Just ending a one-week stay in Serbia, after several great gigs, and a few days off to explore. The trip started with three duo concerts with Michael Zerang. Although he and I have both worked together in other contexts, this was our first time to play as a duo, and it was really enjoyable.
Rempis/Zerang Duo in Zrenjanin
Michael’s a completely unique percussionist whose background is in classical percussion and middle eastern hand-drumming techniques. His playing is totally different than many of the more jazz-versed drummers I frequently work with. Surprisingly, we ended up playing quite a bit of time on the three gigs though. When I return to Chicago in June, we’ll have another opportunity to work on this music thanks to Mitch Cocanig at the Hideout, where we’ll be playing on Wednesday, June 10th.
The concerts here were all set up by Bojan Djordevic, a gentleman who’s quickly become a great friend. Although I’d heard many great things about Bojan through Ken Vandermark and Mike Orlove from the Chicago Cultural Center, our only previous interaction had to do with a wire transfer for the Pitchfork Music Festival last year. Bojan, in addition to being a lawyer, and producing several festivals in Belgrade each year, is also the agent and manager for Boban Markovic, perhaps one of the best musical discoveries I’ve made in the last ten years. His brass band is mind-blowing…..
The first concert was in Belgrade as part of the Ring Ring Festival at the Rex Theater. 
The lineup for the seven-day event was stellar, with performances by Keith Rowe, Peter Brotzmann, Peter Evans, The Necks, David Stackenas, etc. etc. The way it’s produced couldn’t have reminded me any more of the Umbrella Music Festival which we produce in Chicago each fall. Like our festival, Bojan himself is the one picking people up at the airport, getting them to the train station etc. Bojan also relies on arts support from the countries that send musicians to the festival, including, for the very first time in my career, support from the Illinois Arts Council, which made this trip possible for Zerang and myself, Keefe Jackson’s Fast Citizens, and Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly. Overall, the concept seemed very similar to what we do with the “European Jazz Meets Chicago” night of the Umbrella Music Festival each year, partnering with foreign consulates and cultural groups to bring musicians for the event. It was a great pleasure to work with everyone at Ring Ring, who actually care about the music, and work extremely hard in a difficult economic environment to make it happen. As is often the case, the contrast in attitude with some of the bigger Western European festival couldn’t have been greater. Thanks for everything Bojan, and congratulations on 14 years!!
In addition to the concert at Ring Ring, Bojan also organized two smaller club gigs for us in Nis and Zrenjanin. Nis is the second largest city in Serbia (about 200,000 people) and Zrenjanin, although smaller, was a major agricultural production capital in the former Yugoslavia. Both gigs were special. In Nis, we started the afternoon by going directly to the “TV station” for an interview. The station was situated on the top floor of a 20-story Eastern-bloc style apartment building.
MB5 Studios Nis
Nothing on the outside of the building indicated that there might be a television studio inside, and the exposed wires, missing buttons, and open circuit board in the elevator didn’t inspire much confidence. When we got the top (well the 16th floor actually – we walked the rest of the way up as the elevator wouldn’t go all the way up……) we found a phalanx of older gentlemen smoking cigarettes at the top of the stairs. Guards perhaps? The studio itself was inside a small converted apartment. The first room was full of ladies, a few sitting behind desks, but most busily running back and forth, speaking in short clipped bursts. In the room behind them were several gentlemen in suits, all smoking. A shorter woman penetrated the crowd every two minutes to bring water, coffee, or juice to anyone who needed it. She was a diligent worker. I felt well-hydrated for the interview.
The interviewer himself wore a silver, shark-skinned suit. He explained beforehand that the interview would last five minutes. He would ask a question, and we were to give a brief answer. He would then translate it to mean whatever he wanted. While we did the interview, two of his lovely young students from the journalism school in Nis looked adoringly on.
After becoming the face of American jazz for the television viewers of Nis, we rested at the hotel for a couple of hours, continuing on to the venue that evening. The club was small inside, but the glass walls opened up, exposing it to a garden full of tables and chairs. We played two improvised sets to a crowd who had clearly not heard anything like that before. But they seemed totally into the music, despite the lack of a reverent silence as we might enjoy from the initiated. We made some great friends (Ivan and Dragana) who took us out after the concert to sample the great beers of Serbia. Ivan had designed the poster for our concert, and Dragana worked with the NGO that produced the concert. Although I don’t remember the name of the group, they have a broad mission to bring arts of all sorts to Nis.
The next day, after taking the 3-hour bus back to Belgrade, and changing to the 2-hour bus to Zrenjanin, we arrived in a rural town full of trees and gardens, surrounded by rich agricultural lands that seem to support a wide variety of crops, as well as many orchards. (Perhaps this is the source of the fruit that goes into making Serbian “rakia” – a schnapps-like clear brandy that is quite enjoyable after a concert……
After a relaxed Sunday afternoon lunch of deer stew on the patio of a small countryside restaurant, we had a chance to relax before heading to Klupce, the club for that evening’s concert. Klupce is run by Daniela Jelisavac, a Serbian woman about my age.
Michael Zerang and Daniela Jelisavac
She and her husband Zlatko spent several years in Sweden after seeking political asylum there during after the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia. After returning in 2005, they decided to buck the trend whereby the population is rapidly draining out of the countryside into Belgrade, or simply leaving Serbia altogether. They opened their club in Zrenjanin, trying to bring some life and cultural activity to a city that had nothing. In addition to organizing concerts and other cultural events at the club, they also host political talks, show movies, and ask questions with regards to the events that transpired here in the 1990’s. This might explain why the night before our gig, two tax inspectors showed up for a routine inspection of the club, but brought 25 SWAT-team style police with them and threatened to close the club over a minor discrepancy of approximately 6 euros. With luck, Daniela will continue to stay open though. Her fight seems like a more extreme version of what many other friends who present concerts or own clubs have had to deal with to do something they feel is important for their communities (Ross Taylor in Columbia, SC, Ross Compton in Lexington, KY, etc. etc.) Good luck Daniela, and thanks for hosting us, and for doing what you do!!!
Now, I’m finishing the week in Serbia with some sightseeing in Belgrade. Today, Joseph Biden is visiting Serbia, the first American president or vice-president to come here since Jimmy Carter in the late 70’s. The city is effectively shut down, with streets closed, buses not working, the cell phone system shut down, etc. Welcome to the emperor, I suppose…..
