrumentation, which at first seems a little strange, seamlessly blends together, creating the trademark Shake Stew high-energy sound that their reputation has been built on. The addition of the Guembri (Moroccan bass lute) – something Kranzelbinder has been playing for many years now – and flute, add yet more texture to what is already a complex balance of sounds. We are eagerly anticipating the new album and a new music adventure.

In 2023, Shake Stew won the prestigious Amadeus Austrian Music Award as the first instrumental band since Joe Zawinul, Their music was also used by the furniture brand Rutar for the TV campaign Love Story, whose creative and innovative approach has shattered all advertising campaign stereotypes. 
 

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The front pages featuring John F. Kennedy present a dazzling image. Depicting the character of a healthy athlete, an exemplary family father, a loyal husband, a visionary statesman. Professor Karmen Šterk will explain why Kennedy’s persona attracted such sensational conspiracy theories. Professor and designer Boštjan Botas Kenda will speak about the adopted design solutions that were nothing short of deceptive – to put it mildly. 

The interview will be moderated by Ali Žerdin, the Museum of Press curator, a journalist and editor. 
Held in Slovenian with no translation.

The Kennedy dynasty amassed great wealth through various business ventures that included banking, stock trading, real estate investments and selling liquor before (and during?) prohibition. During his Hollywood rein, Joseph P. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's father, owned various film studios, and could make or break the careers of various more or less talented actresses and actors. Marcel Štefančič jr. was called upon to shed light on a politician who carved out his path in parallel with the film industry, a persona reminiscent of characters in sensational films about political conspiracies, a leader who lived a life of an exemplary Catholic in front of the camera. What was he like when the cameras were turned off? A victim or agent of conspiracy?

The interview will be moderated by Ali Žerdin, the Museum of Press curator, a journalist and editor. 
Held in Slovenian with no translation.

NF: Daniel Ferenc Szabo, drums; Marcell Gyanyi, double bass; Daniel Varga, saxophones, Istvan Toth, guitar; Damjan Ocsovay, piano, keyboards
M & K: Tamara Mózes, vocals; Zsolt Kaltenecker, keyboards, fx
BLGE: Ben LaMar Gay, cornet, synth, vocals; Will Faber, guitar, vocals; Matt Davis, sousaphone, vocals; Tommaso Moretti, drums

New Fossils is a fresh Hungarian supergroup. The band’s members are committed to constantly searching out new paths and the inherent tensions in opposites. Their music is permeated with a sense of languor, and a clear link to the latest wave of contemporary urban jazz evident in the end result. Song-centric compositions are taken to a higher level, sometimes with electronics, sometimes through improvisation. They achieve this with consummate ease given that they were prominent figures on the Hungarian jazz and popular music scene as members of the Dresch Quartet or Mörk long before this band started. Their debut album was released in 2023 on their own label, Morotva Records. Intellectually engaging and dancy fourth-world anthems.
Experienced musicians Moses & Kaltenecker have joined forces to create a rich, atmospheric world based on keyboards with multiple effects, and a human voice. A very personal, unconventional contemporary production was born, digging deep and offering a trippy, dreamy sound which embraces the haunting psychedelia of Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk’s electronic approach, various pop and rock elements and modern jazz improvisations. They were awarded “Band of the Year” and their first album 'Futurized' (released by BMC Records) won “Album of the Year” by public vote at Jazzma in December 2022.

It's never too late. Ben LaMar Gay Ensemble was supposed to play at this year's Jazz Festival Ljubljana. Unfortunate circumstances may cause fortunate results, though, and the author of one of the finest jazzlike albums of recent years is coming to Ljubljana this October. Open Arms To Open Us (Nonesuch 2021), with the single Sometimes I Forget How Summer Looks On You, is one of those creative albums that addresses a wider music community, a vibrant blend of genres and a groundbreaking release. And while performed live by a quartet, it vividly conveys the richness of musical expression, the inner coexistence of genre diversity, imaginatively interweaving jazz, blues, new music, folk, R&B, Tropicalia, two-step, hip-hop and beyond… Channelling a dizzying array of sound through the musical idea of spontaneity, the album is grounded in powerful instrumentalization and a wonderful gift for creating catchy and groovy tunes.
 

Hungarian Jazz & Beyond is supported by MOL – New Europe Foundation within the framework of the „Felhangolva” programme and Budapest Music Centre (BMC), and forms part of a multiannual bilateral programming agreement between CD and BMC.

Slovenian singer and songwriter Zoran Predin’s new concert Na svoji strani (On My Own Side) features a selection of hits from his best-known projects: chansons on albums Zoran poje Arsena and Tragovi u sjeti, popular songs on albums Ljubimec iz omare and Strup za punce, as well as Lačni Franz ballads that have spread among the people and became part of the national song repertoire.

Accompanied by violinist Bruno Urlić, keyboardist Paul Kempf and bassist Goran Delač, Zoran will pay tribute to his fellow musicians Arsen Dedić, Goran Bregović, Toma Zdravković and Oliver Dragojević. Zoran’s songs, brought to life playfully and flirtatiously, are imbued with emotive tenderness and nostalgia, eroticism and dark humour.

Mirna Bogdanović, vocals; Povel Widestrand, piano, synth, Rhodes; Peter Meyer, guitars; Tom Berkmann, bass; Philip Dornbusch, drums

Winner of the Deutcher Jazzpreiss for her debut album, Confrontation (2021), Mirna Bogdanović is making a return visit to Ljubljana, where she has previously participated in the Jazz Festival Ljubljana and performed with the Big Band RTV Slovenia. She released her second album, ‘Awake’, last spring. 
Produced by celebrated London-based multi-instrumentalist/producer Chris Hyson (Snowpoet), it showcases a sound which is rich, varied and modern. Layers of vocal harmonies, synth textures, and effects are woven into the already-complex sound of her expanded ensemble of Berlin-based musicians. Among her many accomplishments, Mirna is the curator for the jazz club Donau 115, which was nominated for the Deutcher Jazzpreiss 2023 venue of the year. Meticulously composed and arranged, Mirna’s compositions bridge the gap between contemporary jazz and art-pop, providing nuanced complexity, energetic improvisation and exemplary musicianship within song-like structures. 

