April 26, 2018 - April 2018 officially marked Jazz Appreciation Month, JAM 2018. The primary focus of the event is “Women in Jazz” and women’s participation in the creation of jazz.
JAM 2018 has, throughout the month, emphasized the female contribution to jazz, as singers, composers, ensemble leaders and instrumentalists. The audience was able to encounter numerous female jazz artists and their creations. The event included concerts, films, lectures and workshops, which involved many jazz musicians.
Several performances exceptionally astonished the audience. On the 3rd of April, the amazing Bosnian-Herzegovinian singer Nataša Mirković held a remarkable performance titled “En El Amor: Sephardic Songs of Southeast Europe”, and her colleague, Michel Godard, accompanied her with an instrument called the “serpent” (the forerunner of the tuba), along with the sound of drums by Jarrod Cagwin. A well-known pianist and composer from Germany, Julia Hülsmann, displayed her talent on April 11th in Podgorica, while the sounds of the songs from her six records resonated throughout KIC “Budo Tomovic”. The audience also had the opportunity to greet unique multitalented Serbian performers, Jasna Jovićević (saxophone, bass clarinet and percussion), Filip Krumes (violin), Rastko Popović (viola), Dejan Božić (cello), Nemanja Mihailović (bassoon) and Uroš Šećerov (percussion) who created unusual new sounds, which they called “Flow Vertical”.
As the 'Month of Jazz' comes to an end, the closing performance of the event is on its way. The role to leave the audience with a long-lasting impression was given to the Israeli flutist and composer Hadar Noiberg, whose on-stage jazz improvisation boasts a Middle Eastern and North African theme. On April 26th, Hadar, along with her band members, will reveal new tunes from their third album, “Open Fields” as a pre-premiere for the European promotion of this album.
For the audience who didn’t have enough jazz, the organizers announced a surprise program on April the 30th, at KIC „Budo Tomović“ in Podgorica at 8 pm.
The Jazz Appreciation Month 2018 has been supported by the Jazz Art Association, “Budo Tomovic” Cultural-Information Center, “Vasa Pavic” Art School for Music and Ballet, US Embassy in Montenegro, American Corner in Podgorica, Porto Montenegro, Crnogorska Komercialna Banka, Montenegrin National Commission for UNESCO, Royal Theater “Zetski Dom”, Podgorica Tourist Organization, Historic Capital City of Cetinje, “Nikola Djurkovic” Cultural Center in Kotor, “Yunus Emre” Turkish Cultural in Podgorica and JazzDenmark.
