Sounds of accordion, drum, guitar and double bass will be heard all around Podbara on Friday 28 August, when ‘Akshani Project’, the famous quartet from Novi Sad, will perform a concert at the Plateau of the Svilara Cultural Station starting at 8:21 p.m.

Vukašin Mišković, Fedor Ruškuc, Ištvan Čik and Lazar Novkov will present their project ‘Global Dances Novi Sad’ through the concert. ‘Global Dances Novi Sad’ was chosen under the open call intended for local artists within the project ‘Artists. Now!’. The audience will have a chance to follow the concert online as well, via Svilara Cultural Station Facebook page.

According to Fedor Ruškuc, double bass player, the aim of this project is to introduce the audience to the instrumental, copyright music of the ‘Akshani Project’ quartet and affirm young artists both through being part of the concert and later through the ‘Global Dances Novi Sad’ YouTube channel and Facebook page.

This concert is important as it will make the local scene alive again, after a long period of no cultural events due to the corona virus pandemic.

‘Our multi-genre music is inspired by the music from all parts of the world. The instrumentarium is not unusual, especially in this region, which in combination with music forms that we use, gives us a distinct sound. The audience, I think, is mostly moved by the fact that most of the pieces are inspired by the dances from all over the world. This is what makes our music pleasant to listen to and our audience want to dance’, says Ruškuc and points out that, today, young musicians don’t have the space for affirmation.

‘Unfortunately, the current situation is very bad. Young musicians hardly have any space to perform their music and show that we have a great new generation of musicians in the making. The idea is that, via our Facebook page and YouTube channel, they get at least the digital space to introduce themselves to the audience.’

Besides these four great musicians, the concert will feature two young trumpeters, Aljoša Zakić and Žolt Arđelan, who will complete this music event with their presence. The programme will consist of the compositions from the first album ‘Global Dances and one Song’, as well as a song ‘Dusty Beach’, inspired by the Oficirac beach, ‘Sphere’, tribute to Thelonious Monk, and many other.

When describing jazz, Fedor Ruškuc says it’s a very broad genre, thus encompassing various other genres.

‘Considering the fact that the ‘jazz language’ develops quickly and flirts closely with other genres, it’s going to be interesting to see what the future holds. In the root of my artistic expression is the jazz tradition, but I believe it doesn’t necessarily mean destroying creativity. As a matter of fact, some musicians in the world started bringing back the tradition to their sound, the ‘retro movement’’, says Ruškuc.

Also, he states that the ‘Artists. Now!’ project is of the utmost importance to the artists who need to affirm in the future.

‘Your commitment to the local scene is definitely visible. It can be seen through the many concerts, exhibitions, projections and similar cultural content happening, and opening of the new cultural stations is also very important. The audience longs for content, and Novi Sad is big enough to find accurate audience for every artist.’

‘Global Dances Novi Sad’ project is one of the 42 projects given funds on the open call ’Artists.Now!’ by the Foundation ’Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture’, whose aim is to strengthen the local cultural scene, raise their capacities through the network of cultural stations, decentralise culture and increase the audience.

Partner in the project ‘Artists. Now!’ is the Merkator S company.