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By:
Blinera Vitija
- 7 May 2023 12:09
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Critics consider her a "rising star of the European jazz scene", but Sara Decker together with her quartet, the stars of the jazz universe have descended on the stage. The third night of the "Prishtina Jazz Festival" was hers and she brought the public a melancholic journey through her voice, compositions and extreme harmony with the instrumentalists
While jazz is the headline of the capital for several days in a row, the place becomes so for many bands that are coming for the first time. "Prishtina Jazz Festival" has made the first two words of the name, under the meaning of the third. This phrase, with which the days dedicated to jazz were named, has also filled Pristina with its sounds and foreign artists. Among them is Sara Decker's quartet, a performance that enriched the festival. It gave unique colors to the third night.
While in the first two days the "Oda" theater hosted jazz music lovers, "Kino Armata" opened its doors on Friday night. 21:00 brought together many names who have music as a part of their lives, and many who, in addition to worshiping it, are carriers of the local jazz scene. The first evening held in the dark cinema hall in the center of Pristina was the first appearance of the German artist, Sara Decker, together with her trio. Together, they are well-known names in Germany, and even abroad, in cities where jazz has a special place, such as New York. They traveled from there to Kosovo and arrived on the day of the performance, but this did not prevent them from shining on stage in appearance and performance. Alongside the contemporary jazz vocalist and composer, Sara Decker, was her husband Jeroen Truyen on drums, Jonathan Hofmeister on piano and Nicolai Amrehn on bass. This combination of these names, which in various cities of the world is common as a composition, came to Kosovo for the first time to give color to the audience in Pristina as it was performed very calmly.
Their concert has been of a completely different nature from the first two evenings, characterized by vocals that easily touch each of the members in the audience. Plays neatly with calmness. The soft sounds of the instruments accompanied by the voice of the German vocalist brought to the public a performance that was enjoyed pleasantly in an environment that wears it with melancholy. Under these sounds and under this silence, they traced deep within themselves, touching and remembering moments, as a result of the songs. This magic brought to the "Armata" hall made the audience, the artists and the performance become one, and an interesting interaction ended at the doors of the hall, all crowned under the name of the jazz festival.
Sara Decker and her group brought to the public songs in German and English, which are mainly compositions of the artist. Besides them, the artist specialized in the fusion of pop styles with the improvisational art of jazz, brought such a union to Pristina as well. Masafficted with 'Here dropped', and 'Spectator' by JFRD, are the pop songs that brought out the artist's mastery as they were performed in her version. "Long Distance", "We fell into a dream" and "Welcome to the night" are just some of the songs that Decker created some time ago, which he performed on Thursday evening in Pristina. She took the audience with her musical palette, proving what others say about her as "the rising star of the European jazz scene".
Although he participated in various festivals, and being part of the stage, he grabbed important awards such as the second prize for vocals in "Shure Montreux" (2017) and the European Jazz Award in Italy (2015), the climb to the stage of Kosovo has that it is something good for him.
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"I am very excited and honored to be here. It's especially nice to meet jazz people here. We were invited by our friend, Taulant Mehmeti. We met him and his wife Jeta in New York and we are very good friends. So it's been exciting for us to be here and see how they live. It's good that we're here and we're seeing their hometown," Decker said. Guitarist Taulant Mehmeti is already a well-known name in the US jazz scene and has collaborated with prominent names there.
The decision to come to Kosovo at the invitation of her friend was a good opportunity for a modest artist like Decker to present all her artistic work in another country. She did not spare her songs and the improvisation of others to enrich the jazz festival in Pristina as much as possible.
"Two songs were pop that we remixed, one is by Masafficted 'Here dropped', and the other is 'Spectator' by an artist from Iceland called JFDR. These are pop songs, but we reworked them into jazz. The rest were my songs that I wrote. Some were from an album that's in English that I released in New York, and some from an album that I just recorded with my band in German, and I took a lot of the German poems. It was a variety of the repertoire that I wrote", said the German artist.
Although it is the first time he is performing in Kosovo, a few hours have been enough to arouse his desire to collaborate and be part of the jazz life.
"We just arrived today, so I don't know much yet. However, the people I have met so far are very nice. All I can say is that I've met some amazing people so far and some really good jazz musicians that I'd love to jam with," Decker said.
Nicolai Amrehn, the instrumentalist of the evening, showed a good impression of Kosovo and the musicians here. "Prishtina Jazz Festival" is highly appreciated by the musicians of this genre.
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"I haven't had the chance to see much. But from what I've seen I can say it looks interesting. It is very good that such festivals exist and different artists have the opportunity to perform here", said Amrehn. He added that participating in such a festival is something interesting and good for them.
"It's great to be here. We've had a great time so far. It has been interesting to see the culture and meet people. Everyone is loving and relaxed. So for us it is very good that we are here", he said.
The "Armata" hall was full on the third evening of the jazz festival.
The Mayor of the Municipality of Pristina, Përparim Rama, has said that this evening has returned him to the best bars of New York and London. The art that he experienced there while he was living, came to him in Pristina as well.
"Art and culture are the soul of the city and for that reason, we must have a special focus on art and culture. These festivals, especially the 'Prishtina Jazz Festival', somehow brought me back to the time when I lived both in New York and London. Well-known countries with different world bands are now coming to Prishtina. Being in Pristina is like being in London or New York. This is phenomenal for all the youth and all the residents of the capital", said Rama, calling on everyone to become part of the festival in Pristina.
"I invite everyone from other cities to come visit us and enjoy the 'Prishtina Jazz Festival' and also a bunch of other art and culture organizations in Pristina", he said.
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