Jazz incubator #4: Balkan Roots

Friday, May 22 – Sunday, May 24
Performance: Sunday, May 24, at 16:30, Music School
Free admission

Balkan Roots (SI, GR)

Žiga Ipavec (drums, percussion)
Manos Barkatsas (Cretan lute, el. guitar)

Photo: promo

This year, for the residency – where young musicians develop a project, premiere it at the festival, and later release it as an album – we have selected the Slovenian-Greek duo Balkan Roots. The duo is composed of Slovenian drummer and percussionist Žiga Ipavec and Greek musician Manos Barkatsas, who plays the traditional Cretan lute and electric guitar. As their name suggests, they draw on Balkan – especially Cretan – musical traditions, reimagining them through the lens of free jazz. As they themselves emphasize, “it is not about recreating Balkan music, but about transferring its sensibilities into the open, dynamic structure of free jazz.” A key focus of the project is expanding their sonic language; Barkatsas employs effects on both the guitar and lute, while Ipavec uses percussion to transition between rhythm, texture and resonance. The musicians, who met in Brussels, use this project to explore a central question: how can tradition be carried forward without becoming fixed or static?

In cooperation with the Idrija Music School.