International Jazz Day
NARRATION=A0
That song was =93Djelem-Djelem=94 by Kosovo band =93Gipsy Groove=94. That was =93Djelem-Djelem=94 by Kosovo band =93Gi=
psy
Groove=94. Radio Ophelia spoke to the co-founder and the lead singer of th=
e band,
Bajram Kinolli about how the group began.=
=A0
SOUNDBITE
- Bajram Kinolli
We had the idea of maki=
ng a
different kind of music that is very rarely heard in Kosovo, while taking =
as an
example Shaban Bajramovic as one of the world-famous Roma musicians and as=
a
musician who was awarded in 2006, a musician who has performed with Luis
Armstrong and also has performed alongside Frank Sinatra. And there I foun=
d my
inspiration to have Roma music in Kosovo, a band that performs Roma music =
in
Kosovo. At that time the music we made was technically jazz, it was jazz,
because Shaban Bajramovic was into jazz music and we turned old Roma songs=
into
more jazzy music. We performed this way for the first time at a Concert in=
NGOM
festival in 2010.
NARRATION
Jazz has always been controversial =96 you either=
love
it or you hate it. Although Roma himself, Bajram Kinolli says that the band is not necessarily more pop=
ular
among the Roma community, because his music has taken a different direction
from traditional Roma music.
SOUNDBITE =96 Bajram Ki=
nolli
They say that this musi=
c is
deforming of Roma music - music cannot be deformed, music has musical note=
s and
colors, you can do whatever you want with music, there is freedom in music=
. We
are not living in the sixteenth or seventeenth century when the classical =
music
was popular. At that time you had to perform classical music and not go be=
yond
that boundary. As it is today, with experimental music you can improvise m=
uch
more. I don=92t know how to say this - there is obviously a clash, there a=
re good
comments, and it depends on the people and on their taste in music.
NARRATION
SOUNDBITE =96 Bajram Ki=
nolli
They did not interfere =
in
the artistic phase. They have seen that the band has potential and has a g=
ood
reputation among the youth here. They have helped as a lot. But it is not =
only
that we are positively discriminated as a band - in fact there are more
Albanians and Macedonians in the band than Roma, and we are only two Roma =
in
the band.
NARRATION
Lead singer Kinolli describes his music as groove
music, a kind of funk mixed with jazz music that it has many Balkan colors=
. He
believes that music can cross ethnic divisions and be enjoyed by people fr=
om
all communities.
SOUNDBITE =96 Bajram Ki=
nolli
I think that music does=
n=92t
come from a nationality, from ethnicity, but it comes from the ear, from t=
he
soul. NARRATION
In 2011 the United Nati=
ons
Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO proclaimed 30 Apri=
l as
International Jazz Day. UNESCO has designated jazz a universal music of fr=
eedom
and creativity.
As UNESCO Director General, Irina Bokova
puts it: =93In times of change and uncertainty, we need the spirit of jazz=
more
than ever before, to bring people =96- especially young women and men =96 =
together,
to nurture freedom and dialogue, to create new bridges of respect and
understanding, for greater tolerance and cooperation=94