Boris Kovac is a composer, musician and multimedia artist from the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad in the Vojvodina region. During his career, the saxophonist, born in 1955, has journeyed through a number of genres, developing his own style consisting of elements of Balkan folklore, chamber music, jazz, musette and tango.Boris Kovac’s musical career began at a very early age. His parents sent him to accordion lessons as a child. His interest in academic music was awoken after studying saxophone as a teenager at school for a year. He later taught himself a number of instruments and discovered rock and jazz in following years.
In 1977, Boris Kovac founded his first music project, the avant-garde jazz band Meta Sekcija. Afterwards, in the 1980s, he made a name for himself primarily as a composer for theatre and chamber ensembles, which he provided with minimalist sounds in the style of Terry Riley or Philip Glass. In 1982, he created an artist collective with Ritual Nova of which pianist Stevan Tickmayer was a member at times. In 1986, Kovac released his first studio album, recorded mostly single-handedly, entitled “Ritual Nova” with the follow-up album “Ritual Nova II” coming out three years later. From 1989 to 1991, Boris Kovac headed the Ogledalo chamber music theatre group in Novi Sad.
During the Balkan war years (1991 to 1996), he lived in Italy, Slovenia and Austria, working mostly in theatre during that time. He also released the first part of a musical cycle entitled “Anamnesis: Ecumenical Mysteries” on the Canadian label Victo. The second part was released two years later and was entitled “East OFF Europe”. Boris Kovac finally returned to his hometown of Novi Sad in 1996. In the years following, he worked with students and actively participated in restoring the contemporary music and theatre scene of the region. He has since become a key driver of the music and theatre scene in his homeland through his various activities in the most diverse projects.
In, 2001, Boris Kovac’s first release came out on the German world music label Pirhana Records. The CD was called “The Last Balkan Tango” and was recorded with the LaDaABa Orchest. The second part was called “Ballads at the End of Time” and came out in 2003. In both releases, Boris Kovac came to terms with the horrors and trauma of the Balkan wars. They are characterised by introverted melancholy and depression. In 2005, the album “World after History” came out. Now with the new group La Campanella and a more hopeful and optimistic sound. His most recent album came out in 2014, entitled “Eastern Moon Rising” and again was recorded with Campanella.
With his various groups, Boris Kovac has already given hundreds of concerts around the globe. He has performed at all major world and jazz music festivals in travelled to more than 30 countries on four continents. He has also been honoured for his work with various prizes and awards. These include the major Serbia theatre award for theatre, the “Sterija Award” which he received in 2007 for the music of the play “Nahod Simeon”. His albums have made it three times to the Top 10 of the world music charts in Europe and Songlines magazine included his album “The Last Balkan Tango” in its list of the “50 Essential Albums Ever”.
What links all these albums is Kovac’s carefree handling of the most diverse musical trends and traditions. Viennese coffee house music encounter rumba and tango, oriental melodies come up against jazz chords and chamber rock meets classical music. And everything finally dissolves into an imaginary and extremely volatile Balkan folklore that only Boris Kovac can create.
“Our advantage is that here in Vojvodina, people of 20 different nationalities have lived together. So today no one can say which folklore my music stems from exactly. Me and my musicians, living in an urban situation, having no contact to the little villages in the country, we cannot retrace where the music comes from. It is anyway not necessary, I think. The crucial point is to use the sources as nourishment for your own creativity.” Boris Kovac in Blue Rhythm
Discography:
1986 Ritual Nova (LP - Symposion Records)
1989 Ritual Nova 2 (LP Recommended Records)
1996 Play on String (String Quartet) (CD - More Music)
1996 Anamnesis - Ecumenical Mysteries (CD - Victo)
1997 The Mask (CD - Interzone / Ikarus)
1998 East OFF Europe (CD - Victo)
2001 The Last Balkan Tango (CD - Piranha Records)
2003 Ballads at the End of Time (CD - Piranha Records)
2005 World after History (CD - Piranha Records
2007 Songs from the Garden of Loves and Graves (CD - SNP)
2010 Chamber Music (CD - Long Arms)
2014 Eastern Moon Rising (CD - Riverboat Records)
1989 Ritual Nova 2 (LP Recommended Records)
1996 Play on String (String Quartet) (CD - More Music)
1996 Anamnesis - Ecumenical Mysteries (CD - Victo)
1997 The Mask (CD - Interzone / Ikarus)
1998 East OFF Europe (CD - Victo)
2001 The Last Balkan Tango (CD - Piranha Records)
2003 Ballads at the End of Time (CD - Piranha Records)
2005 World after History (CD - Piranha Records
2007 Songs from the Garden of Loves and Graves (CD - SNP)
2010 Chamber Music (CD - Long Arms)
2014 Eastern Moon Rising (CD - Riverboat Records)
2017 The Path (CD - ReR Megacorp)
Web:
boriskovac.net/
facebook.com/pages/Boris-Kovac/
Text: Robert Lippuner / Global Music Network
Translation: Jamie Davies