At the age of two, Berlin-based vocalist Mirna Bogdanović had already experienced more hardship than most, forced to flee her native Sarajevo with her parents in the face of war. Now firmly established on the Berlin scene, she’s made a name for herself as one of today’s most talented singers and songwriters. Time is on her side.

Ann O'Aro, glas, klavir; Bino Waro, tolkala, glas; Teddy Doris, pozavna, glas; Brice Nauroy, elektronika
 

O otoku Reunion v Indijskem oceanu ponavadi slišimo, ko od tam pridejo novice o odličnih glasbenikih in glasbenicah ter njihovih novih albumih pa tudi ko govorimo o tradicionalni glasbeni zvrsti maloya, ki je nastala pod vplivom malgaških in indijskih korenin ter se poje v reunionski kreolščini. Njen najprepoznavnejši glas tega stoletja je oče moderne maloye Danyel Waro, ki smo ga doslej edinkrat spoznali pri nas na Drugi godbi leta 2005. Ann O'aro je med najmlajšimi, a tudi najbolj posebnimi izvajalci te glasbe, tako po inštrumentalni plati kot po besedilih, v katerih odpira tabu teme, vezane predvsem na odraščanje mladih žensk v nasilnih družinah.  

Ann O'aro se je rodila kot Anne-Gaëlle Hoarau na Reunionu leta 1990. Zaradi incesta in nasilnega očeta (ta je pozneje storil samomor) je po končani šoli za štiri leta zapustila otok in nekaj časa preživela v Parizu in Quebecu. Ko se je vrnila domov, jo je odkril Philippe Conrath, ustanovitelj festivala Africolor v Parizu ter eden največjih poznavalcev glasb sveta in jazza, ki je že v sedemdesetih delal kot glasbeni novinar pri francoskem dnevniku Libération. Pri svoji založbi Cobalt je izdal tako njen prvenec kot tudi drugi album Langoz in z njegovo pomočjo je Ann O'aro postala priznana mednarodna umetnica.

Ann O'aro, ki je že v zgodnji mladosti igrala na klavir, orgle in flavto, se v svojem umetniškem izrazu opira na tradicijo reunionske oralne poezije fonkker, ki je značilna tudi za Danyela Waroja. Z njim je tudi večkrat nastopala, v njenem bendu pa igra tudi Danyelov sin Bino. Njena glasba izžareva srhljivo ranljivost in neomajno samozavest. Njena odrska prezenca je kljub mladosti nadvse karizmatična ter ob glasbeni spremljavi tradicionalnih tolkal, pozavne in elektronike tako nenavadno lepa, da ob njenem zvenu obmolknejo tudi najbolj glasne ptice pevke. 


 

Lana Kostić aka Lakiko, cello, vocals, electronics

Lakiko was all ready to make a splash at the 2020 Ljubljana Jazz Festival before her performance in Park Sveta Evrope was cut short by the rain. We've had to wait more than three years for her return ¬– three years in which she's managed to bring out a debut album, What To Do, How To Live?, and appear frequently on European stages both as a soloist and as a member of various chamber orchestras.

Born in Sarajevo and resident in Lucerne, Lakiko is a doctor of music (composition, theory and classical singing) whose unique combination of cello and voice is a breath of fresh air on the European scene. Her music ranges widely across genres and styles, with influences of the East, modern classical and pop merging into mysterious presentations of the artists's personal interests, from nomadic existences and nightmares to the archaic past and the dystopian future. 

Behind Lakiko's wonderful voice is a cello, its hauntingly scratchy, repetitive sound opening the door into a filmically musical world situated on the border between bitter and sweet melancholy. A concert not to be missed.

Co-produced by Zavod Druga Godba and Cankarjev Dom.

Shae Fiol, vocals; Vihuela Mireya Ramos, vocals, violin; Elena Lacayo, guitarrón (Mexican guitar); Anna Garcia, trumpet

Founded in 2008 by Mireya Ramos and Shae Fiol, the all-women mariachi group Flor De Toloache started out playing in the New York City subway stations, and then quickly became a media darling with a 2013 profile in The New York Times. Four years later, they received the Latin Grammy Award for Best Ranchero – Mariachi Album. They have since won the hearts of progressive and traditional Mariachi music fans alike through their distinct artistic vision and sophisticated, enlightened interpretation of their instruments. The members’ diverse ethnicities and musical backgrounds transcend culture and gender by forging new paths. 
 

La Place (TRG) – Variations on BodyRhythmVoice – questions the relationships established between individuals, cultures, between the past and present. It is an expression of our hope for unity and understanding diversity, it is a call for respectful communication and harmonious coexistence, it is what we strive for: a future built on understanding. Art, in our view, is one way of showing how diverse expressions can coexist, and whose universal language transcends boundaries, and turns any divides and dissents into a new melody/ sonority.

La Place (TRG) inspires us to become aware of the fact that our truths are only a tiny fragment of the mosaic that is our planet, to transcend narrowmindedness and give coexistence a chance. The show seeks to encourage reflection on the power of cooperation and how patience and the will to accept our fellow human beings open up opportunities for a different self-reflection, for a richer co-existence and a better understanding of each other.