Harmony of Dissonance: Traces of Croatian Traditional Singing Zagreb Academy of Music Jazz Orchestra, Harmonija Disonance Ensemble

• 1 Ispod panja javorova / Izvir voda izvirala 02:51
• 2 U jablana duga grana (1) 02:23
• 3 Slavuj piva, daleko se čuje 02:00
• 4 Procvitala kitica fiole 02:24
• 5 Daj mi, majko, dinar-dva (1) 02:54
• 6 Ej, da je dragi doći mojon kući 00:21
• 7 Moj je dragi daleko dabome 00:51
• 8 Oj, Gospe Sinjska 00:21
• 9 Pjevala bi 'ko i cure dvije 00:51
• 10 Moj je dragi daleko dabome 02:48
• 11 Daj mi, majko, dinar-dva (2) 00:35
• 12 Sve se more u valove dalo 03:59
• 13 Bukovico, moj debeli lade 01:58
• 14 Evo iđem sa Zvirića 01:46
• 15 Šenice bilice 02:48
• 16 Izvir voda izvirala 02:23
• 17 U jablana duga grana (2) 04:50
• 18 Ko se, nano 02:14
• 19 Berem dunje, al' ne lomim grane 01:14
• 20 Milo ti me 00:29
• 21 Dođi, dragi, dođi, janje moje 01:11
• 22 Ko bi reka 00:41
• 23 Ovamo dojdi, sokole 01:51
• 24 Na Neretvu misečina pala 05:55
• 25 Zapjevaj mi, jaranice moja (1) 02:00
• 26 Zapjevaj mi, jaranice moja (2) 05:24
• 27 Mesliđane, 'ko ti bere grane 02:41
• 28 U jablana visokoga 01:49
• 29 Dođi, dragi, kad čobana ima (1) 03:04
• 30 Dođi, dragi, kad čobana ima (2) 04:39
• 31 Moj dragane, izvore od Drine 03:55
• Total Runtime 01:13:10

Info for Harmony of Dissonance: Traces of Croatian Traditional Singing

HARMONY OF DISSONANCE brings together, juxtaposes, and intertwines the disparate singing styles of the regions of Dalmatia, which remain stylistically and performatively distant even today. While these musical worlds present seemingly irreconcilable musical and cultural differences, they are all connected by polyphonic singing, which forms the core of this collaboration between the Harmonija Dissonance Ensemble and the Jazz Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Zagreb.

The Harmonija Dissonance Ensemble turned to their experiences with renowned traditional singers as well as to ethnomusicological field recordings of the songs that are included on the album. The process of music making in the Ensemble is firmly grounded in the act of concentrated listening, guided by the goal of coming ever closer to the sound ideal of archaic traditional harmony. The Ensemble first performed this representative program of traditional singing in Zagreb in May 2017. The songs are musically intriguing and performatively challenging, reflecting both local specificities and the heterogeneity of expressions, styles, and genres. An initial recording of this performance then became the inspiration for composer Zoran Ščekić, who has “translated” ten of the songs into a series of instrumental miniatures which are woven throughout the album, performed by the Jazz Orchestra of the Academy of Music.

On HARMONY OF DISSONANCE, the polyphonic singing of traditional songs from disparate areas of Dalmatia is given a second life in new and different interpretations which, while significantly distant from their original performance contexts, remain stylistically and melodically close to their source. These experiments with tradition, colored by the artistic expression of the latest generation of academic musicians, can present one possible answer to the question of what might happen on a contemporary journey in search of “the traces of traditional singing.”

Zagreb Academy of Music Jazz Orchestra
Saša Nestorović, conductor
Harmonija Disonance Ensemble
Joško Ćaleta, artistic director

HARMONIJA DISONANCE ENSEMBLE evolved from the eponymous research and performance project that started at the Academy of Music in Zagreb in 2016. Guided by the idea of bridging the gaps between the worlds of academic and folk musicians, of traditional and art music, the project soon evolved into the lively and stimulating space of mutual learning, experimenting, and music-making of renowned traditional singers and the Academy’s students. Beyond that, the ensemble itself represents an important step: the introduction of traditional music performance into the programs of academic education of musicians and (ethno)musicologists. This broadens the scope of the musical traditions taught and studied at the Academy. It also represents the unequivocal answer to the question of whether the oldest layers of traditional music could be relevant and inspiring to the newest generations of musicians, which are trained in the tradition of western art music.

JAZZ ORCHESTRA OF THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC IN ZAGREB was founded in 2016, following in the footsteps of the renowned Big Band of the Academy of Music of the early 1980s, founded and led by the distinguished professor Stanko Selak. The repertoire of the Orchestra encompasses standard pieces written for big band orchestra that in time became the canonical literature of big bands around the world, as well as works of contemporary composers of art music inspired by jazz. Because of the unique musical and sound features of traditional singing styles performed by the Harmonija disonance Ensemble, the standard rhythm and brass sections of the orchestra were, for this project, extended by a section consisting of flutes, clarinet, and violins. muza.unizg.hr

JOŠKO ĆALETA is an ethnomusicologist and research associate of the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research in Zagreb. After graduating in Music Studies at the University of Split he received his MA in ethnomusicology from UBC in Vancouver, and a Ph.D. in musicology at the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb (Croatia). His research interests are mainly focused on traditional vocal music of the Coastal and Hinterland Dalmatia (Croatia) and the neighboring Dinaric areas, on intersections of music and tourism, and issues of applied ethnomusicology. He is well-known and respected expert in Croatian traditional vocal music performance, as well as a renowned vocal pedagogue and producer of numerous record releases of Croatian traditional music. He is the founder and artistic leader of the Harmonija disonance ensemble.

ZORAN ŠĆEKIĆ received his B.F.A. in jazz guitar at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria and a post-graduate degree in Composition and Arrangement at the Sibelius Music Academy. He collaborated with numerous musicians and artists in the creation of theatre and film music, participating in music biennals, jazz and free jazz festivals, and composing in standard, graphic and hybrid notation for big bands and orchestras. He developed a special interest towards microtonal work and a microtonal keyboard prototype (Z-board) was built in San Diego after his construction. He is the leader of Adria Microtonalis, a project dedicated to interdisciplinary artistic-scientific approach to traditional music intonation systems of Northern Adria.

SAŠA NESTOROVIĆ +studied saxophone at the Zagreb Academy of Music and continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Köln. As a teacher, he taught classical saxophone at the Pavao Markovac Music School in Zagreb, improvisation at the Secondary School of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and led seminars at the Summer School of Jazz on the island of Brač and the Summer School of Saxophone in Dubrovnik. As a musician, he has been active on the German, Croatian, and Slovene jazz scene and is currently acting as a leader/conductor of the Croatian Radiotelevision Jazz Orchestra. At the Music academy in Zagreb, he teaches chamber music, jazz improvisation, and leads the jazz orchestra.

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