15th Street Musicians Festival ends

VIS Limunada, Belgrade Dixieland Orchestra and Phat Cat Swinger “made” the festival audience dance in the Courtyard for over four hours

Late last night in Novi Sad’s Catholic Courtyard, with the program titled Dance Night, ended this year’s 15th Street Musicians Festival. The American ten, Phat Cat Swinger played a phenomenal, almost two-hour long concert. Before the Californian masters of swing, in the same place, the audience danced during the performances of the local bands Belgrade Dixieland Orchestra and VIS Limunada. There was some dancing to behold in the Courtyard, under umbrellas or the heavens, for over four hours, as the drums and bass called the shots, while the brass and guitar called the tune.

Young Belgrade ensemble VIS Limunada, the six who sent us back to some better (not just) musical times, delighted the festival audience with a number of creative covers of oldies and pop-rock classics. “Thank you for persevering in this rain. The next number you will hear is Gromovi u glavi (Thunder In The Head)”, jested the singer Miodrag Ninić. Beside singing in Serbian, Ninić also sang in English, Spanish and Italian. The verse con venti quatro mila baci, as it turned out, everyone in the Courtyard knew well – and sang and danced to it.

After them, one member stronger, from Belgrade as well, was the group Belgrade Dixieland Orchestra. Elegant, black hats and white suspenders, the experienced Dixie crew played for all the swingin’ cats in the crowd. The singer Aleksandra Bijelić was brilliant in both fast and slow pieces. If we take into consideration how she sang New York, New York and Nobody Knows You, in all likelihood, a lovelier voice wasn’t heard on this years Festival.

Muppet Show verses It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights – verses which move and don’t let you take the smile off your face – echoed through the Courtyard last night in Aleksandra’s wonderful voice. After that we heard, as they announced it, the oldest blues in the world, and in as the finale to this great concert, the anthem of the Belgrade Dixieland Orchestra – the immortal New Orleans’ gospel When The Saints Go Marching In.

Ten minutes later, the festival stage in the Courtyard was all Phat Cat Swinger’s, ten strong and from Apple Valley California. What musicians and entertainers! Musicians and entertainers in class by themselves. Equally successful when playing covers (Beyond The Sea, I’ve Got You Under My Skin or Mack The Knife), and when performing original material (Smolie Olie Olie and Hep Cats!). The sax player Marco Palos, was noticeably the first among equals, although the audience was attracted more to the virtuosity on six strings by Eitaro Sako.

Classics Ain’t Got No Home, I Wanna Be Like You, Peter Gunn and Minnie The Moocher, played in exactly that (well thought-out) order, turned the Courtyard into a real dance arena. After them came, for the audience, the even more popular Rock This Town, Rock Around The Clock and Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

The Festival last night had also interesting gigs on Liberty Square. The first to perform was the unusual singer-songwriter Ilija Ludvig, followed by his talented colleague from Kikinda Kezz, while the third were the hip-hopers from Gabon Movaizhaleine. A pleasant surprise was the fact that the African musicians relied more on reggae than hip-hop. The festival stage in Liberty Square last night also hosted the performance from the young Slovenians InSession. Their pop and rock was rewarded with turbulent applause, as it turned out, by their numerous Slovenian friends who were already staying here in Novi Sad for several days now.

This year’s Street Musicians Festival, which lasted from 3rd to 5th September, was organized by the Art Association Inbox from Novi Sad, with support from the City of Novi Sad and the Provincial Secretary for Culture and Information, Tourist Organization of the City of Novi Sad, the Embassy of the United States of America in Belgrade, the Italian Institute for Culture in Belgrade, the Serbian Petroleum Industry, Telekom Serbia and Generali Insurance Serbia.

Photographs from the Festival you can view on our flickr profile. The PDF version of this year’s Festival Magazine can be downloaded on this link.