Greetings from New York City, and welcome to my column! Here, I write about new music and media, and people who create it. Thanks for checking it out.
Who««What
On February 22 2015, I had a concert in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The tour was something of a 10-day multimedia blitzkrieg, with a good result. The main event of the tour, Svjetlana Bukvich and Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company A CONCERT OF NEW MUSIC, MOVEMENT, AND VIDEO ART, took place at the National Theater, as part of Sarajevo Winter Festival, now in its 31st season. On the program were electro-acoustic compositions from my latest release EVOLUTION (Big Round Records), along with the world premiere of I Never Saw You Cry, created for the very special electric violinist Melika Hadzic (Amsterdam). The terrific Carolyn Dorfman Dance (USA) performed a collage of their signature pieces, along with the techno savvy audience favorite, Interior Designs, for which I created the music. The trip was funded by a grant from USArtists International, and private donors. I am still landing from the experience.
Connections’n’Picks
I pick: Carolyn Dorfman and her unwavering vision; Ibrahim Spahic, the director of Winter fest Sarajevo, who manages the unmanageable; the gutsy violinist Melika Hadzic who jumped in last minute and rehearsed with me on Skype; the festival volunteers who carried me through the rapids with nuance and a gentle hand; the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Sarajevo, the American embassy in Sarajevo, the Jewish Community Center, Blow Up tech rental, and, of course, the Sarajevo taxi drivers who always tell it as it is.
Reflections, Intentions
In an uniquely complex part of the world I got people to work together, who otherwise wouldn’t. That feels good. My e-mails didn’t always produce the desired scaffolding ahead of time, so I was nervous. Miraculously, everything got done over the phone, from the moment I landed. I networked, I blackmailed, I inspired, and I talked in press and on TV. It was my hometown, after all. Around the fourth day into my multimedia occupation, I felt the magic starting to glue the particles of what was to become, according to the major Sarajevo newspaper Dnevni avaz, “a new theater aesthetic”.
During our time in Sarajevo, American dancers interacted with local ones. An acoustic and beautiful old theater founded in 1919, became, for a brief while, the hottest media destination in town. There was a huge project banner (!?) on the theater building. There was also the grumpy box office guy who, visibly transformed, had a grin on his face the morning after the performance. We had a full house, a standing ovation, and an audience that cried with us – joy, artistic freedom, possibility, power, all mixed, and reflecting off of one another. I want more of this. Making a place better because of art. A historical moment, which spells fragile? Not a problem. Emotional octanes without scrupulous disinfection? Went for it. The timing could not have been better, actually.
What now? The post-show deflated feelings permeate, while I watch the perky skyscrapers, and spring, teasing. The next project’s in view.
Get in touch and let me know about what inspires you art-wise on your part of the globe. And, if all else fails, you can always like me on Facebook.
